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Mods to my KTM 950

September 2, 2005 04:54 PM

After returning from the KTM Raid in Ouray, Co I made a few changes to my bike. It ran too hot to suit me in the high altitude and somewhat slow speeds that the jeep traffic required on the high trails. And I broke a piece on my old Arai helmet. It was old enough to be replaced anyway.

Having read the outstanding Motorcyclist Magazine review of helmets, I reassessed the Snell standard and decided it wasn't safe enough to suit me. The standard requires the helmet to withstand a double hit, but as a result, the helmet is made too hard to absorb shock and passes too many G's to the head. So, I bought a new helmet too. I bought the Shuberth S1 helmet which came just behind the highest rated helmet (an inexpensive polycarbonate that I have for my grandson). The inexpensive, but safe, helmet didn't fit well and the visor wasn't quite optically perfect. The Shuberth S1, a German high end helmet, fits all these criteria and has a pop down eye shade that works well for me. Its beautiful too.

Here it is sitting on the back rack of my KTM.

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I also changed the mufflers...

this was helpful for weight and coolness. The very heavy catalytic converters on the KTM are located high up and throw off waves of heat. The bike runs hot and the cats make it worse. And their high location makes them a burden for quick turning and toasts the legs.

So, on went a pair of Staintune stainless steel mufflers in place of the hot cats. Light and beautifully polished. They are packed with stainless steel and, therefore, do not require repacking like many other after-market mufflers. I wish they were mechanically muffled so they would be even a bit more quite. They are visible just under the helmet in the former picture. You can't see it, but the noise baffles are in place.

I also removed the doors on the air box to increase the flow. What a difference, even without the change in mufflers. With the mufflers the bike is impressive and almost a handful. The main jets need to be a bit richer, but everywhere else the response is quick and solid.

The last thing I did was to replace the radiator guard with an SW Mototech aluminum screen to increase the air flow to the radiator. Big change. The bike runs much cooler now, even cooler than it did removing the hot cats. I got it at the TwistedThrottle web site. If you look at this picture and then look at the stock protector you will see why it makes an impressive increase in radiator cooling air flow.

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A few things remain to be done: bar risers that both raise and move the bars a bit forward. A smaller counter shaft sprocket to make trail riding a bit easier.

· Adventure Motorcycling

Comments

Posted by: Flower Online [TypeKey Profile Page] at September 27, 2006 8:02 AM

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