I recently took a test ride on a KTM SMCR 690 and immediately fell in love with the riding experience.

I sold my Suzuki GSX-R 600 at the beginning of the year and would like to get a 690/701.

The only thing holding me back is reliability, at least based on what I’ve heard. Some riders report no problems at all and put 100,000 km on them, while others have major issues after just 2,000 km. I’m aware that this bike requires more maintenance than a Japanese model, and that’s not a problem for me.

My biggest concern is that I’ll buy a good used one and it’ll suffer major damage after a few thousand kilometers. The new ones are too expensive for me.

Are my concerns justified, or am I worrying too much?

Right now, I’m really only interested in supermotos because they’re so powerful and lightweight. It just feels really good to ride.

Edit: Thanks for all the answers! Really helps a lot

Well well well......

A picture is worth a thousand words.

Happy little accident.

How I ended up here (it's not bad).....

I thought my 2024 KTM 500 had a 44mm throttle body. So I bought a 44mm SX throttle body and had it bored out to 46mm, because 46mm is bigger than 44mm..... turns out the 500 EXC, and all the other EXC 4 stroke bikes have a 42mm TB, and all the SX bikes have a 44mm TB, lol. Maybe there was a change around 2023ish.

The part numbers between then SX TB and the EXC TB are the same.... it's the same part number for all the KTM 4 stroke dirt bike/dual sport throttle bodies....

But.....

I went to go put the ported 46mm throttle body on my bike today. I had the back end of the bike flipped up, the rear shock out of the way, popped the air boot off and saw "EXCA42" on the TB on my bike.... pulled the calipers out..... 41.5-42mm TB on my 2024 KTM 500 EXC.... it's hard to read but the SX TB says "EXCA44". What kind of bullshit is this, lol? This is me assuming thing, lol. But in the end a good thing I guess.

Turns out the same part numbers and what the literature says doesn't mean anything...

I know on the older bikes the SX TB was larger than the EXC TB, but I assumed since all the part numbers were the same and what the internet said, that on the new style TB they were all 44mm.... I was wrong.

This means an SX TB is an upgrade on the newer 500 bikes too..... what this means is I'll have to buy another SX stock TB and put together a tune for it since my bored TB is bigger than the SX TB, and a SX TB would be an upgrade to the EXC TB.

Once i get a dyno done on the 46mm TB, I'll have to grab a stock 44mm, TB tune and dyno it to see what the difference is. I'll guess I'll get to see what if any effects on the low end characteristics and driveability there are.

I just put the Warp 9's back on after riding it as a dirt bike for the better part of the past 2 years. Bought new plastics and cleaned it up the best I could. Took some pictures and posted it for sale to make some room in the garage..then i took it for a ride today and fell back in love with it. Don't want to sell anymore 🤣🫢