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XT660Z Reviews The "Z" - Good or Bad

 
 
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Old 13-02-11, 05:17
syzygy9 syzygy9 is offline
Newbie XT-Moto
 
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Perth
Posts: 11
syzygy9 is on a distinguished road
an XT660Z or the GS800 or the KTM990 ???

The eternal dilemma - an XT660z or the more expensive (but veeeeery sexy) GS800 or KTM990!

My requirements are;
1. reliability
2. ease of getting parts in remote places
3. ability to repair in remote places
4. fuel range (tank size and fuel consumption)
5. ability to take a hit and keep working (ie fall over without killing it!)
6. handling 50/50 off-road / on-road
7. engine performance
Looks, brand cachet, are way down the list.

So without ever having ridden any, the way I see it based on my armchair internet research;

KTM990 (damn I love that bike! but)
- expensive (to buy and maintain),
- reliability issues,
- fragile
- hard to get parts
- poor fuel consumption
- hard to maintain yourself (seen the oil change procedure on this thing, what corporate brain surgeon dreamed that one up!)
- probably very difficult to get running yourself if you have a problem in a remote location
+ fantastic motor
+ fantastic suspension
+ reasonably light
+ good fuel tank
+ looks soooo goddamn sexy!

BMW GS800
- expensive (to maintain),
- more expensive than the XT660Z
- reliability issues,
- fragile
- hard to get parts
- hard to maintain yourself
- probably difficult to get running yourself if you have a problem in a remote location
- poor fuel tank (16L)
+ less expensive than the KTM
+ fantastic motor
+ good suspension
+ reasonably light
+ good fuel consumption

Yamaha Tenere XT660Z
- least brand cachet
- lowest 'quality'
- single cylinder
- average suspension
- average performance
+ well priced (relative to above)
+ reasonably cheap to maintain
+ can maintain yourself
+ parts readily available
+ can "bush mechanic" the thing back into shape and keep going
+ reasonably light
+ good fuel consumption
+ single cylinder
+ average handling and performance

The Ten is the top of my list as my intended purpose is along some of the more remote parts of the Australian outback, so reliability and ability to "sort things out" yourself if you should have a problem are paramount.

Having a superb but finicky athlete (the KTM) broken down in the middle of nowhere and having to wait 3 months while parts are shipped from outer Mongolia to be fitted by someone who has never even seen a bike like this, is of no use to me . . . or am I being overly pessimistic wrt the reliability and fragility of the BMW and KTM.

I would love to get some other views.

Perth, WA, Australia
 

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