[advstreak]

Originally Posted by shravansp24

1. Regarding the LED headlight upgrade, was there a space for the wiring and fan behind the housing? or you had to leave the dust cover opened or modified? I'm planning for the normal H4 LEDs from Osram/Philips as I feel the throw is perfect and I would benefit the additional brightness from the LEDs alone

2. Can you show a picture of the underbody, so as to see how much of the plastic you've cut for the center stand? and also is it temporarily attached like the ones in R15 where they have the points to attach during servicing and remove it once the service is done

3. Regarding the fuelx lite, I'm seriously considering purchasing one after all the feedbacks that I see, but just wanted to know from what speeds can the motorcycle pull cleanly in 3rd/4th and 5th gear without any jerking? As with the stock, 3rd needs around 21, 4th from 40 and 5th from 60kmph

4. Do you feel any difference after throttle body cleaning as I was planning to do it in my next service

Thanks!

So here are the replies:

1. Yes there is enough space in the headlight assembly for the wiring and the fan. Although I had to cut the rubber cover to pass the heatsink assembly through it to make sure dust does not enter the headlight assembly.
On a second note, I have used H4 LED (NOVSIGHT N35) which has a similar inbuilt reflector as on the H4 Halogen bulb. But it does not have a sharp cutoff line.

Here is the picture of the NOVSIGHT N35 bulb.

And here is the stock halogen bulb.




2. I had to cut off almost an inch on both sides. You can compare it with yours to know how much I had to cut.

Here are pictures of how the stand looks now:













The design of the madoverbike's center stand is similar to one as seen here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kJGRZB8h_k

The "stand" part can be taken out by removing the two bolts. But putting the spring back is a task unless you have a spring puller.

3. I will update the exact speeds once I am back in Bangalore. As said earlier the 2K to 4K RPM is usable and the bike pulls cleanly from 2K RPM.

4. The throttle stop has helped in cold starts. The RPM is much more stable while starting up now.

Originally Posted by Game_of_Roads

With regular 91 RON petrol, anything above 95 kmph was not sustainable for more than 10-15 min due to vibrations. I believe a higher RON fuel on a bike designed for lower shouldn't do harm.
.

My KTM ADV 250 holds 100 at 6k RPM and it's the smoothest at the point while using normal fuel.

Actually, in the EU user manual, it is recommended to use a 95-octane fuel minimum.

Also with a 12.5 compression ratio in the ADV 250 its better to use high octane fuel even as per powerdrift's recommendation at 5:08 here:

https://youtu.be/nKp9Tenm3vo?t=308

Originally Posted by Game_of_Roads

How is the FuelX lite holding up ? Any long-term issues so far ?

I'm considering the FuelX now for my Adv 250 - I don't need it, but feel like it will make the lower end and city/slow speed experience much more tolerable.

Fuelx+XP 95 makes the bike feel very nice to ride. The reason I got the lite version is to install it and forget about it and it seems to be doing a pretty good job at that.

Fuelx makes city/slow speed much better as the 2k to 4k RPMs range is actually more useful. The more pronounced effect is twisties where one can pull cleanly while exiting a corner while earlier one has to shift down on the let the bike shudder till reaches 4k RPM.

If you want to try it out then you try mine once I am back. I would also like to try out a stock bike as a frame of reference.

[Game_of_Roads]

Originally Posted by advstreak

The more pronounced effect is twisties where one can pull cleanly while exiting a corner while earlier one has to shift down on the let the bike shudder till reaches 4k RPM.

If you want to try it out then you try mine once I am back. I would also like to try out a stock bike as a frame of reference.

I completely agree with 1st hand experience on the twisties in the Nilgiris. It was good fun but annoying as I was just constantly shifting down out of a corner. I had a hard time keeping up with a CB350 which has much lesser power but just pulled and pulled and pulled in the same gear.

I'm looking forward to installing the FuelX lite. I too am not looking for additional maps or complexity. Fit and forget would be good for this requirement.

