Administrators Eric Hall Posted January 28, 2017 Administrators My Rides (3) Report Share Posted January 28, 2017 Losing your keys is never a fun experience. Being without transportation is a huge problem if you're a round-the-world adventure rider or even just a commuter or weekend warrior (like me). I actually did lose my key sometime back in November or early December and it's been a real nightmare. My hope is that you can learn from my experience. I'm also hoping KTM will re-examine their process for replacing keys as a result of this. The last time I used my bike was to ride to Marina Del Rey. I went to the gas station to gas up and found my rear tire was flat! I went back to the house and parked the bike in the garage and then put my gear back in the house before going back out to get in the car and drive to Marina Del Rey. Thierry (of OAA) came down in December from Calgary to escape the cold and go riding with me so it was that day, Saturday, December 7th I first realized it was gone. I turned the place upside down looking for that damn key but couldn't find it! I think what most likely happened was I had the motorcycle key in my left pocket and also put my car keys in there. When I pulled my car keys out, I think the motorcycle key probably got tangled up in them and then fell to the ground to be lost forever. I thought this from the start and that gained credibility as the same thing happened with another set of keys I had with my house key and garage key on them that were lost in the parking lot at Costco! So on Monday Dec 9 I called a local KTM dealer and told them I'd lost my key and would have to order another one. I was told $60 but it ended up being $80. I said that I had nothing; no extra keys, no "orange" key or anything. I'd purchased the bike from a guy who bought it at an auction and it only came with the one key and not the original orange key. They put in the order for what ended up taking six weeks to deliver! I got the key (finally) just this past Tuesday (Jan 24) and it did fit in the ignition and did turn the bike on but the bike is now immobilized! Turns out, I need the original orange key that came with the bike to program the bike's immobilizer to accept this new key! I told the dealer this up front and they should have figured out ordering the key wasn't going to get my bike started but they don't order keys that often and didn't know. Might KTM have asked them to verify this up front rather than assume I had the original orange key? Perhaps. So apparently KTM can't just send me another orange key. And apparently the dealer can't just plug my bike into a computer and program this new key to work. They told me that I have to pay another $451 to have another immobilizer with a new orange key and that it would take another three weeks! As you can imagine, my patience with KTM has run out so I'm taking the advice of another rider, Adrian Sanchez of Portland, OR, who used SOS Diagnostics to help him get his Ducati started after losing his key. SOS has a perfect 5.0 star rating with Google Reviews (24 reviews) and 4.9 stars for 8 reviews on Facebook and I'm confident they can get this resolved much quicker and for less money. I'll keep you updated on the results. Lessons learned? What would you do differently after hearing about this lost key business? I know I'll certainly be more careful with my keys in the future but I may also zip tie a spare key to the bike in some deep and hidden recess of the bike in case this happens again. I'd also hope that KTM will take a look at their internal process and make improvements as this seems like one of those "Charley & Ewan moments" where people are going to think twice about which bike they choose to take them around the world if it means being stuck somewhere for six weeks while they wait for a key to be delivered. BMW takes 2-3 days as does my own car maker, Acura. Six weeks seems like kind of a joke, really. I'm told the newer KTM's have different systems and it may not take that long but that's certainly the case for the 990's (right now). 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeavyHustler Posted January 28, 2017 Report Share Posted January 28, 2017 Thanks Eric. Sorry to hear about KTM's fail. So now I want to go get another key cut pronto! I found I have a spare key BUT I don't have the orange key for my bike. I'm the 3rd owner. What to do, what to do.......hmmmmmm. Cheers, Mark 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Eric Hall Posted January 28, 2017 Author Administrators My Rides (3) Report Share Posted January 28, 2017 Yeah it sounds like you're in the same boat as I was. Just don't lose those keys and you'll be fine! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeteMoto Posted January 28, 2017 My Rides (2) Report Share Posted January 28, 2017 Oh my freakin WALLET! Hope you can get this resolved and still have a retirement! Fortunately all my keys are accounted for but now I'm considering a safe deposit box for the orange and spare. They should put a gps locator chip in that orange key. Aaaaaargh 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragos Stefan Posted January 29, 2017 My Rides (2) Report Share Posted January 29, 2017 12 hours ago, Eric Hall said: I'm told the newer KTM's have different systems and it may not take that long but that's certainly the case for the 990's (right now). Dunno about the underlying stuff but my previous 1190 Adv R came with 2 black keys and an orange one, so no difference. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Eric Hall Posted January 29, 2017 Author Administrators My Rides (3) Report Share Posted January 29, 2017 Couple notes... I do acknowledge that this is all my fault. I'm the one who lost the key. I'm the one who bought a bike that had only one key and hadn't taken steps earlier to make duplicates (would have had same issue with lack of orange key needed to validate any new key). Also, this is all a normal part of KTM's key replacement procedure. It's not like they said "oh this will only take a week" and then they stretched it to six weeks. Actually, the dealer did tell me it would take a week but again, they don't order many keys as it turns out. Once I finally got ahold of someone with KTM USA I was told that this typically takes 6-8 weeks. However, when I discovered the key I was sent wouldn't start the bike, I did call the same person back at KTM USA and did not get the feeling she knew what she was talking about with regard to her advice on how I get this fixed. She simply told me to take the bike to the dealer where they could program the new key (doesn't work that way). I asked if I could get a new orange key and she didn't seem to know (apparently I can't). And there's been absolutely no follow up on the part of KTM to see if I was able to get this handled by the dealer. I have never gone "full diva" and said something like "don't you know who I am?" but I did introduce myself on the phone as "Eric Hall from XLADV," so they were able to distinguish me from any other random customer. Believe me, it would have been nice to get some special treatment but that hasn't been the case here at all. As part of my research on this I did call my local Acura dealer and asked about how long it would take to replace my car keys (2-3 days) as well as BMW (Motorrad; also 2-3 days). As a matter of fact, I learned that with BMW they're actually able to tag the incident as "VOR" which means something like vehicle off road or basically we have a bike out in the field somewhere with a rider stranded until this gets fixed; as a way of speeding up the process. Those types of things are basic CRM (customer relationship management) protocols that companies who are serious about customer service implement. It doesn't sound like KTM has any of these capabilities. