A few more comments from my recent experience to get your advice.

After a long ride I noticed that the radiator overflow connection to the coolant tank leaks, it appears to be just a simple hose pushed into a socket with on o-ring, and prone to leaking. I don't recall anyone commenting on this, I had to hold it down with some electrical tape until I find a better solution.

I fitted a pair of pivot pegz, made in Tasmania (Australia) in a small town close to where I lived long long ago, and after a couple of rides where they felt a little strange, I am now convinced and can feel myself float at varying foot angles as I accelerate or decelerate or go into steep sections. They are larger and provide more grip than stock. Highly recommended.

After sliding around too many trails with the conti TKC 80, I had the pirelli MT 21 fitted front and rear, and swapped the standard inner tubes with UHD tubes, and a rim lock at front and rear. The shop did not balance the wheels, the bike was almost unridable due to heavy vibrations (especially when the 2 rim locks aligned themselves), so I got the wheel balanced... it looks terrible, but no vibrations, and although the MT 21 whine a little at highway speeds, in the dirt the difference is incredible and I can now comfortably go where the TKC 80 gave me much trouble. I am looking for balancing weights that fit on the spokes, but I have not found any retailer that sells those yet. Another solution is to balance the wheel with a 2nd rim lock, but the rim has just 1 hole as standard, the other would be custom...

There is a vendor on ebay that sells reusable spoke weights.  I like them.  They are installed with a supplied allen wrench.  Not sure if the link below will work; go to ebay and search for "reusable wheel weights" if not.  They aren't cheap but work well and are reusable so you only buy them once.  My experience is, you will need four ounces of weight across from the rim lock.  

http://www.ebay.com/...=item35ad6e6081

Instead of using those ugly balancing weights put another bead Lock straight across from the other on the rear tire and it will b perfectly balanced then ditch the front bead lock , no need for it..I did this on my 690 and it rides perfectly on street or dirt

Yes, I am thinking of installing a 2nd rim lock on the rear and front, I have bought them but I hesitate to drill a hole for it... I will at the next tire change. On the front I can see the valve slowly slipping away (no retainer nut to avoid ripping the valve) so I think the rim lock is useful.

I found a new problem: the screw retainer at the bottom of the radiator for the side panels, twists sideways and the sharp edge on it eventually makes a small hole in the radiator. I discovered this too late, when my right boot was wet with coolant after a ride. Bad design is my conclusion, I rounded the edges of both left and right retainers and reinstalled them, after putting some epoxy over the hole to stop the leak. I have not read about this problem anywhere yet.

I installed a 2nd rim lock on the rear during a tire change, and removed those ugly lead weights.



I also include the images for the previous post, showing the rounded screw retainer, and my patched radiator. I recommend anyone with a KTM 690 should check to see that this screw retainer is not slowly punching a hole in their radiator. I reckon this should be a warranty issue, or even a recall of all affected bikes by KTM, but I have not heard of any recall to fix issues (except the handlebar supports which was fixed for 2011).