Husqvarna 701 (KTM 690) Enduro (Dual Sport) Project Bike - Technical Thread

[Motobene]

I'll in future be aware of potential over heating problems, so thanks for sharing this.

Years ago I did something similar to your fan on my ranch ATV, a wonderful 1997 Honda 300 4-Trax, which is air cooled. Used for everything. We also used this machine in summer with a sprayer tank on board to hand spray mesquite saplings to keep small mesquite trees from taking over pastures. A slow process best done with no wind, and in the heat. I mounted a squirrel cage fan forward of the cylinder with the output aimed it back at the front top of the head. A switch on the steering console turns the fan on to flood the head with cooling air, allowing us to idle and keep working without melting the poor thing.

I hadn't thought about cooling being an issue on the 701. So far no rides have raised issues. My hottest ride was perhaps 90 degrees ambient. Even the tech terrain I rode in WY had me moving in 1st or charging hard in 2nd, so there was always some air moving through the radiator separate from the cooling fan.

Lots of variables regarding heating and heat removal. Often the rider is not considered as a significant variable, but rider management of throttle and clutch relative to the conditions is a huge determiner of how heat is managed over time. I describe 'personality' of throttle and clutch use as one significant variable. Personality/skill differences determine the efficiency of converting chemical energy (gasoline) into kinetic energy (motion). Interesting variables like some riders tending to lead rpm and trail with throttle, while others do the opposite weigh in. Grunters versus revers, if you will. Some riders are just in a big damned hurry all the time. In my training course I emphasized thoughtful riding and manipulating time to avoid getting in a hurry to injure the body or equipment. Lots of ways this can play out. Take two riders on the same brand and size machine in wet and sticky mud, riding side by side. One rider will not harm the body with crashes or the machine, while the other rider will will become distressed and frenetic, fall repeatedly, use a ton of throttle, and burn up the clutch.

I use VERY little throttle and clutch when creeping, so much less heat is produced. I also know how long I can sustained-slip the clutch and will either stop for a few seconds or speed up enough to lock up the clutch.

The Rekluse clutch helps a lot as I can creep at very low rpm with no worries of stalling, and no manual clutch hysteresis while trying to maintain consistent slip.

Here is an example of just enough clumsy management of throttle and clutch in difficult conditions to burn up a clutch. World traveler Itchy Boots gets a helping hand from a local in green shirt who IS a very skilled rider, but ends up burning up her clutch:



One of the worst scenarios of over heating is getting trapped in stop-and-go traffic. That's about the only time I use the right thumb engine stop switch, stopping the engine when stopped, and starting to move forward to the next stopping spot. Engines shut off between idling are shedding, not producing, heat.

 

[Engineer]

I'll in future be aware of potential over heating problems, so thanks for sharing this.

Years ago I did something similar to your fan on my ranch ATV, a wonderful 1997 Honda 300 4-Trax, which is air cooled. Used for everything. We also used this machine in summer with a sprayer tank on board to hand spray mesquite saplings to keep small mesquite trees from taking over pastures. A slow process best done with no wind, and in the heat. I mounted a squirrel cage fan forward of the cylinder with the output aimed it back at the front top of the head. A switch on the steering console turns the fan on to flood the head with cooling air, allowing us to idle and keep working without melting the poor thing.

I hadn't thought about cooling being an issue on the 701. So far no rides have raised issues. My hottest ride was perhaps 90 degrees ambient. Even the tech terrain I rode in WY had me moving in 1st or charging hard in 2nd, so there was always some air moving through the radiator separate from the cooling fan.

Lots of variables regarding heating and heat removal. Often the rider is not considered as a significant variable, but rider management of throttle and clutch relative to the conditions is a huge determiner of how heat is managed over time. I describe 'personality' of throttle and clutch use as one significant variable. Personality/skill differences determine the efficiency of converting chemical energy (gasoline) into kinetic energy (motion). Interesting variables like some riders tending to lead rpm and trail with throttle, while others do the opposite weigh in. Grunters versus revers, if you will. Some riders are just in a big damned hurry all the time. In my training course I emphasized thoughtful riding and manipulating time to avoid getting in a hurry to injure the body or equipment. Lots of ways this can play out. Take two riders on the same brand and size machine in wet and sticky mud, riding side by side. One rider will not harm the body with crashes or the machine, while the other rider will will become distressed and frenetic, fall repeatedly, use a ton of throttle, and burn up the clutch.

I use VERY little throttle and clutch when creeping, so much less heat is produced. I also know how long I can sustained-slip the clutch and will either stop for a few seconds or speed up enough to lock up the clutch.

The Rekluse clutch helps a lot as I can creep at very low rpm with no worries of stalling, and no manual clutch hysteresis while trying to maintain consistent slip.

Here is an example of just enough clumsy management of throttle and clutch in difficult conditions to burn up a clutch. World traveler Itchy Boots gets a helping hand from a local in green shirt who IS a very skilled rider, but ends up burning up her clutch:



One of the worst scenarios of over heating is getting trapped in stop-and-go traffic. That's about the only time I use the right thumb engine stop switch, stopping the engine when stopped, and starting to move forward to the next stopping spot. Engines shut off between idling are shedding, not producing, heat.

I'm new to off road, but when I watch videos of people riding, I see they switch their engine off the second they come to a stop. No idling. I get the impression most bikes aren't designed to idle at high temps for long.

What prompted me to do this was a short ride recently where it was about 90 F out. I came to a technical section and stopped. I had to use a bunch of throttle for a bit to get unstuck, which kicked on the over heating light. The rest was very slow going, so it just couldnt seem to get the temperature down fast enough.

I noticed that at 70 to 80 F, the cooling system does pretty well. But once it gets to 90 or even 100 F, it can overheat (turn on the red blinking light) in very slow technical riding.

That said, I did burp the radiator again and added Water Wetter to see if that helps a bit. Its basically soap designed to decrease the viscosity of the coolant. Fortunately, It did seem to help some.

However, I figure having some extra cooling capacity can't be a bad thing. It wasn't a very expensive addition.

