chicco
Grey Hound
- Joined
- Oct 23, 2007
- Messages
- 8,504
- Reaction score
- 2,126
- Location
- World Citizen
- Bike
- KTM 990 Adventure
People have been adventure riding since the very first motorcycle turned a wheel. Back then, riders had no choice - there were few paved roads. There was also no suspension, and the tires were made out of wood, solid rubber or even just metal. Every ride was an adventure.
Although "adventure" has been a part of motorcycling since its invention, the "Adventure Bike" as we know it today is a fairly modern concept; many bikers riding today were around when the first branded adventure bike hit the markets. Today, adventure touring is as much about style as it is about a specific type of motorcycle. One motorcycle that combined style with substance defines this category and is the progenitor of the modern adventure touring craze.
The year was 1980, and BMW arrived at the IFMA international show in Cologne with something new up their sleeves. They shocked the attendees by revealing the R80 G/S, a motorcycle that was designed to eat up pavement, dirt, and everything in between. The G/S stands for Gelände/Straße - literally translated, it means "terrain"/"street". This ran counter to the design trend of the time: purpose-built machines for each style of riding. Prior to the G/S, if you wanted to travel two-up tour you had to stick to the roads. If you wanted to ride off-road you had a stripped down motorcycle that you couldn't tour on.
This is the generally accepted version of how BMW created the first "official" (that is to say "branded") adventure touring motorcycles. But as we know, many of the labels that manufacturers slap on their bikes are really just marketing jargon.
Street dirt bikes were reintroduced in 1968 when Yamaha brought out the DT-1, a dirt-worthy motorcycle that can be ridden on the street. These lightweight motorcycles sported two stroke motors and were great off road and adequate on the street—just good enough to get to the trail but not good enough to ride for hundreds of miles on asphalt.
This was Yamaha's first stab at a true dual-purpose bike; it bears much more of a resemblance to rider-modified (and factory-produced) scramblers than it does to today's big ADV bikes. Later models, by Yamaha and others, would begin to morph into heavier and heavier motorcycles with increasing amounts of power - sometimes dramatically so. This made them less dirt-worthy motorcycles. This progression took place over a 20-year period culminating in two distinct paths. One is the path that BMW took with the R80 G/S, providing a road bike that had some dirt capability.
The second path took place a few years later when Suzuki introduced the DR125S, the first "Dual Sport" marketed as a street-legal dirt bike - i.e., a dirt bike with headlights, brake lights, and turn signals. This "Dual Sport" moniker was quickly picked up and used to describe any bike that was similar in style to the DR.
One of the other items the DR line spawned was the beginning of the "beak" seen on almost every adventure motorcycle. There's some debate over the actual purpose of the beak, but in 1988 it debuted on the Suzuki DR S 750 BIG. There was a lower fender mounted to the forks to block debris so it had no practical purpose. Most think it was a style exercise to mimic the high fender of a traditional dirt bike. Either way it has stuck to the category as a signature aesthetic.
Yamaha can be credited as the first to offer a road-only version of an adventure motorcycle. Launched in 1991 the TDM 850 had a very upright riding position and the engine was derived from the Paris to Dakar winner XTZ 750 Super Tenere. The TDM was never marketed as an off-road bike. It was intended to be able to tackle roads in the Alps, with the long travel suspension allowing it to deal with the sometimes rough asphalt. It was considered too big and bulky for off-road.
Enter 1994, the landmark year for adventure motorcycles. The launch of the R1100GS marked a turning point for BMW. They introduced the oil-head, opposed-cylinder twin, which offered a massive upgrade in performance - and sales. Over a five year period from 1994 until 1999, BMW sold 39,842 R1100GS. The R1150GS sold 58,023 bikes over a 5 year period, including 17,828 higher-end Adventure models. In the motorcycle industry that kind of sales success is considered a home run.
So where does that leave us? The R80 G/S spawned an industry single-handedly. It is the all-time best selling bike of its kind, and to this day no other brand sells more adventure bikes than BMW. For that we'll give BMW credit for building - or at least marketing - the first "Adventure" motorcycle.
