I understood it to be ‘14 onwards, as mine was, but make sure the rocker arms have been done.

I loved the bike but, because of the extra weight over an EXC, I wasn’t good enough to ride it off road unless it was on simple lanes and it gave me numb fingers as a fun road bike. If I could have justified it, I would have kept it on dual sport tyres and bought a proper road bike as well.

 

They never fixed the rocker issue on the pre counter balanced head.
David you bought my old 690, it had a complete rebuild at 4000 miles due to a rocker failure. Hence me selling it.

 

It was spot on while I had it....thanks.

 

Was 13 the first of the second gen motor?

 

275mm suspension was on the 2008-2011 R’s, 62hp. Other years were 250mm. Better steering angle introduced in 2011. Full 690 motor from 2012, 66hp. Twin spark head, 4CS forks and ABS from 2014, 67hp. New engine with slipper rockers from 2019, 74hp.

Rocker issues on some bikes, not others. Mine is on 09 stamped rockers, no issues. If I wasn’t buying a new one, I’d have a 2013. Last of the non ABS and can still map with Tuneecu.

Edited suspension heights. Wishful thinking on my part that the 08-11 R’s had 300mm.....

 

The ABS was a pain.
With so many stop starts on our rides, I kept forgetting to turn it off at the restart.

 

Can't you get a dongle for the ABS like on the SD1290/1090/690Dukes etc ?

 

All the 08 -13 models need remaped to run nice, the 14 onwards are supposed to be a lot better out the box. Suspension is an acquired taste.... throw money at the early ones and they can be magic though.
Rockers, service it regular, and check em. They're piss easy to replace and only about £70 each.
I had a 12. Cc forks, tractive shock, rotti airbox. Brilliant fun, especially on fast open stuff.

 

Why?

 

Its been a year since i bought a bike.

 

Cheers guys, don’t want ABS and would like the ability to diagnose issues and mess with mapping manually if required. Did want 2nd gen motor as I understand it’s got a balancer so smoother or is the 2013 bike just better mapped from stock so perceived to be smoother? I’ll spring it for my weight and see how it goes suspension wise. Quite like the auxiliary tank that replaces the airbox then pipe and map. Rockers are easy to replace. Planning on keeping it for a while if it’ll do what I want so need to make the right choice.

 

The 2012-2013 (full 690) had a throttle relative EP map so smoother. Easily added to a 2008-2011 bike with Tuneecu. Only the 2019 has the balancer shaft/slipper rockers. I can check the rockers in half an hour so really only an issue if you intended to ride it and ignore any odd noises.

Dr Shox revalved my forks, much better than stock but still not as good as dropping in EXC forks, which also then gives 300mm of travel.

 

The exc forks are 300mm travel. The 12 -13 shock only 250mm. So you really need to sort out the mismatch by lengthening the shock a bit- not much can be done though. Or reducing fork travel.
The forks are the same basic thing as the oc exc ones though, so your best just getting a pro to revalve and respring the lot. Unless your buy a tractive shock.

 

As above, to get 300mm on the rear you have to fit a tractive shock. You can modify a 275mm shock with an SKF seal head which gives you 293mm. The other alternative is shorter dog bones which would just raise the rear to match the height of the forks.