 

[Motobene]

I'm 53 years into off road. It's not common for riders to stop engines when they come to a stop specifically for heat reasons... they just stop. Overheating problems are actually not that common, so it's not something most riders are protecting themselves from when they stop. Now if a higher-mass water cooled engine has been run really hard and the head temperature is significantly above boiling, it's not a good idea to just stop the engine after a hard load. Backing off the load and circulating relatively cooler water a while is wise for a 'cool down' period. That not a typical need of motorcycles, so folks just cut the ignition when they are wanting to stop.

The idling at high temps usually isn't a problem, as the heat shedding is ample. I brought stopping the engine when stopping in burner weather stop-and-go traffic as an example of heat management in an extreme situation. Your situation you described as, "...a short ride recently where it was about 90 F out. I came to a technical section and stopped. I had to use a bunch of throttle for a bit to get unstuck, which kicked on the over heating light", which if I'm interpreting the situation right, with an already at-running-temp engine you encountered a tough spot which forced you to stop, then you used 'a bunch of throttle' to get going again (you didn't say for how many seconds), which put the bike into over-temp. That's what I was pointing out two posts above when I offered that rider traits are major contributors to over heating. "I'm new to off road" is a huge predictor of extremes throttle and clutch slipping to get going when unstuck. Throttle and clutch friction added on top of an already hot motor translating to over temp.

In my training courses, the first thing I do is address ergonomics. The typical lower off road skill rider has bars way back, levers angled way down, and they usually cover the clutch and brake not at all with any fingers, then in a stop or clutching situation use three or more fingers in an on and off fashion, and way to fast, in and out, like a switch. Same for the throttle. Too much, too quickly. I'd roll the bars forward some, move the lever up to about 15 degrees from level, and make sure the clutch lever was not adjusted way out against the stop, as being that way promotes 'whiskey clutch' (on-off saltatory action). The middle bone of the index fingers on both hands should be perpendicular to the ground at the center of the narrow band of clutch slip-engagement zone, and the front brake should be about 80% to maximum braking force. That can only happen when the levers aren't angled way down.

Once the ergonomics were worked out, my first lesson, after discussing the mindset of safer, higher-skill riding, was the following exercise to force reprogramming the brain fundamentally, because if a rider can't do this one thing when the going gets tough, they they WILL be spastic and maybe hurt themselves or the bike.

Find open and mostly flat terrain with some very gentle slope. Sit on the bike with feet down. Engine idling and tranny in 1st, one finger on the clutch lever and one finger on the front brake. The clutch will be the SLOW GO function and the front brake will be the slow and stop function (only used when you turn and go down the gentle slope).

• One finger always on clutch and brake levers
• Move left index finger out and find the very beginning of the clutch engage zone and hold that steady (never pull the clutch lever in or let it go out)
• Add a MINIMUM amount of throttle, as in a hair above idle AT MOST (it's better to stall that to use too much throttle) and let the clutch finger creep out a fuzz to get the bike going slightly (keep it there as though frozen)

YOUR GOAL IS TO MOVE AROUND THUS, UP THE GENTLE SLOPE AND THEN DOWN IT, ALWAYS UNDER CONTROL USING SO LITTLE THROTTLE AND SO CLOSE TO IDLE THAT IF YOU LET OUT THE CLUTCH ANY MORE YOU MAY KILL THE MOTOR

This will teach you the most base level throttle and clutch control upon which all the more advanced techniques depend.

 

[Engineer]

I'm 53 years into off road. It's not common for riders to stop engines when they come to a stop specifically for heat reasons... they just stop. Overheating problems are actually not that common, so it's not something most riders are protecting themselves from when they stop. Now if a higher-mass water cooled engine has been run really hard and the head temperature is significantly above boiling, it's not a good idea to just stop the engine after a hard load. Backing off the load and circulating relatively cooler water a while is wise for a 'cool down' period. That not a typical need of motorcycles, so folks just cut the ignition when they are wanting to stop.

The idling at high temps usually isn't a problem, as the heat shedding is ample. I brought stopping the engine when stopping in burner weather stop-and-go traffic as an example of heat management in an extreme situation. Your situation you described as, "...a short ride recently where it was about 90 F out. I came to a technical section and stopped. I had to use a bunch of throttle for a bit to get unstuck, which kicked on the over heating light", which if I'm interpreting the situation right, with an already at-running-temp engine you encountered a tough spot which forced you to stop, then you used 'a bunch of throttle' to get going again (you didn't say for how many seconds), which put the bike into over-temp. That's what I was pointing out two posts above when I offered that rider traits are major contributors to over heating. "I'm new to off road" is a huge predictor of extremes throttle and clutch slipping to get going when unstuck. Throttle and clutch friction added on top of an already hot motor translating to over temp.

In my training courses, the first thing I's do is address ergonomics. The typical lower off road skill rider has bars way back, levers angled way down, and they usually cover the clutch and brake not at all with any fingers, then in a stop or clutching situation use three or more fingers in an on and off fashion, and way to fast, in and out, like a switch. Same for the throttle. Too much, too quickly. I'd roll the bars forward some, move the lever up to about 15 degrees from level, and make sure the clutch lever was not adjusted way out against the stop, as being that way promotes 'whiskey clutch' (on-off saltatory action). The middle bone of the index fingers on both hands should be perpendicular to the ground at the center of the narrow band of clutch slip-engagement zone, and the front brake should be about 80% to maximum braking force. That can only happen when the levers aren't angled way down.

Once the ergonomics were worked out, my first lesson, after discussing the mindset of safer, higher-skill riding, was the following exercise to force reprogramming the brain fundamentally, because if a rider can't do this one thing when the going gets tough, they they WILL be spastic and maybe hurt themselves or the bike.

Find open and mostly flat terrain with some very gentle slope. Sit on the bike with feet down. Engine idling and tranny in 1st, one finger on the clutch lever and one finger on the front brake. The clutch will be the SLOW GO function and the front brake will be the slow and stop function (only used when you turn and go down the gentle slope).

• One finger always on clutch and brake levers
• Move left index finger out and find the very beginning of the clutch engage zone and hold that steady (never pull the clutch lever in or let it go out)
• Add a MINIMUM amount of throttle, as in a hair above idle AT MOST (it's better to stall that to use too much throttle) and let the clutch finger creep out a fuzz to get the bike going slightly (keep it there as though frozen)

YOUR GOAL IS TO MOVE AROUND THUS, UP THE GENTLE SLOPE AND THEN DOWN IT, ALWAYS UNDER CONTROL, AND USING SO LITTLE THROTTLE AND SO CLOSE TO IDLE THAT IF YOU TWITCH YOU WILL KILL THE MOTOR

This will teach you the most base level throttle and clutch control upon which all the more advanced technique depend.

