Not sure how big the issue is with cams , there are shit loads of 790 and 890,s KTM,s in the world, and the ones with issues normally post issues on social media , there though should be no issues

 

New rally is 19k I think these were 17k 6k suspension

 

Anyway thing I can do is if it's through a dealer with at least some warranty, is immediately take it apart and take a look. If the cams are faulty it's evident even with a few thousand miles...

 

I get that half the fun is thinking about options and arguing the toss. Can't beat test rides once you are getting close though.

DesertX is the other one you should think about. Essentially a modern rip off of the 990 Adv. Same sort of geometry, power, and weight. But they are soft lumps, and the Rally model is $$$$.

You said somewhere above that a few of the options were top-heavy, and you wanted the pregnant cow look of the 790/890. Yeah-nah sort of, those giant lobes do get the weight down low, but at a cost of width and also crashability as guess what hits the ground first.

 

I get that half the fun is thinking about options and arguing the toss. Can't beat test rides once you are getting close though.

DesertX is the other one you should think about. Essentially a modern rip off of the 990 Adv. Same sort of geometry, power, and weight. But they are soft lumps, and the Rally model is $$$$.

You said somewhere above that a few of the options were top-heavy, and you wanted the pregnant cow look of the 790/890. Yeah-nah sort of, those giant lobes do get the weight down low, but at a cost of width and also crashability as guess what hits the ground first.

Think you may have the wrong end of the stick here.
There is no point in you giving other people facts when they’ve made their mind up already.

There is a few very good videos comparing the teneres to the 890s etc...

As I said at the start of my topic I made my mind up about the LC8c platform, just wanted to decide which model.

I've ridden the DesertX and it's decent but nowhere near as easy to handle as the 890 and even the base model is way out of budget.

The 890 crashes BETTER exactly because of the tanks... Plenty of showcase again that the tanks are more than adequately protected especially with an uprated bash plate that wraps around and on they also make picking the bike up much easier sort of like a GS. Problem with bikes like the Desert X and the Tenere, is if you drop it, and the bike doesn't have crash bars, you're gonna bugger that exposed tank that sticks out and in the case of the DesertX it's made of aluminium so you're gonna ding the crap out of it. All the 790/890 needs is a thicker bash plate and bark busters and you're good to go. That low down width is gonna also make it more likely the bike "rolls" on it's side rather than "flops", hopefully reducing the impact...

For clarity here is what I've ridden for more than 30 mins and on offroad too for comparison:

2023 890 Adv S
2022 Tuareg 660
2024 Transalp 750
2023 Ducati DesertX
2023 Africa Twin 1100 AS
2023 Tiger 1200 Rally Explorer
2022 CB500X
2016 R1200GSA

And lastly my old 2003 XT600E

I've ridden the tenere but only very briefly and sat on the various models, however I've ridden MT07s so pretty familiar with the motor, brakes and general yamaha build quality.

Out of these bikes the 890 is head and shoulders above everything in offroad CONFIDENCE, the DesertX was a close 2nd, the tuareg 660 was also decent but way too soft for me, even with preload wound up.

Now the Tuareg and the DesertX despite their traditional layouts are much less top heavy than the tenere because they both have very low narrow but long chassis. The tenere doesn't, it has a short and tall chassis and it's a pronounced difference.

The 890 is both a short and low slung chassis and that made for amazing on and off road handling, the GS to the same effect is a feather weight off the stand and flicks around like nobody's business.

The Tuareg was very sketchy feeling on plum sized rocky track whereas the 890 standard I could confidently do 50mph on similar terrain and it still felt confidence inspiring on even chunkier terrain with rocks the size of a small honeydew...

As i said many times the 890 never felt like it wants to highside you and throw you off, when it gets deflected off of ruts, slides down a muddy bank, or hit a rock awkwardly it just deflects sideways, doesn't feel like the wheels are being taken out from underneath you and this sort of confidence is only replicated on the GSA albeit other things make that bike a bit more sketchy...

End of the day I want a bike that can do it all without compromise, and just so happens the 790 is the best value of them all right now aswell, most equipment, highest end stock suspension, and a very favourable chassis...

 

 

The Chinese are coming
Legacy manufacturers will fall away as they won’t be able to compete
Same is gonna happen with cars and companies like BYD just about to launch in Europe
It’s the 1970’s all over again - when the Japs took over
The Chinese are very clever and educate their young people well, we don’t

 

If you are going to take it off road I’d buy the cheapest R you can find - no point dropping/devaluing a minter. Use existing off road damage as a big club to beat the seller’s price down even further…

 

This is the answer to your question imo.

890r. If you settle for a lesser saggy tits bike it will niggle at you I reckon.

 

I have a 790 non r works well off road although I don't do anything too taxing very good on tar .. couple of mates have tauregs they are very capable bikes and have all the electronic gizmos the the yam doesn't

 

Seen a Chinese pickup truck yesterday, huge 4x4 crew cab looked the biz apparently only a handful in the UK ATM , fuck knows what it was called

 

Looked like this but red

 

25k my mate has some ford 4x4 on order I think 80k it turned up a few weeks ago the interior was 6 inches deep in water, they expected him to take it, he fucked them off and is in talks with ford to get another , People talk about chinese but look at ktm and other car manufacturers they all shit quality , maybe apart from Ducati and BMW

 

Oh aye, within reason.