New for old trailie!the
Beneath the classic coveralls is a bright orange/sharp lined KTM 790 Adventurer – the old and new in perfect harmony
Every now and then American customiser Roland Sands does something that’s so brilliantly simple other bike builders must weep into their beards when they hook their peepers on it. This time, instead of making KTM’S excellent 790 Adventure any lairier, Roland turned it into this foxy retro trailie by just adding a few key components.
‘A friend of mine with a 2019 790 Adventure said he wanted a classic silhouette but also wanted to keep everything about the stock KTM that works so well,’ says Roland. ‘The standard KTM has an aggressive aesthetic – it’s bright orange, with lots of sharp lines – and is without doubt one of the most functional and highperforming adventure bikes on the market. Our challenge was to meet in the middle – take a classic aesthetic and jam that onto a high performance modern platform.’
So instead of stripping the 790 down to its grundies and beating it with welding equipment and aftermarket catalogues, Roland left the engine, main frame, suspension, brakes and switchgear well alone because, frankly, they work brilliantly.
The 790 Adventure’s fuel tank, however, is not such a clear-cut success. It hangs down either side of the engine, which works well from a fuel capacity and centre of gravity perspective but isn’t a visual delight. ‘The fuel tank was a complete pain in the ass,’ says Roland, who replaced the stock item with one from a Suzuki GT750 triple.
‘It was mind-numbing how much work it took. The tank was the aesthetic pivot for this whole project but the underside of it needed a series of prisms [to fit around cylinder heads] that took our fabricator Aaron so much time to make. We didn’t want to sacrifice too much fuel volume – we’re down to three gallons [the stock tank was 4.5].’
With the slimmer tank in place, it was clear the stock radiator could not stay – it stuck out too far. But instead of ditching it, Roland came up with another idea: ‘We made the radiator vertical not horizontal to really thin this area up – it made the radiator pretty much go away. We then reconfigured the stock skid plate to fit.’
Next was the seat. Roland found that the saddle from a Husqvarna Vitpilen worked perfectly with the tank. ‘We used it to shape our subframe,’ says Roland. ‘The subframe modifications include pins for a bag mount so you can easily get extra storage.’
‘Classic aesthetic on a high performance platform’