Good advise, I will experiment with that today since I am taking the day off to do a ride in the Jemez. Although, you are arguing to an engineer that there is a human solution to what I see as an engineering problem--KTM's insufficient cooling system. To an engineer, the problem is always technical. I don't practice careful throttle control with my Jeep, I just assume the radiator and fans are sized properly for the engine. Cars used to commonly overheat back in the 1940s through 1960s, until the engineering improved.

 

[Engineer]

Good advise, I will experiment with that today since I am taking the day off to do a ride in the Jemez. Although, you are arguing to an engineer that there is a human solution to what I see as an engineering problem--KTM's insufficient cooling system. To an engineer, the problem is always technical. I don't practice careful throttle control with my Jeep, I just assume the radiator and fans are sized properly for the engine. Cars used to commonly overheat back in the 1940s through 1960s, until the engineering improved.

Well, I took the 690 for an all day tour through the Jemez mountains in Northern New Mexico. The elevation got up to 12000', but the temperature varied between 82 F and 60 F.

With the auxiliary fan unplugged, I didn't have any overheating problems, even during a slow technical descent where I spent a lot of time creeping and idling.

It turns out, I will need to use a finer mesh screen, as a small pebble got through the grill and broke off one of the fan blades. As a result, I did most of the ride without it.

I think the thing that helped the most was bleeding the coolant again and adding some Water Wetter. The auxiliary fan will probably be helpful at 90 to 100 F.

 

[Motobene]

My venerable Gen 1 KLR 685 had too little radiator area. Definitely sensitive to go slow hot weather overheating as easily seen with the excellent analalog temp gage. Many years ago I fit a a Thermo Bob to the KLR to 90% fix the design flaw without increasing the radiator area or changing the fan. Smart product!

The 690/701 looks to have about double the radiator area of a Gen 1 KLR, but it's a significantly more powerful engine.

I'm curious about Water Wetter. It's a surfactant. How does a surfactant affect heat capacity / thermal transfer?

MSDS says it's an alcohol ethoxylate (AE), which from cut and past description is a major class of non-ionic surfactants which are widely used in laundry detergents and to a lesser extent in household cleaners, institutional and industrial cleaners, cosmetics, agriculture, and in textile, paper, oil and other process industries.

When I was having issues with the KLR I investigated various additives and super coolants. At that time I didn't find cooling superiority over just plain water. Additional substances seemed aimed at design requirements other than cooling. But it's been a while so maybe I've forgotten.

 

[Engineer]

My venerable Gen 1 KLR 685 had too little radiator area. Definitely sensitive to go slow hot weather overheating as easily seen with the excellent analalog temp gage. Many years ago I fit a a Thermo Bob to the KLR to 90% fix the design flaw without increasing the radiator area or changing the fan. Smart product!

The 690/701 looks to have about double the radiator area of a Gen 1 KLR, but it's a significantly more powerful engine.

I'm curious about Water Wetter. It's a surfactant. How does a surfactant affect heat capacity / thermal transfer?

MSDS says it's an alcohol ethoxylate (AE), which from cut and past description is a major class of non-ionic surfactants which are widely used in laundry detergents and to a lesser extent in household cleaners, institutional and industrial cleaners, cosmetics, agriculture, and in textile, paper, oil and other process industries.

When I was having issues with the KLR I investigated various additives and super coolants. At that time I didn't find cooling superiority over just plain water. Additional substances seemed aimed at design requirements other than cooling. But it's been a while so maybe I've forgotten.

Watter Wetter is just a type of soap with corrosion inhibitors. You can get it at AutoZone. As such, it decreases the viscosity a bit. It turns out, viscosity is very important for heat transfer, not just heat capacity of the fluid. Propolyene glycol (e.g. engine ice or any other generic non-toxic antifreeze) has the highest specific heat, but also higher viscosity. As a result, the toxic ethylene glycol is used instead, even though the heat capacity is lower. Cooling is actually superior to Engine Ice.

However, next season, I think I will try Water Wetter with generic proplyene glycol coolant. That might give me the best of both worlds. My Berotec Cupman temperature probes indicate the coolant temp in the block can be 232 F, while the radiator thermostat is off. That tells me the rate of heat transfer from the block to the radiator is not high enough. So a higher heat capacity coolant, while maintaining the lower viscosity, could help. Another idea is a faster water pump, but I dont know if thats practical or affordable.

 

[Engineer]

Oh, I thought I should mention this. Not cheap, but it would certainly provide additional cooling.

Oil Cooler Kit for LC4 (KTM690/Husky701) - Shop

This is the complete kit you need to install the Factory Rally oil cooler to a production KTM 690 / Husqvarna 701. It includes the following: Oil Cooler (Ideally nav tower mounted) 2 x High flow braided oil lines with fittings pre-installed 4 x High flow banjo bolts 1 x CNC Machined oil bypass plug

lyndonposkittracing.com

 

[Motobene]

Lots of good info, Engineer. We engineers do like to geek out. That looks odd to most normal people who don't get 'The Knack.'



That Lyndon Poskitt sells a custom oil cooler for the 690/701 points to a need for additional cooling for - I suspect - a heavy racing throttle hand working against sand drag some summer day in the Sahara.

Not quite as ridiculous expensive as the Poskitt tranny I will fit deep in this winter, but not far off either for what it is :-0 Then again, you have to buy a fancy tower to hang the thing on, making the whole more $$ than the tranny.

As for the viscosities of various antifreezes and water, this website geeks out om the issue:

Viscosity of Automotive antifreeze – viscosity table and viscosity chart | Anton Paar Wiki

Find viscosity tables and charts for automotive antifreeze at multiple temperatures (viscosity and density values with their source).

wiki.anton-paar.com

...and that, oddly enough, seem an issue to this fellow below 20 degrees C, whereas cooling an engine at operating temperature, which is more like 90 to 110 degrees C, starts looking like a distinction without much difference.

