Open letter to KTM
April 1st, 2016


RE: Lack of Commitment to On-Road Sector



I’ve owned and currently own KTM Enduro bikes and two years ago have made the leap to buying KTM on-road bikes, starting with the Duke 690. I’ve since moved on to buying two SuperDuke R 1290s and have one with 29000km and the second with 24000km. I’ve owned the SDRs for 13 months and for 11 months respectively. In this time, I’ve spent a small fortune on PowerPart upgrades - a simple calculation easily sums up the price of a third SDR, to say the least.

Over the past year, my wife and I have traveled with these bikes across Europe. We use them as our daily transportation, for weekend jaunts, and for sporadic safety courses.

The bikes have been serviced exclusively by the only KTM official dealer in Barcelona, Spain. I have no complaints with the work and the effort afforded to me, and for the incredible patience and persistence they’ve put forth in trying to have KTM’s collaboration with customer service.

KTM has relatively recently become a ‘player’ in the world of on-road bikes, generally dominating in the off-road sector. The result of KTM’s experience with off-road is that customer service after the selling of the bike is very limited. If there is a part that is broken, it is due to use and abuse, thus KTM has no responsibility to address it. It is this same attitude that is carried on into the on-road sector, a sector in which the entire paradigm of customer-service, reliability, and prompt response time is paramount. These three fundamental pillars of on-road success are missing and extremely weak in the case of KTM.

A quick study, if not common sense, of the customer service needs of clients of on-road bikes, as opposed to clients of off-road bikes, will yield results showing a fierce dependance on reliability of the bikes, and prompt response from the manufacturer. The use of an on-road is daily, and for many, utilitarian. KTM’s ignorance of this is surprising and quite irresponsible.

Based on forums, and now on my own personal experience, I can say without a doubt that KTM could learn a thing or two by looking across the border to Germany, to Italy, and even further, to Great Britain, rather than being so hasty in jumping in bed to partner with India. Perhaps the company structure and business ties are not of any relevance, but it is obvious by the actions and the lack of reactions of KTM to issues with bikes (in the case of SDR: rear hub bearings failing, swing arm retaining water, clutch slipping, tail light breaking, suspension oil/fluid changing viscosity, front brake disks warping, the engine case leaking oil - just to name a few, all of which I have first hand experience with, and videos and documents to support them) that there is very little support and follow up after the goal of ‘making numbers’ selling bikes.

The lofty goals and seemingly insatiable appetite to dominate the market, from taking on the Adventure world a couple of years ago, to entering the Sport Touring segment early this year, not to mention making a debut in the MotoGP ring this coming summer, all seem to be examples of a strategy of biting off much more than KTM can chew. There is little thought given to the teeth, or in this case, support, to back this craving for supremacy. Bikes which boast touring capabilities - requiring specific and rare liquids, or having known fatal flaws, from certain models whose engines become unreliable at around 40000km, to other models whose rear hubs shake loose - should not earn a rightful place in a contemporary competitive market. At least, not without a very active support system offered by the manufacturer. Numerous examples of proper symbiotic relationships between solid initial products and healthy support exist both in the motorcycle world as well as in many other areas of production.

One of my SDRs is in the shop awaiting response for a failed rear hub bearing - a gross engineering mistake, considering the few km on the bike, while the other SDR is awaiting a tail light (a relatively cheap injection-moulded plastic piece) which has cracked due to nothing more than engine vibration. To add to this, we’ve been waiting 8 months for warranty to approve a clutch liquid container, which was faulty and leaking fluid; 5 months for a pair of front brake disks from my wife’s bike, which warped without just cause; 4 months for faulty slipping clutches; 3 months for a front cylinder timing chain tensioner; 2 months for a faulty signal switch. Please note that none of these issues are isolated to my case. They are common issues and faults with this model, spanning 3 continents.

I’ve been witness to various emails that have been sent by my KTM dealer to the KTM in-charge of Spanish warranty, and I’ve seen that there is a hear-no-evil, see-no-evil response, if any at all. Meaning, there is either no answer whatsoever, a very tardy response, or a simple brush-off of ‘not covered under warranty’.

