Small Adventure Bike, Big Adventure Dreams

If you’ve had a pulse the last five years or so, you’ve noticed the urge to take two wheels into the dirt has swept through the motorcycle community like a rogue wave. Riders across age ranges, experience levels and even financial demographics have turned to off-road, not instead of, but in addition to any and all riding they were previously doing. So it’s no surprise to see small-sized ADV bikes plodding along behind the surge like the sure-footed mules that they are. Standing out in the crowd is a gem that Yours Truly is about to get to know extremely well.

I had previously looked at the KTM 390 Adventure as a miniaturized KTM 6/7/8/1290 ADV that has all the same fun bits and gadgets of the larger bikes, bundled up into a ‘Fun Size’ package. Reading up about the bike didn’t garner the information I was hoping to find, so I was determined to not approach the 390 with the question “Can this bike actually handle adventure riding?” and instead focus on the fact that this bike, straight off the showroom floor, is equipped with some of the most advanced and adjustable components on the market, making it more capable than most other ADV bikes in its class. A class that only a few years ago was populated by ancient DRZ’s, a stray Honda or two, and if you’re lucky, a very well maintained Kawasaki KLR.

I really want to uncover who this bike is made for. At a reported 379 lbs, with a 33.6-inch seat height and 44 horsepower, we are plumb down the middle of the road for average (if lean) sized commuters, but compared to other ADV bikes on the market, the KTM 390 ADV is a light weight, small bore single that lacks power at highway speeds and happens to do ok at off-road riding. I’m going to make a prediction that the 390 Adventure is exactly what it was meant to be: a capable dirt sled, made for a smaller rider, with no holds-barred on borrowing the technological advancements or race pedigree of its flagship brand. I'm going to find out by taking this bright orange sled through everything an aspiring adventure rider would want to tackle.

For a new ADV rider, deciphering the technical terms and specs online may be a bit daunting. Speaking from experience, when I started to dive into the details of the small-to-mid weight ADV options available on the market, I came up with more questions. “Fully Adjustable Suspension” sounds fantastic, but is it adjustable enough? As a fairly lightweight rider, would I be able to adjust the stock components so I could ride the bike comfortably and tackle trails? What options would I have to set up a small ADV bike for the type of riding I like to do?

But First, A Giant Disclaimer

This is not going to be an in-depth technical review. MO has those already, found here from the bike’s intro in 2020, to a recently published shootout just last summer, where it was tested alongside an Aprilia Tuareg 660, a BMW 1250 GS and a Ducati DesertX. This is instead going to be a breakdown of real world trial and error, haphazardly throwing myself and this bike into as much experience off-road as I can, and documenting it all along the way.

The 2023 KTM 390 ADV’s shock has 10 positions of stepped preload and 30 clicks of rebound adjustment. While there are ‘suggested’ settings from the factory for ‘comfort’, ‘basic’ and ‘sport’, a good place to start is setting the rider sag. Setting sag requires a tool or two, and we used the Motool Slacker Digital Suspension Tuner to make it easier. With the preload set at a 3/10, our measurements suggested I was only using about 19% of the spring. Ideally, so I'm told, we want to be closer to 35-40% to allow the shock to work optimally. To dial out the preload, we dug the handy stock toolkit out from under the seat and backed it out to 1/10, effectively removing all preload, which is the least amount of preload we can put on the stock spring. Remeasuring the sag at this setting revealed that while I had made some improvement, it was still shy of our optimal range.

For a rider who is moving from street bikes or even smaller dual-sport motorcycles that don’t offer much adjustability of the suspension, it may take some trial and error, and in my case, a very patient friend willing to start from scratch to explain it all. Moving forward, I’m happy with the adjustability of the fork and will likely tweak it a bit when I get my chance to get into the dirt. As for the rear spring, I’ll be looking into replacing it with something softer that is suited for my weight and the type of riding I am looking to do. Unfortunately, WP doesn’t sell a spring rate softer than what is on the 390 stock.

