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2019 KTM Adventure 790

I've be following it since it was first announced. After the EICMA show and the news of the release next year, I look forward to the magazine test as well as the first owner's thoughts. From what I read there's a lot to like. Everything except the weight. But fortunately for the gravity conscious folks like myself, they've also announced a revised 690R...

[ame="https://youtu.be/G3L1VWGy43s"]2019 KTM 690 Enduro R and SMC : Bad boys' toys : EICMA 2018 : PowerDrift - YouTube[/ame]
 
How is the weight compared to a 1090R or the bigger bikes?
 
For a general purpose adventure bike, that is going to be hard to beat. Granted, I would not want to take it to some of the places we've been on the smaller bikes, but for packing up and heading out for a trip where you ride the whole way... :ponder:
 
I think they said 417 dry with a 5.2 gas tank, so guessing 450-455 wet. (Just read on another forum 460 wet)

That makes it about 40-45 pounds lighter than the Africa Twin with the same horsepower numbers and a bigger gas tank.

Looks like a great bike. If it were DCT, I would be thinking hard about it.
 
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I think the KTM 790 and the Yamaha Tenere 700 will be big sellers for smaller twin cylinder adventure bikes.

I can see the attraction to the DCT motorcycles.
For me a motorcycle is supposed to have a clutch.
BUT I have never ridden one. :rider:
 
Man...I didn’t realize these had been announced as 2019 models for the U.S. market. I’ve been lusting after a 690 Duke for quite a while but figure now I might as well wait until the 790 Duke is available for evaluation as well. The 790 Adventure throws another wrinkle in the works for me (though I’m guessing I’ll be priced out of the market for that one).

I will say that the 790 Adventure R is a great looking bike, but the standard Adventure doesn’t do it for me. The low fender throws off the look of the front end, and the whole things looks like a watered down imitation of an adventure bike (like the CB500X or something).
 
I think they said 417 dry with a 5.2 gas tank, so guessing 450-455 wet. (Just read on another forum 460 wet)

That makes it about 40-45 pounds lighter than the Africa Twin with the same horsepower numbers and a bigger gas tank.

Looks like a great bike. If it were DCT, I would be thinking hard about it.

So basically, it is what every KLR rider wishes a KLR could be :lol2: When I had my KLR, everyone was always trying to get better suspension, more power, better brakes, etc,... But in the end, they still just had a KLR. This is why so many former KLR owners now have KTMS :-P
 
I think my issue is that I dream a lot. Always looking at bikes. Considering the Strom does what I need and the DRZ is a fun bike in the dirt, would the Adv 790 be a suitable replacement for both bikes ? A compromise. Don't think I will ever be serious about hard dirt riding anyways and I enjoy dirt and gravel roads along with pavement. My thinking may be off some, but I thought the 790 could be a replacement. Less tags, insurance and tires to buy and big improvement on performance. Seems everything I read seems to point toward the 790 being a very interesting machine.
 
I think my issue is that I dream a lot. Always looking at bikes. Considering the Strom does what I need and the DRZ is a fun bike in the dirt, would the Adv 790 be a suitable replacement for both bikes ? A compromise. Don't think I will ever be serious about hard dirt riding anyways and I enjoy dirt and gravel roads along with pavement. My thinking may be off some, but I thought the 790 could be a replacement. Less tags, insurance and tires to buy and big improvement on performance. Seems everything I read seems to point toward the 790 being a very interesting machine.



I would imagine that the 790 would do anything the Strom can but better, and would probably do 80% of what the DRZ can do. If you aren’t using the DRZ to its full capabilities I could see how the 790 would be a good replacement for both.
 
Maybe, Ready to Repair (more frequently)?

You've got to lay off that Honda Koolaid. This is a KTM thread so DCT crazy talk must be countered. :)

A manual clutch is way less likely to fail than an electronically controlled dual clutch with servo actuated shifting. DCT is not an automatic transmission with torque converters. It's literally two clutches that can wear and fail and the shifting is done with servo actuators. There is a LOT more to go wrong and the repair would be a LOT more expensive. In contrast, a KTM clutch replacement is about $100 in parts, you lay the bike on it's side and you can do it in about 30 minutes if you are slow.

Then again....clutches, whether single or dual are really extremely reliable parts and don't really fail much on their own. The main cause of clutch failure is human error....as such....I can see how people that aren't good at using one might incur more clutch repair costs, but those aren't the people that KTM typically is marketing to.

Personally...the only clutch I've ever had to replace was a dry clutch on a BMW R1100RT because the previous owner had the cable adjusted incorrectly and it was a dry clutch that is designed to not slip at all. Cable was too tight and clutch slipped all the time and wore itself out. Replaced the plates and adjusted the cable and it was great until I sold it 30K miles later.

Back to KTM, I torture tested my KTM 450XC-W clutch for a XC race season and a dozen races going up some crazy hills where you had to slip the clutch to get traction or to restart once you had lost momentum but it still didn't fail. This kind of stuff will burn up a DCT clutch too, it's just electronically slipping the clutch instead of manually.

Don't get me wrong...I think the DCT technology is great. My buddy has a 2018 Goldwing and it works very well. I'd consider DCT for a street bike or even a large ADV bike, but when you are in singletrack on tough trail.....I personally wouldn't want a DCT.

Personally, I think DCT would be a really bad fit for the KTM 790 Adventure.
 
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Personally, I think DCT would be a really bad fit for the KTM 790 Adventure.

I agree. Doesn't really seem to follow the KTM ethos.

Maybe one day I'll get the desire to have a non-DCT bike and take a look at the KTM stuff.
 
Doesn't a DCT freewheel going downhill if no throttle

Sent from my SM-G925V using Tapatalk
You can put it in manual mode and leave it in a lower gear and it will engine brake. It truly is just 2 clutches instead of one so it's either in gear or in neutral just like a regular tranny.

But....if you leave in auto...it will upshift and not give as much engine braking as I like.

So...it doesn't freewheel, but if you were wanting 2nd gear to keep you slow, it might be in 4th and you'd feel like it was freewheeling without any engine braking if you left it in auto.
 
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So doesn't free wheel like a Rekluse.
You can put it in manual mode and leave it in a lower gear and it will engine brake. It truly is just 2 clutches instead of one so it's either in gear or in neutral just like a regular tranny.

But....if you leave in auto...it will upshift and not give as much engine braking as I like.

So...it doesn't freewheel, but if you were wanting 2nd gear to keep you slow, it might be in 4th and you'd feel like it was freewheeling without any engine braking if you left it in auto.

Sent from my SM-G925V using Tapatalk
 
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If DCT gets more people buying bikes, I like it.
 
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