It is somewhat understandable that there are certain concessions and compromises one must make when it comes to opting to buy a motorbike. Especially when buying from a company which has very little experience being successful or knowledgeable in properly conducting itself in a sector that is foreign to it. However, when it comes to personal safety, as is the case with failing rear hub bearings, signal switches failing, failing tail lights, and brake disks warping, I find that compromise is inadmissible. I will not accept that making money, by pushing sales numbers is more important to KTM than the safety of their clients. ‘Ready to make money’ should come after assuring the safety of your clients.

It is with great chagrin that I must beg of you to have a serious look at what many of your customers are saying, and ask that you start taking post-sale customer service as seriously as other on-road motorcycle companies do - or in the very least, more seriously than you are at the moment.

On a personal level, I would appreciate a prompt reply to my warranty claims and perhaps a reaction (dare I ask for an apology) to your obvious shortcomings in my experience with KTM on-road bikes.




Barcelona, Spain

Very eloquently put.
Are you sending this directly to KTM? If not, they could choose to ignore it as it isn't specifically addressed to them. If you haven't yet sent it, I would suggest that you print it and post it with registered delivery to Stefan Pierer(sp?), and add to the letter that you will be emailing copies to every major motorcycling publication in Europe. I hope that it results in a satisfactory response. Please keep us informed of progress.

well written, good luck with it, I hope you received a satisfactory response…….

Very nicely put. Really hope KTM can get their customer care program improved dramatically. Much as I love my bike it's not only flawed but their is no willingness to make good the errors. This is my fourth Superduke and unless there's a sea change it'll be my last. Our local Ducati dealer provides fabulous service to its customers and could teach KTM a lot.

Compliments on a very well written letter.

I live on the west coast of canada and have experienced some of the issues mentioned. Mainly the sloppy hub which they say is in spec, ya right, maybe for a bike with 50,000 km and ridden very hard on very bumpy road. I have had my tail light replaced due to both "nubs" being cracked in 3 places, I am sure the new one is also cracked now. As for the leaky swingarm, I can not say, as I do not ride in the rain unless I get caught in it. Fortunately I have had no oil leaks, clutch or warped disk issues.
Bike only has 13000km (2014) so other issues may rear their ugly head later on.
I have also heard of issues with valves clearances being too tight. I plan on taking mine in this summer for a valve check, so we will see then. Hopefully my dealer is as honest as I think he is.
This is my first KTM and unless something changes, it will also be my last.

Thats the problem with corporations now a days. They are greedy and all they want is your money. I call them corruptorations

You're all very kind. I will indeed let you know what (if anything) comes of it.

I don't want to threaten or get angry. It is what it is and my relationship with KTM hangs in the balance.

Very, very well written letter....sadly I would wager it will have little effect on KTM’S policies and practices. But I hope I'm wrong.

Comrade: It is rare that these pages are graced with such a cogently written and dispassionately argued case. Like others I would encourage you to send it to the CEO and the board of KTM as well as motorcycle magazines. Personally, I'm sitting on the fence with respect to Indian engineering although readily accept that the attention to detail of other European brands seems to be leaving KTM for dead.
Good luck with your crusade.

Well written letter. Hope the right people get to read it.

Personally. Your comments reflect my own thoughts about KTM as a company and capture the many reasons why I have never made the decision to trade my well sorted 990 for a new 1290. There are too many issues with this bike and the lack lustre after sales attitude from KTM have done nothing to allay my concerns.

Good luck. Let us know if you get any response.

Totally agree with your letter. KTM is going down the same road as Ducati. Ducati has been building desirable,sexy motorcycles that have a well earned reputation for being unreliable. Ducati has come a long way, but is still inferior in reliability to Japanese bikes. KTM needs to make a "world class effort" in customer service to those who are paying a premium for their product. Imagine?

Well written letter you got there! Hope you get your answer. I think that KTM may learn something from this letter and if not, that's a shame.