Originally Posted by jurassic

Hi guys, I know this is an old thread but I thought I'd reply as I had a 690SM up to July last year and my mate has a (standard) XTX and I've ridden them back to back. My KTM had a non standard exhaust and remap so it was probably making a bit more power than standard (and was quite a bit lighter as the standard exhausts were HEAVY).
I expected my mates XT to feel pretty flat and a bit dull compared to my KTM but overall I was quite impressed with it. There's not much difference at the bottom end, the XT felt nice and torquey and pulled as well if not better than the KTM. Midrange and the KTM felt marginally stronger but not by a great deal but at the top end there was no comparison, the KTM feels much more revvy and pulls a lot harder as the XT starts to run out of steam (that's what you'd expect though right?) The KTM motor is a lot smoother and less vibey than the XT and you don't get any of the high frequency buzz through the bars and pegs like the you do with the XT (I used to have an SV650S and I reckon the 690 engine is smoother and almost as powerful at the top end as the SV was).
Chassis wise, the XT is waaaaaaaaay softer than the KTM, the suspension on the KTM is much taughter. The other big difference was the brakes, the KTM brakes are miles better than the XT (but again its a radial 4 pot Brembo so you'd expect that).
All this sounds kinda negative but as I said I was pretty impressed with the XT, I enjoyed riding it and would be happy to own one (why else would I just have joined this forum? ). The XT is nowhere near as focused as the KTM but depending on what you're looking for that might not be a bad thing.
I had no mechanical problems with my KTM and I genuinely believe that the 690 engine is pretty strong but the service intervals are quite short compared to a Jap bike. I did have a few electrical problems with it and that was one of the reasons I got rid. The 690 was the most entertaining bike I've ridden in 35 years riding but I never completely trusted it.
I'm currently bikeless but a Tenere may be on the horizon (tbh if the Tenere had been on the market in 2007 I would have bought one instead of the Katoom). Cheers, Chris.