KTM, the Austrian bike maker, was expected to launch the new Duke 390 Adventure. Well, that bike was not seen and KTM maybe pulled off a good one with us. They did reveal the Duke 790 Adventure, a bike that combines the best of both worlds. The bike would be offered in two variants, a base and a more quipped R variant. Both variants offer the same engine, a parallel twin and get spoked wheels. The front wheel is 21-inches and the rear is an 18-incher. The bike captures the go anywhere spirit of its elder sibling in a light and compact avatar.
Powering the bike is a 799 cc parallel twin motor, tuned to make 95 bhp at 8,000 rpm and 88 Nm of peak torque at 6,600 rpm. Now that’s quite enough for a bike weighing in at just 189 kg, significantly lighter than its competitors. The R variants offer longer suspension travel than the standard variant. It is the main differentiating component between these two bikes. The base variant gets WP APEX 43 mm upside-down fork with 200 mm of travel, and the rear WP monoshock also offers 200 mm travel. The R variant gets WP XPLOR suspension, with the 48 mm front fork offering 240 mm of travel, the rear monoshock matches the 240 mm travel.
Also Read: Rumour Mill: KTM Duke 125 To Be Launched In India
This bike was made and developed with the involvement of the customers, KTM had earlier showcased the bike at Sardinia, the European adventure rally. The company used a test prototype to showcase its capabilities and posted a video on that. Unlike other adventure bikes, this bike also gives the on-road performance quite importance. This was done to bring back the touring capability of an adventure tourer. The good on-road characteristics of the bike ensure that the bike is able to take the rider to long distances, it would not matter if a road is there or not.
