Newbie questions

[expat42451]

Newbie. Been lurking here for and doing searches for questions I have about the Tr650.

Don't currently own one but am looking at several used ones in the US. I will use the bike for a trip to Canada in the spring, then back down through the US and to South America this coming winter.

I also have been reading in a number of places about how the Terra seems an orphan with they sale of Husky by BMW.

I did a search on here about parts availability and found a couple of threads from 2013. Curious about what current owners are experiencing today. I REALLY like the Terra particularly compared to what else is available- weight, low cg and off road/on road capability. Nothing else I have ridden or seen to me comes close. Buying one is going to be a long term investment -so I am curious about comments from current owners.

Thanks for the read and the expertise here on the thread

Expat

 

[AJM6000]

Mate, buy one, service it, then ride it! I'm very confident you won't regret it. Do your home work on this site, re preventative maintenance measures and any farkles you might like (someone has exactly what you are looking at/for, trust me!!!) and you are set for many happy miles of roads and trails. 12,000km and loving it more and more. No dramas, just servicing, tyres and chain/sprocket. I installed booster plug soon after first service and extremely happy.

 

[DeLewis]

This is a fantastic bike: reliable and powerful engine, very sturdy frame and subframe, decent running gear and excellent handling on and off road for its class.

The parts available is not an issue now and shouldn't be for many years given the obligation of the manufacturer to provide all spares for some years (7 years?). There may be some delays on some parts but this seems to have more to do with change of Husqvarna's owners, and is likely to improve. It's more availability of adventure/travel accessories which I would be worried about. But there is still a good supply of accessories available at the moment.

Strongly recommended overall.

 

[gullywasher]

This isn't my first discontinued / orphaned bike. Parts should be available now and several years into the future, though fewer and fewer vendors will stock them as times goes on and may necessitate a wait for rarely sourced items in particular. The aftermarket and enthusiastic owners will take it from there. I am not the least bit worried about the situation.

There has never been another motorcycle that checks so many boxes on my adventure bike wish list, and I don't expect any manufacturer to fill the void any time soon. I ran (literally) out and bought one as soon as I heard KTM had no intention of continuing the TR650 platform. As cheap as the Terra is for what it offers, if someone had told me I wouldn't even be able to change the oil in it 7 years from now, I still would have bought it.

 

[glitch_oz]

I will use the bike for a trip to Canada in the spring, then back down through the US and to South America this coming winter.
Buying one is going to be a long term investment

As much as I like the TR...but thus far it hasn't got a record at all.
Even less so for reliability, bulletproof, 3.world friendliness etc etc

All the RTW guys seem to religiously stick to the proven and trusted for the BIG trips, which are the DR/ KLR and possibly the F/G 650 BMW's.
To me, the electronics of the TR are the major stumbling block, the varied built-quality, the fancy proprietary bag of parts it's made of etc.

If it's a real outdoors, roughing-it type of trip where it's primarily help-yourself and independence-from-anything, NOTHING beats the "boring" KLR.
It's simple, has proven it's mettle a 1000-fold, can be fixed with fencing-wire and a hammer, can lug a decent pile of gear in fair comfort and has a HUGE support base all around the globe,

Very happy with the TR myself, don't get me wrong...but no, it's not a rough+tumble kind of bike. Happy to take it where it can be fairly easily retrieved by some roadside-assist mob within a week or so....but something like what you've got planned? NO WAY!
If I spent the time, effort + $$ on trips like that, I want to travel and see things...not be stuck for 3 months in whoopwhoop, waiting for some bearings from Italy (or 3 years for a new ECU because some bush-mechanic fried the damn thing trying to weld up the busted subframe)... screw that.
As always...horses for courses, each to their own and all that.
Big rides like that don't need no fancy bikes....because it's not about the riding, but the traveling.

 

[nev..]

Very happy with the TR myself, don't get me wrong...but no, it's not a rough+tumble kind of bike. Happy to take it where it can be fairly easily retrieved by some roadside-assist mob within a week or so....but something like what you've got planned? NO WAY!

There are currently a couple of blokes on Terras riding through Sth America to Ushuaia http://www.cafehusky.com/threads/two-tr650-terras-headed-to-ushuaia-tierra-del-fuego.51263/ and a Belgian couple who took their Terras through the balkans without incident http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1013004. The possibility of something terminal occurring to the bike in a remote location has to be weighted up against the likelihood of it happening. I think "NO WAY!" is a very extreme response.

 

[duibhceK]

a Belgian couple who took their Terras through the balkans without incident http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1013004.

That would be us

This year we hope to take our Terras to Slovakia and Ukraine. And if all goes according to plan (fingers crossed) 2016 will see us taking them to Lake Baikal and Mongolia. I don't lose too much sleep over worries about the orphaned nature of the bike.

The biggest worry would be the ECU dying, and to be honest imho there are plenty of (not necessarily bike-related) things that are more likely to happen which could keep me stranded somewhere for a few weeks. I also learned that in the places we choose to ride, relying on local help will be faster and more reliable than the road-assist guys and you get a potential life-long friendship on top of it. There's always a solution.

