790 Adventure R Suspension Mods

Thanks for posting this information! So far my shock is still working even though I am about 210 in full gear and do a fair amount of rocky off road. Feeling it is just a matter of time though. Will keep checking back for updates and products from you. I could see some longer travel xplor stuff in my future.

I encourage guys to weigh everything out if you've been lazy as I have thus far in your 790 journeys. I was kinda floored, as I hadn't even weighed myself in 6-8 months.

Heres just how out of spec I ended up being:

Me nakked - 220 lbs
Klim badlands pro jkt/pants + helmet, and boots/goggles/gloves - 25 lbs
Klim scramble pak + thigh pouch - 12-15 lbs dependant on tools carried
25L backpack with 3L H20 and ultra light survival gear - 15 lbs

An easy 275 lbs between myself and the gear I 'wear'. Yikes ... wayyyy out of spec.

I am procrastinating because the snows have already started blowing, and replacing my springs will be a winter project. As it is right now my rear preload is maxed out. I have a few rides left this yr; fingers crossed. I increased HS comp to 1, and increased dampening all around in an effort to take the harsh edge of square pot holes, and heavy chop at speed.

This is a situation we hear often, most riders do not realize how much the kit adds up till they step on the scale!

We've got some really innovative products and services comming down the road for the 790, we havent been this excited about a new release bike in a while. Our 790 ADV-R test bike is racking up the miles!

It makes perfect sense that there is range for optimal performance (for serious offroad) but this bike should be good to carry bunch of luggage and a passenger (like other adventure bikes) without blowing a shock? That's easily 400lbs..

I'm curious, will you be going with a linear, or variable rate coil and why?

This’ll sound like a dumb question, but if I wanted to up my spring rate (I’m 193 without gear) what would I actually ask for?

We agree with you whole heartedly. We also know new model bikes have their shortcomings as manufactures cannot foresee everything. While I admit this has put a damper (no pun intended) in some perception of the new model, it still is an incredible application overall. These issues will get sorted regardless and will not be too much of an issue.

We would need to know a bit more information before we could make a recommendation. How tall are you, what is your inseam length, what’s your riding background and where do you live/ride? Yield free to PM us if you do not feel like posting this info publicly.

For certain riding style we utilize progressive, others we utilize linear rate. It comes down to riding style, abilities and a few other variables.


We are offering both progressive and linear rate coils for the shock, fork springs we only use linear rate springs.

I will have to have Alex chime in and fill in the details as to why.

This is why I stopped wearing Badlands stuff offroad....I have a L badlands that has never seen dirt....will never wear it again....probably need to let it go....Tools can be really trimmed down....a good multi tool eliminates a bunch and small mountain bike multi tools that have a few hex, torx and screw drivers are very handy....all my tools are less than 1.5lbs.....motion pro Ti wrenches help.....Bell moto 9 flex carbon....Leatt carbon or Airoh helmets feel like a feather....good for multi day rides....Paracord on the bike....a small group of waterproof matches and a headlamp is a survival kit when you have a good knife....add 3' of duct tape and you are deluxe and the duct tape is also your first aid kit....then there is light beer but that is a whole different conversation hahahahaahaha

5’8
30”
193lbs.
My background is sport bikes. This is my first “offroad” bike.
I live in Edmonton. I commute daily down gravel farm roads and locally I ride mostly in sand. It’s a mix of double and single track. The double track is full of huge quad sized whoops and the single track isn’t particularly technical. I haven’t been having issues bottoming out the suspension but I have occasionally wished it was a little stiffer and have added a few clicks of compression from “standard”. Rear sag is currently set to around 30% with 4 turns of preload.

Next summer I plan on getting into the foothills and Rockies more, which is a few hours ride. The travel is why I opted for a 790 over a 500.

I don’t have a scale at home, but I wear fairly typical Mx/DS gear and carry 3L of water. I’ve also pulled the passenger pegs/handles and luggage rack off the bike, never plan on carrying a passenger, and if I do carry luggage it’ll be minimalist in soft bags.

Some of you have been following the suspension project that @Torque and myself have been working on, with the stock components on my 790R. Today I did a ride over to the Moab area, taking jeep trails and old, bombed-out 2 tracks. The last time I was here with the stock suspension, I was almost ready to just park the bike and walk home, from the pounding the bike was giving me on the rocks and ledges. Today, I had so much fun riding the same trails, it was hard to believe. Well, believe it! A night -and-day difference.
This bike is just way too much fun.

