Picture heavy to start, then fade away as my poor reporting skills kick in.. So finally the weather looks settled for at least 3-4 days here. Been planning a little run for a while, Pyrenees or Cevennes. Decided on Cevennes as it is a. Nearer b. Not ridden many roads there c. Planning on Pyrenees for an extended run in September. Weather forecast is great So roughly from where I am, good roads from the doorstep. Going to spend maybe twenty minutes on the A20 motorway just to save some time. Then its good roads I know heading to new roads, starting at Le Rozier and the D996, follow that to Le Gua and turn on to the D907. Looked at the 907 a few times on gmaps and it looks a corker. I promise to take some photos as proof! It looks promising though..
Sounds great, I love the Cevennes. Discovered it in as a teenager on a 350LC on a meandering ride back from Italy and have revisited numerous times since. One of my favourite routes there. Though fabulous biking roads are everywhere across the region. Stayed here with a group of mates in 2013, great memories. Ideal location for a group on a budget, kennelling my dog in the UK was more, on a nightly basis, than my share of the accommodation. My best mate's 996 on the D996 in 2010
I did the N106 and some D roads to the north on the Monster 1200r. Very good. A few cameras on the N road though. Not expecting much on the chosen routes, though my tomtom app will alert me to ‘most’ of the ‘dangerous roads’.
So, made it a few kilometres short of Rodez. Weather was perfect. Bike run in, 1st service done, so gave a couple of bursts of throttle. Hmm, lifts the front fairly easily. This looks good. Well it looked good. A few miles further, power loss then cut out. Been Katoomed. Mcu failure. Tbh earlier in the day it came up on dash that the key was out of range, this when I was riding and seemed to sort itself out. So some sort of (ktm) electrical gremlin. One of the reasons I went none Evo (one less thing to fail). Had set the suspension to comfort and dropped tyre pressures to 35f 37r which had transformed the ride and comfort, without sacrificing anything in the corners. Oh, well, bugger and many expletives! So a picture of the bike with a bin, after rolling back down the hill to park it, then the bike on recovery truck Ascension day, so KTM were shut along with most of France, bike stored at a breakdown place last night, to be taken to KTM today. We will see where it goes from here but this 3 day tour is cut short.
So sorry that your tour has been cut short. Are you staying local in the hope that the local dealer can fix it and you then continue? Or do you have commitments that mean you have to get home. Such a shame.
Oh bugger… At least you got to wait in the sun and didn’t get rained on. PS: You know you should ride a Ducati. They never fail…
Options were, find a hotel near recovery place. Then get a hire car next day. Or get picked up. I went for being picked up. 2.5 hour drive for Polly but at least I am not hanging around for an indefinite period today. Esp. in nice weather not being able to have a beer! They have arranged a courtesy car, which was supposed to be delivered to the house at 9 this morning. Instead I got a text from KTM assistance to say car at Hertz in Brive for me between the dates of 10/5 and 16/5. Well I have a car, its a motorcycle thats missing and having to collect from Brive at thirty minutes each way for two of us, plus the extra paperwork and hassle that is no doubt required is not something I find appealing. So, at home. Will ring KTM assist this afternoon when they have had ample chance to see where things stand. Ideally I want it fixed and delivered to the home address asap. I cant imagine I can drive a hire car from a Brive hire branch to the KTM garage near Rodez and abandon it there, so a discussion to be had.
I only had issues with two of my three Ducati…the none starter was down to a 5 year old battery. The other was more interesting but did not stop play. Its the first time I have been completely stuck with a motorcycle, unable to find a solution by the next day. But I have seen plenty of others who were unfortunate on trips. And no, not KTM or Ducati, it was always Kawasaki and Honda! A game of chance tbh
Shortest road trip I have done Getting it sent to my local dealer, they will look at it next week. Took a lot of phone calls, with some very bad French, an email in French and some English spoken. Whilst the guy at KTM assistance spoke better English than I do French, there was still mis understanding! Think I got there in the end. …..or is the bike going somewhere completely different….
This is exactly why I got rid of my SDR,as kept throwing up MTC and preload failure,and countless limp modes...... Had both Evo,and standard...... Usually it's the exhaust valve at fault !! Hence,why I'm now riding a Ducati...... Hope you get it sorted ASAP mate
I hoped to reduce issues by going none Evo, then fit a Healtech exhaust valve eliminator in the near future. Fault codes less of an issue if it keeps running ! It will get this year to get sorted. If it continues to be issues back to a Yamaha. MT sp. Triple or inline four (which is not the stereo typical inline four..) or a Streetfighter v2. Would have to be nearly new though. No more new bikes.
Was hoping to read about a great trip giving me some ideas for the future. Sorry it got cut short. I Seriously considered a KTM 890SMT over the winter. On paper it’s exactly what I want but I read too many stories of electrical breakdowns with KTMs. Such a shame.
