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KTM 390 Adventure

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Ok, I ordered a 390 Thursday, put a down payment on it. So with my 790 I’ll have twins with different fathers. Now comes the wait..................**** virus!
That’s Ok though, the perfect riding season is October and November:rider:
 
Hey all, I saw this discussion and thought I'd drop by. I just took the 390 Adventure home a few days ago and here are my thoughts.

Unless there are some long-term reliability issues with the bike, it's a winner. I only have 250km on it so far (a winter blizzard unfortunately just hit my area), but KTM really did pack this thing full of welcome features. Yeah the TFT display and the ride by wire is nice but to some people the over-dependence on electronics can be a drawback. So far so good. The standard hand guards are awesome, the adjustable suspension as well as adjustable levers are great. The bike has ABS and Cornering ABS as well as offroad ABS (disables ABS on the rear wheel). It has all LED lights... all the standard stuff you already know. But being presented with this package and owning it is another thing. It's comfortable and quick. Also it sounds much better in person than it does in the hundreds of YouTube videos from India that no one wanted to watch but had to because they were the only videos of this bike.

Anyway, the best part about it in my opinion? How nimble and light the thing is. I've taken it offroad through different terrain (mud, sand, loose large rocks, gravel), and it does the job. I heard some people complain about the cast wheels. What are you, Evel Knievel? Chances are you won't be able to take the bike to the wheel's limits. As consumers we get spoiled because this really is the golden age of motorcycle development. This makes us very discriminating when it comes to nuances between motorcycles.

As an example, remember this? Clearly not meant to be an offroad bike, but it was put through its paces.

Extreme example. I digress.

Other downsides I've heard mentioned are the tall seat height. That is an issue if you're short. I'm 5' 9" and I can't complain (but I also can't flat foot it).

I've heard mentioned that the 373cc engine doesn't have the low end torque for offroading. If you know how to use clutch and throttle you'll be fine. The thing revs up very rapidly.

Issues I've encountered:
Twice after cold starting it, the engine shuts off after a few seconds of idling. I've had this happen with other bikes as well (I rented a 790 Adventure in Vegas a few months ago that did that). I remedy this by applying a slight amount of throttle. I hear it's because the engine runs lean.

The left mirror came loose. I've seen this happen in the aforementioned videos from India. Turns out that it was just not tightened enough to begin with and could use a few more twists.

The front windscreen sometimes vibrates and makes a buzzing noise. I've also seen this in those videos.

Having said that, it looks like whatever standard these bikes are built to is exacting to even the smallest quirk.

A small gripe: it has no ambinet temperature reading on the TFT display like the 790 Adventure. What gives? All adventure bikes should have a temp reading! :)

Overall I think the best aspect about this bike is its small and quick package which provides you with a lot of comforts and options as a rider.

Anyway, I'm thoroughly enjoying it and waiting for the weather to lift since I'm already getting withdrawals.
 

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🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯 where are you located? Did whoever have any more of them? I wanna see it! I promise to stand 6feet away!!
 
I'm in Bulgaria right now and it's the first one sold (and the only one on the road) in the country right now. :) I'm sure soon you'll start seeing them popping up everywhere. I expect they'll sell like hot cakes.
 
Oh ok....NVM! Lol!!!! We should have them next month I think. Im hoping some Euro and Aussie reviews in English pop up soon. I've seen a few in German and French. Drivemag riders did one that was pretty good.
 
Those look like TKC-70 tires. How do you think it would do with something slightly more agressive?
 
Jarrett said:
Revzilla calls the Karoo a 70/30 tire. Kinda seems like a sweet spot for my riding.
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I was gonna get those until the AX41 came out. It's a little too agressive for the street(won't get great mileage), but gives me so much more confidence off-road.
 
I don’t mind what comes on it, after about 4 k miles I will have to change them, by then there may be something new out there.
 
synthlegend said:
I was gonna get those until the AX41 came out. It's a little too agressive for the street(won't get great mileage), but gives me so much more confidence off-road.
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i've tried for 5 yrs trying to live w/ an ADV bike and trying to get it to hook up offroad once i get there..the biggest problemo came down to the stinkin' tires. It don't matter if you're doing it on a KTM 500, 690 or this 390...the tires is going to put the screws on you if you have to pound pavement to get to the dirt.


case in point....see my rear tire? see that drop off?

20191025-162156.jpg

we wound up going down , sliding w/ brakes applied all the way down -3 miles down - to the end of this easy "DIRT ROAD".

and after seeing no way to continue past the dead end, we tried going back up... (see the slide marks ? that's us having gone down)
20191025-173749.jpg


i won't tell you how we got out...but let's just say it was

EPIC!!!
 
I chose to go with a more aggressive 40/60 tire. It's noisy on road, but handles decently. Not gonna get great mileage, but that's a worth while trade off to me. I'm not a peg scraper on the highway and don't need extreme mileage between tire changes.
 
Caritas said:
I heard some people complain about the cast wheels. What are you, Evel Knievel? Chances are you won't be able to take the bike to the wheel's limits. As consumers we get spoiled because this really is the golden age of motorcycle development. This makes us very discriminating when it comes to nuances between motorcycles.
Click to expand...

😂😂😂😂😂

@Vinny ...remember when both our cell phones popped out of the holders? Caritas, come ride mexico w/ us sometimes, we'll show you how well cast wheels hold up. In mexico, one minute, you're riding on a paved road, and the next, it's gone. Plus, I've never seen speed bumps that's as insanely vertical nor as tall as those in mexico. My strom 650 wheels took a beating, i can't imagine a ktm cast wheel holding up to what my strom 650 wheels had to endure. But i'd like to find out!
 
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This nice gentleman has a few decent 390 videos up. Has a 990 in the garage right beside it, so you can get a good idea of the size. It's not a tiny bike.


 
Funny he should mention the handguard. My left one broke off, and luckily that was the only casualty lol. The problem is that the way the plastic handguards are installed, they are already torqued with tension, so if it gets crushed at the right angle it will snap because there's not a lot of flex and give. How it happened? Going offroad uphill. Ground was softer than I thought and lost traction/balance/speed and fell left on the handguard.

I'll order the aluminum ones.
 
Looks like a full size bike, kinda a baby 450:flip:the baby’s due date is May first or there about.:dude:
 
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