Crashing my bike fixed my cruise control
Pic of a bolt I loc-tited and force threaded into the ground down rear brake foot plate.
2025 SDR Evo- Probably the second month of owning it, the bike started throwing a “Tail Light” and “Brake Light Switch” code at me. It was super frustrating because when those codes are on, I cant use cruise control and also it’s a new fricken bike. They would come on every single ride, either right away or within 10 minutes or towards the end of the ride. When cruise control is engaged and these codes pop up, it cancels the cruise control and the bike jerks abruptly and is pretty dangerous. KTM and their electronics 🙄
Anyway, I was riding the SDR on my friend’s homemade oval dirt track and I slid out and low-sided. Brake lever snapped off, foot brake step plate got grounded down, scuffed up exhaust, and clutch cover. Running out of talent is expensive. Anyway, since my brake controls were KIA before I could get new ones, I decided to put the bike on a battery tender for the first time in its life.
Lo and behold, after riding it for the first time since the crash, no error codes! Ive taken it on multiple rides and not one has popped up so im feeling sure enough that I can confidently use cruise control without the bike suddenly jerking to a slow unexpectedly.
Just goes to show how important having a healthy and charged battery is for these modern bikes with all the wiz bang computer gadgets. It also shows how trash the batteries are that come stock on these bikes. Will be upgrading to a lithium-ion asap.
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