DT May online

KTM agrees with us – and as such they proudly emblazon
ADVENTURE across many of their bikes.
And there have been plenty of those to date, from the venerable
640 Adventure all those years ago right up to the current batch.
And over those years, we’ve had hundreds of happy adventures
on board – and watched the progression and injection of
technology into this Orange family arsenal.
The progression and rate at which they build new bikes is simply
astonishing.
This is good – and bad. Good because they are always
delivering new, exciting tech – and bad, because it feels like you
have just bought the latest and greatest – and you blink…. And
there’s a new bike out.
It’s not like some of the other bikes out there who take years to
develop something – or give the bike BNG’S (Bold New
Graphics) and market them as new models.
Every two years, KTM brings out virtually brand new dirtbikes.
Every 3 odd years, the Adventures undergo major changes with
new machines following every four to five years. Except in the
case of the 790, which was launched just 2 short years ago and
has just been supplanted by the new 890.
And this in a period that has been severely buggered around by
the COVID pandemic.
You have to doff your hat to them – and it’s easy to understand
why this manufacturer is such a major force in the world of
motorcycles.
But enough of that. This story is about the local launch of KTM’s
four new Adventure Models. We have decided not to bore you
with all the tech blurb – you can look all of that up in our previous
issues, but we will tell you how the new bikes stack up against
their predecessors.
To this end, KTM invited a cross section of like-minded bike guys
to a get-together in the Drakensberg to try the bikes out in the
terrain for which they are built. It really was a great couple of
days of riding. Motorcycles are the great equalizer – if you like
em, we like you – it’s a recipe for success.
We were hosted at the beautiful Champagne Castle resort just
outside Winterton. It’s a great hotel with the beautiful Drakensberg
as a backdrop. Oh- and it has a big pool, putt putt and
golf course with sweeping berms, lekker jumps and some sand
holes. We saw more than one or two riders looking longingly in
that direction. But it was not to be.
We had four bikes to ride over two days and the KTM Crew
made sure that we were kept busy with four great routes laid out
for us.
The Bikes:
It might seem complicated but it’s actually quite simple.
Two new 890’s were introduced:
The 890R.
(R239-999.00) More suspension. More off-road oriented adventure
bike.
The 890 Adventure,
(R219-999.00) is designed to be great off-road but with a bit
more street bias.
The bikes are distinctly different.
Two new 1290’s were introduced and they read the same as the
890’s.
The 1290R
(From R314 999.00) is made for the hardcore crowd who need
to look the part and head up the most unbeaten paths. More
suspension. More off-road.
The 1290 Adventure
(From R299999.00) is designed for people who want to explore
SA with forays off into those long Karoo roads in absolute
comfort. More technology.
And the bikes are distinctly different.
The 890 Adventure R
The 890 Adventure
20 DIRT AND TRAIL MAGAZINE MAY 2021