 

[Riding Again]

I have close to 18k miles and would drive across the united states if I had time as far as reliability goes. I am 6'3" 240lbs so for me would want a ktm1190 R with cruise before I would do it though. If I had to choose a KLR or TR650 terra? THe terra for sure. At least I can get where I want to alot quicker. Do not see many KLR's hitting 90mph on freeway everyday like my Terra does.

 

[nev..]

I have close to 18k miles and would drive across the united states if I had time as far as reliability goes. I am 6'3" 240lbs so for me would want a ktm1190 R with cruise before I would do it though.

Funny you should mention that, because glitch_oz and I have a mutual acquaintance who has a KTM1190 Adv (not sure about the R). In the past 12 months it has spent more time at the KTM dealership getting warranty work completed than it has on the road and has become the butt of many jokes. On the reliability scale, the TR650 beats it hands down.

 

[Riding Again]

The Ktm 1190 had a bad air box that plagued the first owners. Kind of like ours, letting fine sand through and destroying the rings. But I think uni-filter and Rottweiler made a filter kit to eliminate the problems. I am interested in the other problems your friend has been through. I have read the adv forum on the KTM 1190 because I am close on pulling the trigger on one here in the states. I am looking at the adventure R with the non electric suspension. The road version has a trick electric suspension for automatic preload, rebound, and compression automatically.

 

[nev..]

The Ktm 1190 had a bad air box that plagued the first owners. Kind of like ours, letting fine sand through and destroying the rings. But I think uni-filter and Rottweiler made a filter kit to eliminate the problems. I am interested in the other problems your friend has been through. I have read the adv forum on the KTM 1190 because I am close on pulling the trigger on one here in the states. I am looking at the adventure R with the non electric suspension. The road version has a trick electric suspension for automatic preload, rebound, and compression automatically.

WIthout taking this too far off topic... His list of warranty repairs : airbox dust inspired seized engine. Fork seals. Centre stand snapped. Rear mudguard broke. Front brake rotors replaced. Clutch seized.

 

[Riding Again]

WOW glad to hear you chime in. The mud guards are too close to the tires and break when going through real sticky mud. They do make extenders to get them off the tires more. Have not heard of the other issues. Thank you for the heads up I will be looking into it. I just want a bigger bike for everyday hwy and some what nimble offroad. Do not like the bigger BMW and triumph is the only other. Although if Honda follows through with the African Twin we might have a contender in 1000cc ranges. The husqvarna nuda 900 turned into a dual sport would have been the ticket. Damn BMW for running scared. It was just in sight of perfection for me anyways! LOL

 

[duibhceK]

I have 3 friends with an 1190 (R or regular), they all had some work done on their airboxes (not sure what exactly), they all had their batteries replaced with a higher capacity/CCA-rating and 2 of them have had their starter motor replaced with one off the 1290 model.

A number of software updates have been performed and changes have been made to the TMC/ABS.

Besides that one of them also reported some electronic issues with the dash and a continuing problem with the oil pressure. During his first 7 weeks of ownership, the bike spent 4 weeks at the dealer's. Afaik the oil pressure issue is still unresolved.

All 990 owners I know have had several problems with them, yet they still love those bikes dearly and wouldn't replace them with anything else. The fun they have when it does ride ok just seems to make up for the annoyance the issues cause...

 

[jawjo]

I did research on the Terra for 14months, and I live in Africa so spares are not really an option. Am so stoked with the Terra....i would back the bike 100%. Like the other blokes said as long as you are prepared to put in a little bit of extra work for items you can get hold of off the shelf.

 

[vodka]

WIthout taking this too far off topic... His list of warranty repairs : airbox dust inspired seized engine. Fork seals. Centre stand snapped. Rear mudguard broke. Front brake rotors replaced. Clutch seized.

I read ktm bmw blogs , there were enuf complaints to direct me to the terra...for cost and what it can do....i am glad i got the terra. After couple of thou total in improvements it is getting close to ideal for me.
Example
Crashbars
Racks rear
Sprocket
Chain
Bottom plate
Steering damper
Barkbusters
Aux lights
Power commander autotune
Rigg bags
Pod mod
Power outlet
Heated grips, Oxford
Shorai battery
Footpeg upgrade
Nobblier tyres
Anticipated
Suspension redo
?? Single exhaust
About 3 grand for a zenith bike....and just reached, almost ,cost of stock ktm bmw equivalents .
Sure a little heavier than my yammy wr250r but the extra power that this engine puts out , the road manners at speed, ergonomics.
Plus i love a puzzle.lol
If bmw had the guts and foresight to work on this bike ,added a few oem improvements as above, worked a little on weight, they could have rebadged this for the insightless public and cornered the market. Could have stopped production of 650 singles and gs twins as far as i am concerned. Add in the Nuda with some work ....suddenly world peace becomes a possibility. Seriously why would ktm guy have bought this bike and factory just to stop production....fear? Thank you for listening.

 

[justintendo]

to eliminate tripping over them would be my guess?

 

[Riding Again]

Vodka- Could not keep building BMW technology. Does not have the patent. I agree this single is far better than the ktm 690 enduro. Still dream of a nuda dual sport. Honestly I feel BMW was so close but did not have the balls to wait it out. They are missing the Husqvarna formula in BMW motorcycles.