In terms of the name, the release of the KTM 620 Adventure in 1997 was the model that started the Travel Enduro story for KTM. Derived from enduro and inspired by rally, the LC4 single-cylinder engine machine looked a close match for its Dakar stage-winning stablemate. A competition-developed chassis loaded with high-end components provided pure off-road ability mixed with distance capability, thanks to a large fuel tank and reinforced subframe for fixing cases to carry much more than the essentials. Completing the authentic ‘rally-bike’ feel, it featured two programmable tripmasters and a roadbook holder was available on request, as well as a remote control for the instrument cluster and a GPS connection.
After just a year, a raft of changes saw the model become the KTM 640 Adventure with a capacity rise from 609cc to 625cc and with the main visual difference being the removal of the twin, low-slung exhausts. They were re-homed neatly under the seat for better ground clearance. The model remained in production for 10 years, bowing out in 2007.
The next landmark moment for KTM’s Adventure range was once again forged from proven competition performance in the world’s toughest race. KTM’s first twin-cylinder engine – the powerhouse LC8 75-degree V-twin – propelled the KTM 950 Rally to Dakar success in 2002, raced by the late Fabrizio Meoni. The following year, using 75% of the same parts, the KTM 950 Adventure and higher-seated KTM 950 Adventure S were introduced for customers.
After four years of production, 2006 saw the introduction of the KTM 990 Adventure with many revisions, including a capacity rise to 999cc and fuel injection. Over its seven-year production run, the ‘S’, ‘R’ and special-edition ‘Dakar’ models were also offered with differing seat heights, components and power levels. The 990 was also the first KTM to feature ABS.
The arrival of the KTM 1190 Adventure and KTM 1190 Adventure R in 2013 heralded a new era of technology and versatility for KTM in the Travel Enduro segment. Sophisticated electronics – married to improved ergonomics and a radically more powerful LC8 engine – introduced more riders than ever to KTM’s unique approach to adventure riding, on and off-road. Just a year later, included on these bikes was ‘Cornering ABS’ – and according to KTM, “The premier of this system created a major milestone in motorcycle safety”.
Adventure went ‘super’ in 2015 with the addition of the KTM 1290 Super Adventure, later becoming the ‘T’ in 2017. This model boasted an incredible 160hp from its bigger 1301cc engine, a huge 30-litre fuel tank, and provided the debut of many new electronic rider aids – including cornering lights, cruise control, motor slip regulation (MSR), hill hold control (HHC), automatic indicator turn reset (ATIR) and semi-active suspension.
Joining the same year was the KTM 1050 Adventure, providing 95hp of pure, undiluted Travel Enduro fun in a versatile and agile chassis. This 1050, however, had limited appeal to the (off-road-centric) Australian market, because it was not available in a version with spoked rims.
The year 2017 saw the introduction of four new models to the range, led by the KTM 1290 Super Adventure S and KTM 1290 Super Adventure R. These took the best of KTM’s electronic developments, adding a TFT display, Quickshifter+, full LED headlight with integrated cornering function and the option of the KTM My Ride system – providing smart phone connectivity for call handling, music playing and turn-by-turn satellite navigation.
The same year, off-road adventure riding went to new extremes with the arrival of the KTM 1090 Adventure R – a bike that could create its own path with the willingness of its rider. Joining them was the KTM 1090 Adventure to satisfy more street-biased riders, offering a power output of 125hp matched to sophisticated electronics and a capable chassis.
The creation of the compact LC8c 799cc parallel twin-cylinder engine offered KTM engineers a blank canvas to create an all-new chapter in KTM Adventure history. Essentially, it was a lighter, more manageable and more affordable ‘mid-capacity’ version of their ‘maxi-enduro/travel’ machines, with rally-inspired ergos and fuel tank, and a sophisticated electronics package. The 790 Adventure R soon established itself as the most performance-oriented and off-road capable mid-weight travel enduro bike on the market.
Packing another 90cc (achieved through added bore and stroke), KTM’s 2021 890 Adventure models come with extra power and torque, a more sophisticated electronics packages, plus refinements to suspension, clutch and brakes.
While BMW and KTM are the two big names in the ADV market, some other superb ADVs have launched in the past couple of years that have helped bolster the market even more by providing options that don’t come with a badge premium. This is not to say that KTM and BMW ADVs are in any way, shape, or form bad bikes. Things like the BMW 1250 GS and the KTM 1290 Adventure R are some of the most premium, top tier bikes that you can buy in the ADV market segment. We just thought that some of the lesser known, but still highly anticipated ADV bikes should also be recognized!
