Mornin' all...

Sooo, the title kinda says it all... can an XT660Z be modified to compete with a 690 in the mucky stuff? i'll explain a little further:

the way i see it, the 660 and 690 are coming from two ends of the mid-size adv bike spectrum... the 660 being more a dirt road tourer and the 690 a more trail oriented bike. now i know the 690 can be "adventurised" (for want of a better word) by adding screens and tanks etc to make it a decent long distance dirt road tourer. my question is, can the 660 go the other way and be modded to become a decent off road rally bike comparable to the 690? and by rally, i'm thinking things like all the rallies in the big bike challenge and the various long distance trials etc in the uk.

i reckon i could get a 660 for at least a grand less than a 690 so that is about the money i would have to play with...

any thoughts?

cheers

Chris

Ask Jmo... and all will become clear

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...On a steel horse i ride.

Having owned and ridden both on the mucky stuff a simple answer is NO .

The 690 is a lot lighter and more powerfull ,you would need to take about 40kg off the Z and add 20+ more bhp .

The only other competitor's for the KTM is the Husky 630 or the bmw x-challenge

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OFFICIAL CRASH TEST DUMMY

yeah i love her bike but i don't quite have �4500 to spend...

[quote=jasext]Having owned and ridden both on the mucky stuff a simple answer is NO .

The 690 is a lot lighter and more powerfull ,you would need to take about 40kg off the Z and add 20+ more bhp .

i do quite like the x-challenge but they're rare as hens teeth at the moment..

hi, orlando the way i see it is the 690 is a better bike for trailing, it's lighter, more power and lower than the tenere.

having said that there is no real rear subframe for proper luggage capacity, poor headlamp, poor wind protection, small tank, the bike is more focused at offroading not for all round commuting, overlanding or even two up touring, so what are your needs or expectations?

yep there are products to turn the 690 into a rally/ overlander, tho if jennys well prepared and highly spec'd bike is out of your budget buying a 690 and kitting it out will be madness. have you looked at what jens bike has to offer?

btw i regularly offroad along side 690's, me and the ten hold our own and don't need a van for riding in places like the s of france or events in places like africa

well my need is to have a bike that can do everything, now that I have realised I can't justify having two bikes anymore! my expectations however are that i know either bike will be a compromise one way or t'other... to be honest there's are no long trips on the horizon (except for the HUMM in morroco next year) and as i commute by train to london it won't be used much for that (even if i get a job coser to home it's likely to have a company car). at the moment it is mainly small trips and green laning over winter then looking to do some rallie and longer trips next year.

btw, i would think jenny might be re-considering selling her bike seeing as she's not doing the 2012 Dakar ....

I would really like to ride the BBRC in 2012, but doubt I'll get time. I would not race the Ten', but would race the 690 R and keep the Ten'.

Likewise, I would not put panniers on a 690R and ride it to the lakes.

Each one's a compromise, but if you're going mainly off road and will only have one bike - buy the 690R would be my advice.

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Hi Orlando - as Stoic says, the KTM is much more the 'trail bike' out of the box, but less of an all rounder...

However, if you are man (or woman x) enough, this eats everything...



Unless you want to ride snotty wet rooty trails... when you probably don't want a 690 either...

Jx

ps. Although I won't be racing the Dakar in 2012, I will be returning for the 2013 event, so still need to raise funds... so the Tenere is still for sale... and I also have a brand new (600 miles) WR450 for similar money... needs must and all that... x

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"Where we're going, we don't need roads..."

JennyDakar.com

Uberthumper likes this.

As for the OP, I think you need to explain your definition of 'compete'.

- Can you modify a Tenere so you can use it to beat Craig Bounds on a 690 around a UK Rally course? Extremely unlikely, but I suspect even having a 690 won't help you there

- Can you modify a Tenere so that *you* would be faster round a UK Rally course than *you* would be on a standard 690? Probably not, and certainly not for the price difference between the two.

- Can you modify a Tenere to get it 'close enough' to *finish* a UK Rally and have someone to race against (remembering that not everyone is on a 690, there's 990ADVs, GSAs, and CCM 650s on the results sheets. There will also no doubt be a few on 690's who aren't that quick)? Definitely, and you'll have something that's a far better bike away from the races.

For me, the last one wins. YMMV, especially since you're not coming from the angle of already having a Tenere and being quite attached to it.

I've had (small) enduro bikes the last couple of years, but I've found I never ride them away from the races - there's not much challenge (and thus less fun) to trailriding on an enduro machine, and it's a ballache having to put it into a van to get to the trails and continually worry about fuel. I'm certainly not going to use it to ride to work or pop to the shops on, so if I'm not doing a full season of racing, it's just a waste of space.

So I've decided to move the enduro bike on for the time being, and put the money that's tied up in it into the Tenere. I'll probably try to do a few BBRC rounds next year to satisfy the racing fix, but even if I don't, I'll be getting some value for money out of the mods using the bike every day, and when it comes round to the HUMM again.

In the meantime, I'm off out next Sunday with my local TRF group, all of whom will be out on a variety of EXCs and WRFs that they've had to van down to Wiltshire from the East Mids. A few weeks later I'm off to Wales for the BBRC training weekend with the aforementioned Mr Bounds, no doubt alongside a load of people on 690s.

What could possibly go wrong

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I spent a lot of money on travel and racing motorcycles - the rest I just squandered.

XT660Z - Commuter, Adventurer...Racer?

www.dashmoto.net

Other bikes >> MT-03 / CG125BR-J / ER-6F
Departed >> ZXR400L3 / EC300 / DR-Z400E / DR800S / GPZ500S / GS400

So I would like to ride the BBRC too.

I looked at it for 2011 and just didn't get going with life already overflowing with commitments.

Trouble is I will wreck the Ten', having raced enduro for >10 years, I still try to go at enduro speeds and it's unreasonable to ask the Ten' to do that..

Perhaps an old XR650 or similar, but really I'd like a 690R (need to keep the Ten' of course).

Which rounds are you doing - perhaps I'll come and offer some pits assistance while I have a gander at the whole do..

Cheers

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