Buddy Miller

Review of Beach Yamaha

I brought my 2014 KTM 1190 Adventure in about a mo...

I brought my 2014 KTM 1190 Adventure in about a month ago to have a few issues checked out. A clunk coming from the front end while going over bumps and braking, a small amount of headshake at lower speeds, and a slow start. I told them to check for an ECU update for the slow start and to adjust the steering head bearings since that is what I had done to repair the issue in the past. Steve, the service manager, made me approve an hour diag in the beginning but told me if anything they found was warrantable I would not be charged. I contacted them several days later to find out what was going on and was surprised to hear him tell me that there was nothing wrong with my bike, that all of my issues were normal. He explained that the slow starting was normal, the clunk when going over bumps and braking was the brake pads moving in the caliper (pad shift), and that my headshake was caused by a combination of my bars being up so high (1.5" Rox risers) and the fact that I was riding around with the steering damper set to comfort mode. This bike is equipped with an electronically adjustable damping system that can be adjusted through a menu on the dash, this setting affects the damping of the suspension only, the steering damper is non-adjustable and doesn't even have a connector going to it so I knew he was lying. He said they were unable to get a hold of the manufacturer on any of theses issues but I could come pick up the bike whenever I was ready. I was still going to be responsible for the 1 hour diag he wanted to charge to sit around and come up with these lies of course.

Long story short, I contacted KTM, KTM told them to reflash the ECU and tighten the steering head bearings because these were both well known issues.. They did end up reflashing the ECU but still refused to touch the steering head. I ended up wasting a bunch of my time and still paying them $57 to lie to me about what was wrong with my bike. Steve accused me of giving him a hard time with it and calling the manufacturer to complain. I guess he was really looking forward to collecting my $107 without touching the bike and was still mad about having to do the reflash.

I took the bike to RideNow Powersports in Ocala and told them what was going on with it. They contacted KTM on their own, got instructions, and followed them without me having to argue to get them to do their jobs. They tightened the steering head bearings to KTMs updated, increased torque spec and now everything is good. No more clunk, no more headshake. The bike handles like its on rails and everything was covered under warranty, quickly, and with no drama.

Stay away from Beach Boulevards service department. They would rather charge you "diag" and then pretend there is nothing wrong with your bike then fix it under warranty and file a claim with the manufacturer. I sent an email to Andy Kent about my experience almost a month ago and still have not heard back from him.