Dirt and Trail July 2020

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KTM 790 Rider Review - First Impressions.
You’d have seen last month that we roped in the
talents of Barbara Muszinski to do some interesting
travel features for the magazine. When the guys from
Trax KTM got wind of that, they supplied her with
the beautiful KTM790 ‘S’ Dirt Convert special that
they build to do the job. This moth, Mizz B shares her
thoughts on the bike and some lockdown travels…
The Bike
It has been just over a year since the
KTM 790 and 790R were first launched
at the Merzouga Rally in Morocco. Ever
since their launch these bikes have
been top competitors for the mid-range
adventure class crown, with the “R”
model often being the main focus of
most articles and reviews.
You can imagine my surprise when
Riaan, the owner at Trax KTM, asked
me whether I’d be keen in putting one of
their standard model KTM 790’s through
its paces and testing its capabilities as an
all-round adventure bike. As an avid offroad
and adventure rider I simply could
not refuse and found myself leaving the
shop on a very special version of the
KTM 790 they had put together called
the “Dirt Convert”.
This version makes it possible to leave
the tar in style with knobbly tyres, a high
front fender and a fdunky decal kit to set
you apart from the rest. The best part
about the conversion is that it can be
done at no extra cost with the purchase
of your standard model KTM 790 ‘s’.
The Akrapovič exhaust system as well
as the “Rally Mode” software our featured
bike came installed with, can be added as
optional extras. The only thing that now
sets our standard model apart from the
“R” is the suspension. According to KTM,
the standard 790 Adventure is “the most
off-road capable travel bike,” while the R
is “The most travel-capable off-road bike.”
From a Standard ‘S’ to a
Trax Dirt Convert.
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