950 Supermoto Chronicles

Hey all,

I'm heading down to the Appalachians on August 11th, so if there are any SM buddies who I can hook up with for a beer on the way, I'd love to meet up.

I'll be with two buddies and we'll all be riding touring bikes (review bikes for the mag I write for) so I probably won't be able to keep up with you guys, but I'll try, I'll try.

Not sure of the route we'll be taking but it'll probably take in a chunk of I79 to I77 through WV, if there's anyone in the neighbourhood.

Thanks,
Jason

seat concepts foam and cover. stapled it myself.

Looks good, esong

Thanks Keith! Glad you posted about the seat here. Good price and fast turn around too.

I sold my 2006 950 sm last nite for 6250.00 and now i have a new gas tank to sell.
I figured 375.00 obo would be a pretty good deal.it is new and was sent from ktm north america for me to use until my new one came in .
anybody?

thanks,clay

PM sent to you Clay!

This is great news for me.

Interesting thread over in OC
http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=814817

If you recall, I posted a couple weeks ago that with mine, it overheated on the way home from a ride. It would climb through 5 bars, the fan would go on and it just went to 6 and then 7 bars if I let it. No hint of anything until it just started happening. Fortunately, it started acting up about 12 miles from home, so I was able to ride about a mile or two, turn it off for 10 minutes, ride another 1-2 miles, etc.. Again, no hint of anything, and the oil pressure light was not going on.

Subsequent inspection showed the water pump failed hard. The pump has been replaced but the bike is still overheating and getting oil in the water, but there's no white exhaust smoke. The shop is thinking head gaskets, but I suggested checking with KTM tech support, which they said they'd do tomorrow.

I'll post whatever happens.

That sounds very familiar. My friends bike did the same. If the oil you are seeing is not a milky mix in the bottle and looks pretty fresh floating on top, it probably a head gasket. My thought is that after a certain temp, it pops a head gasket.

Sorry to hear that Walter. Keep us posted. I recently had a brand new OEM radiator with the upgraded fan switch installed. While the bike rarely now gets to 5 bars, I have some coolant escaping somewhere on the right side. It is hard to pinpoint where it is coming from, possibly one of the clamps/hose connections, I don't know how well the shop burped it so I will try that on my own but am pretty frustrated that this is happening after I spent an ungodly amount getting a laundry list of things done recenlty. the good news is the bike is running well overall. My carbs were way out of sync and I had a bad fitting BMC air filter that needed some custom cajoling to get it to seal properly.

Deos anyone else have a mystery coolant leak. It is not getting in my oil. I now have a CJ designs clutch cover so I can see when the waterpump fails (again). If so, what have you determined it to be? I am not losing much, so it seems like it is getting presurized out somehow, and tends to happen more during "high speed" runs, which with me is anytime I go on the highway.

I had one a few months ago-- there was a pinhole in the weld of where the where the radiator hose connects to the radiator. Never lost much coolant or overheated, I just kept noticing blue specks/streaks (I use Honda 50/50 premix coolant which is medium blue in color) on the lower right side of the engine. I had it brazed by a local radiator shop.

I confess to a tardy reply...
That extraction wont mess with any riding. The groove is not even into the cords. I have cut the rubber deep enough to expose the cords and still pulled 1000 miles of mixed roads with no failure. The key is not perforating the inner rubber sleeve of the cords.

Not a gospel statement, but if the internal rubber sleeve isn't compromised, the tire will hold air and roll with traction... YMMV


edit to add:
Here is a little ride report with some 950SM spin, in the middle.
I must add that the thread has graphic images of LC8 abuse :)

http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?p=19078662#post19078662

I have the 41mm kit and love it.
The runability is altered, with no choke, an increase of intake noise and snappy throttle response. The smoothness of the CV carbs is gone. Without a TPS attachment, the lower RPMs don't smooth out and are stumbly until you open the slides.