Thanks for your offer, would love to try it out, unfortuantely I'm heading out for a ride again in the mountains, so planning to get it installed in a day or two..

[advstreak]

Originally Posted by Game_of_Roads

Thanks for your offer, would love to try it out, unfortuantely I'm heading out for a ride again in the mountains, so planning to get it installed in a day or two..

I am back in Bangalore now. DM me incase you want to try it out before installing it.

[Game_of_Roads]

Originally Posted by advstreak

I am back in Bangalore now. DM me incase you want to try it out before installing it.

Could you DM me how to get in touch pls ? I came send DMs yet unfortunately.

[advstreak]

Originally Posted by Game_of_Roads

Could you DM me how to get in touch pls ? I came send DMs yet unfortunately.

I think DM are enabled only after 25 posts along with the ability to post immediately without a mod approving the post.

So you will need to post one more post or maybe a mod can help out.

[Game_of_Roads]

Originally Posted by advstreak

I think DM are enabled only after 25 posts along with the ability to post immediately without a mod approving the post.
.

Great, thanks ! Will get in touch shortly

[advstreak]

Originally Posted by shravansp24

Hi Advstreak,
3. Regarding the fuelx lite, I'm seriously considering purchasing one after all the feedbacks that I see, but just wanted to know from what speeds can the motorcycle pull cleanly in 3rd/4th and 5th gear without any jerking? As with the stock, 3rd needs around 21, 4th from 40 and 5th from 60kmph
Thanks!

So with fuelx, the bike can pull cleanly at around 20/22 KMPH in 3rd at 2000/2250 RPM, 32/33 KMPH in 4th at 2750 RPM and 40 KMPH in 5th at around 3000 RPM.

[advstreak]

Originally Posted by advstreak

Saddlebags

I will drop comments on these after the coming long trip.

So in the 800 km round trip, the Viaterra Condor 2 Up saddles bags were flawless especially the top net for holding gloves.



So here are some pics with and without the saddles bags:

[advstreak]

So my KTM ADV 250 had a lowkey cold-start problem. This problem was not present in the beginning and was not definitely because of the cold weather as I got the bike in January last year and it started perfectly in the beginning.

I initially dismissed it as just being a character of the bike as it did not get solved after the second service.

Then I stumbled upon this video where he is also facing the same issue.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c54x0qnNKGY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0FQbUyYKq8

The situation improved a little when I installed fuelx confirming that it is a fueling problem.

As mentioned in the video, throttle body cleaning can somewhat solve the issue. Actually, the Indian service manual explicitly mentions cleaning the throttle body which is not mentioned in the EU version. As it was not done in the second service, so I explicitly made sure it was done in the third service, and voila- no more cold start issue. The bike started perfectly with no more hunting around for a stable RPM in whatever cold weather Bangalore has.

Then I went for the Kerala Trip and the issue was back again. As the spark plug and air filter were still kind of new, I doubted the fuel. I switched to XP95 and still there was no difference. Finally, I used Liqui Moly 4T Additive shooter and went to the breakfast ride to clean the fuel injection system. The next day it has been starting perfectly with no hunting for RPM.

It has been a couple of days and I will keep on using XP95 from the same petrol bunk. If the issue does not come back after a couple of months, I will switch to normal petrol from the same petrol bunk to observe the effects.

[tarmacnaut]

Originally Posted by advstreak

Auxiliary Lights
Well actually, I needed hyperspots as I did not want the nearby areas to lit up. My observation is that if a spot+flood combo aux light is used then the nearby areas get too bright. This makes it harder for eyes to adjust to the relatively dim light far away road, thanks to the inverse square law. So searching for the same I stumbled upon HJG KZ30. It has adjustable focus allowing it to transform from hyper-spot to flood.

How is the HJG KZ30's hyperspot mode at highway. Is it really useful at triple digit speeds or hardly makes any difference? Does it complement the high beam?

Is the flood mode good enough for foggy or regular city conditions - Does it complement the low beam?

