Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128103
KTM LC4 Adventure 640 and LC4 6 40 De spit e abuse such as t ha t m ete d out by Dick Bu rl e son pettI and c ompany, th e bikes hel d up f in e, w ith day-end mechanical work (bel ow) limited for the most part to routine maintenance like chang ing air filters. feat ) , t h e elect ric -start b u tt on is a lways a t the ready. Not o nly tha t, but th e bike can be kicksta rted with ease , which is co m for ti ng to know wh en yo u' re way out in th e boondoc ks wit h Lewis leading th e wa y. An oth er demer it ag ainst th e b ig five -g allon tank is th at it forc es the rider's knees o ut into e. bow -legge d stance whe n sta nd ing . Th is is ma gnified by th e KTM's rather s ho rt pe gs, so b y th is da y, seve ra l ride rs we re complaining tha t the outside s of their feet were aching a nd so re . Still, th e ta nk isn 't pa rticu larly obt rusi ve when you 're seated, a nd we thin k the range (an d ac com panying pea c e of mind ) it p rovi des make it p re fe ra b le to the optio na l 3 .2 -gallon unit. Toward th e e nd of th e day , Chuck Sun too k us o n a whoo pe d- o ut hare £, hound trail , an d a ltho ugh it wa s an absolute hoot, it once aga in highlight ed th e limi tati ons o f the LC4 's sus pens ion , whic h s lammed a nd clanked in a n a la rm ing mann er. Not only th at, (a nd borderline dangerous ly) undersprung. Actually, that's a lso part of th e reason for its s ta bility , s inc e th e center of gravity is nice and low, but we 'd gladl y give up a bit of that for a n improved a b ility to take b igg er hits . As it wa s, we simply kept a ke en eye o ut , assuring that the bike went an y where but over b ig hits . And fortu nate ly, no such ob sta cles gr eet e d us o n those numerous un planned t rips off the tra il a t high speed . DAv e Th e tr u s ty LC 4 p o we rpl a n t is renowned fo r be ing bulletproof, but we we re a little le e ry as we mounted up fo r th e second day , wh ich wou ld ta ke us from St ate line to Vegas a nd ba ck a gai n. Just after pulling into the Buffa lo Bill's parking lot the previous day , we had noti ced a small cr ack in the clutch cover, from which oil was le a kin g . Fortunately , Dick Burleson p ro v id e d some Moos e fa s t- d ryi n g e poxy , which KT M t e chnician Tom Moen had applied be fore adding a little o il. As it turned out, we needn 't h a ve worrie d , as th e putty held up just fine for the remainder of the ride . In fac t, the bike worked bett er on day two , as its gearbox - which had been notchy enoug h that we hadn 't been a ble to find ne utral - sudden ly began sh ifting smoothl y. Pe rha ps the abuse it e ndu red fo r th e p revio us day's ph oto s h oot in the Dum on t Dun e s he lp ed s pe ed u p the break-in proc ess . The ride was a little more tec hn ic al than da y o ne' s, taking us on a 150mile trip th roug h Sa ndy Valley, Love ll Can yon up to th e Red Rock a nd Blue Diam ond ar ea s , then back so uth through Go odspri ng s , Jean and Beer Bottle Pass to our ho tel. 28 MAY 9 , 2001 • cue I ... At le a st th at wa s th e p resc ribed route . S om e o f u s w e r e "lu c k y " enough to be recru ite d by Lewis for a s ide e xplo ra tion tri p up a bou ld e rfilled canyo n, where we were ab le to assess the LC4 's s k ills in rough going. It's geared a b it tall for s uc h conditions , but we weren't able to get th e clutch to go away (t ho ug h t he lever was creeping to wa rd the han dlebar). The LC4 is a five -speed , and th is section h ighlighted a c o u p le of gaps in the transm is si on (o n e between second and third , and anoth er between th ird and fou rth) ; we wo uldn 't mind seeing the bike come with a nother gear. The weight becomes more evident in the slow goi ng , however, es pe c ia lly if th e big five -gallon tank is topped off. Basically, though , th e bike wo rks fine in the gnarly stuff, as long a s you don 't get in too much of a hurry . The motor