As for thermal conductivity, specific heat, density, and cost, just plain water (red) is tops, and near the top (2nd least thick) in viscosity, but of course water loses out in the boiling and freezing points and corrosion resistance. Of the IAT (inorganic) coolants, propylene glycol is inferior in the blue attributes than ethylene glycol, the typical green stuff.

The below table might be found somewhere with the OAT (organic) and HOAT (hybrid organic) coolants.

I've used a lot of the IAT plain green stuff bought straight then mixed with less 'ionically hungry' tap water. But I'm old school. The green stuff has better corrosion inhibition than OAT and HOAT coolants. OAT and HOAT do last longer, however. How much longer may be another distinction without a difference with motorcycles, however, as we tend to put fewer miles and years on them than, say, a beloved diesel truck with hundreds of thousands of miles.

Today, in fact, I'm FINALLY getting around to replacing the HOAT coolant in my 135,000-mile RAM Cummins. Given the inferior corrosion inhibition of eco friendly HOAT versus the green stuff, the big multi-chamber translucent plastic overflow reservoir has acquired a nasty looking iron oxide coating I can't clean out. The coolant is still pretty clean, so it's not a functional issue. I just don't like looking at the stained interior, so a while back I ordered a new plastic overflow reservoir for $140. Even came with the low-level sensor for a presumed no brainer swap.

Going for 300k+ on my 'new' 2016 RAM Cummins. The last one, a 2001, was at 330k and in nice functioning shape when I sold it to one very happy young man.

 

[Motobene]

ADDRESSING THE KTM TOO-LONG KICKSTAND PROBLEM
I think it was 2019+ that the suspension travel of the 690/701 was reduced from 300mm front and rear to 250mm to help address rider complaints of typical KTM bike too tall. Given I can never bottom the suspension on my 250mm travel 701, the decision to lower the bike was right, and heck the bike is still a touch too tall.

I did not check part numbers yet to see if KTM stayed with the same kickstand/length from the 300mm-travel models. If they did it would account for the too-long kickstand problem. Could just be a KTM thing in general no matter the timing of changes. During the WYBDR, one of the hosts suggested, "You KTM riders should choose your parking spots with forethought to be able to get your kickstand back up after the break."

This 701 is my first KTM since owning one in 1974 (Penton), and two in 1985 (a 350 and a 500), but certain characteristics seem to gave gotten sticky over time, like tall seats, high foot pegs, harshness in the suspension, and who knows... long-ish kickstands?

On flat pavement or when parking unwisely off pavement, given the tall seat height, most riders can't get up off the seat and lean the bike to the right to allow the kickstand to clear the ground. A couple of riders during the WYBDR got stuck in place, unable to move forward, requesting help to secure the bike in a right lean so they could get the stand up. The more kit that is added to the bike, the worse the problem. Several times on the WYBDR during flat pavement stops, I struggled to get my stand to clear. I can't tippy toe on my right side so it got weird leaning that way. I vowed then and there to shorten my stand.

Now one positive attribute of the longish OE kickstand is being able to sit on the bike feet up almost straight up. Very comfortable on that Seat Concepts Comfort XL, like an office, but that attribute is less important than getting the stand up.

First step to shortening was to figure out by how much. Using various thickness pads under the tires, off the bike and sitting on it, my best guess was to remove a 16mm section about 25mm above the foot. Don't forget to scribe a line down the long axis across the cuts before you cut the section out, or you'll lose the correct foot clocking relative to the pivot. I kept the stock clocking and you can see in the photo how the foot sits flat on the floor. After shortening I got 15-17 degrees lean angle from vertical (I didn't measure the previous lean angle, sorry):

This is a normal amount of lean. Not too much for too much foot pressure and more sink, not too little such that a gust of wind can push the bike over.

Now when I sit on the bike feet up the lean angle to much for comfort, but now balanced vertical while seated, I can raise the kickstand without catching on the floor. If I push down harder with my foot and take out the spring biased pivot slop angle, the stand will barely kiss the floor as it swings around. Either way, no leaning against the right leg is required to get the stand to clear the floor.

YUP, IT'S MULTIVARIATE
Kickstand clearance is multivariate, so me giving you a number to shorten by, as in 16mm = 5/8", which should be good for the vast majority of situations, but as always, a caveat, as ideal shortening is affected by multiple variables like your bike's ride height from fork position in the triple clamps for spring rate and preload amount, rear spring rate/preload, how much fuel is in the tank, how much kit you have loaded on the bike, how much crap is protecting your body (your total body weight), tire profile and wear, etc.

The setup in the photo is 0,72 kg/mm fork springs (from 0,73 stock), at minimum preload, and 8.0 kg/mm rear spring (from 7.2 stock) at a ridiculous 13mm of spring preload for camping kit, but the same preload works well when the bike has no kit. This tells me I should have fit maybe a 9,2 or even 9,4 spring so I could run less preload.

PREVIOUS KICKSTAND WORK
For a full view of kickstand issues I repeat here that I had eliminated the kickstand switch. First simply by removing the steel part holding the magnet. Some have said things like "I take a spare magnet with me just in case", but the magnet is NOT over the sensor when the stand is UP. No magnet means no problem starting the bike:

A flaky sensor can lead to no-start condition if something inside goes pfft, or there's a problem with the last bit of wire past the connector, which is up in a protected area. A complete fix to the infernal kickstand switch problem is removing the magnet AND disconnecting and removing the sensor.

As I do to all bikes, I earlier added area to the foot via cutting a section from a big washer and welding that to the back side of the foot. More contact area is good when adding more lean, for obvious reasons.

 

[Antti]

Just for your inspiration.. few pretty hot parts over here.


https://www.crtperformanceparts.co.uk/ktm-690-husqvarna-701?page=8

 

[Motobene]

Antti, those parts are mostly SM-oriented. I'm not much into SM, though I know it's fun.

A recent ride of dry and sometimes rough two track near Madrid, NM also included some highway. SO much yummy to appreciate with my highly modified 701, which is as close to a unicorn bike as I have owned.

It was also a test ride for my friend and his 'cheap bastard special' DR650 as I had just done the re valve of his forks and his shock with RaceTech Gold stuff. I should have known better on the shock to trust Racetech's build specs, but the DR shock is weird, having a pretty much useless compression adjuster but no through-rod bypass (rebound) adjuster. Racetech wanted an added $500 for that capability and friend is... well, as fine an example of of a 'cheap bastard' as exists on earth!

