KTM 990 Adventure
Your Basic High-Speed All-Surface Austrian SupersportWhat sort of persona lurks behind all that orange plastic? Here's a clue: BMW may have been there first, but with a half-dozen wins since 2001, KTM owns the Dakar Rally now. Never mind the key to said ownership is now a 357-lb., 654cc single and not this 999cc twin, which is a bored and stroked, fuel-injected rendering of the 2003 950 Adventure that put the Austrian works squarely in this game.
Cashing in on that North African cache and that of its successful dirtbikes, KTM's brand of adventure is going anywhere very, very quickly. When the corporate motto is Ready to Race, that's what you do. BMW may have invented the broadest little niche in motorcycling, but KTM has put a sharper edge on it. And though the Adventure looks little changed from the slab-sided original, the '07 news lurks underneath.
This latest iteration of the 75-degree LC8 V-twin that first won Dakar under the late Fabrizio Meoni in 2002 gets new 101.0 x 62.4mm cylinders this year, along with matching forged pistons. A set of 48mm Keihin throttle bodies succeed the 950 twin's 43mm carburetors. Adventure-spec porting and cam profiles soften power delivery a bit from 990 Superduke spec. The other bit of mechanical news is a standard two-channel Bosch/Brembo ABS unit under the seat-front and rear circuits act independently from each other, buffering the triple discs when necessary. And when it isn't, a switch in the cockpit restores the brakes to pure manual control.
All that stuff makes the 990 some 9 pounds heavier than its predecessor. But even at 516 lbs. with a full 5.8-gallon payload in its twin fuel tanks, the KTM is 64 lbs. lighter than the BMW. And with a seat more than 2 inches nearer the pavement, it's more accessible to humans of average height. (The more dirt-worthy 990 S is on par with the GS Adventure, thanks to an additional 1.8 inches of suspension travel.) Though it's plenty roomy, the KTM's ergonomic package is somewhat less so than the BMW's. Sitting there surrounded by vast slabs of orange plastic with a 21-inch front wheel leading the way, the 990 feels like a dirtbike with an overactive pituitary gland because that's what it is. It's a bit rough around the edges for $13,998, and KTM's function-first approach is short on niceties-filling two separate fuel tanks every 200 miles or so seems like a pain to us-but serious adventurers could care less about such things.
We, however, got a bit leery about heading for the middle of nowhere after the horrifying tool-steel-fingernails-on-a-blackboard graunch our bike made about every third time we started it. Though it never stopped forward progress, the 990's starter gear was evidently having an ongoing argument with its driven counterpart. Otherwise, the EFI makes the starting process instantaneous. Initial throttle response is a bit too quick; the carbureted version was smoother around town. And though the rear circuit usurps braking control too early for us, the new ABS system is otherwise excellent.
Though power tapers off once the tach needle is within 500 rpm of redline, the latest LC8 revs much quicker than the bigger twins. Handling is quicker as well, making the 990 the most agile companion on urbane adventures and beyond. Shod with more street-friendly rubber, the GS can keep the KTM in its sights on a twisty road, but only just. There's more pitch from the KTM's orthodox WP suspension bits when you're hard on the brakes or throttle, but even the pavement-oriented Buell can't drive out of corners with anything like the 990's ferocity. The gap back to the BMW and Buell can change after said pavement peters out, but if speed is the game, the KTM wins.
That harsh transition on or off the throttle combined with the stock Pirelli MT90 A/T tires made the 100-foot cliffs marking our favorite rocky goat trails more of a pucker than they should have been. Still, the KTM is quicker and more intuitive than the BMW's Goliath, regardless of how many dirt miles are under your kidney belt. But after an hour's worth of the inevitable four-lane reentry to civilization, the KTM's seat foam assumes all the consistency and resilience of compressed Wonder Bread. After 2 hours on the seat pan you're negotiating terms of surrender with the GS pilot, who isn't happy with the 990's relatively skimpy fuel range or fairing protection either. And where are the bleedin' heated grips?
Depending upon your personal pain/frustration threshold, details like that might seem insignificant in the showroom but turn into a big deal when you're a few hundred miles away from anything resembling a warm bed. But if blacktop is a necessary evil and you're only covering enough of the stuff to connect the perfect trails, lever a set of Continental TKC80 knobbies onto the KTM's rims and you'll live happily ever after.