950 Adventure S and 990 Adventure suspension swap question

Hi guys,

I need your expertise!!!

I have a 2003 KTM 950 Adventure S (265mm suspension travel) and I just bought a very clean and low mileage 2010 KTM 990 Adventure (210mm suspension travel)...

...Well, I guess you guys already know where i'm going with this, right!!!

I really want the long travel suspension on the new bike (since in January i'm letting the old one go and keeping only the new one).

I believe there are three ways of achieving this...

1. The easiest way would be just to swap the entire front forks and rear shock (which I really don't want to do).
2. Change the internals/spacers/whatever is involved, like the parts that come on the 55mm raising kit supplied on the KTM powerparts catalog (I'm assuming that the 2003 vs. 2010 parts are interchangeable).
3. And lastly, I could just buy the 55mm raising kit supplied on the KTM powerparts catalog, but I really don't want to do this because it involves spending more money.

I'm more inclined on doing this by using the second option... What do you guys think?

Thanks in advance!!!

Best regards.

JXA.

I would go with number 2 also.

/Johan

I'd go for the option #1. Any reason why you don't want to go the easy way. That way you'd now what's been done and how serviced etc.

Early outer fork tub is slightly different since they had a 3 bushing setup. Might be slightly weaker.

And would guess the old ones have some wear and tear on them.

As long as you are honest about what you did when selling the old bike.

...or do what I did set the old up for street and the new for dirt.

But I had engine issues and being honest it's worth alot more as spare parts the day the engine gives up then what I could ever get for it being honest.

/Johan

Thanks for your replies guys!!!

Well, the reason I don't want to go the easy way was pointed out by Johan... The old ones, although in good conditions, do have some wear and tear, while the new ones are spotless.

So i guess i will be doing the second option... Any tips/experience/things to look for while doing this procedure?

(And yes, when I sell the old bike I sure will be honest about the swap, by my book it's the right thing to do!!! )

JXA

#4 is find someone who wants to lower their R or S and swap components.

Just did this same thing yesterday not knowing what to do until I had them both apart.
As it turns out, the only difference between the 2003 265 and the 2009/10 210 is the damper rod and adjuster rod spring and spacers, thats it.

I only wanted 245 for my old arse so I fitted a 20 mm spacer on the 2003 damper rod, 0.59 465 mm springs and made up 35 mm worth of spacers to give me 20 mm installed preload (same as standard).
Used all the newer parts from the 09 except the rods and adjusters and that would have given me 265 travel but I only wanted 245.

If I was going to go for 265, I would get the 485 long springs as the 465 is getting close to its coil bind limit.

Easier than I thought

Oh, and I revalved it at the same time

See here, this is 03 and 09 parts, only the damper rod and adjuster rod are longer and spring spacing.

You sure are 1coolbanana!!!

Thanks for sharing the picture and your knowledge!

I will be doing this over the upcoming Christmas Holidays.

Thanks for all the inputs, I really appreciate them!

Regards.

JXA

Happy to help.
If you need more info, just ask.

I've done this swap before. The two bikes kept their original fork lowers (tubes) because of the ABS mount vs. speedo mount. Otherwise a simple swap. You need to swap the side and center stand too. Both forks end up with new seals and a service.

The brake hoses on the 2010 will be a little tight when you're done.

Rear shock just swaps over. You should service the 03 shock, and make sure to grease the rebound screw.

Easier to find someone with a 09-13 model 'S', 'R', that wants to lower their bike. Then it's a one hour job.

Bookmarked questions to follow

Hello All,

Id like to kick start this thread. Unfortunately 1coolbanana picture is no longer available, so I couldn't geek out.

I'm in the UK and have recently bought an 09 990 ADV. I'd love to get the longer travel suspension. Ideally a swap with a R owner but wondered what the most cost effective way of up-grading the suspension.

If there is anyone out there (UK) that needs a lower bike, I could be convinced to swap your R suspension and standard seat for my ADV standard suspension and Renazco Seat. PM me if you exist?

(I'm happy to do the work to swap them over)

Rob

@sixtring74 .....fixed


If you check out my build thread, all the info is there

Hi guys, i have 04 950 adv. I'm from Lithuania. I bougt it from UK. That orange is mine. That silver is 950 03. My free sag is very big in front and i hit the botom of my front forks very often. I took of the forks and gave them to reassemble. But we found all parts lenght like it should be according to assembly shemes . Privious owner was a short guy :) but i cant find out what he have done to the forks :) guy from the shop says that it is probably the spring, because it seems that one end was heated and rings of spring where compresed, and its seams that it is not factory made. What do you guys think? Thanks in advance!

To shorten the forks is easy.
A spacer on the damper rod and shortening the spring.
The shock, not so easy but maybe just replaced with a later model short standard 210 travel shock, (yours should have 230 mm travel stock)?
Whats the full extension length of the fork slider currently?

How the hell does the orange bike stay up?

The 2005 orange defo seems a bit too low, but it's lower than the 2003 out of the factory as well. 210mm vs. 230mm travel. That and saging springs / differently set preload can make the difference on there own. Put the bike on ceter stand and measure the shiny part of the fork. If it's 210mm, then either the preload is set differently or the spring is sagging/cut. The rear spring should be stamped "150-210" or something like that (if it hasn't wore off over the years)

If the spring is compressed on one end and blue then they put heat to it so shorten it. Not the right way to shorten a fork.
You need a set of springs. Try to get springs with a reasonable pre-load. Off the top of my head I think the bike came with 285mm springs and about 17mm of pre-load. If you get a stiff enough spring for your weight you may want a shorter spring so you can adjust pre-load with pvc or? Just depends on what type of riding you do.
When measuring the chrome tube you have to consider that the fork does not compress to the bottom of the chrome tube and you have a top out spring.

I wonder if the bike has front progressive springs and that's why the coils are closer together on one end? Such as these one's from touratech- https://touratech-usa.com/Store/Touratech-Progressive-Fork-Springs-KTM-990-Adventure-2007-on