The majority of owners, online, who report camshaft lobe wear are reporting they have found the premature wear during routine servicng. They were unaware of the issue until inspecting the cams and the bike was running as normal with no obvious faults or issues.
However, Facebook user “Michael Kowalski” shared the below story on the KTM Failed Camshafts - 790/890 & 901 Facebook group. The exact cause is unknown, some owners online have reported engine locking up with valves dropping. It’s impossible for us to know if that is what happened here but either way it is worrying.
Hello all, thank you for the add. I have been riding ktm dirtbikes for almost 20 years and owned a 2022 Duke 890R, last September it was totaled in a crash. I can’t remember most the day of but what I’ve been told, according to the police report and looking at the crash scene I believe the bike had a failure causing the accident. I want to ask this group for opinions and advice so here’s the info. The bike had 5,700 miles on it, I just had the third new rear tire fitted and had no modifications to it. Met up with some friends that were in their cars and were on our way to get food when my rear tire locked up entering a 60 degree turn and I slid off the road into a dual post street sign. My estimated speed was 50 mph in a 45 zone and in the police report they said there was a long skid mark leading to the crash scene. If my friends hadn’t been there I would have drowned in my own blood till anyone found me. Cracked my skull in three places, brain hemorrhage, broken rib that punctured a lung, vertebra fractures and was kept in a medically induced coma for over a week was the worst of it. A family friend who is an instructor for bike days at a local track owned the same bike and said it was impossible to lock up the rear tire like that without turning off the abs. I also used to hit false neutral between gears and coolant was seeping through the webbing of a hose that I told the dealer about and they basically said I was on my own. Finding out others have been having issues with these bikes has made me very curious. Was there anything I could have done to make that rear tire lock up without turning off abs or traction control? 22 years of riding motorcycles has me thinking I couldn’t be that dumb but who knows.
