KTM 950 and 990

KTM's Dakar history all went into this big and capable offroader. They changed their minds about ground clearance sometimes, and so can you.

Most of the information on this page is from discussions with David Burnett from Suspension Matters in Tasmania. He's had so much experience with the big KTM I could not have assembled this page without his assistance. I recommend you use Dave for 950 and 990 height mods using WP suspension as he's going to give you back gear that works well. Like us, he uses a Roehrig VS10 shock dyno and is very proficient with it.

There is a lot of information on these fork builds from the forums on advrider.com:

KTM 950 and 990 Forks

The 950/990 models came in 4 different heights from KTM, with between 210-265mm of suspension travel. All of them are based on the WP 48mm Open Chamber Fork with a straight 28mm cartridge and 14mm shaft. It's a very robust design. Many people have used EXC fork internals to get over 265mm travel - all the 1999-2007 WP forks from the KTM EXC and SX can be used as donors to build up your desired set of forks. See the table below as found on AdvRider.com that details some of the tube/shaft lengths. Also worth noting that the top out springs for the 14mm damper rod are no longer available from WP, and they often break.


WP 48mm Open Chamber Fork Lengths

  147mm Travel 210mm Travel 230mm Travel 245mm Travel 265mm Travel 300mm (450EXC) Travel
Piston Rod   496mm 516mm 496mm 516mm 551mm
Chamber   385mm 385mm 420mm 420mm 390mm
Hydrostop   235mm 235mm 200mm 200mm 200mm
Outer Tube 506mm 610mm 610mm 610mm 610mm 577mm
Fork Length 864mm 880mm   915mm 935mm  
Rebound Spring 73.5mm 34.5mm     34.5mm  
Spring Length 375mm 460mm   468mm    
Adjuster Rod 389mm 462mm   462mm    

KTM 950 and 990 Shock

Keep in mind that the shock needs to be the right length to balance the fork. Below we have compiled a table of lengths - our suggestion is 275mm travel is the tallest you want the bike to be, 300mm is unmanageable on difficult terrain if you need to put your foot down, let alone hold the bike up.


WP & Tractive Adventure Shock Travel Lengths

Model Year From Year To Travel Shock Length Tractive Shock
950 Adventure 2003 2004 230mm 380mm 46KT03-T5508-TR
950 Adventure 2005 2006 230mm 380mm 46KT05-T5511-TR
950 Adventure S 2003 2006 265mm 392mm 46KT06-T5507-TR
Tractive 950 Adventure S Long (+30mm) 2003 2006 300mm 402mm 46KT06-T5508-TR
Tractive 950 Rally 2005 2006 300mm 402mm 46KT06-T5107-TR
950 R Super Enduro 2007 2010 265mm 392mm 46KT07-T5510-TR
990 Adventure 2007 2013 210mm 372mm 46KT05-T5511-TR-01
990 Adventure S 2008   265mm 392mm  
990 Adventure R 2012   245mm 386mm  
990 SMT SMR      160mm 365mm  
Tractive 990 Adventure R 2009 2012 265mm 392mm 46KT06-T5507-TR-01
Tractive 990 Adventure R Long (+30mm) 2009 2012 300mm 402mm 46KT06-T5508-TR-01
Tractive 990 Rally 2007 2013 300mm 402mm 46KT06-T5107-TR-01


Tractive 990 Super Motard Shock Travel Lengths

Model Year From Year To Travel Shock Length X-Cite Shock X-Perience Shock X-Perience with HPA
990 SM-R 2009 2013 210mm 372mm 46KT09-R3102-TR 46KT09-T4102-TR 46KT09-T4502-TR
990 SM-T 2009 2013 210mm 372mm 46KT09-R3101-TR 46KT09-T4101-TR 46KT09-T4501-TR