Well, I reluctantly made the call a few days ago. The final parts I needed to finish the KIT690 build simply didn’t arrive. They were posted by Jon in early July, but have disappeared into the ether. Just bad luck – lots of complaints from heaps of people about ‘Australia Post’ lately – nothing more could have been done. Thanks to everyone for their help in getting me this far – it was an awesome effort, right to the end. As always, I had a Plan B – time to put it into action.
The bike’s looking like a bike again! It’s taken a while, but am really starting to get a feel for what the finished product is going to look like. Got the clear screen mounted, the spoilers, bark busters, a Kako throttle lock and have retro fitted a new Mosko Moto Reckless 80 luggage system. Looks like it will be awesome. The header, exhaust, bashplate and decals still haven’t arrived, but it will only be an afternoons work to fit them before heading off on a shakedown ride. The decals (wait until you see them!) will be a bit more of a job. I did a test of the electrics the other night and all’s in order. Held my breath, turned the key and bam ….. lights, indicators, horn, dash – the works. Quite a relief, I can tell you. Continue reading “How cool is the navi tower?”
It’s been a busy month – lots of late nights and weekends pretty much dedicated to the bike, but plenty of progress has been made. The build’s gone well and, while I’ve encountered many challenges, these were expected and part of the deal. I’ve had lots of interest shown by all my mates and a huge amount of assistance from them. Special thanks to Steve Passlow, Luke Buenen, Reg Thompson and Darren McAlpine. There was one other, and that’s Jon Florea. Seriously, the man is a saint. He’s given me hours and hours of his time, day, night, weekends, it didn’t matter. So many messages, emails and assistance with some seriously dumb questions being asked.
Boxes ….. the word all on everyone’s lips. It’s an agonizing wait, as silly as that sounds, and every KIT690 recipient goes through it. The order had been made, the parts packed and it was on it’s way. Anxious checks of the post every day ….. waiting, waiting, waiting.
‘Man, are you crazy’ ….. was the comment I got from my good mate Ray Powdrell when he first saw these photos. ‘Why are you cutting up a perfectly good KTM motorcycle?’ His parting words were ‘You’re going to regret that!’.
It was a hard thing to do, I have to say, pulling out an angle grinder and hacking into the 690. The kit still hadn’t arrived and, while I was fully committed, it kind of became the point of no return. What possible reason could there be for doing something like this?
With a new KTM 690 Enduro R purchased, my deposit paid and the initial boxes of Jon’s 10th kit on the way, it was time to get to work.
As my mates will confirm, while I’ve improved hugely over the years, I’m definately what you’d call ‘mechanically challenged’. Although I was a bit apprehensive, I was looking forward to pulling all the OEM parts off the bike in preparation for reinstalling the kit. It would be good to get started and finally on the way to building a rally bike.
Adventure USA 