The New KTM 690 Rally Wants You To Find A Trail And Confront Your FeelingsRideApartinfo@rideapart.com (Enrico Punsalang)Sat, September 12, 2026 at 11:19 AM UTCAdd us on Google2027 KTM 690 RallyKTM wants you to ride farther, dig deeper, and maybe unpack a few things along the way.KTM would like you to know that its new 2027 690 Rally isn't merely a motorcycle. It's apparently an opportunity to venture beyond the familiar, strip away life's distractions, and finally meet the person who's been hiding inside you all along. Which is certainly one way to sell a big orange dirt bike.Personally, I would've led with the giant fuel tanks and rally tower, but I'm not in charge of helping motorcyclists confront their unresolved emotional baggage.Nevertheless, buried underneath KTM's wilderness therapy session is a motorcycle that's genuinely pretty interesting. The 2027 KTM 690 Rally takes the already capable 690 Enduro R and turns it into something much closer to the factory-built rally adventure bike people have been creating in their garages for years. KTM calls it the spiritual successor to the old 640 Adventure, and looking at the tall rally fairing, huge fuel capacity, and skinny off-road proportions, that comparison isn't much of a stretch.AdvertisementAdvertisementThe star of the show is KTM's latest 692.7cc LC4 single-cylinder engine, producing a claimed 78 horsepower and roughly 54 pound-feet of torque, paired with a six-speed gearbox. It's the same basic thumper formula KTM has spent decades refining, except the current LC4 also gets ride-by-wire, twin ignition, and considerably longer service intervals than the rattly Austrian singles of old. KTM now specifies oil changes every 9,320 miles, which is actually long enough to put some Japanese street bikes to shame.The biggest visual giveaway is the rally setup up front. There's a proper navigation-style tower with an integrated windshield and a compact 4.2-inch TFT display, while a pair of auxiliary front fuel tanks works together with the rear tank to hold approximately 5.28 gallons. That's a massive jump in usefulness for riders who actually intend to put serious distance between themselves and civilization, their inbox, their landlord, or whatever else KTM thinks they're spiritually escaping from.2027 KTM 690 Rally2027 KTM 690 RallyPhotos by: KTM2027 KTM 690 RallyFor Those Who Bleed OrangeKTM's New Dirt Bike Promises to Climb Literally Any Hill ImaginableKTM's 2027 450 SMR Gets The One Upgrade All Riders WantedAdvertisementAdvertisementThe chassis hardware backs up the Dakar cosplay, too. Up front is a 48mm WP XPLOR inverted fork with 10.4 inches of travel and adjustable compression and rebound damping. The rear uses a WP XPLOR shock with linkage and adjustable preload, rebound, plus high- and low-speed compression damping. Ground clearance is likewise 265mm, while the seat sits a fairly intimidating 935mm high. So yes, personal growth apparently also requires a respectable inseam.KTM fits the 690 Rally with the dirt-bike-standard combination of a 21-inch front and 18-inch rear wheel, both using spoked aluminum rims and Continental TKC 80 tires. Brembo handles braking with a 300mm front disc and twin-piston caliper, plus a 240mm disc at the rear. KTM lists the bike at about 356 pounds without fuel, which puts it in an interesting middle ground between heavyweight adventure motorcycles and much more compromised competition-style rally machines.There's plenty of electronics as well. Street and Off-road ride modes come standard, while an optional Rally mode lets riders further adjust traction control and throttle response. Cornering ABS and cornering traction control use a six-axis sensor, and KTM's Dynamic Slip Adjust can temporarily allow additional wheelspin when the bike determines that some extra slip might actually help you claw your way through loose terrain.2027 KTM 690 Rally2027 KTM 690 Rally2027 KTM 690 RallyPhotos by: KTMAdvertisementAdvertisementAnd jokes about KTM's copywriters aside, the 690 Rally makes a lot of sense. Plenty of riders want something lighter and nastier than a full-size adventure bike without going all the way to a barely street-friendly enduro. A factory 690 with real fuel range, long-travel suspension, rally bodywork, proper electronics, and highway capability slots neatly into that gap.KTM says production begins in Austria in September, with bikes arriving at authorized dealers in October 2026. US pricing hasn't been announced yet. So whether the 690 Rally actually helps you "meet yourself" remains to be seen.But if your preferred method of introspection involves a 692.7cc single, a tank full of gas, and several hundred miles of dirt between you and your responsibilities, KTM has apparently built your therapist.Source: KTM