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NavyNuke Posted January 29, 2017 Report Share Posted January 29, 2017 Sounds just like the Ducati Red Key situation. Not a great way to go about an anti-theft system, but hopefully SOS can take care of this for you once and for all. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Eric Hall Posted January 29, 2017 Author Administrators My Rides (3) Report Share Posted January 29, 2017 You can only program a new key to the bike if you have the original orange key. What do you mean by getting rid of the factory key set up? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Eric Hall Posted January 29, 2017 Author Administrators My Rides (3) Report Share Posted January 29, 2017 You mean the immobilizer? That would be cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allrpm Posted January 31, 2017 Report Share Posted January 31, 2017 It may be a stretch but may go down to a car stereo shop that specializes in immobilizers. They may have a solution, they upgrade and change stock stuff to fancy car starters all the time. worth a shot or a couple phone calls. RPM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Eric Hall Posted January 31, 2017 Author Administrators My Rides (3) Report Share Posted January 31, 2017 I already shipped my immobilizer yesterday to SOS Diagnostics. I could have it back as soon as this Friday or Saturday (fingers crossed) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allrpm Posted February 8, 2017 Report Share Posted February 8, 2017 Well ? It's Wednesday any updates? RPM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Eric Hall Posted February 9, 2017 Author Administrators My Rides (3) Report Share Posted February 9, 2017 There is some guy in India doing this (device to bypass immobilizer) but given that SOS Diagnostics does the same thing (very well) and are in the US, they're the only one I'd recommend at this point. I just got a call from them and they're done and about to send it back to me! I should have it on Tuesday (Feb 13). I swear I'm going to make a damn video of me starting the bike, with tears in my eyes to the tune of Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On" The glory here is SOS Diagnotics', not KTM's. That's something I'm not going to quickly forget either. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Eric Hall Posted February 16, 2017 Author Administrators My Rides (3) Report Share Posted February 16, 2017 Update.... So not quite the solution I'd hoped for yet but maybe a glimmer of hope still. SOS Diagnostics sent me the re-programmed immobilizer back this past Tuesday but I was unable to get it to work. I plugged it in and then went through the key authorization process where you put the orange key in first then each ignition key then lastly the orange key one last time. No worky. They've done lots of keys before for KTM's but not the original programming key too. He thinks I should probably take my bike to a dealer, have them hook it up and then make a particular change to the ECU and then send the immobilizer and keys back to him and he can fix it. Don't let this leave you with a negative impression of SOS though; they do a lot of this for other bikes and are very well known for it. However.... I did have someone at KTM reach out (finally) and offer an alternative solution which is the dealer programming the new key with a little help from the main office. They think it's possible, anyways so I'll try that next. If that doesn't work then I may have SOS take another crack at it. I've heard another route is buying a used ignition and key set from a pre-'10 990/950 but I think that also involves re-flashing the ECU to an old pre-'10 map and I really don't want to do that (EFI). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason R Posted February 16, 2017 My Ride Report Share Posted February 16, 2017 Rest assured that if your KTM is ever stolen and you have the keys, it will never be on the road again. It will be stripped of parts and the immobilizer and ECU tossed in the trash. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allrpm Posted February 16, 2017 Report Share Posted February 16, 2017 Back to Painting tires for another week or so! Maybe you can sell 'em and get enough dough to buy the new set-up! I feeeeeeel your pain ! Good luck! RPM 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Eric Hall Posted February 19, 2017 Author Administrators My Rides (3) Report Share Posted February 19, 2017 On 2/16/2017 at 2:05 PM, Jason R said: Rest assured that if your KTM is ever stolen and you have the keys, it will never be on the road again. It will be stripped of parts and the immobilizer and ECU tossed in the trash. Well, the bike has to have an ECU to tell the engine how to run. And it won't let it start unless there's an immobilizer sending the A-Okay signal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Eric Hall Posted February 19, 2017 Author Administrators My Rides (3) Report Share Posted February 19, 2017 Yet another update... So KTM (USA) deserves some credit here. It appears they actually do NOT want riders having reasons to say bad things so they reached out to me and extended an invitation for me to come have their local dealer (KTM Murrieta) take a look at it. The guys at KTM Murrieta (Wilson CycleSports) are really good guys. They did what they could and even with an offer from KTM USA's master tech just a few minutes away at their HQ, were not able to re-program it to work properly. The answer really remains the same as before; I need to order a brand new immobilizer with a new set of keys. That's $451 and will take a few more weeks. The guy at SOS Diagnostics isn't giving up though. It sounds like he wants another shot at it and says he can make the immobilizer like new and then the crew at the dealer can use their XC1 computer to get it running again. That will mean sending the immobilizer and keys back to them in Portland. For now, the bike is over at KTM Murrieta. As luck would have it, one of their mechanics lives down the street from me so I'm hoping I might be able to bum a ride from him to go back for the bike if and when it gets solved. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Eric Hall Posted February 19, 2017 Author Administrators My Rides (3) Report Share Posted February 19, 2017 Got to see some cool sights like Caselli's Dakar bike 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allrpm Posted March 8, 2017 Report Share Posted March 8, 2017 Any Updates? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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