Something crossed my mind Ron. You've put a lot of work in, both of you, getting everything dialed in 'for you'. IF another rider came along who rode similarly, but weighed 30,40,50lbs more than you would it be as simple as setting up everything as you have but adding heavier springs/coil or is there much more to it than that. Apples to apples - 2 very similar riders, just one out of the weight range of the springs you're riding. IF this were true, it would sure save a lot of work, and fast track the heavier rider to a better suspension setup.

Guess I never fully understood the black arts of re-valving and so on, and how that conspires to create a suspension package far better than stock.

How evolved as a rider does one have to become before a light bulb goes off, and they think .. 'hmmm, I just can't click my way out of that heavy chop harshness; time for a revalve'?

At this point, that feels like a whole different universe than the one I occupy.

A friend of mine has the cat deleted. No heat from there. And he is a light person. Like 75kg with gear light. Shock blew without any offroad in 1900km.

Mine has been "ridden" a little. but I´m light too and the leak has now appeared at 1100km. this is what I would call (broken out of the box).
Sag has been set correctly and there has been no deep "dive" on the shock either.
What saddens me a little is the WP officcial response - because in the past they have been very helpful and proactive about matters. (just in my perspective the letter I got told me to go f*** myself and not bother them anymore).

@Some_Dude
I'm going to assume (please correct me if I am wrong) that your naked body weight comes in at 193 lbs, adding of the typical riding gear weight of 20-25 lbs bring you into roughly 218 lbs ready to ride. We would recommend shock springs in the rate of 98 or 101 n/mm dependant on few rider characteristics. For the forks springs (43.8x460mm, OEM rate is a 6.7 n/mm or .69 kg/mm) we would suggest either 7.2 or 7.4 n/mm. In the rear we suggest either a (59x210mm OEM rate is a 95 n/mm), we would suggest either a 98 or 101 n/mm. Once again we would need to have a slightly more depth conversation to pinpoint exactly with springs would be ideal for you. There are some issues with these forks going to bigger springs and the tolerances being as tight as they are, therefore your spring supplier should be aware of these concerns and hopefully worked with prominent spring manufactures.

If you were a rider that carries luggage/passengers often (under 50% of the time) we would ideally be able to achieve proper static/rider sag numbers with zero turns on the preload adjusters relying on the installed preload, with you ready to ride single rider geared up. That way you have a broader range of adjustability in the spring for any additional passenger luggage weight.

If you are a rider who rarely or never carries passenger of luggage we alter this philosophy slightly giving you a bit more range in adjustability to fine-tune the chassis above and beyond the OEM set up to compensate for terrain changes, allowing incremental chassis manipulations.

We have our stock being sorted from Europe and should be going live here very soon with our lineup.

Let us know of any questions you have?


All the best,

Aaron D.

Further upthread Konflict writes this..."We have tested units with de-cat bikes and OEM and shock temperatures have not fluctuated all that significantly in the testing we have done."

When the experts take the time to post you gotta read it!

From what we have gathered in our discussions is the situation caught the manufacture off guard and they have been working diligently on forming their corporate solution. Keep in mind most bikes have some issues, KTM's are notorious for airbox issues on the big twins, oiling issues on the 690/701's. I know for a fact these units have spent more time on the dyno looking at data and they have released a R&D test rider into the so cal desert on the 790 R putting it through the paces currently till it fails. KTM is working on it and not passing a blind eye, another reason we are such fans of the brand. I can think of another major manufacturer who has had faulty fork components from day one on their application released in 2017, and they are passing the buck and just flat out lying to their clients saying it's not an issue and has zero effect on suspension performance declining a majority of warranty claims.

As for your personal experience with them, I can only say that maybe you caught them on a bad day, or they didn't feel like releasing proprietary info to a regional suspension shop thats not affiliated directly with them? I can be off base but just my two cents.

KTM still pretends they haven’t had airbox issues. Glad to see they are being more honest about the shock issues.

I cannot speak for other tuners in this thread, but if we were approached with these questions our answer would be that we most certainly would have different settings profiles for the variances listed above. As well would the riders be from the same locale, have the preference of the same tyupe of riding, are they both in shape or out of shape, how old are they, are both running the same tires, bend of the handlebar, steering dampers, same riding abilities, same bike setup, does one have an injury that holds him back from standing too long, or wrist issues etc.?

All of these variables are taken into consideration when we build our settings for a client. Let us know if you have any other questions?