KTM chose the enormous EICMA in Italy show to finally reveal the smallest addition to their travel range – the much rumoured and highly anticipated KTM 390 Adventure. With design cues clearly taken from the KTM 790 Adventure released earlier this year, the bike is the company’s first model to target the small adventure bike market, clearly pitched at the same buyers that might be considering the BMW G310, Kawasaki Versys 300 and arguably – the Royal Enfield Himalayan. But with close on 43 bhp likely to be available – that’s what the road going 390 Duke puts out – the new 390 Adventure looks guaranteed to hit the ground running with an immediate power advantage over its rivals.
POWER GAMES
The heart of the 390 Adventure is the 372cc liquid cooled, fuel injected DOHC four valve, six gear four-stroke motor, which has proved popular in the Duke. Like many of KTMs motors, the 390 runs a balancer shaft to deliver buttery smooth power across the rev range – just what you need when taking on everything from smooth tarmac to dirt roads across the world. KTM have not stopped with the motor and have equipped the new 390 Adventure with all manner of electronic and mechanical trickery normally reserved for premium adventure bikes.
There’s a TFT screen, MTC Traction control, cornering ABS which can be switched off on the rear if required, ride-by-wire throttle controlling 46mm throttle bodies, a slipper clutch, LED lights – hell you can even Bluetooth your phone to the dashboard! And pay a bit extra an you can snick effortlessly and ‘clutchlessly’ through the box with a quickshifter. For a small bike there’s a good sized 14.5 litre tank which should be good for an adventure-ready 400km or 250 miles thanks to the motors petrol-sipping appetite.
HIGH SPEC COMPONENTS
As you would expect from KTM, there’s a raft of other top notch components that make up the 390 Adventure – this may be an entry level bike for the Austrian marque but it’s far from bargain basement specifications.
The 390 Adventure has a lattice-style main frame like the 390 Duke, and this is matched to a lattice style bolt-on sub-frame like the 790 Adventure. Also like it’s bigger counterpart, the 390 runs a long wide open-braced swingarm for a combination of stiffness and flex. On the suspension side of things there’s a set of 43mm WP Apex USD forks derived from the KTM Enduro range, with separate fork function splitting compression damping on the left and rebound damping on the right and giving 170 mm travel.
At the rear there’s a central WP Apex shock on a PDS mounting, giving 177 mm of travel and is adjustable for preload and rebound damping.
The wheels on the 390 Adventure are perhaps the most clear indication that this model is the one expected to do more road work than off-road, as the 19″ front and 17″ rear limits the choice of off-road tyres, not to mention that alloys are not the preferred choice for anything away from the blacktop! Inevitably this opens the way for a KTM 390 Adventure R which looks almost certain to follow – why wouldn’t they!
The bike comes fitted with Continental TKC 70 as standard, and runs Brembo BYBRE brakes with a 320mm drilled disc and four-pot radial caliper up front and a twin-pot unit and 230mm floating disc at the back. The small screen can be mounted in low or high positions.
FIGURE WORK
With the price on the 790 Adventure being relatively high compared to sector rivals like the Yamaha Tenere 700, the 390 Adventure looks to be far more sensibly pitched at a smidge below the £5,000 mark. This places it within the range of the small adventure bikes already on the market, and as an A2 compliant bike, should prove an attractive option for both young riders or older riders who don’t want the bulk of bikes like the BMW R1250 GSA. The 390 comes in at a respectable 158kg dry – so that’s about 175 kg with all the fluids on board. Light enough but still not an easy lift if it does meet the ground!
Seat height on the new 390 isn’t that low at 855mm though doubtless there will be low and high seat options available. Ground clearance is 200mm – good but not great, and with the catalytic converter sitting low in front of the rear wheel, serous off-roaders will be reaching for the Hard parts catalogue pretty quickly.
WALK ROUND
So here’s a look round the new KTM 390 Adventure direct from the Milan show, thanks to the guys at Motofichas.com
Launch dates for the new bike are yet to be released by KTM but given how fast they moved on the 790 Adventure, the 390 Adventure could be in the dealers very quickly in 2020. Watch this space!
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