TAKE A SURPRISINGLY GRIPPING ADVENTURE
You don’t need a big motorbike to have a big motorbike adventure.
Paddy Minne and I, for example, rode two Enfield Bullets back from India to the UK in 1998 for my book Way to Go, and their antiquated 500cc single-cylinder engines just about managed 27bhp on a good day.
And my mate Nathan Millward made it all the way from Sydney to London on a 110cc postie bike called Dorothy for his excellent book The Long Ride Home.
So I always walk up to small capacity bikes with a pleasant tingle of anticipation that they’ll punch above their weight.
Being an adventure version with longer travel suspension and a 19in front wheel, the KTM Adventure is taller than the 390 Duke it’s based on, but for the few riders in the world under 6ft 6in, there’s a low seat option.
Note to KTM: a comfort seat option would also be nice, since the seat’s so firm that I needed a break after an hour.
Anyway, back to the good bits: great mirrors, and a small but informative TFT screen with everything you need to know at a glance, including which gear and mode you’re in, with a choice of Road or Off-Road.
Heavens, it even tells you your O2 emissions, in case some of your best friends are vegan whales.
As you’d expect with only 43bhp on tap from the single piston bouncing away merrily below, the engine doesn’t really get interested below 5,000rpm. Then it picks up nicely at 6,000 and hums away enthusiastically if you keep it in the sweet spot between there and 9,000.
It hits the red line at 10,000rpm, at which point it’s sounding like a very angry wasp and there’s no point thrashing it to death.
With those wide bars and a wet weight of a mere 168kg, handling is a hoot, and rather remarkably for the price it’s got lean-sensitive traction control and cornering ABS for belt and braces security.
Spotting an abandoned field with no one in sight, I switched into Off Road mode for a bit of light pottering, and it was a doddle even for someone whose chance of winning the Dakar Rally is about the same as the Pope calling around for a wild party.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’d better pick up some communion wine and Pringles on the way home, since His Holiness is due at eight and he’s a bit of a stickler for punctuality.
Bike supplied by Phillip McCallen Motorcycles, phillipmccallen.com