My gut told me to drill the bypass hole through the shock piston bigger than 1.6mm (2.0mm would have been better). He also fit quite stiff 0,58 kg/mm fork springs and the shock spring was already quite stiff at 8,5 kg/mm. Overall suspension quality was MUCH improved over stock, but trusting Racetech's build recommendations has proved consistently off, as the result is slow suspension in hot weather and glue slow suspension in cold weather. Without the rebound bypass adjustment, get get what you get on the shock with no adjustment. He's pretty happy, but also a lot less sensitive and picky than me.


We swapped bikes coming down off Sandia Crest toward Placitas on the rough off pavement 2-track. I know I could have made one fine semi-unicorn bike out of a new DR650 and throwing a lot of expensive parts at it, and come out spending significantly less money on the project and been pretty happy. My friend's comments on the 701 were, "This is a really fun bike! It feels longer and more stable powering out of corners and over the rough stuff." His DR has lowered pegs and raised handlebars, so the standing ergos are actually quite good. My 701 has much lower pegs than stock. He said my peg-bar relationship felt a little more vertically cramped than his modified DR, which goes to show just how ridiculous high KTM pegs are start with.

TRANNY RATIOS
[UWSL]Loving the Rekluse clutch on the 701 (I'll never go back... just much easier and safer to ride a big bike with one). The tall 1st gear is much more elastic and thus much less tall feeling, which enabling running the stock final drive such that the too-low 6th gear is not to-low(er) trying to compensate for the too-tall 1st gear. In the continual dialog from my internal 'bike optimizer', lowering 1st and a raising 6th (we've all done it - trying to shift into 7th gear because that would be the natural thing to do) has clicked into the new 1st priority of desired improvements, and fortunately, the HIGH cost of the Nova Racing wider-ratio-spread gear cluster is already water under the bridge. What is not done is the swap, which will take significant time and space in my garage to pull off. I've been waiting on deep winter to do this last major thing.[/UWSL]

[UWSL]Comparatively speaking, the stock 701 isn't as bad as my friend's DR650 5-speed, which was classically lowered in the final drive by plus 2 teeth on the rear sprocket in an attempt to climb over the tall 1st gear. The tractor-like, low-RPM-biased DR motor helps with that, but still, it's sadly ridiculous that Suzuki opted long ago for a narrower-ratio-spread box. Yup, they all do, because shift spacing is something they all over weight relative to ratio spread. The DR would have been a killer with a wider-ratio-spread 6 speed, but that's water long under the bridge. There is a Nova Racing box available for the DR too, for the 'space no expense' types like me, but no Rekluse clutch (boo).[/UWSL]

Swapping the stock gear cluster out with the Nova Racing wider-ratio-spread gearbox in the 701 got pushed off to deep winter because I had too much going on and so much lower fruit to pick on the unicorn tree.

In the meantime, the weather has been absolutely ideal, dry, with warm afternoon, so getting in more rides is a priority. Scheduled to do the multi-day Rubber Chicken Ride in November based out of Truth or Consequences, NM, for one. My first Rubber Chicken.

KICKSTAND
The 701 is a bike that tends to settle quite a bit especially on the rear, as the rear suspension linkage is I think leveraged more than some bikes. Despite my stiffer rear spring and a (to me) whopping 13mm of spring preload, the bike will settle a good bit under its own pork.

The ride was my first significant test of the shortening of the kickstand by ~16mm. Definitely more lean angle on level ground, and sitting on the bike feet up and kickstand down, the bike no longer settled to a sitting comfortable near vertical, but I could get the kickstand up straddling the bike on level pavement without a lot of lean-right monkey business. But still... the tip will contact the ground on the swing-through a little bit. I learned a helpful trick of coming at the stand with some velocity and contacting it with my heel instead of pushing it back with my toe.

More lean angle provided more parking options on sloped concrete and undulating dirt. I didn't have to be quite as vigilant as before to pick a more ideal parking spot. My added foot helped prevent sink-in on dirt from a greater lean angle.

 

[Motobene]

Today we depart for the annual New Mexico Off-Highway Vehicle Association Rubber Chicken Ride weekend. I will be missing the NMTA trials event this weekend as a result, but given I have never done the Chicken, and it's long been on the bucket list, riding the Super Yummy my 701 this weekend was a no-brainer choice.

I so often speak of the technical, but we moto heads do what we do out of pure passion and the pleasure of turning the miracle fluid into a forward motion experience with friends. All the techie stuff for me is an enjoyment of the layers underlying the experience so that I can experience the experience instead of getting distracted by multiple sub-optimal details, which are like many small pains distracting from a fulfilling experience.

HELMET
I am now quite amazed at myself... at my decade-long loyalty to my too-small Bell original-version of the new Star helmet (Medium). Compared to no helmet that helmet was quite good, but having now paid for two rides with my noggin inside of an Arai XD4, I shake my head at what I put up with for so many years! As for sizing, I the Bell Star was via on-line order and I went by Bell's measurements to size it. The Arai table also said I was at the top of Medium, but that too was wrong. With such a pricey helmet I was not about to experiment on line again and went to a store to try on helmets. Turns out I actually should wear a Large. I always had to squeeze through the opening of the Bell, and donning and doffing the helmet multiple times a day would create sore spots on my temples from dragging the helmet hole across them. Interesting is the Arai is almost just as tight passing through the hole, but once my head is inside the fit is very noticeably better, not only from the size difference, but from the superior Arai design.

One unexpected significant difference between the Bell Star and Arai XD4 is how much quieter the Arai is! It is very possible that my now constant tinnitus has come earlier because of the Bell. That despite me being pretty diligent to always ride at speed with EAR yellow foam earplugs pushed WAY in. In crosswinds I could get a torture of thrubbing in the Bell and my ear plugs would sometimes walk out some, making that worse, but so far that has been absent in the Arai.