I am thinking of adding the HJG KZ30 or the HJG Y light (aka mercedes light) pair to my VStrom, Y light has more wattage and looks better but does not have adjustability - though it has a dedicated high white and low yellow beam. Do you have any experience using the Y light?

[advstreak]

Originally Posted by tarmacnaut

How is the HJG KZ30's hyperspot mode at highway. Is it really useful at triple digit speeds or hardly makes any difference? Does it complement the high beam?

Is the flood mode good enough for foggy or regular city conditions - Does it complement the low beam?

I am thinking of adding the HJG KZ30 or the HJG Y light (aka mercedes light) pair to my VStrom, Y light has more wattage and looks better but does not have adjustability - though it has a dedicated high white and low yellow beam. Do you have any experience using the Y light?

I exclusively use the KZ30 only on highway rides. In the hyper spot mode, its range is quite good and you can see far enough to do triple-digit speeds. As said earlier the high beam of the Projector Lens LED bulb is useless as it becomes too high in the KTM ADV 250 when the low beam is set perfectly. I only use the high beam exclusively to flash pass signals and that's it.

I never change it to flood mode as the spread of the projector lens led bulb is quite good. But I have tried setting it up once to check out the performance and it's great.

I think the V-Storm lights are not the best and you might need an aux light in low beam mode also. So getting the HGJ Y-Light makes more sense if you are not satisfied with the low beam performance of the V-storm. In case you are satisfied with the low beam then get the KZ-30 and adjust in hyper spot mode to see far on highways.

I used something similar to the Y-lights on my hornet sometime back as a headlight bulb. A random link for reference.

https://www.amazon.in/CARIZO-Project...50303271&psc=1

The problem with these types of headlight bulbs is that their spread is more rectangular. Hence if they are adjusted for enough distance then the nearby areas are not illuminated. Also, the high beam is also rectangular instead of spot. This leads to nearby areas getting more bright making it difficult for your eyes to adjust to the dimly lit far away area.

But these will work perfectly as wide flood aux lights and they can be set up properly as they have a cut-off line. I am not sure about how much distance you will be able to see the flux density at far away will be very less as compared to hyper spots like KZ-30.

So to reiterate in case you are satisfied with the low beam performance of V-storm get the KZ-30 and set them up in hyper spot mode.
In case you are not satisfied with the low-beam performance get something like a mini led aux light for low beam and KZ-30 for highway rides. Another random link for reference: https://rideindiaride.in/hjg-mini-dr...de-india-ride/
These are low-power ones and will help budget your power to the KZ-30 as you won't want to drain out your battery.

[advstreak]

So while coming back from today's breakfast ride I might have done a hypermiling record on the KTM ADV 250.

I was doing 60-80 KMPH from Devanahalli and noticed that it was showing 53Kmpl for the first 14 km and it dropped to 50Kmpl by the time I reached my place in HSR Layout.

[advstreak]

So here is another mod update.

Motourenn Headlight Brace

I went to their office and got it installed. The assembly is a little tricky and I noticed the headlight vibrating more than before on the ride back. After reaching I tightened the bolts properly and finally, it felt stable again. It does feel a little more sturdy than before and I mainly got it for peace of mind due to the fear of breaking the headlight assembly due to the heavy HGJ KZ30 aux lights.




Angle Adjustable Wind Deflector
This purchase was inspired by reading a couple of articles on windshield aerodynamics. The purpose of this system to make a laminar lip like the GIVI AIR FLOW windscreen and find the perfect angle for it.

Here is the article for reference and a post from the ADVRIDER forum about an interesting angle.
https://faq.f650.com/FAQs/Turbulence.htm
https://www.advrider.com/f/threads/3...#post-45763729

It was very wobbly when attached to the top of the Inscape Dreamz V4 windshield leading me to remove and attach it to the stock windscreen. I will keep on experimenting with various angles and jot down my observation in the follow-up posts. The build quality is not great and after finding the perfect angle I plan to make a bracket to fix it more rigidly in that position.




