Reader's Choice Best On-Off-Road/Adventure Motorcycle of 2015: KTM 1190 Adventure R

Kevin Duke
by Kevin Duke

Your choice of the 1190 Adventure R solidifies KTM’s ascension to one of the top motorcycle marques on the planet. BMW essentially created the big-bore adventure-bike market with its twin-cylinder GS, but KTM’s Adventure series has shaken up the status quo. The regular 1190 Adventure delivers a power punch even the liquid-cooled Boxer BMW can’t match, giving it a sporting edge evidenced during our Battle of the Adventures shootout.

2013 KTM 1190 Adventure R Review

The 1190 R takes the things we like about the non-R KTM and adds some serious off-road chops. It includes extra suspension travel and larger spoked wheels (a 21/18-inch combo rather than a 19/17 pairing) that are better suited for aggressive off-road riding. It is able to tackle gnarly off-road obstacles like an overgrown dirtbike. Robust engine guards protect vital equipment.

KTM’s Off-road traction-control setting allows its rear wheel to spin twice as fast as the front to allow significant drifting action.

After we rode the KTM at its launch, we wrote, the “1190 Adventure R is perhaps the best multi-purpose motorcycle on the planet.” It appears you readers think so, too, even though voting was tight. The Adventure’s 24.7% just edged the 23.9% earned by the R1200GS.

Reader’s Choice Best of 2015 winners:

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  • Tim Quinn Tim Quinn on Mar 09, 2015

    I love this bike.
    I have the money and the skill, but I don't have the height to ride one.
    Damn, how I'd love a "real" adventure bike that my aging 50 year-old 5'5" body could ride!
    I'm no shorter now than I was back in high school or the Marine Corps when I had no problem riding race ready Enduro or MX bikes, but damn, bikes are way up there nowadays in the seat height department.

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