KTM Adventure

Depuis Milan en 2017, les choses changent doucement. Le modèle définitif devrait être livré en 2019 et présenté soit à Milan soit à Cologne.

Les premières photos en 2017

Serait-ce enfin le Graal?

- plus léger qu'une GS / 1290
- bonne capacité de charge
- bonne protection
- bonne autonomie
- un prix raisonnable

En 2018, KTM continue de peaufiner la 790. Une présentation durant le Rally en Italie donne plus d'informations

A press conference in Italy revealed some insight on the highly anticipated KTM 790 Adventure R, due to hit showroom floors in 2019. Off road riding coach, enduro champion, and KTM Ambassador, Chris Birch, streamed the conference on Facebook and got to test the prototype at the KTM Adventure Rally in Sardinia, a three-day event open to Orange Adventure Riders. The special presentation was hosted by KTM officials to go over details and the progress on the 790. Here’s what we pulled.

The development of the 790R is largely based on feedback from the adventure riding community. KTM collected data from past, current, and potential customers, as well as dealerships, to prioritize key features for their prototype. Like the rest of their line-up, racing is built into the core of the bike and the KTM R&D team pulled knowledge from their racing and rally efforts to establish the off-roadability of the 790R.

Although the current prototype isn’t far off from what we’ll see in showroom floors, KTM did admit that they’re still ironing out a few things. Several concepts were drawn up during the company’s “Ideation Phase,” where KTM officials were tasked to pitch ideas of how the bike should look, feel, and perform, within specific guidelines. The bike we see today is a result of countless hours of brainstorming, clay modeling, and very expensive hand-made prototypes.

It has to be comfortable enough to commute or travel on but offer exceptional performance off road. The ergos need to feel neutral whether sitting or standing, with a low seat height. The community also wants a bike that’s easy to fix, and easy to service. KTM feels like they’ve got a bike that checks all those boxes and will offer several Power Parts to truly tailor the 790R to a wide range of riders.

The 790 platform has already gone through extensive testing to create both the Duke 790 and 790 Adventure R. KTM used 18 bikes and rode them for 50,000 km as hard as they could. The engines were then pulled and placed onto dynos for even more rigorous testing, including 25 runs of 150 hours of acceleration, deceleration, and shifting, at both high and low rpms. In total, the team used 36,000 liters of fuel to test the parallel twin 790.

Chris Birch described the engine as “free revving, smooth, predictable and easy to manage.” The 790 Adventure R is tuned differently than the Duke, spreading the torque curve for better off-road riding. Birch says the bike would be appropriate even for newer riders since the motor and chassis are very forgiving. When asked about his experience riding the bike, there were few words, but the smile on his face said enough.

It’s not often you see a prototype go racing before it’s available on the market, or if it is, we don’t hear much about it. KTM wants to be loud and clear about the competitive nature of the 790 Adventure R. The company touched on their history of rally racing, how their big singles evolved into big twins, and how the 790 Adventure R is the next stepping stone to continue that success. Most of today’s rally raids focus on 450cc enduro bikes, but multi-cylinder classes are becoming increasingly popular.

As far as components go, little was said about what the 790R will be equipped with. Chris Birch stated on his Facebook feed that the prototype is currently using fully adjustable XPLORE forks from KTM’s EXC line of bikes. The shock is also fully adjustable and similar to what’s used on current KTM enduros. This can certainly change before we see the final product this fall. A completely new set of electronics is being designed for this bike, as well.

KTM’s presentation makes it seem like the 790R isn’t an upgraded 690 Enduro. Instead, it has more in common with the 1090 and 1290 Adventure bikes. Think of the 790R as more of a lighter, more nimble 1090 Adventure R. How much lighter? KTM of course refrained from giving any numbers, but Chris Birch commented on how easy it was to pull the bike up a hill if it gets parked incorrectly. We get a sense that shaving considerable weight from KTM’s ADV bikes was one of the primary goals in creating the prototype. The motor itself is actually quite compact and isn't much taller than KTM's 373cc power plant powering the Duke 390 and RC390. This helps to create a short seat height, keep the fuel tank lower, and increase ground clearance.

There’s no such thing—perfection is relative. But the 790R could be the ideal choice for many new or experienced riders and will clearly be in a class of its own. That is until we hear more from a certain blue motorcycle manufacturer that is currently riding their prototype around the world. It’s too early in the game to make speculations but we expect the KTM 790 Adventure R to be the most desirable ADV bike in 2019.

Quelques photos officielles

Le moteur est compact, la protection des pieds et des jambes me semble très bonne. Le poids est bien placé en bas. Reste la protection haute qui est un peu trop de type R.

J'ai pu essayer la 790 Duke. J'ai beaucoup, beaucoup aimé le moteur. Pas mal de couple, de la vie, pas de vibrations. L'idéal quoi. Il chauffe moins que le moteur en V ;-) c'est pas difficile. A voir ce que KTM va faire avec ce moteur pour la version trail.