One of the most highly anticipated of these was the Yamaha Tenere 700, which finally came to market in 2021 after years of teasers. Using the proven, robust engine from the supernaked MT-07 sport bike, the bike adapts many of the features and successes of its big brother, the Super Tenere, into a much lighter, smaller frame.
Extra ground clearance, a proper ABS disable button, and weighing in at just 450 lbs soaking wet, the bike is a no-nonsense, no-compromise adventure bike that is ready for any surface. It’s just a convenient bonus (or more likely a really smart marketing and sales executive decision) that the bike sells for under $10,000… by $1. There are other budget ADV options like the Suzuki V-Strom and Kawasaki Versys lines, yet the excitement about the Tenere 700 was palpable for the past few years in a way neither of those other two could generate.
Ducati has also come out swinging in the past few years, with a refreshed, highly capable Multistrada lineup, including the range topping Multistrada 1260 Enduro, which is one of the most highly reviewed and popular heavyweight ADV bikes. If the Multistrada is their jab, the 2022 Desert X is their uppercut, a purist ADV bike that tosses the excesses of the Multistrada’s more road-oriented equipment and instead, bulks itself up to absorb the bumps, jumps, and challenges of long-term off-road use.
Using the 837cc Testastretta L-Twin engine from Multistrada V2, it produces a whopping 110 HP and 68 lb-ft of torque, in a bike that weighs under 500 lbs. In case you were wondering, that’s a good, healthy amount of power, and more than the equivalent rival bikes such as the KTM 890 Adventure.
One of the most eagerly awaited bikes of the past year, however, was the 2021 Harley-Davidson Pan America 1250, the first attempt by the American company to make a true ADV bike. Harley has been talking a while about being in the ADV game since the first ADV bikes, but now they have something to back up the talk with. Taking the fight to the heavyweight crowd, it wades in with the Revolution Max 1250 V-Twin engine, which produces 150 HP and 94 lb-ft of torque. Compare that power figure against its wet weight of 540 lbs, and the bike starts to look even more promising. Harley has certainly doubled down on this gambit, producing a new Pan America for 2022 as well.
The big push with the original Pan America was with its technology package, which included semi-active front and rear electronic suspension, cornering ABS and TC, and an industry first, adaptive ride height, which would raise or lower the bike automatically based on the ride mode and what sensors were telling the bike. While it has had its fair share of teething problems, it has become an established bike in the 500+ lbs ADV listings, and has sold through at least 3,000 units since its introduction, which by any manufacturer’s standard is good movement.
If we were to list every new ADV bike on the market, this article would be about 50 pages long, but those three listed above have been some of the most significant new ones arriving in the past 24 months. Others, like the Suzuki V-Strom lineup, the Kawasaki Versys lineup, Triumph Tigers, KTM Adventure… there are so many options it really is staggering.
One bike that has been very much awaited and could possibly be the one bike to finally bridge all needs and wants between the dual-sport and ADV riders is the Husqvarna 901 Norden. While Husqvarna is well known as being under the umbrella of the KTM group of companies, and many would argue is a KTM 890 Adventure in a nice suit, the 901 Norden is its own bike. It has immense off-road capabilities, but with the flick of a riding mode switch, is a superb pavement tourer as if it was designed only for that job. Some have even called it a “unicorn bike,” one of those fabled few that works everywhere, anywhere, and with a minimum of issues.
There has never been a better time to get a new ADV bike, and with the market expanding as fast as it is, it means that many more companies are focusing on the segment. We wouldn’t be surprised to see more manufacturers wade into the fray, and in fact there are rumors abound that the recently resurgent Buell Motorcycles has an adventure tourer planned, a supercharged Africa Twin model may be coming if Honda’s patent filings are to be believe, and even some of the new electric bike manufacturers like Damon Motorcycles are planning on making bikes that fall into the ADV and dual-sport categories.
