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8 days ago on Carrizo Plain

Just mounted a set of these. Still need to scrub them in but so far they're promising.

I have done both. My last new bike off the showroom was a 2014 BMW F800GSA. My last purchase was private sale. Right now, I don't know if I will buy new again. My used bike came all ready setup. Even the ergos were perfect. So far the only other bike I have gotten on new that was near perfect fit for me off the showroom floor is the Africa Twin Adventure Sport. A dealer will always have some markup on the bike. A good dealer would have gone through the used bike and done a safety check, change the oil, fixed any issues before putting it out for sale. They may even give you a 30 day warranty. I look at all options!

Plenty I've seen but this is the first video to start off this thread

Just spent all weekend in the Preserve with @bruinjon, and conditions were perfect

So far so good. Felt "odd" for the 1st 20 miles or so but one they scrubbed they felt pretty planted on the street. Ive been cautious cornering but quickly gaining more confidence on them. They're a bit noisy at certain speeds on certain surfaces but I knew that would be the case going in. Haven't seen much dirt use yet but initial impressions on dirt roads are very good...night and day better than the Anakee Adventures. My passenger can't hear them at all but the pilot inside the bubble can.

Hello fellow riders! I’m curious to hear how many of you have purchased a used ADV Bike vs a new dealer bike off the show room floor? There is a lot of good value bikes out in the market place and I’m curious to hear your takes. I use my bikes as my commuters and also my weekend warriors so I have a lot of saddle time all year long. Lucky to be living out in California where it is possible. Happy to hear what you all have to say in the subject.

Simon Cudby of UPShift Online got to go to Morocco to test out the new KTM 790! This video is his overview of the R version equipped with knobby tires (looks like TKC-80s). Interesting they show this bike with Karoo 3 tires but chose the TKC-80's for the dune sand. Of course I'd have Motoz tires on it but the TKC-80's are a much better choice for sand than the Karoo 3's. He explains in some fair amount of detail the traction control and throttle response variables you can play with on this new bike. Really makes me want one bad.

Got some great info on GoldenTyre recently from an industry insider. I'll try to relate everything I can as best as I can recall. You may already know the fatty front is their best seller and that Shinko's copy of that tire also appears to be doing well at half that price. I saw the video done on the two side by side looking at weight, hardness, etc... This insider says there are some MAJOR differences though. For one, he admits the Shinko copy is not a bad tire; just not the quality of the GoldenTyre. Shinko's using a less expensive agricultural grade rubber as well as coming out heavier and with the associate issue of the knobs coming off. Shinko is a Japanese rubber recycling company that owns the tire mfg facility in South Korea that GoldentTyre had been using up to about 2014. This is a general manufacturing facility that makes tires for many companies, including the TKC-80 for Michelin. GoldenTyre had not been happy with the production quality and had suspected they were using sub-standard rubber and ultimately decided to pull their business from the Shinko-owned factory and take it all to China where they've been much happier with the quality. The Shinko factory threatened to make these copies and there really wasn't much GoldenTyre could do about it. GT was told by them "we own the molds" which really wasn't true. GT owned the molds but you know what they say about possession being 9/10ths of the law and all. Besides, a tire mold isn't something that lasts forever as you have to make a new one after about 10,000 tires get run through it. So sure, it is made in China now and that's actually not such a bad thing (many strong opinions on this Im sure) and while GoldenTyre doesn't deny it, it also seems apparent that they're not eager (my opinion) to share that info on their web site. Like I said, they're very happy with the quality there so far although they did have a brief issue with a production lot that had some rounding of knobs but they fixed it immediately and it's been great ever since. He seems to be saying basically you get what you pay for. The GT Fatty Front is a premium product designed with the best rubber and that quality will shine through its performance and that speaks for itself.

Things to know: The side stand is mounted to the frame, can break off, and even damage the motor. I bought a kit to relocate the stand. Must take the bike apart to get to the air box. The heat off the motor is intense, even painful. To help manage it, changed the air box to a Rottweiler replacement, new muffler to open exhaust flow, new insulated manifold, made a heat shield for the seat, and mounted side panels on the frame. And this is before I took it off the lot. Fuel gauge inaccuracies. Fuel pump malfunction. Sometimes, a lot of times, the bike stalls when started, or just won't start. I no longer trust KTM to build a top shelf motorcycle. I will not buy KTM again. Quality control is poor. They know of these issues, but must assume the consumer is gullible. I stupidly trusted my sales man, buyer beware.