KTM 790 Adventure R
More tarmac-based rubber as winter kicks in
AS THE REAR Metzeler wore on our KTM, there was no getting away from the fact that the bike was getting more and more wayward. Thanks to their torquey power deliveries and barndoor aerodynamics, adventure bikes eat tyres and the KTM is no exception to the rule — by 2800 miles, the rear had squared enough that the big Austrian was steering from the rear on camber changes, could be knocked into a wobble on the motorway and spun up in the wet under hard acceleration.
Time for new rubber. I’ve plumped for Michelin Anakee Adventure tyres. With a 80/20 road/off-road bias to them, they should work and last better on the road and have a little bit of gravel-road ability if needed (it is an adventure bike after all).
So far, first impressions are OK. The Anakees utilise a dual-compound set-up for longevity and side-grip and they feel reassuring. Thanks to a truly crap autumn, the first few hundred miles have been mostly in the wet — and there is a big improvement when it comes to feel and grip, especially from the rear. A tankslapper also feels much further away — the Metzeler Karoo 3s on it before caught me out more than once.
Thanks to the launch of the new KTM 890 Adventure (see p27), this will be the last time you’ll see the 790 in these pages. The miles have been kept down by home-working,
Covid isolation, the bike being stranded at KTM’S HQ during lockdown and putting 3000 miles on our Kawasaki Ninja 1000SX but there have still been plenty of smiles.