I had no intention of seriously considering it but I test rode the 390 Adventure Rally Edition and was totally sold within 30 seconds.
BHPian Rajeevraj recently shared this with other enthusiasts.
A little background
For the past 6-8 months I have been on the lookout for a new bike in the ~400cc segment as an upgrade to my 11-year-old Pulsar 200NS. Did not want a Royal Enfield and had eliminated the other options- Highness, Dominar, the Jawa-Yezdi ones etc. When the 2 recent high-profile launches- the Harley X440 and the Triumph 400 happened, was impressed at the first look of both and had put booking amounts on both.
Test rode the Triumph and it did not work out for me. The Harley was better and although Hero-Harley has totally delayed and messed up the delivery plans, since I booked on Day 1, I had got the communication that I was part of the first lot and would get delivery by the end of October. In prep for that, on Saturday, did one more test ride and although I did like it and easily covered my use case, was not getting that wow feeling yet. Felt maybe I was over-expecting and decided on going ahead with the purchase.
When I stepped out of the Hero showroom, there was a KTM showroom just ahead. Now, in my mind, KTM always meant the Dukes and I knew the Dukes were not for me. So never even considered KTM bikes at all. For what reason I don’t know, I stopped in front of KTM. Told me, wife, let’s go and simply look at the bikes. We actually sat outside thinking for 5 min if we should go. I went in, and the first thing I saw was the KTM Adventure 390. A bike I barely knew existed. Looked large but sleek, imposing, and tall and I totally loved it. Sat on it. I am 5’11 and the height was not an issue- Was almost flat footing both legs and felt comfortable sitting on it.
Still had no intention of seriously considering it, half-heartedly asked for a test ride. They had the latest Adventure 390 Rally Edition as the TD bike. It had gone out for a ride. Waited for 20 min, no sign of the guy who took it. I said to my wife let us wait for 5 more min and then we will leave. The bike came in immediately after.
I sat on it, again felt large and imposing. Told my wife, let me do a solo ride first. Then I started it and got moving- Oh boy!!! 30 seconds into the ride, I was totally sold on it. Perfect seating position for me, felt totally at home from the get-go, and of course the engine- enough has been said about it. That, ‘this is my bike’ feeling I was missing with all the others, was right there with this. Took a fairly good test ride and came back, told my wife to hop on and then we went for another round. Because of the large seat, she was also totally comfortable with it. Would have booked it then and there, but my mind told me to hold back.
Came back home, watched and read everything there was about the KTM Adventure 390, learnt more about the lower cost base variant-the X, about the new Rally Edition with adjustable suspension and spoke wheels, the pros and cons as said by experts, specific focus on city riding and heat. A lot of the major cons called out- The seat height, the price, and the fact that from an off-roader perspective, it is probably not the best- were not deal breakers for me.
The variant of choice was a confusion-The X seemed value for money, but I did not want to skip out on the safety features like traction control considering I am new to this segment, while I don’t need the better off-roading capabilities of the Rally Edition which the spoke wheels enable, considering that a lot of roads in Bangalore-especially in the IT belt where I stay, seem like semi off-road trails anyways, felt the adjustable suspension would definitely be useful.
Long story short, today booked the 390 Adventure Rally Variant with the adjustable suspension. Comes only in one orange/back shade. Ideally would have preferred one of the subtler colors, but that I guess is fine. Bikes are in stock and expect to take delivery this weekend itself.
Keyword: Ended up booking KTM 390 ADV while waiting for my Harley X440 delivery