Last Updated on: April 3, 2024

The 2024 motorcycle season got off to an early start. But in true Norwegian (fake spring) fashion, temporarily ended the day after.

2024 season start, first ride of the year on the 2023 KTM 890 Adventure.

Yeah, March 22nd is my earliest season start ever. One day of great weather amidst an otherwise pretty miserable period was enough. Plus a friend had bought a new motorcycle (not the same as mine), and was keen to get it on the road.

Sadly, things didn’t turn out quite as expected for my friend. He returned the bike to the dealer for fixing the following Wednesday. But that is another story. One that won’t be told here.

A surprise

I picked up the bike at my dealer where it had been in winter storage since October last year. Back home after a lovely ride I noticed a crack on the right side cluster. At first I thought the screw on the front side had come loose. Tried to get it back in but it appeared to be too short.

And why would anyone do that? Open the cluster at all, then put in the wrong size screw? That made no sense.

The instrument cluster had cracked by itself while in storage.

Went back to my dealer the next day. Turned out the cluster had cracked, quite literally by itself! Temperature changes might have caused it. KTM certainly should spend a little bit more money on switchgear. The quality is considerably poorer than on, for instance, 1290 models.

New parts was ordered and will replaced under warranty, so no issues there.

2024 motorcycle season, new stuff

I bought the bike brand spanking new in 2023. And quickly realized the handlebar position was too low for my liking. If you’re around 190cm / 6″2/3ish in height, handlebar risers are worth considering. Has to do with the relative position of the handlebars, versus seat and seat height. I have the seat in the highest position.

KTM has two sizes of risers. Didn’t want to overdo tings, so I went for the shortest option. Turned out to be a little too short. Now the question was, replace the risers with the longest KTM ones, or put on extensions. Price wise there wasn’t much of a difference.

The 20mm Voight risers for KTM 890 Adventure. You can get 30mm as well.

Having had great success with Voigt risers on my previous motorcycle, they were a natural choice again. Decided 20mm which might have been a bit conservative- Don’t think 30mm would have been any problems either. But I’m satisfied with the choice. Check out this page for the various versions and heights..

The KTM Powerparts windscreen spoiler in high position

Also bought KTM Powerparts windscreen spoiler. Didn’t expect any miracles, and I’m still testing various position. The stock windscreen isn’t horrible but it’s not fantastic either. A spoiler adds adjustability that already have proven effective. Although in the highest position all it did was to cause buffeting.

The spoiler in one position that worked ok.

I ended up with at least two usable positions. Like in the above picture, and all the way down. And with these two additions I think I’m done with making changes to the bike.

Additional equipment/changes

• KTM Ergo seat with heating
• KTM Barkbusters equivalent
• Touratech foldable mirrors
• Touratech skid plate and engine protection. Details here.
• KTM handlebar risers + Voigt extensions
• KTM GPS bracket for the 890
• Rhinowalk luggage solution, details here.
• Kayak handles rear to compensate for loss of the KTM “horns”
• Tank protection