"The small (Read under 500cc) adventure bike class will see an upturn in contenders over the next year or two I reckon. For many of us they represent the ideal recipe for Adventure riding."
I'm picking there'll be a Tenere of about 400cc out in the not too distant future. You read it first here...
"Statistics are used as a drunk uses lampposts - for support, not illumination."
Thought I'd throw up another picture. I like this dash. Although with my aging eyesight the smaller character font could be a bit bolder.
The fuel readouts seem to be accurate. I checked it using the old school consumption gauge i.e. fill tank & zero trip-ride-refill and check litres used to kms ridden. So in this view it is showing range expected to be 450km! Yeah but as you see I have been a good boy averaging 53kph in the burbs staying close to home. Even just cruising slowly along smelling the roses it is a joy.
The screen has two height settings. I've lowered it which seems more comfy to me when riding now.
Rumours on the web some months ago were that KTM planned to follow up with a 490 and/or 590 in a couple of years. I would trade up in a heartbeat for a few more horses, but I doubt now with the crisis any car or bike manufacturer will be spending a cent on R&D or new model developments for some years until they recover from the covid sales hit.
ps- I can't see the point of having TC on with 43hp? So I tend to switch it off.
Happiness is a means of travel, not a destination
As you say - Nice dash. TFT dashes are one of the areas that have really come on in leaps and bounds in the past 5 years or so and the latest are really good. The one on my V85 is similar, a little small but lots of info and easy to use. It looks like the KTM version is that bit bigger and easier to read.
Do yourself a favour, get some protection for that screen.
If it's anything like my 790, if it gets dusty and you touch it, it will scratch.
The TC will be useful on gravel, albeit making the ride a bit boring.
Also I understand that KTM is building a smaller 790 Adv, so your 490/590 might be a twin.
I would love them to make a proper large single Adv, based on a 690, but they don't seem to want too...
Cheers Oscar I was wondering about that soft looking glassy finish. yeah I would have much preferred a twin and more power but the price jump from $10k for this to $24k and the weight jump for the 800cc offerings was OTT for me. I made the decision that the purpose of my adventure purchase was NOT to get kicks from road riding. Therefore the big/heavy/powerful adventure bikes were quickly ruled out.
I won't be surprised if I end up with the KTM890R Duke in about 2 years anyway to scratch that itch.
Happiness is a means of travel, not a destination
So I clocked up the first 1,000km and gave it an oil & filter change - in the absence of shops being open for service during lockdown. Today I went up the Otaki Forks gorge. A short ride for sure but that's pretty much all we are allowed in alert level 3 and it was pleasant twisty up and down, cross a [tiny] ford and rough in places-just what I wanted to test out.
Considering I learnt to ride on dirt bikes first it has been decades since I rode a dirt bike on gravel. Sure I've taken road bikes cautiously on gravel many times but that's still a different riding style. I was surprised how much I felt like a fish out of water so to speak, re-learning how a dirt bike squirms/wiggles/slides around bends. It's certainly a different approach from years of chasing the maximum lean angle you can achieve from a sealed road bend, to having to remind myself that leaning on gravel results in traction loss almost instantly and you have to go with the flow and let it drift or stick your inside foot out- something I've spent the last 40 years training out of my instinctive reaction.
The little KTM proved itself the right choice for my purpose, light, agile and more than enough power. The offroad ABS was spot on and gave excellent stopping power. Mind you I got the same result some years ago doing the Catlins on the Z1000SX. I had a blast that day deliberately accelerating hard to test the traction control [bloody fast acceleration] then slam the brakes full on to see how it reacted - the Z impressed me big time.
Switching TC on and off is too many steps on the KTM and will soon get annoying. At least the ABS setting stays, whereas the TC resets whenever the engine is turned off.
More importantly I'm relieved I went with the smaller, lighter and cheaper 390. The thought of blasting along a twisty gravel road on a $23,000+ machine just itching to fall over and wreck $5,000 worth of parts would have taken all the fun out of riding it.
I am missing the rush of horsepower acceleration at times on the road, but there's the beauty of buying the cheaper option. When the time comes I can buy a second bike for the road. After a year or so I will know if I'm hooked on exploring off seal, in which case I keep the 390 and buy a road bike. The KTM790 or 890 Duke would be my pick at present. Maybe I should have kept the MT09. Although it had clocked up 40,000km, was overdue for a full service, rego, tyre due so it would have been a cost just sitting idle in the garage for the next year.
Really happy with my choice. Tasty little rocket the 390. Bring on level 2 or 1 when I can get over to the Rapa
Happiness is a means of travel, not a destination
Used clear stick on paint protection film that sprot bike riders use. (the svartpillen cluster has a similar plastic on its face).
Also I will use a headlight protector ($1000 to replace). and the usual r+g radiator guard.
A dongle is a good idea for holding settings, but I don't think KTm does one for the 390settings and making one may throw up heaps of issues.
The 790 holds its settings without a dongle.
390ADV, Cool bike, we have been talking about these in other places.
Is the quickshifter and optional extra or standard? Nice feature on this bike, hopefully if extra they aren't asking stupid money for it.
It was $300 extra from memory. Now that I've clocked up some miles and experienced one of the sweetest, smoothest gearbox-clutch setups ever, I doubt I would have bothered getting the QS with hindsight. It does shave a split second off when on the gas and can be fun to downshift instantly but lets not kid ourselves, this is no MotoGP racer.
I am still shocked how fast this little bike on dual purpose tyres can zip through twisties. If they upsize it to 490 or 590 I can see me at the front of the queue.
Happiness is a means of travel, not a destination
This bike is bloody awesome. 30km/l, cheap rego, nimble as hell in twisties. Best on down hill though. Went over to the Wairarapa today, down east side of Lake to Ocean road and as far as the beach road would take me- a big ROAD CLOSED sign stopped me and the track was rough, some fun fords to cross (ok they were small ones but still fun). Crazy suicidal surfies in 4wds riding waves on a beach that scared the shit out of me. Drill in on second pic and two are out of shot in the picture surfing, while their buddies and dogs warm up around a fire. These guys are certifiable mad.
I would not do this but a keen Owner would discover it tops out at 174kpm. From 373.2cc single is amazing.
Rumour has it KTM have a 500 twin upgrade in the pipeline- YES PLEASE, sign me up.
Last edited by MD; 12th July 2020 at 10:47. Reason: correction
Happiness is a means of travel, not a destination
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