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11/2/2020
Location
Walden, CO
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Edited Date/Time
6/2/2025 11:27am
Any of you KTM experts have any secrets to tightening up the steering a bit and getting it to actually stay there?
Coming over from Kawi where you could just snug it up and it would pretty much stay that way with minor adjustments until the bearing needed replaced.
On my KTM I tighten it to where I like it (Which is WAY past the torque spec in the manual) and literally after a moto or two the bars just fall under there own weight again. Is this just the way these bikes are with the steering stem nut controlling everything?
Shoulnt be like that. Something is not right. You are relaxing the upper or lower triple clamp bolts when tightening?
I have the same experience with my ktm, another thread on here stated it’s a different procedure on these bikes, leave top top triple clamp pinch bolts for forks tight, loose lower pinch bolts, then tighten nut & upper clamp bolt under the nut….I tried this & it seems to work, I guess pulling the clamps up to put pressure on bearings vs tighten%ing down on bearings
Yeah I always free up the top triple clamp. As a side note its been like this for both the stock and Luxon triple clamp. The nut itself doesnt seem to be coming loose at all and the pinch bolt is torqued to spec. I've looked at the diagram to make sure Im not missing anything, put new bearings and races in. Cant seem to figure out what is going on.
Got it. I'll give that a shot as I've always done the top triple clamp bolts and then fixed fork height after.
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Thats how I have done it all my life also, but I noticed I cant get any load on the triples when I do it this way….I like a little resistance when my bars move side to side…I felt mine get a little tighter when this method….
Make sure the triple clamp bores, steering stem bore, steering stem, and fork tubes are all clean and dry (use brake cleaner or alcohol to remove any oils) as well when you put everything together. You can also scuff up the anodize on all those areas with some sandpaper. No need to remove the anodize completely, just scuff it up to remove the sheen and it will grip a lot better. Also, make sure the pinch bolt is clean and dry, then install it with Loctite 263 and torque to 20 Nm.
So long as you are tightening/adjusting everything in the proper sequence, it shouldn't matter one way or another whether you leave the top clamp or the bottom clamp loose, you just have to loosen one of them so they're not tied together by the fork tubes when you make the adjustment.
I had my steering stem loosen up quite a bit. It was kind of moving a bit. I do that procedure (loosen top triple clamp, loosen nut, loosen stem nut then tighten it down) every once and a while to make sure it's tight.
You can also order a stem bolt from a triumph, they are the same threads and size but it's made out of metal, so you can get it a little tighter without stripping it
Might have to try that as I tried everything above without much luck.
This was the best Bang for the buck so far, I've also tried the wp steering stabilizers, but they're way too soft. I've had them revalved and run thicker oil but stil it's marginal at best
The showa/WP style doesn't really dampen as much as a GPR/ Scotts style one. I will say I notice a huge difference with one of the GPR/Scotts style. If you like the feel of the steering stem tighter, one of those stabilizers will be an awesome adjustable version of that. Especially on a 2 Stroke.
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