The KTM 640 Adventure has a 625 cc single cylinder engine, what this means in the real world is that it has huge amounts of low down torque and it vibrates everything to bits. No wonder these bikes area called big thumpers! The bike is really capable off road and on the dirt tracks that we will be facing in Africa, however the vibrations have a few disadvantages!
Last Saturday I went down to Bristol and back on the bike to see friends and get some stuff, on the way back I noticed that when the engine was at a certain amount of revs there was an almighty rattle and vibration in the whole bike coming from the bottom of the engine.
When I stopped to take a look I noticed that my rally bash plate was really loose and on closer inspection it seemed that the four screws that hold it in place under the engine had all come loose and fallen out! There were only two bolts on the front holding it on and the vibes had actually broken the bracket that these bolts were attached to!
The bracket that was broken.
Thankfully it held together the last few miles back, I just made sure I didn’t site anywhere near 3000 RPM!
For those of you that don’t know, the bash plate is there to protect the bike and engine from any bangs from underneath, mine is a rally bash plate which means it has two built in tool boxes on either side for handy access and to keep weight low down. I don’t think mine will be doing much protecting till I get it all fixed up though!
The pictures below show the bike with the bash plate on and then the engine without the bash plate as it is now while I wait for a new bracket from Germany!
hey jeremy, what a fantastic trip, sounds great, i;d love to hear how it works out. i just watched a bit of the long way down, sounds crazy, but was a little disappointed how they seemed to have 25000 safety nets for every possible miss hap:> i am sure you will have a much more fulfilling, because unless its tough you won;t have memorable memories, as Mesesner said “without the possibility of death their is no possibility of adventure” all the best, from an envious admirer matthieu dehaene