Sibirsky Extreme 2012 - The Toughest Ride of Them All

[One Less Harley]

....I've heard cockroaches can survive high radiation levels though.....just not sure about other little critters....

[LOZ]

Originally Posted by Adv Grifter

"took a while" !! Now that's funny!

Have you actually read Fish Fund's ride report?
I could quote back hundreds of pages of problems had with that bike and the weeks it side lined them over and over and over. Soup to nuts.

In the end the bike got sorted out (once back to the EU) but in Africa it was an ongoing, never ending nightmare of calamities.

(ROD ... don't read this, none of it happened, its not real)

funny you should ask but i was at johns(rallyraid)when the guys had just about solved it and were fitting the new R/Rectifier

funny how the 690 polarizes opinions


loz

[Prutser]

Originally Posted by MikJogg

+1 on that question,what about the bad little animals in that area ?

MJ

The mosquitoes were horrible.They often spoiled(what could have been) a nice evening in front of the tent ! The midges were even worse.
People warned me about the amount of ticks in Kazakh but as far as I know they didn't bother any us this trip.

But those Mosquitoes

[Adv Grifter]

Originally Posted by Uller

Time for me to chime in here as I think Rod's poor 690 needs a little defense.

FishFund had four basic issues with his 690 (if I recall correctly):
1) Faulty Fuel Pump upon arrival in South Africa (ethanol gas left in tank during transit from USA to SA)
2) Wiring mess behind the fairing (admittedly his own fault due to hasty prep)
3) The leads to the coil were vibrating and came loose (poor prep)
4) His Rectifier/Regulator failed (faulty component that has affected, honda's, yamaha's, triumph's, ktm's, etc.)

I don't see one of those things being the KTM. Only known issues on a very good bike. AND, as previously mentioned, that very same 690 is now being ridden by Noah RTW.

No offense intended Rod but, I am a little supprised you didn't take a CA Cycleworks aftermarket fuel pump with you as a spare for your trip. It is a known issue....

Sorry for the Hijack. Please carry on. This Report Rocks!!!

Spot on! I was simply refuting the notion stated earlier that the bike had just one simple fault. As you know, since you read the thread, bike problems were the center of attention on Fish Fund's entire ride. The GS has some issues too.

But as you said ... Fish Fund did a fast prep and bodged up a bunch of stuff ... so hard to blame ALL on the bike. But whatever ... it changed the ride.
This is why I'm so surprised that Rod's 690 is having issues. Based on Colebatch's intro to all of us of his team, Rod is a very experienced traveler and good mechanic. When a well prepped bike ridden by a competent mechanic has problems .. well it makes you wonder!

Sorry for the hi jack ... and fingers crossed Rod's bike makes it! (no spoiler please ... let Walter and Crew tell their tale!)

[bigdon]

The fuel pump on my lowly KLR has never given problems!

And the Cows. It must have been lightning . The pictures show that they fell dead where they stood. I don't see any signs of them thrashing around.

[Spinalcracker]

Nobody mentioned the obvious about the cows ......


UFO's


could have also been the problems with he KTM too

[TheLorax]

Originally Posted by Spinalcracker

Nobody mentioned the obvious about the cows ......


UFO's


could have also been the problems with he KTM too

I can see the cows, but I just don't see the process involved with probing a 690? Can you detail please?

[Montek]

i think the 690 is responsible for bringing demons to the steppe that wacked the cows - and forced prusters bike in the mud, and and and well, everything. .

[Colebatch]

All refreshed after our rest day in Zmeinogorsk, and starting to adapt to the immediate change in weather and scenery we packed up from the hotel, refuelled the bikes and headed up into the hills.



It looked OK ... but underneath the appearance, underneath the top millimetre of dryish dirt, was a load of sticky slippery wet mud and clay.

Terry, the teams mud guru (he basically lives in a mud swamp - the fens in England) stopped to consider his tactical approach.





We were all picking our lines very carefully. Back wheels were sliding all over the place. If anyone lost a front wheel, they would be down. In the mud.



The first 5-6 km (3-4 miles) were actually OK, and we hoped things would get better ... but they didnt







This sure was a sudden change from the steppe riding we had been doing since the new crew joined the gang.

[Steveman]

Keep goin' Colebatch and crew

I had the same problem with the 690. It was not the pump nor the injector nor the fuel filter. It simply was a bad ground contact. At KTM they put stickers on before doing the paint job on the frame. Sometimes they dont do it properly or forget about that. Meaning your ground cables and/or ignition coil are screwed to the painted frame. Not good. Took me weeks to find this out.
Check the ground cable fixed nearby the steering head on the left hand side. Then check the ignition coil. Its screwed to the frame and has a ground contact point. This must be free of paint and was BTW the reason why my KTM died whenever it was getting hot and the frame was heated up. Absolutely the same symptoms.

Sure it would help if you guys could check (next time the bastard dies) if you get a spark at the plug.....

All the best
Steve

[MeinMotorrad]

That stuff looks horrible. Did anyone get over heating problems - blocked fins for the airhead, rad guards for the rest?

[MeinMotorrad]

Originally Posted by Steveman

Keep goin' Colebatch and crew

I had the same problem with the 690. It was not the pump nor the injector nor the fuel filter. It simply was a bad ground contact. At KTM they put stickers on before doing the paint job on the frame. Sometimes they dont do it properly or forget about that. Meaning your ground cables and/or ignition coil are screwed to the painted frame. Not good. Took me weeks to find this out.
Check the ground cable fixed nearby the steering head on the left hand side. Then check the ignition coil. Its screwed to the frame and has a ground contact point. This must be free of paint and was BTW the reason why my KTM died whenever it was getting hot and the frame was heated up. Absolutely the same symptoms.

Sure it would help if you guys could check (next time the bastard dies) if you get a spark at the plug.....

All the best
Steve

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I'm going to check that right away - thanks for the tip

-------end hijack--------

[Steveman]

Originally Posted by MeinMotorrad

-------begin hijack--------

I'm going to check that right away - thanks for the tip

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U R always very welcome

[Prutser]

Originally Posted by MeinMotorrad

That stuff looks horrible. Did anyone get over heating problems - blocked fins for the airhead, rad guards for the rest?

The Airhead had no problems with this stuff. ( I have ridden them for houres with so much mud that the cylinders were not even sticking out anymore) no problem !

[Colebatch]

Prutser decided to out-psych the mud:



Terry and could barely stand on it without slipping. It was like walking on wet soap.



We looked at the weather and willed the sun to come out for an hour and dry it up:



But the opposite happened ... it started raining: