The next chapter...KTM Super Adventure S

What does a quick shifter do for you? I read all these bike ride reports and the testers are all saying the same things it needs a quick shifter or it doesn't have enough ride modes or what ever. Waaaaaaaaaaaay back when I was a kid a quick shifter was a person wiring the horn button to kill the fire you pre loaded the shift lever held the throttle wide open and thumbed the horn button when it was time for the next gear. O.K. for drag racing but useless on the street. Is a modern quick shifter for that or is it used in a different way? Thanks for any enlightenment

Simply put a modern quickshifter allows you to shift up and on some bikes down without using the clutch. Smoother faster acceleration and in combination with a slipper clutch faster downshifting. My ‘15 Super Adventure didn’t have it and I didn’t miss it, my ‘20 does and I’m glad it’s there. Accelerating you just keep the throttle open and feed in the gears, when it’s time to downshift close the throttle bang it down 2-3 gears and get back on the gas when you’re ready. It’s great to have but not essential. A bike like the S10 would benefit from at least an up quickshifter because the motor does not make rpm quickly and it would make it easier to maintain power accelerating through the gears.(imo anyway)

cyclemike4 said:

What does a quick shifter do for you? I read all these bike ride reports and the testers are all saying the same things it needs a quick shifter or it doesn't have enough ride modes or what ever. Waaaaaaaaaaaay back when I was a kid a quick shifter was a person wiring the horn button to kill the fire you pre loaded the shift lever held the throttle wide open and thumbed the horn button when it was time for the next gear. O.K. for drag racing but useless on the street. Is a modern quick shifter for that or is it used in a different way? Thanks for any enlightenment

Click to expand...

It is another level, there will be some traditionalist who thinks that the use of the clutch is enough, but as Donk said, it’s not that it’s necessary but it really is an improvement, not only in performance, also in the driving sensation ... it’s addictive ... it makes you want more to engage gears, than to take advantage of the torque and go out in the gear that is engaged

Clutch is now only used to start, stop, and riding very slowly. Keep the throttle wherever you want and shift up or down. No need to ever roll off the power for even a fraction of a second.

It's allows for incredible acceleration. And you can downshift in ways you would never consider possible without it.

There is one word of caution about quick shifting, it WILL bite you if you are accustom to keeping your foot near the shifter. In fact any laziness will be punished. Correct use has required me to retrain myself. It's all worth it, but my old ways had to be corrected.

I first learned this while going into a sweeper when all of a sudden the bike downshifted. What the #@!. A bit later the same thing happened. It's even happened going down 2 gears. Didn't take too long for me to realize I was resting my foot close to the shifter and I was unaware I was moving my foot in on these right hand turns and putting enough pressure to cause a gear change.

Likewise I have been caught more than once not pulling my foot away from the shifter while trying to upshift quickly. Be lazy and not let the lever be fully released between shifts and it's going to get awkward. Sure all bikes do this, but you're shifting so fast through the gears in this process it can happen easier than you might anticipate.

You can certainly say I should not be lazy about shifting. That's true, but it happens. It happens a whole lot less as a result of getting adjusted to this bike.

None of this outweighs the awesome benefits of speed/quick shifting. If necessary, you will need to become more disciplined.

The quickshifter on the 890 is much more sensitive than the 1290. Combined with a very light shift action I was very ham fisted or ham footed until I got used to the bike. D D is correct about that. Another word of caution, feeding in gears upshifting is so much fun and addictive it does tend to take you well beyond the legal speed limits.

Donk said:

The quickshifter on the 890 is much more sensitive than the 1290.

Click to expand...

Wow, that's saying something.

Donk said:

... it does tend to take you well beyond the legal speed limits.

Click to expand...

No idea what you mean.

Dirt_Dad said:

View attachment 87606

Click to expand...

I'm waiting too. I went over to catch up with my buddy (GM at dealership), and they had just put this together and rolled it out a few minutes before I got there. How could I resist.

Felt nice, narrow, and lower than my SAS. My buddy asked me to walk through all the changes on this one. Happy to help, Larry.

True to form DM took one look at the picture I texted her and she replied with, 'you can't have it...it's black.' I just looked again, I call it orange. At least that's what I'd say if they don't change the color pattern on in the year I do buy it in... 202x(?) Whatever color, it sure was nice.

You beat me by a day. WMR had just put one together and I got to sit on it today. It was sold so didn’t do anything more. Balls of my feet were securely on the ground. Styling is a little less edgy. Beautiful bike. I’m waiting to see the Husqvarna Norden 901.

Actually, same day.

It's the little things I appreciated. The heat shield on the rear header pipe, the keyless seat remove button, and the massively improved phone box/airbox access all impressed me as nice improvements beyond the headline changes.

I was surprised to notice the triple bumps of the wear bars on the rear tire. They jumped out as something I'd never seen on any other tire.

Overall it struck me as more refined bike with lots of little detail tweaks. I suspect it might take some time to notice all of them.

Anyone ready for some orange kool-aid? Its good stuff.

Wear bars on tires is definitely a great thing but it’s pretty disappointing how difficult they are to actually see on many tires.

Often they are challenging to see on a new tire. Whatever the new SAS is wearing (I believe it's Mitas) really stood out to me as a new twist on an old feature.

If I was in the market for a new bike, a new 890 would be in my garage.

I know my dealer buddy told me the 890 was an extremely hot selling bike for him. Seem to be the current sweetspot for the ADV market.

Dirt_Dad said:

Actually, same day.

It's the little things I appreciated. The heat shield on the rear header pipe, the keyless seat remove button, and the massively improved phone box/airbox access all impressed me as nice improvements beyond the headline changes.

I was surprised to notice the triple bumps of the wear bars on the rear tire. They jumped out as something I'd never seen on any other tire.

Overall it struck me as more refined bike with lots of little detail tweaks. I suspect it might take some time to notice all of them.

Anyone ready for some orange kool-aid? Its good stuff.

Click to expand...

life is only one… ..in the other life, I don't think clouds have 160HP ……

But you will have wings . . . . without the Redbull.

Donk said:

You beat me by a day. WMR had just put one together and I got to sit on it today. It was sold so didn’t do anything more. Balls of my feet were securely on the ground. Styling is a little less edgy. Beautiful bike. I’m waiting to see the Husqvarna Norden 901.

Click to expand...

I believe the 901 uses the 890 engine. Great looking bike but not enough to get me off my 890 right now. Still pretty smitten with it. The 890 is great fun.

I love my 890 and I’m not parting with it. The Norden is the same frame and engine with a shortened R suspension and a lot of things that are optional on the 890 are standard on the 901. Mostly the 901 is supposed to have a much better fairing and improved weather protection than the KTM. For me that would be a huge plus. At 35-40k miles a year quite a bit is on highways so added weather protection would be nice.