PROTECTION

I believe all adventure bikes should have engine guards as a stock component. I am willing to die on this hill, and think that any OEM willing to send their ADV lineup out on stage without pants on is asking for bad karma.

This KTM 390 Adventure arrives on the sales floor with engine guards, beefy plastic handguards, and a ‘it's the thought that counts’ plastic and steel skid plate. While the skid plate can and will be forgiven, I do wish the handguards had some metal reinforcement behind them, and I am fully expecting to swap them out shortly after the first tip over in the dirt occurs if necessary. One of my picks from the KTM PowerParts catalog was the beefier skid plate because I knew it was going to be my first line of defense against any ill-chosen lines, errant boulders, or surprise obstacles. The last thing you want to have to learn on a ride is how to JB Weld a crack in your engine case. The only part I will likely add later on for protection is a chain guard, but as the installation requires you to split the chain to thread it through the guard, I didn’t feel like I could tackle that task on my own at the moment. That being said, I feel confident with these parts on the bike that I’m better protected for off-road riding.

Almost every review I’ve read on the internet will list the stock ergonomics of the bike in the ‘cons’ column, saying that its bars are too low, the pegs are too forward, and standing puts you too far over the controls for comfort. I am happy to report that the stock ergos of the 390 ADV are almost perfect for my 5-foot, 4inches , 27-inch inseam, and 20-inch reach frame. I did end up rotating the bars upward slightly and adjust the angle of the levers in relation to the bar for better ergonomics. Of course, I fully expect to adjust things further as I ride this bike more. Another pick from the KTM PowerParts catalog was the adjustable folding levers, which gave me just a tiny bit more reach on the clutch when adjusted all the way in (for reference, I wear a small size glove). They were a breeze to install myself, and the stock levers went straight into my tool kit, in case they need to be utilized later due to some unfortunate incident.

The only difficulty I’ve encountered on this bike is the seat height – 33.6 inches is tall, at least for me. It’s tall for a standard bike, and it’s very tall for an entry-level off-road bike, in my opinion. While I can still manage to get a single toe down, the issue lies in reaching back down to get the kickstand up. I simply can’t reach it and end up doing an awkward little hop to try and scoop down and kick it back while landing on the opposite side of the bike (while attempting to not fall over). Performing this little talent for the KTM media team was hilarious, but when it comes to doing this multiple times in a day, on-road or off… it’s not the most confidence inspiring. An obvious fix for this would be a lower seat. The KTM PowerParts catalog has a ‘comfort’ seat that is the same height, if not a smidge taller, but is more narrow in the front, so you gain a little bit of reach there. I reached out to Seat Concepts to ask about the 390 ADV seat that they offer, and they confirmed it is also the same as the stock height, and mentioned that there might not be room to cut the foam down further. After a bit more discussion, they agreed to give it a shot, so I’ll be sending them a seat to carve up and will share the results. In the meantime, I’m going to fix my kickstand problem by zip tying something to the loop to make it longer.

GOALS FOR THE FUTURE

Now that the bike is set up, the only thing left is the real work of getting it into the dirt and starting the long slog of banking seat time and learning to control this little beast on the trail. In the past few years, I’ve been piloting a 2021 Yamaha TW200 around the desert, a bike that I affectionately referred to as “Training Wheels” for off-road riding. That buzzy little machine was great for getting my bearings, but unfortunately not amazing at much else.

I’m hoping the 390 ADV is the key to unlocking everything I’ve ever wanted to do off-road, things like tackling a Backcountry Discovery Route or two, Trans America Trail, or maybe even an adventure rally just for fun. The first step will be getting signed up for a class, something I think is essential for anyone beginning (or even intermediates with a new bike!) off-road. Sometimes you really don’t know what you don’t know, and having a controlled environment to get tips and pointers is a great place to build good habits on a fresh set of wheels.

Follow along as I thrust myself into this project; I won’t be holding back anything when it comes to my experiences, so if I struggle with something or find a workaround, I will absolutely be sharing the gritty details. Next Stop: Sedlak Offroad Training to put those crash bars and skid plate to good use.