KTM on the attack
Two hot new adventure 790 twins offer so much
KTM say their brief for the new 790 Adventure was to create something truly offroad and tarmac capable without the intimidation factor of their 1300cc, 160bhp flagship adventure beasties.
Set to challenge everything from the new Yamaha Tenéré 700 up to Honda’s Africa Twin and Triumph’s Tiger 800, these road friendly enduros could well be KTM’s first real volume seller. Stealing the 799cc parallel twin from last year’s 790 Duke, the flexible, punchy and frugal engine has been given a retune for midrange while still thumping out a very healthy 94bhp, more than enough to bother its competition. It’s also more than enough for mucking about in the dirt and should be up to the job of dismissing tarmac at a decent pace, even when loaded up with all your adventure chattels.
The hotter one of the pair, the Adventure R, takes the 790’s offroad potential up a notch with 30mm taller suspension, a onepiece seat, smaller screen, Rally mode as standard and off-road focused tyres.
Without a big rear cylinder of a V-twin, KTM have been able to make the chassis slim and low in the middle, meaning an 830/850mm seat height on the standard bike (£11,199) and 880mm on the R. The clever fuel tanks hold 20 litres of juice, meaning around 300 miles between stops.
As standard the 790 Adventure comes with three riding modes (Street, Off-Road and Rain) with an optional Rally mode (standard on the R). It also has cornering ABS, off-road ABS, lean-sensitive traction control, off-road traction control and a TFT dash that can be paired with KTM’s MyRide app.
RICHARD NEWLAND DEPUTY EDITOR ‘The R manages to look like a serious off-road animal dripping in Dakar allure, without losing road practicality’