loves to be lugged down to c ra wl ing s peeds , and if yo u eve r s hould manag e to stall it (not an easy n e vv s but th e e ngi ne bogg ed seve rely (and consistent ly) thr ou gh the mogul s, a n annoyin g tra it tha t we're told is a bypr odu c t of the b ik e ' s car b u re t o r , whose s lide tend s t o s la m shut in su ch c ir c u m s t a n c e s, s t a rv in g th e mot or of fuel. The tighter going of th is day made o u r Ac erbis handguards e xtremely welcome, as we d id a fa ir amount of brush -busting . Unfortunatel y , the y don 't come standard on the bike , which we feel is a shame for a serious dual -sport machine. On the other hand, most dual -spo rt b ik e s have exhaust syste ms tha t are ei ther to o restrictive (OEM ) or too lou d (aftermarket or converted off-road) , while the LC4's is perfect. The bike is quiet enough that wind noise was m ore bothersome, but it still has a healthysounding note , and the power is ideal for adventure rid in g . No , it d oe sn ' t have t he a rm- s na p p in g feel of a YZ426F, bu t smooth delive ry. is actua lly m o re importa nt (a nd welcome) when yo u' re s pend ing the entire day in th e sad dle . It doesn 't tire the rider o ut , and it always m anag es to find tra ctio n and c hu rn ah ead. Sp ea king of adventure, no multida y off-road esca pa de would be co m p lete with out a fe w s na fus , and this d a y ke pt us hon est with a s urfeit of fla t ti res. It wou ld b e tem p t ing to b la m e t he b ikes' h e av y we ight and soft su s pe ns ion for the probl e m , but non e of the punctures we re pi n c h flats, whic h mea ns the on ly me asu re that could ha ve be en taken to preven t the problem is the run ning of foam tire inse rts. The on ly ot her gremlin to present itsel f was a y a n ke d-o u t odo mete r cable (no doubt ca used by a stray bush ), but it was e as ily fixed back at Buffalo Bill's . DAV3 We swit ched to KTM's LC4 Adven ture for the fina l day, which took us from Stateline ba ck to Victorville , by wa y o f Mountain Pass , Ko koweef Camp, Soda Dry La ke and Lucerne Valley . Based o n t he "no rm a l" 640 , the Ad venture has the looks of a re a l ra lly b ike, th ou gh it' s far less serious t ha n t he a ctu al Rall y mod e l. The m ost o bvi o us di ffe ren c e is the b ig tank -mounted fa iring, whi ch blocks wind a nd hous e s the speedometer, but it's al so go t a la rge r tank (7 .4 gallon s ) , a la rg er -di am eter fo rk (a 48mm inverte d WP, as c om pa red to 4 3 m m o n the LC4) , a nd a pa ir of Acer bis Rally han dg ua rds. T he c ha nges aren't just for looks , though we ha ve to admit it' s coo l prete nd ing like yo u're Richard Sainct on runs to the grocery store , as th e rally lo o k de finit el y ga rners m ore atten tio n o n pave m e nt sections . Mor e im portant (pe rha ps) is th e fac t th at t he Adven ture is a lso more func tiona l in tho se insta nces , a s t he fa ir ing does a n admirabl e job of ke eping th e wind off a rider's chest and (if he ducks down) head . As its m on iker sugg ests , the Adventure is a b ike that' s made for longe r distance s . It's stable and com fortable and won 't tire you out, and it easily completed this 200 -mile da y without refueling once. We had actually put in a short stint on the big bike during day one , and it had initia lly taken a while to get used to. Since the fa iring is mounted to the tank (and not the fork), it stays in place even when you tu rn th e handl e ba r from side to s ide , which can be a bit disconcerting for a while - especi a lly in tec hnica l con di tions. Our da y-one Adventure s tint had included a fair amount of slow , roc ky going, a n d since the fairing bl o c k s t he ride r's view of the fro nt whe e l, picking one's way between s tones is a little d ifficult on narrow singletrack. By day t h re e , however, we ha d c o m e to te rm s with the Adve nt u re, and it a lso he lped tha t the rou te was c om pr ised primarily of fast fireroads .