After a few years of KTM Adventures, a 640 and 990, I decided I wanted to go the opposite direction on both ends. A more dirt oriented, smaller, lighter bike than the 640, and a more street oriented bike than the 990. Those two are pretty close on the spectrum of motorcycling. Plus, honestly, never really did care much for the 990 Adv.
So I just ended up with a 2011 FE 390 to replace 640. I live in E. TN, adjacent to the Cherokee National Forest. Our house is also a bed and breakfast inn called the Farmhouse Inn. I have about 700 miles of mostly forest road riding developed into the "Tellico Adventure Trail."
Since I don't have to "ride to" a place to ride anymore I decided to go smaller and lighter. Plus my riding friends and I (the ones I travel with) have decided we are kind of done with adventure touring and instead might go and ride the same stuff, but we are just going to take the bikes to each location instead of doing all the bike traveling.
So even though my recent bike has little use (760 miles, 39 hours) I'm still doing a complete maintenance routine basically. It came with a Rekluse clutch and slave, and a JD Jetting power surge, so I'm learning about those too. Also has Factory Connection modified suspension that is actually set up for my weight and riding style/preference as well, that was a lucky find!
Looked pretty good in the advertisement huh?
But it was pretty dirty "inside" and since I knew it actually didn't get ridden much, I figured it best to take off the body work , clean it best I could, and do all the maintenance and repair parts. I was surprised at the amount of dirt packed in the crevices and it actually gets embedded and discolors and gouges the subframe and body parts.
So I've changed/flushed all the fluids and filters, cleaned and painted some of the plastic, found Maxima SC-1 plastic clear coat to refresh the rest, installed the Seat Concepts seat and new handlebars and grips. Ordered new Renthal chain and sprockets, brake pads, brake rotors (rear was actually quite bad), a few blue "bits", new hand guard covers. The rear cush hub from my 640 of course fits right in, so having that hub laced to the blue wheel to give it just a bit more road ability.
Sitting here waiting...
So I just ended up with a 2011 FE 390 to replace 640. I live in E. TN, adjacent to the Cherokee National Forest. Our house is also a bed and breakfast inn called the Farmhouse Inn. I have about 700 miles of mostly forest road riding developed into the "Tellico Adventure Trail."
Since I don't have to "ride to" a place to ride anymore I decided to go smaller and lighter. Plus my riding friends and I (the ones I travel with) have decided we are kind of done with adventure touring and instead might go and ride the same stuff, but we are just going to take the bikes to each location instead of doing all the bike traveling.
So even though my recent bike has little use (760 miles, 39 hours) I'm still doing a complete maintenance routine basically. It came with a Rekluse clutch and slave, and a JD Jetting power surge, so I'm learning about those too. Also has Factory Connection modified suspension that is actually set up for my weight and riding style/preference as well, that was a lucky find!
Looked pretty good in the advertisement huh?
But it was pretty dirty "inside" and since I knew it actually didn't get ridden much, I figured it best to take off the body work , clean it best I could, and do all the maintenance and repair parts. I was surprised at the amount of dirt packed in the crevices and it actually gets embedded and discolors and gouges the subframe and body parts.
So I've changed/flushed all the fluids and filters, cleaned and painted some of the plastic, found Maxima SC-1 plastic clear coat to refresh the rest, installed the Seat Concepts seat and new handlebars and grips. Ordered new Renthal chain and sprockets, brake pads, brake rotors (rear was actually quite bad), a few blue "bits", new hand guard covers. The rear cush hub from my 640 of course fits right in, so having that hub laced to the blue wheel to give it just a bit more road ability.
Sitting here waiting...
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