20 Accessories, Mods and Farkles for your Adventure Motorcycle

This is a KTM OEM (KTM powerparts) accessory. It’s basically a software upgrade to the bike’s ECU, enabling the quickshifter, hill hold control and motor slip regulation. The quick shifter alone is earning the double thumbs up! It’s simply awesome. The Hill Hold and MSR are ‘nice to haves’.

This, again, is a KTM OEM (KTM powerparts) accessory. As the name suggests, it’s a dongle. It simply plugs into a connector which is located under the saddle. With this dongle installed, your traction control and ABS settings are remembered between starts. So, even if you stall the bike and have to restart it, the traction control and ABS will keep its setting. Without this dongle, the traction control always defaults to ON and ABS always defaults to Road when you start the bike, even after a stall. Not handy when you stall the bike on an offroad trail for example.

In some countries it is mandatory that ABS is always on when on the road. That’s why, when the dongle is installed, you’ll get a big yellow warning ‘NOT LEGAL’ every time you start the bike. You’ll have to push the down button on the left hand switch control to get rid of it, every time you start the bike. This is a small inconvenience compared to having to go deep into the menu structure to set ABS in off-road mode every time you turn on/off the bike while off-road. Of course you can also opt to connect the dongle only for bigger off-road trips. It’s relatively easy to disconnect and connect.

I picked these up while I was visiting family in Europe, even before I knew what my next bike was going to be. There was a big sale and I figured they’d fit on just about any future bike. I knew I wanted soft panniers and Kriega’s OS (Overland-System) bags got raving reviews, so I figured I couldn’t go wrong with them. So far I’ve only tested them during a short ride. Once I give them some real usage I’ll write a dedicated article on them.

I wanted pannier racks as apposed to a rack-less system. Simply because it looks cleaner and the racks themselves have some crash protection. I needed a rack that could hold the Kriega soft panniers. Kriega does sell a platform plate that basically mounts to every rack, but I opted to get Outback Motortek’s X-Frame racks, which already come with tie down points for the Kriega’s. A more detailed review on the racks will follow.

Other than the tie down points, the Outback Motortek luggage racks also come with an X-Frame plate which mounts inside the hoop. These x-frames are mostly used to mount a rotopax on, but Outback also sells a little toolbox which can be mounted on them. Emphasis on little… as indeed it’s quite small and the opening is even smaller. For example… it’s hard to stuff my KTM provided toolset through the opening. I mounted that toolbox on the inside of the left pannier rack (so that I can still have the Kriega on the outside).

Definitely the best accessory investment to increase comfort on this bike (and honestly… on any bike I’ve ever owned). This screen reduced helmet noise tremendously for me, making my rides a lot more enjoyable. With the stock screen the helmet noise was almost unbearable at +100 km/h speeds. Even with earplugs and my Schuberth C3 Pro it was loud and tiring. Now, with this Givi screen, I can even wear my Arai XD-4 without earplugs (for short distances of course… for longer rides I always wear earplugs or in-ear headphones).

Of course your mileage may vary. Wether this screen works for you depends on many things, including your height. I’m 1,79 (5’10”) with a 32″ inseam. If you’d like to know more about helmet noise and how to reduce it… have a look at my very detailed and scientific article: https://scenic.app/windscreens-and-other-causes-solutions-for-noise-and-buffeting-in-motorcycle-helmets/

Givi also has a bigger variant of this screen… the D7706ST, which is a bit wider and higher than the one I got.

I actually had this case on my previous motorcycle and liked it so much I decided not to sell it with the bike. I simply ordered a new base plate from SW-Motech so I could install it on on the SAR. Of all the accessories on this list, I think the top case is the one I get most practical usage out on a day to day bases. When I ride around town it’s big enough to put some groceries in, or hold my helmet when I have to enter into a store. And if I go on big off-road trips (where I prefer to take soft luggage only) it takes about 30 seconds to take it off the bike completely and make room for a duffle bag.

Just like the top case, I had this tank bag on my previous bike as well. I only ordered a compatible tank ring for it and now I use it on my KTM. I don’t use it all the time, but on my last few longer rides I tried something new. I inserted a hydration bladder in there, filled with ice and water. It worked pretty well and think that’s a keeper. More on that in a future article.

Got this foot of Ali Express for a few bucks. I figured it was worth a shot. The standard foot is a bit small and sinks into soft dirt and mud quite easily. This foot makes the stand a bit wider. No need to spend big bucks on an item like this when a cheap Ali Express version does the trick.

This I also got of Ali Express. It works and it’s functional, but I probably will get a better quality one in the future. It just seems a bit flimsy… and I’m not sure about the position it’s mounted (to the wind screen). The wind screen vibrates a lot so obviously the phone does too. Not so much as to damage the phone (see my review on the Quad Lock Vibration dampener), but still it could be better.

I think this is a cheap copy of the Touratech headlight guard. It fits rather well though… and you can easily take it off without tools (for cleaning the headlight). I like the look of it and it helps protect the rather expensive headlight should a rock come flying that direction.

I’m a ‘shorties’ fan. Had them installed on almost all my bikes. The real advantage, to me at least, it that I can keep my inner two fingers on the controls, while my outer two hold on to the handlebars. Useful on the road, but even more offroad. Of course this can also be done with normal levers, but it’s just easier with shorties and your outer two fingers can’t get stuck / pinched. Another advantage is that short levers don’t stick out as far, so they break less easy should you drop the bike.

This is the first time I tried the Wild@Heart’s though. Read about them on a KTM 790 forum.. and decided to give them a try. They are really good and fit just as well as the original ones. The cheap Chinese ones tend to have too much up and down ‘play’ in my experience. Not the case with these!

One of the quirks of the 1290 SAR is the engine heat it produces. In slow traffic on a warm day you can really feel the heat against your thighs. These heat guards from Ali Express were a poor fit. Had to struggle quite a bit to make them work. They are made of plastic. The only thing they do is guide the heat a bit further down towards my calves. I wouldn’t spend my money on this again and might remove them in the future.

From all the stuff I got from Ali Express, these were the most expensive. For a reason though I guess… they are really good and sturdy. I like them a lot. They are quite a bit wider and longer than the standard pegs. Especially when standing on the bike this is a real plus point. I don’t really miss the rubber of the standard pegs, which supposedly helps dampen the motorcycle vibrations. It does take a little getting used to as these pegs are a bit in the way when you want to put your foot down (at a traffic light for example).

I’ve been using Quad Lock mounts for years now. I really like the one handed ‘twist and go’ system and the secure hold they provide. And now with the vibration dampener they appear to have found a solution for motorcycle vibrations damaging camera modules of moderns phones. If you’d like to know more about this, check out the Quad Lock Motorcycle Kit and my complete Quad Lock reviews here and here.