New bike Pre-delivery Checklist

indy49 said:

hi guys,

I'm planning to buy my first KTM. A 2023 890 Adv S. From your past experience, what are the things I need to check before riding it off the dealership.

thanks in advance!
Indy49

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I purchased new 2022 890 Adventure standard July 2022. It was on showroom floor, picked it up 2 weeks later, brought it home in a uhaul truck, 100 miles 1 way. Had been years since i owned or rode a m.c. Before the sales rep put it in uhaul, he started it up and seemed to be checking and looking at several things, dickering with the display buttons, moving mirrors, bounced his butt on the seat a few times. He took it for a short ride, maybe 10 blocks, and continued the above mentioned activities upon returning. I helped secure it with straps in truck, he assured me it was ready to ride and mentioned some of the tweaks he did on it, said the suspension could be adjusted if it felt too stiff. No issues.
After the small feat of unloading it myself, i was exhausted from all the driving, waiting, and excitement. Returned truck to local rental dealer, came home and looked over the paperwork. Registered my purchase online which connected me with owners manual (free), repair manual (not free), and eventually led me to this forum. Before my 1st ride I read some of the o.m. to check out the basic controls, display functions, pre-ride checklist.
My first rides were in residential areas near home. the rear brake felt weak and ineffective, front brake felt like overkill but effective, the steering seemed floppy (but not loose), turn signal operation was a hand-job rather than a thumb-job, I could almost reach the horn button, clutch lever is also a hand job, don't understand how some ktm riders report 1 or 2 finger operation. And the ride was da_ _ stiff. Motor oil level was on the full mark.
At the 1st service (dealer), they reported a small air bubble in the rear brake system, they corrected this and it works better now.
My riding has improved a bit, still taking baby steps, like that seat thing.

I just bought the same bike. Had 7 tenths of a mile on it when i loaded it in the back of my truck. So obviously they never took it for a test ride. But I assume that’s because they put it together the night before I got it and I was there first thing in the morning to pick it up. Still didn’t leave till 2:30 in the afternoon. I was told they had to charge the battery to a certain point before the could download the four additional modes I wanted. Wasn’t gunna wait till 1500 Km’s. My first ride noticed a up and down shake from 38 to about 48 MPH. Then at about 150 miles on a full tank of gas, it died. Was right by a gas station, filled it up and it ran fine. Till 150 more miles and it died again. Someone on this forum told me to check the petcocks. Each tank has one at the bottom of each tank and the left one was closed. So was running off just one tank. Easy fix. All the way left open, right to close. Back to the shaking. Took it in for it’s 600 mile service and two technicians rode and confirmed the shake. They checked spokes, balance and the trueness of the wheel, which all checked out. Then KTM gave a laundry list of things to try and those all checked out. They are now gunna put a new tire on the front to see if that’s the problem ( which I personally would of done first) hopefully that solves the problem. KTM is gunna pickup all cost of the new tire and all extra labor charges. Praying I get my bike back and it runs as smooth as everyone says these bike do. As far as the different modes, you won’t need a tutorial on how to use them. They are very easy. Plus it was a blast switching from mode to mode experimenting with the traction control, throttle response and side slides.