When I ride off road and below about 45 mph, I don't like to wear ear plugs. For technical off road open ears adds positional signal to the brain from sound bouncing off the enviro. But any time I'd get out on even 55mph road without ear plugs with the Bell it could have some varying aspect of torture. On the WYBDR I got caught out twice when the group suddenly did a road section, and I paid for that with louder octave of high-frequency tones ringing in the brain for days. I should have just stopped to put earplugs in and then caught up to the group. Turned out some added dust was better for me than no ear plugs!

MO-QUALITY versus DOGGED LOYALTY
Sometimes quality really is worth paying for and working toward, but we all get used to, and can get fiercely loyal to the familiar, to what we have long had. My `03 Gen 1 KLR 685 was VERY modified and remains a way up the unicorn-bike list. For years I'd swap out with fancy GSs, 690s and other similar other bikes and come away with the KLR being superior. In many ways it was... but only heavily modified. I did not take to the 690/701 because of its quirks, but now heavily modified, it's like the helmet experience. The KLR is like my Bell Star (pretty darned good), but the 701 is qualitatively clearly a superior machine. So smooth, precise, thoroughbred, and fun!

OIL & FILTER CHANGE + RADE GARAGE
Quite pleased with no apparent oil consumption and at about 2,200 miles the oil is still very clear in the sight glass. For the best Rekluse clutch performance and for excellent engine oil I use Rotella T6 (full synthetic) 5W40, a great oil for diesel engines that has the JASO additive package for friction clutches. Not cheap stuff so I don't want to be dumping it out early. I think I could easily get to 5,000 to then review for oil change if this keeps up.

Pleased as well with oil filter life with respect to miles and significant off road in dry conditions. My air filters are always sticky with Maxima FFT filter oil with one squeeze out after soaking, which stops pretty much anything from getting the top end. Even water, as water will just run around the outside given the excellent liquid filter oil. Here's how things looked right after 1,400 miles of WYBDR, filter sock on:

Filter sock removed and cleaned, the filter was quite clean:

So I kept running the same filter untouched until now and sockless at 3,000 miles. The Rade Garage filter setup, though exposed, is well protected in the compartment under the seat.
I expected more exposure to the dust stream. Maintenance-wise this is also good as I don't like have to mess with air filters often:

Yup, gonna fit the second filter (in the bag on the right) and find the sock and put that over too. Getting the sock on in the tight confines is no fun. I'll try this time to drape it around the lower back side then put the filter on, screw it down, and drape the sock over the front.

Last night for The Chicken I transferred stuff from the Mosko 80 dry bags to the Garage. I managed to stuff in some heavier items to centralize mass. My stuffed Mosko Pinner tool roll, which fit well in first. Then a front tube with field-tire-work lubricant WD-40.

 

[DJ_MI]

Very cool. I didn’t get a chance to read the whole thing yet but I’m enjoying it so far. Thanks for sharing

 

[Shinyribs]

Watter Wetter is just a type of soap with corrosion inhibitors. You can get it at AutoZone. As such, it decreases the viscosity a bit. It turns out, viscosity is very important for heat transfer, not just heat capacity of the fluid. Propolyene glycol (e.g. engine ice or any other generic non-toxic antifreeze) has the highest specific heat, but also higher viscosity. As a result, the toxic ethylene glycol is used instead, even though the heat capacity is lower. Cooling is actually superior to Engine Ice.

However, next season, I think I will try Water Wetter with generic proplyene glycol coolant. That might give me the best of both worlds. My Berotec Cupman temperature probes indicate the coolant temp in the block can be 232 F, while the radiator thermostat is off. That tells me the rate of heat transfer from the block to the radiator is not high enough. So a higher heat capacity coolant, while maintaining the lower viscosity, could help. Another idea is a faster water pump, but I dont know if thats practical or affordable.

Im late to this conversation, but have some experience with Water Wetter.


I was deep in to auto drag racing when WW came out and cooling 1,000-1,500hp V8's was a struggle in traffic.. Long story short, WW did help cool better , but you aren't allowed to run antifreeze at racetracks anyway because it's so slippery if it gets spilled. Mixing WW with antifreeze somewhat neutralizes WW's effectiveness, to about half.


When we were first trying WW out it was early days before the internet was common so we just called them on the phone to ask if we could mix it with antifreeze, and that's the info they gave us. Afterwards a chart showed up on the bottle showing how glycol cuts back on WW's effectiveness. It might still be there. Just a FYI.

 

[Motobene]

So far no issue at all cooling the 701 just as is. The Rubber Chicken Ride has a lot of desert and it was generally warm and dead still. Palomas Gap uphill has sections of lots of rocks where losing momentum and come off the pegs after standing defaults one to legs-down creeping. Only occasionally would I hear the fan kick on. It wasn't really hot, so that test is still to come.

'Nuh-mo-vah' (NMOHVA) RUBBER CHICKEN RIDE
Twas multi-day and fun! The weather was absolutely stunning gorgeous with almost no wind. About freezing in the morning, then the sun would warm things up nicely each day.

On our first day we did 140 miles around Mount Withington, after trailering the bikes from TorC to cut down on road miles. At 10,000 feet near the summit, we stopped for a sunny lunch and a warm nap. I had brought lots of warm clothing just in case, but didn't need it. Avoiding the many 'grenade rocks' on the route kept us nice and toasty. I especially enjoyed the east side with the views and the fun 'fence line' section, where Joe and I were setting a toasty pace (we blew one surprise blind corner and thank goodness no deep drop in the braking run-out!).

New Mexico is a huge state. The majority of it lies south of I-40. Spent years of my life here with 99.9% of my time since 1970 above I-40. Having a few days to ride south in the desert and up the local mountains was fabulous experience. I heard several veteran riders comment that the area surrounding Truth or Consequences (TorC) is their favorite place to ride, anywhere. I can see that. So much vast space, few people, and a huge variety of terrain.

Here's a chunk of NM south and southwest of Albuquerque, where we now live. We stayed in a VRBO in Truth or Consequences. Many riders stayed at the Red Pelican Lodge in downtown. To give some idea of the scale of the state, in the portion below, Albuquerque to TorC on I-25 south is 2-1/2 hours at 75mph. The darker areas below are are higher and forested. The lower areas are desertic. It's weird to be riding in bone-dry in desert, then an hour later be riding through tall ponderosa pines.

The Chicken is scheduled annually in November because November is usually dry and really gorgeous. Not too cold nor hot. We got really lucky on the timing between weather systems.