Two electric bike companies already have some offerings, with the Zero DS and FX models filling in the dual-sport role, and the Italian company Energica now producing the Experia, designed as a pavement adventure tourer but with the slightest of mods and a few tweaks, is a more than capable fully-fledged ADV. Only the future will tell what eventually comes down the ADV pipeline, but the fact of the matter is simply: ADVs aren’t disappearing any time soon…
Although "adventure" has been a part of motorcycling since its invention, the "Adventure Bike" as we know it today is a fairly modern concept; many bikers riding today were around when the first branded adventure bike hit the markets. Today, adventure touring is as much about style as it is about a specific type of motorcycle. One motorcycle that combined style with substance defines this category and is the progenitor of the modern adventure touring craze.
The year was 1980, and BMW arrived at the IFMA international show in Cologne with something new up their sleeves. They shocked the attendees by revealing the R80 G/S, a motorcycle that was designed to eat up pavement, dirt, and everything in between. The G/S stands for Gelände/Straße - literally translated, it means "terrain"/"street". This ran counter to the design trend of the time: purpose-built machines for each style of riding. Prior to the G/S, if you wanted to travel two-up tour you had to stick to the roads. If you wanted to ride off-road you had a stripped down motorcycle that you couldn't tour on.
This is the generally accepted version of how BMW created the first "official" (that is to say "branded") adventure touring motorcycles. But as we know, many of the labels that manufacturers slap on their bikes are really just marketing jargon.
Street dirt bikes were reintroduced in 1968 when Yamaha brought out the DT-1, a dirt-worthy motorcycle that can be ridden on the street. These lightweight motorcycles sported two stroke motors and were great off road and adequate on the street—just good enough to get to the trail but not good enough to ride for hundreds of miles on asphalt.
This was Yamaha's first stab at a true dual-purpose bike; it bears much more of a resemblance to rider-modified (and factory-produced) scramblers than it does to today's big ADV bikes. Later models, by Yamaha and others, would begin to morph into heavier and heavier motorcycles with increasing amounts of power - sometimes dramatically so. This made them less dirt-worthy motorcycles. This progression took place over a 20-year period culminating in two distinct paths. One is the path that BMW took with the R80 G/S, providing a road bike that had some dirt capability.
The second path took place a few years later when Suzuki introduced the DR125S, the first "Dual Sport" marketed as a street-legal dirt bike - i.e., a dirt bike with headlights, brake lights, and turn signals. This "Dual Sport" moniker was quickly picked up and used to describe any bike that was similar in style to the DR.
One of the other items the DR line spawned was the beginning of the "beak" seen on almost every adventure motorcycle. There's some debate over the actual purpose of the beak, but in 1988 it debuted on the Suzuki DR S 750 BIG. There was a lower fender mounted to the forks to block debris so it had no practical purpose. Most think it was a style exercise to mimic the high fender of a traditional dirt bike. Either way it has stuck to the category as a signature aesthetic.
Yamaha can be credited as the first to offer a road-only version of an adventure motorcycle. Launched in 1991 the TDM 850 had a very upright riding position and the engine was derived from the Paris to Dakar winner XTZ 750 Super Tenere. The TDM was never marketed as an off-road bike. It was intended to be able to tackle roads in the Alps, with the long travel suspension allowing it to deal with the sometimes rough asphalt. It was considered too big and bulky for off-road.
Enter 1994, the landmark year for adventure motorcycles. The launch of the R1100GS marked a turning point for BMW. They introduced the oil-head, opposed-cylinder twin, which offered a massive upgrade in performance - and sales. Over a five year period from 1994 until 1999, BMW sold 39,842 R1100GS. The R1150GS sold 58,023 bikes over a 5 year period, including 17,828 higher-end Adventure models. In the motorcycle industry that kind of sales success is considered a home run.
So where does that leave us? The R80 G/S spawned an industry single-handedly. It is the all-time best selling bike of its kind, and to this day no other brand sells more adventure bikes than BMW. For that we'll give BMW credit for building - or at least marketing - the first "Adventure" motorcycle.
In terms of the name, the release of the KTM 620 Adventure in 1997 was the model that started the Travel Enduro story for KTM. Derived from enduro and inspired by rally, the LC4 single-cylinder engine machine looked a close match for its Dakar stage-winning stablemate. A competition-developed chassis loaded with high-end components provided pure off-road ability mixed with distance capability, thanks to a large fuel tank and reinforced subframe for fixing cases to carry much more than the essentials. Completing the authentic ‘rally-bike’ feel, it featured two programmable tripmasters and a roadbook holder was available on request, as well as a remote control for the instrument cluster and a GPS connection.
