DT May online

she short-shifts through the gears in a hurry – at
6000 RPM you are cruising along at well over 120.
Open the throttle in top gear and she zips up to the
200 plus KPH mark effortlessly This bike is a lot of
fun to ride and the perfect companion for everyday
use and that lekker weekend away on the road less
travelled.
It’s comfortable, precise and very nippy.
The only trouble is that the 890R is also really, really
good on the road – and it’s that much better in the
dirt.
Yup it’s just like that.
The Adventure is, however a bit lower from a seating
point of view and it pips the R just a bit for more aggressive
tar riding. It a road machine that is excellent
in the dirt
Ride both and you’ll see what we mean, but either
way the bikes are both really lekker. It’s a case, once
again where KTM has built a bike for everyone.
The 1290 Adventures:
Once again, the evening before the ride was spent in
a briefing about the bikes and what we could expect.
Without going into massive detail – we told you
about them in our last issue so go and play catchup
@ www.motomedia.co.za.
The changes have really resulted in some big
changes in the ride experience. But the one stand
out feature is that the new split radiators has virtually
eliminated the heat build-up that riders experience on
the previous models.
These are basically two new bikes. And despite the
fact that they might look similar to the 2020’s, they
are definitely different.
The 129R. Our morning session was spent in the
saddle of the 1290R:
Once again the orange peeps worked a route that
was perfectly designed for this bike – a blend of tar,
bad gravel and lots of places where we could mess
about. The routes were a bit longer than what we
spent on the 890 lineup – so that was cool!
Damn that’s pretty! The new styling and colour
schemes were greeted by more than just a couple
of comments like this. Stand it next to the previous
model and we guarantee that it will pull more
attention.
Despite the fact that this big girl has a 21 inch front
wheel – it’s not overly tall. Even the shorter riders
had no problem getting foot to ground. The previous
model was taller.
Play was delayed by some giant potholes that managed
to eat their way into our Donovan Fouries front
rim, but the boys who could, took the waiting time to
showcase the bikes tremendous power and wheelie
capabilities to the local populace. Once Fourie had
been extricated from his pothole, we meandered
up into the mountains, through verdant forests and
down into the valleys where rivers and mudholes
turned into KTM 1290R playgrounds.
To be quite frank – this one might intimidate a lot of
riders – she’s like that high school bully. She pushes
huge horsepower and is far more capable than the
average rider out there. But the chassis and top of
the line suspension makes mincemeat of it all.
24 DIRT AND TRAIL MAGAZINE MAY 2021