When the 390 motor dropped a few years again, a lot of people (including me) questioned why KTM only did a road bike but not an adventure bike in this size cc. Well, after spy shots for a time that felt longer than what this lockdown has felt like, KTM finally released the bike this year!
Now, I am not one for serious adventure rides but after riding this little gem off-road I felt more confident then someone who has had a bit too much to drink! I firmly believe that this is the best adventure bike on the market at the moment. Before you say to me that KTM has a 1290 or even the 790 Adventure, I agree, they are superb bikes with insane amounts of power but that is only for the road. Once you’ve hit the off-road parts, all that power is pretty much useless especially if it is just going to spin up the rear tyre and take you no where. Again, there are definitely certain people who have those awesome skills but I am not a Toby Price or Sam Sutherland so the 390 Adventure is perfection!
Going back to where I was, darn you KTM for having such a great amount of good bikes, with a brisk 43 high revving, v-tec sounding horse powers, it it not short of power at all! Adjustable front forks, which is nearly unheard of in a smaller adventure bike. Right… Adjustable forks. Time for some teacher time! An adjustable front fork is something small but something big too. If you feel like the front is a bit too hard, you can adjust it to be slightly softer and the same with the other way around. This gives the rider that adjustable to set up the suspension to make it more comfortable for him or her which gives more confident and potentially makes them feel like there are the best rider of all time! Next one, this little bike can cruise at 150km/h. Wait… Doesn’t that stress the motor out? Actually, no, no it doesn’t! It is happy there, all day and every day!
A bike with plenty of power, adjustable suspension, happy to sit at 150km/h, super light on fuel and isn’t heavy. Here is a question for you, is your bigger adventures really worth it?