First rides
Off-road version of KTM’S 2017 1290 Super Adventure ‘The most extreme adventure bike ever built,’ they say 21in front, wire spokes and off-road WP suspension
“Rolling downhill in light sand, I grab the brake…”
off-road suspension and stratospheric levels of electronic assistance that fill in the gap between the rider’s aspiration and ability. It helps that it has a serrated pegs, a seamless quickshifter/autoblipper that makes shifting ratios off-road much easier and, for this launch, TKC80 tyres (the stock 1290 R comes on less knobbly Conti Trail Attack 2s for homologation reasons). This test bike has also been set up with its adjustable aluminium bars tilted forward.
A short blast on tarmac shows the 1290 R in Sport mode is just as capable of smearing rubber with its prodigious 160bhp and 103lb.ft of torque as the 1290 S. However, on the dirt in Off-road mode, its power is reduced to a more manageable 100bhp and the throttle response is softened. But it’s the traction control that really makes the difference, using its lean-angle sensor to detect and modify its behaviour to allow maximum grip pulling away in first, yet also allowing the back to drift under power and steer the bike through a corner. It’s clever stuff and gives the rider an instinctive feel of complete control.
The 1290 R’s braking is just as stable as its acceleration. More off-road oriented ABS settings (disabling ABS at the rear) give simply phenomenal stopping power on gravel and loose surfaces. At one point, rolling downhill in light sand, I grab the front brake hard to see what will happen. Instead of juddering, slipping or sliding, the WP forks compress and the bike just stops. I’m not sure I believe it, so I do it again. If I had more cojones, I’d try it with some lean angle on – but I bet the 1290 R could cope with that, too.
Then there’s the R’s suspension. Unlike the S’s semi-active WP set-up, the R features a relatively conventional, longtravel system of 48mm upside-down forks with rebound damping in one leg and the compression in the other. The back end has a WP shock, but the R does away with a rising-rate linkage and connects the strut directly from swingarm to frame. Instead, like pukka enduro and off-road bikes, it generates progressive damping inside the shock body using two pistons on one damper rod; the first piston operates initial low-load damping, the second comes into play when higher damping rates are required.
While this isn’t a magic carpet solution – off-road, you can feel every bump, every pebble and nearly every sand grain – what it does is provide stability and feedback. This is what you really need when both tyres are constantly moving sideways as well as forwards. Again, it all helps build confidence in the bike and in yourself.
The 1290 R’s final key to unlocking the off-road door is the ease of its physical control. It feels lighter than its fully fuelled 240kg but it flicks and spins with huge agility – thanks maybe to the 21in front. The tall front and long-travel suspension sticks up the R’s seat height to 890mm, 30mm more than the S – but, unlike the S’s single rider’s seat, the R’s one-piece can’t be adjusted for height (for less leggy riders, the optional hill-hold control works wonders stopping the bike rolling back). But the R doesn’t feel, to 6ft me, intimidatingly tall, wide or heavy. After a day in the desert, I’d say KTM are close to misrepresenting the 1290 R by just calling it the most extreme off-road big adventure bike. It’s much more than that – this is the first big adventure bike to blend chassis, engine and leading-edge electronics in such an advanced way as to encourage and augment off-road riding you thought was beyond you. It’s next-generation adventure bike stuff. SIMON HARGREAVES