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Biker's Bible

No I don't have shares in Shell - Yes the Advance Ultra oil that is in the engine of my KTM is a superb motorcycle oil.
At Shell fuel stations (at least in the Netherlands and Germany) you can get a Biker's Bible with all answers to your frequently unasked questions on technics, fuels, lubricants, motorcycle manufacturers, events, usefull addresses and an extensive motorcycle vocabulary in six languages. The booklet is really a useful thing to have. KTM, Ducati and Honda riders can read how cooperation between 'their' motorcycle manufacturer and researchers of the Shell PAE-laboratries in Hamburg. To design and improve the new 400 and 520 EXC engines KTM and Shell worked together for months.
On the picture (click to enlage) you can see how a KTM LC4 engine is run hot on the test bench.

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CRD Skidplate

Most enduro bikes come without any crank case protection. A simple slideplate would be easy to make yourself - just bend a 4 mm strong plate of aluminium in the right shape. A real sturdy skidplate with high sides to protect clutch and generator is more difficult and would require aluminium welding skills.

The French company CRD makes very beautiful skidplates with high sides where needed. The plate is made of 4 mm strong aluminium with abundant holes for fresh air and mud. For dealer addresses please inform at CRD. Delivery took about four weeks. The LC4 electro starter version skidplate costs about 115 euro.
A picture of the skidplate is on the LC4 - Equipment page.

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New number plate

Sometimes new things are really better! The new Dutch Euro number plates for motorbikes are a lot better than the old big yellow flags we were obliged to make our bikes ugly with. A size reduction of 40% at the cost of nearly 13 euro. The new plates are even a (very tiny bit) smaller than the illegal plates some bikers used! The new plates surely prove that there must be some government decisionmaker that rolls on two wheels :-)

Did you see the difference between the two plates below? Without knowing I rode my KTM for the very first 1000 kms with false registration. Oops...

Procedure for obtaining a new numberplate is very strictly regulated. You have to show your drivers license and leave registration papers of the motorcycle behind. Two days later everything is returned including the new Euro-style plate and the correct letters and numbers.

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Regret?

Once a while I get an email - occasionally with a picture of the new BMW Dakar. Don't you regret having sold your bike... Not at all!

BMW finally got the idea that the Funduro was indeed a good bike and capable of more than being a city and ladies-only mopped. It took them six long years to see this. Privateers that took their adapted F650 to Dakar were totally neglected - even when they wan the Marathon cup like Castera in 1996. Ordering some knobblies at the official dealer often resulted in nagging remarks. Pityful...
The fresh millennium the blue-and-white brand presented a new type of Funduro and even one with long suspension travel and a dirt minded front wheel - the Dakar. In Germany everything with long paws is called 'Enduro' but this time some remarks have to be made. Especially the 193 kilos and the electronics give me more the idea of a powerful allroad bike. The new F-GS is a nice bike but regret...

My 400cc KTM is some different piece of iron - very much a real Hard Enduro. Some heavier than a Supercompetition but therefore the oil can stay in for 5000kms and my fillings stay where they are. Frame, suspension and rims are made of the best there is and everything that is not neccesary is left. In the forest or greenlanes I still feel like the King of the bush - the LC4 makes me feel I'm riding enduros every day - Unfortunately the opposite is true but mountainbiking gives me a good phisical condition.
It might be clear that I surely do not regret having bought the KTM. It adds something very valuable to motorbiking that sometimes makes me grind. It's just what defenition of Fun you like...

Soon I'll put my KTM up to Karin her Funduro - just to see what happens :-)

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