A day in the life of a ktm owner.

[OldGermanHeaps]

Today I discovered an 1190 will not bump start for love nor money, even with the weight of me an the mrs bouncing on the seat at the same time, down a hill, with the weight of my chinese takeaway going cold in the top box, in any gear 1 to 6 the back tyre just skids, too much compression.
https://youtu.be/hRL_JYRlZBM?si=ifDZCFNDwLkDcEEq
A big thanks to all who talked me in to getting one

[Condi]

After watching the whole video, hadn't you pushed it home by that point?

[OldGermanHeaps]

I tried for about a mile to bump it before calling the mrs. We then tried to bump it with the 2 of us, then we realised her car doesnt have a 12v system to jump start from as its a plug in hybrid, then gave up went home, had cold dinner, hoped it got stolen while we were eating (our favourite chinese is in a bit of a crime ridden sthole, had my car broken into a couple of times back when i stayed there) then went back with a jump pack.
Battery was fine when i went out, and no warnings.

[Krikkit]

OldGermanHeaps said:

We then tried to bump it with the 2 of us, then we realised her car doesnt have a 12v system to jump start from as its a plug in hybrid

Sorry to hear your woes, especially the cold Chinese

99.9% sure it will have a 12V battery somewhere. Probably not in an easy spot to jump from mind.

I have a Noco jump pack now for these occasions

[OldGermanHeaps]

Krikkit said:

Sorry to hear your woes, especially the cold Chinese

99.9% sure it will have a 12V battery somewhere. Probably not in an easy spot to jump from mind.

I have a Noco jump pack now for these occasions

I have a noco jump pack, but it was in the van, and the van keys were in my pocket
I couldn't find a jump start point, and the cayenne hybrid doesn't have an alternator or starter motor, its all done off the hv system, along with the heat pump compressor so i didnt see any high current 12v connections to put the jump leads on. The 12v battery is apparently a £2k lithium job so probably best not to fk around with it without knowing for sure its safe to jumpstart old troublesome bikes off.

[KTMsm]

OldGermanHeaps said:

A big thanks to all who talked me in to getting one

I think you'll find we suggested the 950 / 990 as it has less electronics

Also KTM didn't make the battery

Although their rectifiers aren't amazing but nor are Hondas

[OldGermanHeaps]

How is the 990 for bump starting?
Had a go on a 990.
The extra power on the 1190 is addictive.

[Krikkit]

OldGermanHeaps said:

I have a noco jump pack, but it was in the van, and the van keys were in my pocket

Bugger

OldGermanHeaps said:

The 12v battery is apparently a £2k lithium job so probably best not to fk around with it without knowing for sure its safe to jumpstart old troublesome bikes off.

100% agree, too risky, and Porsche will no doubt refuse a warranty claim if it does go wrong

[KTMsm]

OldGermanHeaps said:

How is the 990 for bump starting?
Had a go on a 990.
The extra power on the 1190 is addictive.

Never tried it but I suspect it's impossible

I did on my Speed Triple when the battery died. Two passing guys pushed me for miles and it just locked the wheel up in every gear including sixth

I have an 1190 SAS for touring and a 990 Adv for green laning. I'm thinking of getting rid of the 1190 as I rarely use it and the 990 SM is so much more fun on the road

[Hugo Stiglitz]

I tried bumping my BMW 1200cc - no chance.

Ended up pushing it 4 miles home.

[podman]

Was some years back now but after an hour of pushing the thing with 2/3 people assisting with the wheel locking every attemot the only way we could do to bump start my friends SP1 was by buying a tow rope , fixing it to my Renntec rack and with him holding on, getting it up to around 30MPH, bumping it and then my mate tossing the rope like a WW2 Glider being let loose from its Bomber tow..

[Semmelweiss]

Bump starting a bike with electronic fuel injection, and the associated computers controlling the bike brain is a no-no if the battery is dead... I could be wrong here?

[srob]

Why are new bikes so impossible to bump start? Is it just down to compression ratios? Can't think what else would make the rear wheel lock even in sixth gear...

[KTMsm]

You can't bump start a completely dead modern bike but they rarely are - just too low for the starter to work

Locking the back wheel I guess is to do with engine size, compression, gearing and the lack of weight on the back wheel

[srob]

KTMsm said:

You can't bump start a completely dead modern bike but they rarely are - just too low for the starter to work

Locking the back wheel I guess is to do with engine size, compression, gearing and the lack of weight on the back wheel

Just googled and a 1290 KTM engine has a 13.6:1 compression ratio (higher than an R1!), so I think it's that combined with a shortish stroke (71mm) means you can't get enough crank momentum before it hits compression I guess.

[black-k1]

Sorry to hear about this, especially the cold Chinese take-away!

Bump starting big capacity twins is something that is only really possible with a decent down hill. I remember it took a downward slope, all the pushing power of about 5 Old Gits, and lots of bouncing on the seat, to start an 1150GS on one of our trips a number of years back.

Has the bike started subsequently, either from a jump or a battery booster pack?

[OldGermanHeaps]

Yep, started off a jump start pack. Bike is packed away i am off to tenerife, fk it, its a later on problem.
Time for some on the beach research
Yuasa, or lithium?

[ssray]

My zx7r had early one way/slipper clutch, that cost me £25 for jump leads from a garage and my greatest bump start ever, I had a xr250r honda, kickstart only and no battery.
If you kicked it over with the ignition on you still got lights on the dash.
Off to work and it wouldn't kickstart, after about 20 goes I got the wife to bump start me, after a few goes I noticed the ignition key was in the off position, key to run and a quick bump from the wife, it started and I waved as I rode down the road, not told her yet

[RizzoTheRat]

srob said:

KTMsm said:

You can't bump start a completely dead modern bike but they rarely are - just too low for the starter to work

Locking the back wheel I guess is to do with engine size, compression, gearing and the lack of weight on the back wheel

Just googled and a 1290 KTM engine has a 13.6:1 compression ratio (higher than an R1!), so I think it's that combined with a shortish stroke (71mm) means you can't get enough crank momentum before it hits compression I guess.

I could just about bump my old TDM 850 in 2nd gear, and that was only a 9:1 ratio, I'd expect a higher compression bigger engine to be harder but genuinely surprised that it would lock the wheel in 6th. The engine braking must be impressive when riding it.

[Discendo Discimus]

I have 2 bikes, a 1290GT and a BMW R100RT.

After reading this thread I shall never again waste my time trying to bump start them. I've struggled with the BMW in the past and thought it was a problem with my technique. After I pushed that a mile up hill home I put it in the garage and didn't look at it again for 3 months