The rideability is SICK!@!@!@!
Third gear, roll on wheelies at speed? No problemo...
I just got 43 MPG rolling in 6th at 60mph, with 16/42 gearing, on a recent road trip. The next tank was burned in the twisties and netted the usual 38MPG. If I ham fist the honker, I get as low as 35mpg...

Thanks snowhawk jockey - I really appreciate your feedback! I cleaned the loose boogers out of the split in the rubber and could see cords in 2 spots. It's still holding air fine. I had not taken it out riding thinking that if I could see cords it was toast, but if you have ridden that way, it should be ok for what I do! We've had triple digit heat sinnce I picked up the nail which has made not riding it and waiting for TKC-80s a little more bearable. But I'm going to go riding now! BTW, that was a brilliant bit of trail side repair you did in the ride report -respect!!

Snowhawk, did you ever fab up some sort of skidplate?

I have a good start on one, sorta ugly but it sure will protect those lines.



On a side note, at fairly high speeds my front end wobbles, and I suspect its due in part to the suspension setup.

Anyone have a "950 sm suspension setup for dumies" post or thread or advice they could direct me too.


I know I shouldnt, but I wanna see what its like past 180

Nattymo and Aeronaut to the phone please...


My steering is rock steady. I rented a Mutlistrada in LA a few months ago, a $20,00 plus bike and was surprised at how much more stable my 950 was on the interstate than the Ducati.

If you're sure everything else (like tire pressure, wheel balance, alignment, steering head and swingarm bearings, etc.) are fine, the best bet is to start with the baseline normal setup as mentioned in the owner's manual and change from there.

Once you do that, use the search term below to check out some sources and see what might need to be changed.


motorcycle suspension for dummies

He he, no skid yet... I do have a light CRF glide plate that will get hung under the oil lines, but nothing that is thick or wide enough to bridge the oilbag to rear frame rail and take an inpact. The damage I sustained was from a rock that flipped up, from the side of my front wheel, and rolled under the cases! It caused a bit of a case scrape at the center plug too, so I am acutely aware of the need for proper armor!:eek1

Chassis setup aside(since ya'll know mine beez a bit "tweeeek'd") the head shake I experience the most, is from the wind action rebounding the front fender and wide handlebars, followed by my muscle pulse corrections, that in turn maintain the waver. When I feel that type of high speed headshake, I find that relaxing my grip on the bars and squeezing my knees to grip the tank will quiet it down. Next step, Steering Damper!!

Thanks for the advice guys, Ill start checking everything. I know the tire pressures are good (former tire tech, Im anal with checking tires) Pretty sure the bearings everywhere are good. (they were last time I checked anyways)

Didnt know we could align these bikes at all, except if you mean making sure the rear tire runs true (according to my measurements last time I adjusted chain tension it should be running true).

Looks like I just gotta download a manual and start reading, which I will do.

Have you been looking at an SE skidplate? I have the high headers as well and was looking into fiting an SE skidplate. I made my own of 10 mm PEHD but it's not really pretty. So i thought if i could get someones skidplate to borrow and see if it fits but i can't borrow anyones. By the looks of it it would fit. The only thing to do would be to fabricate mounts for the oilpan. I thought about putting rubber matting between the oilpan and the skidplate and then fixing a bracket to the oilpan with chemical metal. It's on my todo list but it'll propably be for next summer. For now i make do with my ugly one.

Also at least MyNetMoto is delivering the TKC80! Mine are on the way according to the postal tracking codes.

If you can see cords, it's illegal in the UK, don't know about USA. Now I would happily run a plug repaired tyre, but not one showing cords.

If you've ever seen a section of a modern motorcycle tyre, if you are down to the carcass construction (and the top carcass layer is NOT the cords, there is rubber that is never designed to see tarmac above the cords helping to hold it all together) there is very little between the air inside the tyre and the air outside the tyre.

I would never risk a rapid deflation at the speeds I travel, bite the bullet and replace it. You only get one life, one pair of arms, one pair of legs ....