The owner of this KTM Adventure came down and didn’t come down with a load of the usual complaints – snatchy bottom end etc – but had a brief: he was going to do a lot of off-road on it, and could we sort it out.
We’ve had quite a few of this type of request before, and we go about them slightly differently as we would for the road. Basically we soften the engine off way more, as there’s a lot more happening on the dirt and the rider doesn’t need any surprises… Smooth and easy is best.
We worked mainly on the power delivery and bottom end feel with focus especially around the ignition tables, which have to be individually tailored (and it’s very easy to cause damage if you’re not careful). We then matched fuelling to exhaust, road tested it and declared it ready for the mud – it felt much less sharp, but very docile and manageable.
Ready for the dirt, with no surprises…