After just a year, a raft of changes saw the model become the KTM 640 Adventure with a capacity rise from 609cc to 625cc and with the main visual difference being the removal of the twin, low-slung exhausts. They were re-homed neatly under the seat for better ground clearance. The model remained in production for 10 years, bowing out in 2007.
The next landmark moment for KTM’s Adventure range was once again forged from proven competition performance in the world’s toughest race. KTM’s first twin-cylinder engine – the powerhouse LC8 75-degree V-twin – propelled the KTM 950 Rally to Dakar success in 2002, raced by the late Fabrizio Meoni. The following year, using 75% of the same parts, the KTM 950 Adventure and higher-seated KTM 950 Adventure S were introduced for customers.
After four years of production, 2006 saw the introduction of the KTM 990 Adventure with many revisions, including a capacity rise to 999cc and fuel injection. Over its seven-year production run, the ‘S’, ‘R’ and special-edition ‘Dakar’ models were also offered with differing seat heights, components and power levels. The 990 was also the first KTM to feature ABS.
The arrival of the KTM 1190 Adventure and KTM 1190 Adventure R in 2013 heralded a new era of technology and versatility for KTM in the Travel Enduro segment. Sophisticated electronics – married to improved ergonomics and a radically more powerful LC8 engine – introduced more riders than ever to KTM’s unique approach to adventure riding, on and off-road. Just a year later, included on these bikes was ‘Cornering ABS’ – and according to KTM, “The premier of this system created a major milestone in motorcycle safety”.
Adventure went ‘super’ in 2015 with the addition of the KTM 1290 Super Adventure, later becoming the ‘T’ in 2017. This model boasted an incredible 160hp from its bigger 1301cc engine, a huge 30-litre fuel tank, and provided the debut of many new electronic rider aids – including cornering lights, cruise control, motor slip regulation (MSR), hill hold control (HHC), automatic indicator turn reset (ATIR) and semi-active suspension.
Joining the same year was the KTM 1050 Adventure, providing 95hp of pure, undiluted Travel Enduro fun in a versatile and agile chassis. This 1050, however, had limited appeal to the (off-road-centric) Australian market, because it was not available in a version with spoked rims.
The year 2017 saw the introduction of four new models to the range, led by the KTM 1290 Super Adventure S and KTM 1290 Super Adventure R. These took the best of KTM’s electronic developments, adding a TFT display, Quickshifter+, full LED headlight with integrated cornering function and the option of the KTM My Ride system – providing smart phone connectivity for call handling, music playing and turn-by-turn satellite navigation.
The same year, off-road adventure riding went to new extremes with the arrival of the KTM 1090 Adventure R – a bike that could create its own path with the willingness of its rider. Joining them was the KTM 1090 Adventure to satisfy more street-biased riders, offering a power output of 125hp matched to sophisticated electronics and a capable chassis.
The creation of the compact LC8c 799cc parallel twin-cylinder engine offered KTM engineers a blank canvas to create an all-new chapter in KTM Adventure history. Essentially, it was a lighter, more manageable and more affordable ‘mid-capacity’ version of their ‘maxi-enduro/travel’ machines, with rally-inspired ergos and fuel tank, and a sophisticated electronics package. The 790 Adventure R soon established itself as the most performance-oriented and off-road capable mid-weight travel enduro bike on the market.
Packing another 90cc (achieved through added bore and stroke), KTM’s 2021 890 Adventure models come with extra power and torque, a more sophisticated electronics packages, plus refinements to suspension, clutch and brakes.
While BMW and KTM are the two big names in the ADV market, some other superb ADVs have launched in the past couple of years that have helped bolster the market even more by providing options that don’t come with a badge premium. This is not to say that KTM and BMW ADVs are in any way, shape, or form bad bikes. Things like the BMW 1250 GS and the KTM 1290 Adventure R are some of the most premium, top tier bikes that you can buy in the ADV market segment. We just thought that some of the lesser known, but still highly anticipated ADV bikes should also be recognized!
