Lots of companies have stock, I haven't looked into vehicles too much nor motorcycles particularly. But you will never persuade me its not about making more money. Thats the only reason these companies make anything, and they really don't GAF about anything else.
There is no allegedly about it, I received an email from KTM which is below. This issue has been rumbling across all of the KTM forums I’ve seen. Someone even set up a FB dedicated to concerned owners. It’s not so much a recall in as much as they’ll only repair affected bikes which from what I can gather isn’t every single 799/890. Here is an important update on handling the camshaft topic for selected KTM models. Firstly, we would like to extend our apologies to the people who feel affected by the camshaft topic. We see and hear all the feedback we can, whether it's online, via authorized KTM dealers or simply through community chatter. To best equip our authorized KTM dealer network, we issued a communication on how to inspect camshafts if customers report issues on the following motorcycles: KTM 790 DUKE, model year 2018, 2019 and 2020 KTM 790 ADVENTURE, model year 2018, 2019 and 2020 Investigations have shown that a large proportion of these camshafts that are the subject of complaints are in order. In these cases, it is not a question of wear, but mostly just discoloration or running marks that have formed on the running surface of the cams or on the bearing points of the shafts and can be removed by cleaning. The overall quality and integrity of the camshaft itself is not the problem. Please visit your authorized KTM dealer, in case you have experienced the following symptoms: poor starting behaviour, clearly audible, unusual running noises from the engine and noticeably reduced engine power. If the camshafts are found to be damaged during an inspection by an authorized KTM dealer, they will be replaced. The cost of replacing damaged camshafts will be borne by KTM under the goodwill scheme. If customers have already ordered a camshaft replacement for affected models from an authorized KTM dealer in the past, KTM will re-examine new goodwill applications through the authorized KTM dealer network. If the conditions explained in this statement and in the communication to the authorized KTM dealer network are met, subsequent goodwill may be considered. KTM takes product quality seriously and continuously drives the development of its products. As part of the continuous development of our products and to improve the quality and wear behaviour of the engine, we have introduced wider rocker arms from model year 2021 and an additional oil strainer from model year 2020 to improve the overall performance and quality of the engine. Both adaptations simultaneously resolve the contributing factors mentioned above. Once again, we apologize for any inconvenience or hassle that any of our customers may have experienced. KTM VIEW IN BROWSER | IMPRINT Copyright © 2024 KTM AG, All rights reserved.
just for the record, I thought you knew this about me by now, I stick "allegedly" in for safety a lot of the time, no other reason than that, I only skimmed the story and glad I did use that term because (as you quite rightly point out) I included a mistake by calling it a "recall" - as it was referred to in at least one article.
Apologies Chris, I wasn’t having a pop at you. It’s a pity KTM didn’t address this issue much earlier. A lot of owners have taken a large bath on residuals due to the camshaft, weeping head gasket and the radiator hose issue. I px’d my 790 at 11k miles and received a good PX allowance against a Ducati Scrambler. They still have the bike and will only make £200 ‘profit’. I’m still tempted to buy it back if I can sell some of the bikes we don’t use. As I’m sure you’ve read there are all sorts of theories as to why the cams are wearing prematurely, but it does affect only some of the bikes from those years. Unfortunately it also appears the camshaft reputation has spilled over into their other models.
I feel sorry for any manufacturer that gets caught out like this, sometimes it's just one of those things isn't it? I shudder to think how much it's cost them/will cost them, in money terms. Many of us will remember similar in the automotive industry, memory hazy but Austin allegro rear hub nuts and more appropriately, the Ford pinto camshaft lubrication. Luckily Ford were big enough to bear the brunt of that.
Unfortunately there are no winners between the manufacturer nor the affected owners. Reputations losses are hard to get back and will leach into their other bikes. I owned a VFR750 in the nineties, not the best reputation for camshafts either. PX’d that against a 750 Paso which despite it reputation as the devils own work I found faultless in my ownership.
Unfortunately the quality problem reputation is deserved. See my post elsewhere reference seat lock, flat battery etc. this after the engine dropped a valve and took 3 months to be sorted. KTM France recovery a complete shower too. Treat customers with disdain, watch them walk at earliest opportunity. You would think I would have learned, took a big hit on a gen 1 1290gt a few years back. Not unreliable, just unrideable due to rubbish suspension and high speed stability (or lack thereof on any bumps..) and a gearbox of false neutrals. KTM were not interested, in fact, did not even a reply to complaints. Then came the discounts and residuals got hammered. Finding a reliable big twin that does what I want these days gets harder. Probably go back to a boxer.
that is sad to read, sometimes with all the money in the world this will still happen. Remembering the in-fighting between design engineers during product inception, and all the egos clashing, I wonder how anything ever got to the production stage of some companies.
Yes, you beat me to it. KTM only acquired Husqvarna in 2013. My understanding of it at the time was that the Husqvarna name in America had a racing heritage that KTM needed to tap into that (quite large!) market.
Early Honda CX500 gained a reputation for big end failure -"knock knock jokes " - but Honda solved it and the model recovered. Went on to a long and successful production.
Honda camshafts, by Cadbury, if I remember right… It is how the company resolves issues that counts. BMW had a lot of paint problems on the boxer engines a few years back. Their response? replace the engine! Stay in denial of obvious problems and offer no customer support, then expect to be crucified in these days of social media.
Strangely enough in this months Bike magazine there was one of their "Inside" articles on "WP or, as they are known, KTM Components" in which they make the frames, exhausts and suspension. It read more like an advertorial than anything else e.g. how many kms of pipe they use, how big the factory is, how many robots & AI are used etc etc. But at end of the article was a full page in which their vice president of global marketing addressed the camshaft issue. And I quote: "There's a little bit of a misunderstanding. It's actually not a camshaft topic: it's a finger follower topic. That's the root cause. In our investigations we found that it's the dimensions and the coating of the finger follower. It's not the material or shape of the camshaft at all. Another thing our investigations showed was that the lubrication to the cylinder head could, in a very few cases, get obstructed by debris from production processes, and not enough oil would get to the finger follower and the cam. And that could potentially cause excessive camshaft wear"
Yeah, ref the Camshafts, ‘the workshop’ did a good video on it and showed the issue is the Cross drilling of the oil way has been done incorrectly so essentially really limits the oil flow and allows the cam follower to run quite dry.
still lots of speculation and theories floating around, usually ends up being a combination of several.
Better than one of the earlier claims of excessive wear being warming your bike up on the sidestand thereby giving rise to premature wear.
Sounds like much of the motor industry is in trouble. Nissan announcing they have 12-14 months to find new investment to survive.
There have been all sorts of previous shenanigans with Nissan and it's ownership with Renault not to mention their CEO having to do a runner from Japan in a private jet shipping freight box. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renault–Nissan–Mitsubishi_Alliance#Conflict_over_control
