Which One?

[weeksy]

on reliability, something else entirely

I reckon your experience of SMs, and 690s are 2 different things. Of the several we've had here only Taipan's had an issue. I put 15k miles on mine and know of 2 with 40k miles on them. There was a bloke on the Adv forum who put 80k miles on his Enduro. For what it is it's a tough engine and 2016s on with the different head design don't have the rockers that can fail which was what cost Taipan.

KTMs biggest bugbears as far as I can tell now is tech faults with all the gadgets which doesn't really apply to the SMs unless they have the TFT dashes as well? Or oil/watertight-ness but again not on the 690s.

I've done 20+ trackdays on 690s.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

Do we have to put a smiley after any attempt at humour, btw I knew someone would bite on that, I just thought it would be Weeksy

[G.P]

Whichever one you most like the look of. I rode Weeksy's 690 and that motor is great and you'll be surprised how quickly you get to 3 figures on tarmac.
I'd go for Husky as it just looks a bit classier to my eye.

[Yorick]

They all look so lardy because of the side / back plastics and end can

Yup. A bit daft really

well, it's the fuel tank. So not exactly daft as bikes kinda need one. So the 'plastics' isn't a plastic in the usual sense, as it's a fuel tank over the whole back end on one side.

Aha. Makes sense now. Maybe they could try a bit harder to make it less ugly?

[matt]

I think the KTM is the prettiest and I'd also prefer the spoked wheels as I'd take it off road a bit but I know you have other bikes for that. ,
The cast wheels on the gasgas look nice but I don't like the silver engine cases for some reason.
I'd happily take any of them though to be honest as like others have mentioned they're basically the same bike.

[ChrisW]

Another vote for the GasGas

[weeksy]

Yup. A bit daft really

well, it's the fuel tank. So not exactly daft as bikes kinda need one. So the 'plastics' isn't a plastic in the usual sense, as it's a fuel tank over the whole back end on one side.

Aha. Makes sense now. Maybe they could try a bit harder to make it less ugly?

Well yes, but then it's smaller.. It will make a lot more sense when you see it.

[MrLongbeard]

They all look so lardy because of the side / back plastics and end can

Yup. A bit daft really

well, it's the fuel tank. So not exactly daft as bikes kinda need one. So the 'plastics' isn't a plastic in the usual sense, as it's a fuel tank over the whole back end on one side.

Shame they didn't go fuel in frame or stick with a proper petrol tank rather than hanging a great carbuncle on the side.
And another thing that tweeks my OCD nipples, them Motorex stickers never have the right radius to match the clutch cover on any bike ever.

That said the Husky wins for me, but it'd need a number board or something to break up the slab of grey

[Yorick]

Yup. A bit daft really

well, it's the fuel tank. So not exactly daft as bikes kinda need one. So the 'plastics' isn't a plastic in the usual sense, as it's a fuel tank over the whole back end on one side.

Shame they didn't go fuel in frame or stick with a proper petrol tank rather than hanging a great carbuncle on the side.
And another thing that tweeks my OCD nipples, them Motorex stickers never have the right radius to match the clutch cover on any bike ever.

That said the Husky wins for me, but it'd need a number board or something to break up the slab of grey

Yup. Some graphics would help.

[ChrisW]

You might say the rear looks a bit lardy, and you'd be right. But the tank is the rear subframe, which is a cool solution, and also you want the front on an SM to be absolutely as slim as possible, so it's got that going for it too.

[v8-powered]

Husky for me.

KTM looks like something the local yoof will ride, the GasGas looks like it's been near heat and melted.

[Bigjawa]

Gas Gas looks like a Routemaster in that colour scheme.

[Yorick]

Gas Gas looks like a Routemaster in that colour scheme.

Yeah. They made my EC300 look OK, so why make this look crap?

IMG-20221122-WA0000.jpeg (1.82 MiB) Viewed 335 times

[weeksy]

Yup. A bit daft really

well, it's the fuel tank. So not exactly daft as bikes kinda need one. So the 'plastics' isn't a plastic in the usual sense, as it's a fuel tank over the whole back end on one side.

Shame they didn't go fuel in frame or stick with a proper petrol tank rather than hanging a great carbuncle on the side.
And another thing that tweeks my OCD nipples, them Motorex stickers never have the right radius to match the clutch cover on any bike ever.

That said the Husky wins for me, but it'd need a number board or something to break up the slab of grey

I assume it's weight distribution or position and CoG.

[Yorick]

@weeksy .
IIRC you had one of these.

In just a few lines, do you think I'll like it? I want a road version of my lunatic dirt bike.

[weeksy]

@weeksy .
IIRC you had one of these.

In just a few lines, do you think I'll like it? I want a road version of my lunatic dirt bike.

That's almost impossible to answer. Part of you will, the riding position and how it rides, yes. The power and delivery, maybe not.
The 21+ KTM has a rev counter, plus a blipper and QS, obviously a slipper clutch too and TC.

They're light (in actual motorbike terms) and frugal on juice. But they're not a fire breathing SM that'll rip your arms off.

First thing I'd do is get them to go 1 tooth down on front sprocket even before collection.

They're windy, but no more than any other naked.

I'm honestly 50-50 as to whether you'll love or hate it.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

The fuel tank position is a good solution to a 4 stroke off road problem, "how do you get a big enough fuel tank on a bike with a tall engine without it getting in the way of riding?"

As to whether Yorick will like it, I don't think it's what he's looking for, I think he'll find it heavy and won't like the power delivery.

[Taipan]

They all look so lardy because of the side / back plastics and end can

That's what I think too. Tank should always be bigger than the rear panels. It looks like someone stuck the bars on the wrong end.

[weeksy]

They all look so lardy because of the side / back plastics and end can

That's what I think too. Tank should always be bigger than the rear panels. It looks like someone stuck the bars on the wrong end.

It IS the tank

[Taipan]

They all look so lardy because of the side / back plastics and end can

That's what I think too. Tank should always be bigger than the rear panels. It looks like someone stuck the bars on the wrong end.

It IS the tank

Its at the wrong end! Hideous!