One of the most highly anticipated of these was the Yamaha Tenere 700, which finally came to market in 2021 after years of teasers. Using the proven, robust engine from the supernaked MT-07 sport bike, the bike adapts many of the features and successes of its big brother, the Super Tenere, into a much lighter, smaller frame.
Extra ground clearance, a proper ABS disable button, and weighing in at just 450 lbs soaking wet, the bike is a no-nonsense, no-compromise adventure bike that is ready for any surface. It’s just a convenient bonus (or more likely a really smart marketing and sales executive decision) that the bike sells for under $10,000… by $1. There are other budget ADV options like the Suzuki V-Strom and Kawasaki Versys lines, yet the excitement about the Tenere 700 was palpable for the past few years in a way neither of those other two could generate.
Ducati has also come out swinging in the past few years, with a refreshed, highly capable Multistrada lineup, including the range topping Multistrada 1260 Enduro, which is one of the most highly reviewed and popular heavyweight ADV bikes. If the Multistrada is their jab, the 2022 Desert X is their uppercut, a purist ADV bike that tosses the excesses of the Multistrada’s more road-oriented equipment and instead, bulks itself up to absorb the bumps, jumps, and challenges of long-term off-road use.
Using the 837cc Testastretta L-Twin engine from Multistrada V2, it produces a whopping 110 HP and 68 lb-ft of torque, in a bike that weighs under 500 lbs. In case you were wondering, that’s a good, healthy amount of power, and more than the equivalent rival bikes such as the KTM 890 Adventure.
One of the most eagerly awaited bikes of the past year, however, was the 2021 Harley-Davidson Pan America 1250, the first attempt by the American company to make a true ADV bike. Harley has been talking a while about being in the ADV game since the first ADV bikes, but now they have something to back up the talk with. Taking the fight to the heavyweight crowd, it wades in with the Revolution Max 1250 V-Twin engine, which produces 150 HP and 94 lb-ft of torque. Compare that power figure against its wet weight of 540 lbs, and the bike starts to look even more promising. Harley has certainly doubled down on this gambit, producing a new Pan America for 2022 as well.
The big push with the original Pan America was with its technology package, which included semi-active front and rear electronic suspension, cornering ABS and TC, and an industry first, adaptive ride height, which would raise or lower the bike automatically based on the ride mode and what sensors were telling the bike. While it has had its fair share of teething problems, it has become an established bike in the 500+ lbs ADV listings, and has sold through at least 3,000 units since its introduction, which by any manufacturer’s standard is good movement.
If we were to list every new ADV bike on the market, this article would be about 50 pages long, but those three listed above have been some of the most significant new ones arriving in the past 24 months. Others, like the Suzuki V-Strom lineup, the Kawasaki Versys lineup, Triumph Tigers, KTM Adventure… there are so many options it really is staggering.
One bike that has been very much awaited and could possibly be the one bike to finally bridge all needs and wants between the dual-sport and ADV riders is the Husqvarna 901 Norden. While Husqvarna is well known as being under the umbrella of the KTM group of companies, and many would argue is a KTM 890 Adventure in a nice suit, the 901 Norden is its own bike. It has immense off-road capabilities, but with the flick of a riding mode switch, is a superb pavement tourer as if it was designed only for that job. Some have even called it a “unicorn bike,” one of those fabled few that works everywhere, anywhere, and with a minimum of issues.
There has never been a better time to get a new ADV bike, and with the market expanding as fast as it is, it means that many more companies are focusing on the segment. We wouldn’t be surprised to see more manufacturers wade into the fray, and in fact there are rumors abound that the recently resurgent Buell Motorcycles has an adventure tourer planned, a supercharged Africa Twin model may be coming if Honda’s patent filings are to be believe, and even some of the new electric bike manufacturers like Damon Motorcycles are planning on making bikes that fall into the ADV and dual-sport categories.
Two electric bike companies already have some offerings, with the Zero DS and FX models filling in the dual-sport role, and the Italian company Energica now producing the Experia, designed as a pavement adventure tourer but with the slightest of mods and a few tweaks, is a more than capable fully-fledged ADV. Only the future will tell what eventually comes down the ADV pipeline, but the fact of the matter is simply: ADVs aren’t disappearing any time soon…
