First Ride Impression: KTM 1190 Adventure R

Military life can bring on quite a few hardships. Long deployments away from home, stressful jobs, and lots of moving.

Check, check, and check. Been there and done that.

Sometimes military life has its benefits. While a buddy of mine is experiencing all three of the hardships mentioned above, he entrusted me with the care and feeding of his bikes since he ran out of space in storage to house them while away. So for the summer of 2016, I am the proud caretaker of this brand new (only 50 miles!) KTM 1190 Adventure R. With strict instructions to get the break in period over with by his return, my buddy gave me the keys to ride away. Here is my First Ride Impression.

First off, it is a beautiful bike. Absolutely stunning in the ADV tourer, rugged street bike style that is the thing nowadays. It is tall in the saddle. I can still flat foot it at stops, but I have to be really careful in slow speed movements as the height and weight are still tricky as I get used to the bike. I'm 6'1" and have a 34" inseam to give you and idea of what I mean by a tall bike. On my V-Strom I'm capable of flat footing with a bend in my knee. That extra height gives me plenty of legroom, a noticeable difference when compared to the V-Strom which is not cramped by any means.

The ergonomics are very much like the V-Strom. In fact, there is so much of this bike that reminds me of my V-Strom. Its just that it is like the V-Strom taken to a whole new level. I sit upright and the bars fall right in place under my palms. The controls are recognizable, but with a few twists on the left hand side. The balance and handling are like the Strom. The engine feel in the chassis is just like my good old Suzuki as well. All of this is to be expected as both bikes are in the same ADV class, they are both upright with long travel suspension. A wee bit top heavy with large fuel tanks. In line V-Twin, water cooled engines with six speed gearboxes and final chain drive. It even came stock with Continental Trail Attack 2 tires though they are bigger than mine and have tubeless spoked rims that are much better than my V-Strom's mag wheels. Again, the main theme of this write up is that it is like the V-Strom, just more and better.

Here is where the KTM just blows my Suzuki out of the water. The big, honking, plastic thing to the left of the rear shock is an electronic suspension controller for the the rear end. The front fork caps have control wiring on them as well. I can adjust the dampening setting with a few touches of the left control cluster. The throttle is also ride-by-wire so engine horsepower and throttle response can be adjusted as well. 

Here is an example of the quality difference between the Suzuki and the KTM. The oil filler on the left side has been molded into a body fitting to move it away from the engine a bit and make it easier to fill. The bike has a heated adjustable seat, fog lamps, and even a steering damper as stock items. There are pigtails for heated gear and even a 12V socket in the dash. All of these things are add-ons for the V-Strom. Of course all of this quality comes a price. Out the door I paid $6K for the Strom. The KTM was closer to $20K.

In the age of ever more space age looking funky gauge clusters, KTM kept it real with a comprehensive digital dash and a large easy to read analog tachometer. Clicking through the various menus using the four button controls on the left switch gives me access to a bewildering array of potential information. Many of the screens are adjustable for the data that I want displayed. I can change measurement units and it has a choice of at least four different languages.

More quality upgrades here. Dual Brembo radial mount front disc brakes with ABS. Since I upgraded the Strom's brakes I have been two finger braking and with these babies I didn't need to adjust my style when swinging a leg over the KTM. The bike also came with very nice hard side cases that fit very tightly to the bike, though it does widen the look of the rear a bit. I slid them off for storage in my tightly packed garage (4 bikes and all my tools in a one car garage). One of the nicest features is the tool less adjustable wind screen. I have height and angle adjust available at my fingertips so easy I can do it with gloves on at a stoplight.

All in all it is a very nice bike. I have only been able to put on 5 or 6 miles on it since getting back from Japan. I still need to adjust the mirrors and fog lights and give the bike a going over before getting out and scrubbing in the new tires. The first service is due at 620 miles which means there are 570 miles to go before I can open her up to the 10,500 RPM limit. Until then the shift light (included stock) will flash if I exceed 6,250 RPM before clicking off the first 1000 kilometers. I can't wait to get out and hit the highway for a much more thorough review of the the bike's capabilities. Come back soon for an in-depth ride report by Summer's end.

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