Being dry, dust is the major hassle. There were groups of up to 10 riders, but Joe and I chose to ride alone to avoid the more serious dust. Fifty years of riding together has us operating somewhat as one brain, with precisely defined roles so I can trail Remora-on-shark close, always on the left and just a touch behind close enough to where Joe can hear my intake noise to know where I am. Riding left requires having to calculate a lot. My line and his, with razor focus on the milliseconds to respond to opposing traffic. Also watching if he might deflect an injurious killer rock into my line.

When I see things go gnarly I back off to let Joe have the whole width. I'll eat some dust or rock spray, then have to delicately power up to catch up to the dust-stream-free Remora spot, as the 701 is so powerful wheel spin is just a throttle hand twitch away. In general this riding style is not easy in low-traction terrain with line-interrupter 'grenade' rocks because side drifting and sudden deflections are common. Once we both blew a corner at speed and thank goodness there was no canyon where we had to brake straight to haul down the speed. It's riskier riding, but I will do anything to avoid riding for hours in dust!

I really enjoyed riding my 701. Most riders were on bikes 100+ pounds less in weight and I can see why. Riding the larger bikes takes significantly more energy. My Beta 390 would have been less tiring in the rough, but then again also more intense in the speed sections. Next time I go down I'll favor the 390 and Joe his WR450F to be able to target more hardest-sections miles. His DR and my 701 are modified a lot and can do the harder sections, but the bigger bikes up the risk to body. Down there the risk is mostly from dry-low traction, grenade rocks, and surprise erosion ditches from past blow-out rains.

One rider doing Chloride Canyon had a big crash. Turns out he was more broken than he appeared, with TorC hospital finding a broken collar bone, ruptured shoulder bone, three busted ribs, one poling into a lung. They life flighted him to El Paso. The word was it was loss of traction, getting deflected sideways in a rut followed by high side and the big flying W followed by a crunch.

Fortunately we never went down, though both of us had some sphincter-puckering sideways deflections with rock explosions. Hello! Speaking of that...

SUSPENSION & TIRES
The 701s perniciously slow-responding suspension coupled with the need to run higher pressure (18psi) to avoid pinch flats resulted in some quick and scare deflections. It took half a day of brain recalibration ascending Mount Withington for me to finally start relaxing more and getting sharper on the milliseconds of line calculations to miss all the grenade rocks (except a few in shadow). Bigger, heavier bikes are just more work and it takes more to regain and hold the confidence with them.

The stock rear shock and the WP6500 cartridge kit for the forks are still both clickers wide open. There's essentially no adjustment, thanks to WP's off emphasis on landing triple jumps and slamming huge g-outs, the cost? Reduced terrain conformability and especially absorption of high-frequency chop and the square edge stuff that can make you shit your pants. While I did find it fun to blast deep V- or U-shaped erosion ditches without getting spit off the bike, considering the whole of my riding scenario, faster-reacting suspension would be a plus. Going to change that during the big tear-down when I swap the stock gearbox for the Nova Racing wide-ratio box.

I went simple on the 701 and stuck with tubes and no rim locks. Works great and reliably, but I can't drop the pressures far enough to increase high-frequency absorption. I fit Tubliss on the Beta 390 and typically run 7 to 10psi front and rear. With the weight of the 701 the equivalent pressure might be 10-13psi, but without the Tubliss system's absolute bead retention I'm not comfortable going that low on the big, powerful machine with tubes. The Tubliss system takes a LOT of wheel weights to balance at speed, however, but maybe that will be a mod worth doing in future? Or I just live with it and speed the suspension up.

GEAR RATIOS
More confirmation that the Rekluse clutch is just fabulous on the 690/701, especially with the hand brakes only, no clutch lever, and no foot brake. The Rekluse fixes a lot of what is wrong with the tall 1st gear, but I found another justification for the upcoming change to the Nova Racing gearbox with lower 1st gear: I was following Joe back down from 'radio antennas mountain.' Lots of rocks requiring slow going in 1st gear to pick through them. Joe's travel rate was sometimes below the minimum clutch rpm (just a touch above idle) required to retain engine braking on the 701 (given the tall 1st gear). That wasn't a problem so much as a distraction, and sometimes I'd blip of the throttle to re-lock the clutch. More recently I've gotten away from super-immediate clutch engagement off idle (bare minimum plates clearance at idle) on all three of my Rekluse clutch bikes. This was to slightly raise engagement RPM to reduce judder if a slight bit too much power was fed into the clutch right off idle before the oil and clutch had warmed. The KLR is bad about that, the Beta has a little, and the 701's excellent Adler clutch has no judder, only some pulsings when barely engaging the clutch from the angular acceleration pulses from the powerful LC4 engine. Judder is different feeling and on top of angular acceleration pulses.

Anyway, it occurred to me riding down slowly that the lower 1st of the Nova Racing gearset would retain throttle-off engine braking down to a lower RPM. This after musing the day before if a lower 1st would feel too low when throttling through rough terrain, but then I realized I was really grunting during those times, and the 701 loves rpm so lots of room to adjust the style slightly.

One of my goals on rides is to shut the brain up, climb up out of my head, and focus on the immediate, to not die or get injured. It's a fine Zen, but hard to do. It's hard enough to not wander off into some other world, like a dolphin simultaneously sleeping and swimming, and also hard to not play in mechanical optimization what-if scenarios, the blessing - and curse - of the engineering mind.

here's a video from stopping for lunch and being joined by another group of riders. It was SSE of TorC (red below) at the 'radio antennas.'

A movie of the photo session with some of the views. My phone camera is messed up so please forgive the zoom and buzzing audio.

Uploads - buffalodream

This video hosted by SmugMug; your photos and videos look better here.

buffalodream.smugmug.com

 

[Motobene]

FILTER SOCKS
During the post Chicken Ride bike maintenance, I pulled the filter sock to clean it. Pleased to find the UNI filter from the Rade Garage kit underneath the sock still squeaky clean underneath. I lightly oil the sock all over before pulling it over the filter. Socks are a great innovation.