Blindspot Mirrors

After breaking a couple of adjustable blind spot mirrors at the ball joint finally got the cheap fixed angle double side taped ones. Although 30% of the mirror gets obstructed by the shoulders, they are still very useful in city/highway conditions.

[shravansp24]

Originally Posted by advstreak

So here are the replies:

Sorry for the delayed response and thank you very much for the reply!

Originally Posted by advstreak

So with fuelx, the bike can pull cleanly at around 20/22 KMPH in 3rd at 2000/2250 RPM, 32/33 KMPH in 4th at 2750 RPM and 40 KMPH in 5th at around 3000 RPM.

That's a great improvement in rideability especially in the 4th and 5th gears!

Originally Posted by advstreak

So in the 800 km round trip, the...

I see a vstorm 250 that has tagged along with you too.. So, how did it fare with the Adv in the long trip? I assume more comfy but not as fun?

Originally Posted by advstreak

I used Liqui Moly 4T Additive shooter and went to the breakfast ride to clean the fuel injection system. The next day it has been starting perfectly with no hunting for RPM.

I just remembered after seeing this that I used to get the fuel injector cleaner solution from Yamaha service centers and occassionally put in into my KTMs fuel tank(A practice I got from my older R15). It costs under 150 too as far I can remember the last time I got. You can probably check that out too! and use it once every 3000-4000km

Originally Posted by advstreak

So here is another mod update.

Motourenn Headlight Brace

I mainly got it for peace of mind due to the fear of breaking the headlight assembly due to the heavy HGJ KZ30 aux lights.

The headlight assembly in the weakest module of this motorcycle

After my last long ride (Chennai -> Sirumalai -> Kanyakumari -> Kolli hills -> Chennai) of around 2000kms, the entire frontend started shaking at slow speeds and buzzing while slowing down using engine braking. I initially thought it was because of the mobile holder and removed it(as it was wobbling alot with my phone installed), but issue was still there. I had to go to the service center few days back and get the main spine of the assembly retightened using new bolts and the shake was gone. And regarding the buzzing, it was because of a bolt that slipped a thread that attaches the plastic that was to the left of the headlight. SVC quoted around 2k to fix that, since they have to break the plastics as the screw is slipping. I had fixed it using a M-Seal(yes, the ones plumber use) and the buzz is gone for now!
(I overtightened the screws prior to the trip because of the shakiness which SVC said could have cracked the screw threads causing all this issue)

[advstreak]

Originally Posted by shravansp24

That's a great improvement in rideability especially in the 4th and 5th gears!

Yeah thats true. As I have said earlier fuelx keeps on making more and more sense for KTM BS6 engines.

Originally Posted by shravansp24

I see a vstorm 250 that has tagged along with you too.. So, how did it fare with the Adv in the long trip? I assume more comfy but not as fun?

If the V-storm 250 had a slipper clutch I would have considered side/downgrading to it just for that smooth engine. But the V-storm chassis and suspension start really showing their basicness at triple-digit speeds. The V-storm seems a little willowy when compared to the KTM ADV 250 at highway speeds.
The KTM ADV 250 seems to justify its 30K price difference because of the slipper clutch and the brilliant chassis.

Originally Posted by shravansp24

I just remembered after seeing this that I used to get the fuel injector cleaner solution from Yamaha service centers and occassionally put in into my KTMs fuel tank(A practice I got from my older R15). It costs under 150 too as far I can remember the last time I got. You can probably check that out too! and use it once every 3000-4000km

Definitely I will give the Yamaha cleaner a try. I have been on XP95 from the last 3K km and the issues has not returned. I will switch to normal fuel soon and then jot down my observations.

Originally Posted by shravansp24

I had fixed it using a M-Seal(yes, the ones plumber use) and the buzz is gone for now!
(I overtightened the screws prior to the trip because of the shakiness which SVC said could have cracked the screw threads causing all this issue)

Nice hack to make things work. I will keep that in mind not to overtighten the bolts.