A tale of two test-rides

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Richard Simpson Mark II
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Re: A tale of two test-rides

Post by Richard Simpson Mark II »

Good man...mine's still completely stock and I'm trying to put some miles on it.

Get some pics up of the mods as you do them, please!

Enjoy...I reckon they are a fantastic bike for the money
Richard Simpson Mark II
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Re: A tale of two test-rides

Post by Richard Simpson Mark II »

Saw the new 890 Adventure at JD Racing yesterday...it looks a lot better with the fairing infills.
Richard Simpson Mark II
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Re: A tale of two test-rides

Post by Richard Simpson Mark II »

Time for an update...after a whole 720 miles (shame on me).

Running-in and first service done over the Summer.

My brother (former British championship enduro racer) rode it on the road and said it would make a great bike for the dawn to dusk or other event with lots of wide fast tracks and big climbs.

Cruises happily at motorway speeds (65-75 mph)...unbelievable how smooth it is fo a single. Takes its toll on the Conti TCK80 rear tyre though.

I did a little bit of off-road on it today...inspecting a couple of sections for a trial I'm marshalling at the weekend.

There was water and silt everywhere. Even the tarmac back roads were in challenging condition with potholes washed out by fast-flowing water.Turning round on a lane, the back wheel fell into a massive hidden rut that was full of wet silt. Now here's the amazing bit. I hopped off and just stood beside the bike while it gently drove itself out with me pushing (not very hard) on the bars. I realised...the traction control was working. The back wheel didn't spin and the whole process was so controllable.

I've been bolting a few bits on it...I'll post pics and reviews sometime over the weekend. There's a rack, some crashbars and a few other things.
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Re: A tale of two test-rides

Post by Richard Simpson Mark II »

The bike comes with two resin handles to go behind the seat, but for some reason (homologation?) they are not actually fitted, and nor are the pillion footrests.
The bike is really difficult to handle in terms of moving it around the garage, putting it on the stand etc as delivered because of the left-hand exhaust, right-hand fuel cell arrangement. There's nothing to lift the rear of the bike with to (for example) put it on a stand...and the size of the engine means there isn't (quite) enough room for me to get either of my step-up stands under the engine without lifting the bike.
I thought a rack would be the ideal solution for lifting, and make the bike more practical as well.
I settled on the Nomad ADV rack...and then wished I hadn't as it took ages to arrive through the UK importers. I also ordered guards for the front and rear ABS sensors, and one for the rear brake master cylinder. No argument with the quality, but the delivery lead time means you need to look elsewhere if time is pressing.
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Re: A tale of two test-rides

Post by Richard Simpson Mark II »

Fitting the rack isn't straightfoward as you have to remove and drill the rear plastics. They are marked on the inside as a guide, but the local GasGas KTM dealer JD Racing pointed out the marks are slightly wrong.
I put a blob of Hylomar Blue joint compound on each of the mounting points, then carefully placed the plastics. Little blobs of Hylomar sticking to the plastic marked the appropriate places to start drilling.
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Re: A tale of two test-rides

Post by DavidS »

Will an Abba Superbike Stand work on the GasGas Richard?

As the Husky doesn’t have a centre stand fitted and, grab handles aside, as I have the same support issues with my 2014 690 Enduro, I replaced the Abba I sold some while ago. One stand fits both bikes for home maintenance.
Nice and stable on the ground with clear access to all parts of the bike (except the swinging arm bearing, obviously) but I will have to tweak the width to fit on my hydraulic bench - it is about 30mm too wide.
As you no doubt know, the 690 comes with chunky grab handles but I have fitted an equally useful Rally Raid rack.
2023 Husqvarna Norden 901
2014 KTM 690 ENDURO R
Richard Simpson Mark II
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Re: A tale of two test-rides

Post by Richard Simpson Mark II »

DavidS wrote: Sun Jan 07, 2024 9:41 am Will an Abba Superbike Stand work on the GasGas Richard?

As the Husky doesn’t have a centre stand fitted and, grab handles aside, as I have the same support issues with my 2014 690 Enduro, I replaced the Abba I sold some while ago. One stand fits both bikes for home maintenance.
Nice and stable on the ground with clear access to all parts of the bike (except the swinging arm bearing, obviously) but I will have to tweak the width to fit on my hydraulic bench - it is about 30mm too wide.
As you no doubt know, the 690 comes with chunky grab handles but I have fitted an equally useful Rally Raid rack.
I've got an Abba...which is pretty much a permanent fixture on my RSV1000 garage queen. I looked on the Abba website to see if they did adapators for the ES700, and they did, but they also said it needed some kind of raiser to cope with the height of the GasGas. TBH, I find the Abba very good at keeping the bike stable, but a right palaver to use. I was hoping someone could point me at a step-up stand that was low enough to just slide under the GG's sumpguard.
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Re: A tale of two test-rides

Post by Richard Simpson Mark II »

Here goes with some pictures.

First thing was to put some protection on the clutch and alternator covers. There's some expensive carbonfibre stuff around, but I do wonder if they might make the clutch and alternator too hot.
So I got some minimalist protectors from a Chinese company called NiceCNC, via Amazon and America. Cheap and quick to deliver. You just stick them on with automotive silicon. A very precise fit. The only drawback is they are anodised orange, so I rubber them down a bit and sprayed them with some silver engine paint.

Here's one prior to fitting.
GG niceCNCJPG.JPG
GG niceCNCJPG.JPG (86.14 KiB) Viewed 22557 times
Richard Simpson Mark II
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Re: A tale of two test-rides

Post by Richard Simpson Mark II »

Fitting the rack entails taking the panels off the bike.

Here it is, without its clothes!
GG naked.JPG
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Richard Simpson Mark II
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Re: A tale of two test-rides

Post by Richard Simpson Mark II »

Here's my method for marking out the drill points: put a piece of stud into each hole, cut the the appropriate length, put a blob of Hylomar on the end them carefully position the plastic panel. Where the Hylomar is on the inside indicates your first drilling point
GG stud.JPG
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