In keeping with the defections...

[ckcarr]

I'm not keen on the tube tire thing with my F650 Dakar either, especially in the middle of nowhere. Wonder if there are alternate wheels I could buy??

[wswartzwel]

There are companies that can seal the rims you have, to run tubeless.. I don't mind tubes though.. if you run plenty of air they are pretty dependable

[anotheroldrider]

It's stunningly easy - just not cheap. I've done half-a-dozen sets, and the ones on my current motard street convert KTM have now been on two bikes over three years & seen at least 6 or 8 sets of tires in regular if not daily use. Neither wheel shows any sign of deterioration and neither have ever leaked.

You could probably use gorilla snot, but I use a two-part urethane rubber called Flexane made by Devcon - it's available in a couple different versions (brushable and trowleable). Grit blast inside the wheel drop-center, priime, and apply the rubber in a thin, even layer - that's it. (Cover the ends of the nipples first so you can adjust the spokes without damaging the rubber, and be sure to extend the rubber up onto the valve stem.) Obviously, this precludes rim locks, but how many people use rim locks on street tires?

There seems to be a misconception that it somehow has to contribute to the wheel - it doesn't, all it has to do is hold air. There are a couple rim profiles that are appropriate for tubeless use, the most common AFIK is "MT" profile. It'll be stamped on the rim edge, but basically, there's just a little ridge to help hold the tire in place in case of a flat. I've never really understood how getting a flat with a tube on a non-MT profile rim would be any less dangerous than getting one with a sealed rim run tubeless, but that's got to be your decision, not mine. Given the cooler running, reduced weight at the outermost rotating part of the wheel, and general tendency for a punctured tubeless tire to lose air more slowly than a punctured tube-type tire, I'd be hard pressed to ever build an unsealed wheel again.

[R1100SPORTour]

MoDog in case you missed the joke.The Fuehrer as your KTM are both from austria...that why he would have approved your choice of defection...
Anyways for 5 grand less I might have been able to live with the pain of a chain and watercooling,too...
Keep us informed if the waterpump still goes around 10K and if the rear headgasket still likes to blow like they did on the 950's...
Otherwise a very manly bike you got there,I'm jealous...
Hope you are ready for Adventure,too...

[slowrider]

I'm loving the dual sport thing right now...



My friend's 950 is very sweet and mostly well behaved until recently. On this particular trip the though some bolts back out and ruined his charging system/stator and ended the trip like this:





for the ugly details (half way down the page)

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=362133&page=3

[AndrewA]

/\ Ouch! That blows (and sucks).

[wswartzwel]

[peter f]

That 990 adv thing is (by a huge margin) the next best thing...erm...you know what.

Congratulations (reliability issues still around mind, especially with rear wheel assembly and some gasket leaks).

That said the mapping could be a "bit" better.

[Rapid Dog]

...something about watching out for water pump seals too.

[MoDog]

Yeah...I'm aware of the demons; it seems that every bike has its weaknesses...the water pump on one, the FD or EWS on another, etc. The mapping seems pretty good on my '08, but that could have something to do with dealer set-up. I rode an '07 demo at another dealer that was jerky and seemed very on/off...almost scary in a slow curve. The throttle response on my '08 is smooth and predictable. It's funny that the two bikes could be so different.

It could also be that much like the boys at Bay-Em-Vay, the KTM dudes do quiet upgrades (on problems that don't exist) throughout the model runs.