Why will I not buy a KTM product again?

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Shockwave

Pack Dog
Joined
Feb 7, 2014
Messages
93
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0
Location
British
Bike
KTM 1190 Adventure
I guess I could use a "self cancelling brain" or something like that ... why, oh why, did I buy a KTM 1190R?

My 2014 1190R currently sounds the horn every time I use the left indicator switch.  That's progress from the situation a few weeks back, riding in the tail end of the hurricane that hit London.  The horn came on all on it's own while I was riding round the M25 motorway, and the horn would not stop 'til I pulled the spade terminal.  I feel so stupid really, riding my 1190R motorcycle through that hurricane.  Should have known the KTM switchgear was unlikely to be rain-proof.  30 minutes later, I had to stop again, this time on the A1M motorway, with thunder and lightning drawing closer, and rain falling in sheets.  The rear tyre had picked up a bit of shrapnel off the M25 "hard shoulder" where I stopped to pull the spade terminal off the horn.  The tyre was a write-off, the tread slashed through by the 2 inch long piece of shrapnel.  And then I had to wait 9 hours for a tow truck to arrive, and arrived at my son's house in Notts at 5:30 am the next morning.  The KTM "Europ Assist" break down cover wasn't worth the soggy paper it was printed on.  The KTM woman who answered my call (the number printed on my KTM EuropAssist card) had no clue what she was doing, and even after an hour on the cellphone at my expense, she could not get her computer to recognize my name, VIN and registration number.  She didn't even have a list of breakdown service providers in the UK.  Talk about being unable to organize a piss-up in a brewery!  The only reason a tow truck arrived at all was because my son organized it.

Earlier in our 5000 km tour around most of Europe, I dropped the 'bike twice and damaged the panniers and crashbars due to the crappy side-stand design which is completely unstable with only 5 degrees of allowable tilt in the camber of the road before the 'bike falls over.  On the channel ferry, the crew laughed at both the side-stand and the center-stand when they saw how my 'bike flopped around and was completely unstable.  They tied it down with double straps and chock-wedged the wheels.  None of those things were necessary on the Suzuki VSTROM, and BMW GS and RT tourers that were loaded on the ferry.  

And then the heat.  Ouch!!  I was riding typically 10 to 12 hours each day, when I should have been riding only 6 to 7 hours for the distances and routes as planned.  What was wrong?  To put it bluntly, my testicles were being cooked to the extent it was too painful to continue.  It really, really hurt.  I had to keep stopping to let the damned 'bike and my nuts cool down.  Each time I took the seat off to vent the engine, it was like putting my head inside a hot oven.  That blast of hot air must have been at least at 80 degrees C.  It doubled the journey time and turned an "adventure" vacation trip into a nightmare.

My son was riding an 8-year old Suzuki VSTROM 650 with me throughout the journey, and he had the better Adventure Touring 'bike.  It kept up with 1190R very well, was comfortable and no overheating or any other problems.  My son was amazed at the excessive heat from my 1190R and it put him off the 'bike straight away.  After these circumstances, I will not buy a KTM product again either.  The Austrian manufacturer should take lessons from Japan, China, Germany and Russia in design, quality control and customer service.  The evidence of my 1190R is that KTM have no clue how to build or support an "Adventure Tourer".  Good luck with that 1290 "Super Tourer" launch by the way.  I bet it's a really hot seller!
 
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