LUBRICATING O-RING CHAINS?
Who cares? Just go ride! But I like my stuff to last as long as possible and cause the fewest problems possible, so I'll share some chain maintenance ideas from my experience, which spans half a century. And usually it's the stupid shit and learning experiences which refine one's thinking on chains. Incidents like:

Saying yes to a cross country race near Tulsa Oklahoma in the winter in the `80s when I knew a major cold front would pass through on race day. Lowland black mud course that crossed a creek many times. It was a hell day of slime mud starting at about 50 degrees with rain and ending in the 20s with sleet hitting the eyeballs because goggles would immediately fog up. Traction was so low the KTM 350 was 4-stroking most of the ride. To fall anywhere near a creek crossing was to slide into the water at the bottom a and have quite the struggle to extricate one's self. One of my previous values for years was no DNFs. A cross country race later on a KTM 500 broke that spell (long story), but up to that point no DNFs, so I finished, then after enduring the 15 minute ceremony at the end retreated to my truck shivering, heat full on, enduring hypothermia.

I drove half across the state through the winter storm, wondering how I ever thought that would be fun! 'It's the stupid shit you remember', and I certainly have. Nicely warmed by the drive, I had compassion on the poor steed, which was just a mud slime ball with sleet stuck to it. After the necessary pressure washer aggression, when rolling the bike to the trailer ram the chain rolled off onto the ground with unzipping noise with the tinkles from the master link and plate. No master link clip could be found. Apparently the mud was holding the whole show together.

That chain was worn out and tossed. Chains don't 'stretch', they lengthen in pitch - the distance between any two adjacent pivots - from pin/journal/bushing wear, and it's the mismatch between sprocket pitch and chain pitch creates huge pressures on the power-transmitting teeth, wiping the sprockets out over time. But one race? That was with the stock a Regina non-o-ring chain. Regina has been my least favorite chain brand as I have found them softer and more wear prone. I bought the most expensive o-ring chain available at the time, an Izumi straight-plates for the then exorbitant sum of $95. That chain lasted me across 4 bikes and many years, ending up finally on a TY350 trials bike after I stopped cross country racing to dive for decades into trials.

Today I don't use o-ring chains on trials bikes, as they heavy and unnecessary. Trials bikes come from Yurp with the thinnest of the 520 chains, having 1.8mm thick plates, the lightest. In USA 2.0mm-plate chain is the common standard and you have to pay over $110 for DID ERS2 chain, which is the only non-trials importer option for light chain. So I make my trials chains last many years by keeping then clean and always wet looking with lube.

But whether non-o-ring or not, and no matter the bike, I begin each ride with a wet-looking, lubricated chain. As such, I rarely have to adjust chain slack very rarely have to replace chains and sprockets. Preferably lubricating no later than the day before so the lube can tack out and as such, sling off less. Then again I do not live any more in the wet eastern half of the country, and I seek to avoid 'adventures' in mud.

Going way back to the early `70s, we didn't have many choices of fancy spray chain lubes. Most of us were dirt poor and used just motor oil, which was better than nothing but would sling off fast. Some guys tried WD-40, introduced about a decade before, but WD-40 is mostly solvent and super thin, so it was gone faster than motor oil. Then there were the guys who thought chains would wear faster from dirt being magnetically 'attracted' to lube. Squeaking chains draped loosely on the sprockets and swing arm. To each his own anality!

Today there are a lot of decent chain lubes. Most or all consist of a light or medium petroleum distillate carrier with paraffins/waxes. Sometimes they throw in some entrained lubricious particulates, like 'Retsin' in Certs. The bulk of sustained lubrication, however, isn't from the 'Retsin' but from the paraffins/waxes because they hang around longer against sling forces, dust, dirt, and mud.

I just recently ran out my usual chain lubes and had to re order. I typically start with some DuPont Chain Saver, then chase with CRC 'food grade chain lube' because it has more body and waxes. This order I added a can of CRC 03058 'extreme open gear and chain lube' as an experiment. If that proves too thick, I'll spray it on first then chase it with the more watery Dupont Chain Saver.

Update: the 'extreme' lube isn't at all too thick, but it is a nasty smelling brown stuff. I think I'll fling and endurance test that on a trials bike.

 

[Motobene]

Very cool. I didn’t get a chance to read the whole thing yet but I’m enjoying it so far. Thanks for sharing

Hey I lived north of Kalamazoo a bunch of years!

 

[DJ_MI]

Hey I lived north of Kalamazoo a bunch of years!

very cool. You weren’t far south of the start of the west side trails. Did you trail ride back then?

 

[Motobene]

very cool. You weren’t far south of the start of the west side trails. Did you trail ride back then?

DJ_MI, no. My years in Michigan was on a fine rural forested property of glacial moraine. My passion was modifying trials bikes and riding them in events, and writing and sharing what I was learning. I competed in MOTA (Michigan/Ontario) and our WMTC (West Michigan) club, and sometimes went to Indiana to ride events.

Some years later, a neighbor gave me a `81 Yamaha XS650 languishing under a tarp under a pine tree. Out of that bike blossomed years of road riding for me and wife on our own bikes, which is beautiful stuff in Michigan and deer-risky as hell. There was quite the road culture in Michigan. We made friends and did some long rides. Wife and I would sometimes ride our bikes as far as Michigan to California and back, camping only. Over time our bike preferences shifted toward the large dual sports and away from road bike and especially cruisers, which we found to generally suck.

At that time I did hear about the extensive Michigan trail networks, but that was not part of my culture then because I had had a hard conversion away from fast offroad bikes to trials while living in North Texas. Trials is ALL I did for MANY years. Before that it was off road, motocross, enduro, and cross country racing. I began to question the safety and expense of the go-fast machines as my skills developed and I was pushing things faster and bigger. Nutso-fast woods riding is an intense thrill for sure, trees missing little fingers by an inch (and sometimes not, but we were too cool to use bark busters). Trials really intrigued me because it was hard, intense, and satisfying, yet required no major dust making and mayhem fast riding. And now almost 40 years later I'm still in trials, making a case for sustainability even into the ageing years.

Today I cover electric on and off road under 32 mph, trials, street legal off road, and transcontinental riding and camping (or motel), should I choose to endure the accumulating pain. One things that hasn't changed at all is that the technical side is still as important to me as riding. My now wife first met me face to face 50 years ago when she entered my garage to find me greasy handed and hovering over the guts of an Ossa Phantom transmission.