PLANET ORANGE
KTM 390 Adventure
The trend for ever-bigger adventure bikes has us scratching our heads sometimes. Okay, if you’re going on a month-long jaunt across Europe two-up with luggage for four strapped on, a 150-200bhp 250kg tourer-on-stilts makes a lot of sense. But if you actually want to do any off-road antics, smaller and lighter is almost always the way to go. Hence the success of frankly tiny machinery like the Honda CRF300 Rally or Royal Enfield Himalayan 450 – both very slow, but much easier to handle in mud or sand than the 1200cc giants.
KTM’s been in on this action too, though it took a while to catch on. Its 390 Adventure first appeared in 2020 and was a big hit, with solid performance, up towards the limits of the A2 licence limits with 43bhp and 158kg dry. Nimble handling, decent equipment levels and sharp styling lifted it above less-accomplished competition, and it has carved out a neat little niche for itself in the market.