Are Adventure Bikes Heading in 2 different directions?

KTM 690 with a Rally Raid kit would be pretty good, won't be anything like your BMW though, sure will handle better. Heated grips, comfortable seats and such can be installed, but you just can't replicate the results.

Every bike Ive ever owned was an adventure bike. That includes a Honda cm450e! It's just different adventures thats all!

Throw a set of Michelin Anakee 3 tires on that mid weight bike along with a skidplate and you have a bike that is more capable than most people use their dirt bikes for.

If you're like me , vertically challenged, you can't ride every bike in comfort at least not very far.
I'm 6 8" and that leaves me with beasts like the GSA and the 990.
I have one of each the blue and white is at home and the orange is my travel bike.
I'd love to have a lighter bike, maybe a 990 chassis with a 400 engine.
I've ridden a bit on my trip from LA to Bs As and yes it's verra nice with HP but you don't need it or very rarely anyway.
If you can't overtake the lorry there and then, going up hill in the Sierra Madre or the Sonora pass you'll be able to do so in a little while, when the driver stops for a whizzo or a fag.
And when you start to look at average speeds, you'd be able to do it with a 80 cc Step through.
Unless you're one of the fabeled 9xx owners who never go slower than triple digit speeds with everything they own strapped to the bike and the wife sitting on the back.
These epic trips are always on the worst types of roads deep sand or deeply rutted gravel roads and never less than 12 hours.
Baron von Munchausen, eat your heart out

I have wondered if it possible to put a 690 engine in the frame. In theory it shouldn't be too hard as long as you can make it work around the swing arm.

If a 450 RR wasn't so expensive it would make a great adventure bike.

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Isn't the Honda NCX a budget approach?

(Loved the first issue on Travel/Adventure by the way... Great stuff!)

(what a great thread this is... )

'We shape our tools and than our tools shape us!'
Isn't Adventure riding a matter of exploring one's limits, find them and then accept/respect them? Everybody has his (or her...) own approach to this question and the size of the engine does not really matter imho...

Had great rides on all of my previous Adventure-type bikes: DR650, Transalp 600, Pegaso 650, Africa Twin and now a 990. With the AT I drove around in Morocco last year and in the desert I discovered my own limits: I could not power it through Sahara sand :eek1 It did not make me feel sad or unhappy but I accepted it as a fact of life. At the same time I cherished the great moments I had had on unpaved, gravel stretches at the foot of and across the Atlas mountains and the easy rides on tarmac from and to these stretches...
After my Adventure in Morocco I hesitated what to do: buy a light weight enduro bike for offroad rides (and keep the AT for tarmac); strip the AT and setting her up as a rally-raid bike or... switch to a 990? You know the answer already and every trip with the 990 is a new 'Adventure' to me and I am very grateful for being able to do so...

First thing that most people say about my 990 is


... that is a big bike



I don't understand why KTM is going to the 1190. My friends ride 1000cc sport bikes and I can keep up on the 990. Bike is designed to do some good offroad adventures while it's still fantastic on the pavement. I feel like KTM is trying to compete with the BMW. I've seen a GS off road and I wasn't impressed.

Saying that I think the 990/950's will be more desirable after they are no longer in production.

The 690 is still heavy though and really all you did was lose the Vtwin smoothness. I was hoping Aprilia or someone could perfect, say a 650 twin, that weighs in around the weight of the 530- 257lbs or so dry. That would be of interest.

Its just hard to have one bike that does it all. I thought about the 690 but really, would I take it where I take the 530(which I think is heavy), no probably not. So then wouldnt I really prefer to stick with the 950? Yes.

Just no good answers out there today.

Yes, I think we all think about this. I have a dedicated dirt bike (KTM 300 EXC) and the 690 and 53X all seem to heavy in comparison. However, since it is not street legal I keep looking for something in between. What about the Husqvarna
TE's? I had a 610 SM that was OK and I wish I would have got a TE instead.

If you could 15000ks on a 300 without touching the motor it would be awesome to go traveling on.

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How come when I was 16 my Vespa 125 was my adventure bike driving all the cutest girls home from high school. Then in my 20's the Honda 350 scrambler became my adventure bike to and fro my job. Then in my early 30's the triumph
Became my next to and fro bike to my job. Then came 40's and the K100 rt the new adventure bike exploring all parts of the us and Canada. 50's oh a 1150 GSA came along to travel to Mexico and Alaska. Now in the 60's a ktm 690 all farkeled out to be somewhat comfortable as the GSA. So where is the future of adventure bikes. By my estimation or experience 70's bring me back to a 350,and then 80's to a 125 if I can be so lucky!

I know many of you would consider almost everything you have ridden to be an adventure bike but by my (and many others) definition would be a dual sport/road trail motorbike, the type that can get you from home to work/school but also get you off the beaten track to places you would never get to on your Yamaha r1 and the likes..

So with evolution, comes features and creature comforts to make the dual purpose a comfortable experience in any case

You mean like this one ?

Sure, If you are Jimmy Lewis

Yup....you can't go anywhere on that pos....

That will do it

But thats a frankenbike.. Next you will pull out a picture of the posties with TKC80's and MotoX suspension..

Or how about a hyundai with a suzuki sierra chassis?... you get my point..

the 1190 is a different postcode, compare it to the new f800gsa they are the same weight but I'd much prefer the 1190 R in the tricky stuff over the f800GSA, so I just bought one 2 days ago

I'm with you on that 5 speed. Wish KTM put a small v-twin into a 690 chassis.