Launch: 2013 KTM 1190 Adventure

If you’re thinking of riding into the adventure market, you’re pretty spoilt for choice these days – especially if you’re looking up the higher end of the market, with both BMW and KTM – the undoubted leaders in this booming category – launching new bikes for 2013. The new GS and 1190 Adventure have taken the game that much further forward this year, and for KTM especially, it’s personal.

The GS has well and truly taken the hearts and minds of the Joe Blows of this world in the past few years – not least thanks to Charlie and Ewan – but the KTM has always been a bike for the hardened adventurer, and for 2013, the Mattighofen engineers have delivered a new machine that aims to beat the neighboring Munich machine in every category, be it desert crossing or riding for a coffee.

The $20,995 1190 Adventure is all-new. There is nothing on this machine that owes its existence to the previous 990 Adventure steed. The 1190 comes with electronic suspension, variable traction control, variable engine maps, combined ABS brakes and an engine more used to scorching around the world’s racetracks than across the Simpson Desert. It also comes with a 23-litre fuel tank, which KTM reckons will get you close to 400km in the right circumstances, luggage systems designed in conjunction with the chassis, adjustable screen, bar, seat height, tyre pressure monitoring systems, tubeless spoke wheels -- the list keeps going…

So you can imagine the Bikesales Network was gagging for a crack on the new orange beast, especially when you consider the launch was held in the majestic mountains around Queenstown, New Zealand. If God wanted to go riding, this is where she’d come. Probably.

This is a big bike, no question, but the KTM engineers have done well to package the engine and chassis so it doesn’t feel overly lardish. It actually feels quite narrow in the mid-section and the front comprising the dash, bodywork etc isn’t as wide as I expected. It’s a very comfortable machine, with perfect placement of arms/bum/legs so you can cover massive distances without getting too knackered. On day one I spent about seven hours in the saddle and could quite easily have ridden seven more – especially considering where we were riding.

For those who have ridden a KTM RC8R, you’ll remember one outstanding quality. Or lack of quality. That’s the brutish throttle response from fully closed, something that made hairpin corners tricky. The 1190 Adventure uses the same engine as the RC8R, but this one utilises the twin-spark ignition system, and the result is superb.

The engine is so smooth from closed throttle, it’s hard to believe it is the same basic engine. Regardless of what engine map you’re in, the throttle action is impeccable and nothing like the RC8R. There are four different riding modes you can chose and two different power ranges for the engine. Ride the 1190 Adventure in “Sport” and you’ll get the full-house treatment, with a claimed 150hp on tap and reduced traction control intervention. “Road” still gives you 150hp but traction control is ramped up to full intervention. If things get slippery you can knock the 1190 down to “Rain” mode, which reduces power output to 100hp and gives full traction intervention, and finally you get “Off-Road” mode, which gives you 100hp but minimal traction intervention, allowing you do hang the back out and drift into corners if you skill so desires and allows.

If 100hp sounds wimpy, bear in mind that the 690 Dakar machines of six years ago had “only” 95hp… Our lead rider was Red Bull Romaniacs and Dakar hero Chris Birch, the Kiwi putting on incredible displays of pure skill by drifting the orange beast down a road with a sheer 100-metre drop and no fence line. No traction control. No ABS. Big balls and big skill.

If you’re like me and on the slightly more human riding talent side these various engine modes will come in very handy, especially the Off-Road map, which allowed me to ride faster and with more control than my skill would normally have allowed – and if you’re up for it, you can turn the ABS and traction control off completely. The traction control cannot be changed within each mode, but the traction maps are well thought out and you get a fair amount of room to play with rear wheel traction, especially on the road in Sport.

The engine has a beautiful spread of torque, starting from as low as 1500rpm and building right up to above 10,000rpm. Part of the reason the engine is so good at low rpm is down to the all-new slipper clutch arrangement, which has by far the lightest application of any big-bore bike I have ever ridden. The reason for this is the new slipper clutch runs softer clutch springs, resulting at reduced pressure at the lever. The aim was for it to have the same feel and pressure as the company’s leading motocross machines, which they have attained.

The gearbox on early RC8s was a dog of a thing, so that makes the action of this 1190’s RC8-dervived box even more impressive. The internal ratios have been changed, with a much shorter first gear allowing you to ride the 1190 at walking pace without having to dance on the clutch lever all the time. Roadbike gearing remains in the other five cogs of the six-speed gearbox and help keep fuel consumption down on long sixth gear stints.

The chassis responds much better than I had imagined on the tar, but where this thing shines is on the bare bones, pure motorcycling of dirt roads (not proper fire trails, that stuff is for the R model). You can tell this is where KTM has the majority of their expertise because the 1190 Adventure has more poise off-road than the BMW GS, whereas the GS feels a little more comfortable on the road.

The 1190’s conventional front-end gives excellent feel on crappy surfaces and combines with the 1190-only 9MB Bosch C-ABS system to give a sure-footed feel while still giving you that bit of encouragement to push a little bit harder. The 1190 has the best power-to-weight ratio of its class and fully fuelled weighs just 230kg. That’s a pretty impressive feat and contributes to the excellent stability this machine has off-road. Unless you’re going silly speeds (which are easily attainable on the 1190) the KTM will be a perfect companion on the tar. It doesn’t respond well to being pushed really hard at high speed and will start to induce a fair amount of understeer, but it must be said this is at speeds most owners will not be taking their 1190s to. That stuff is reserved for RC8R owners.

At sensible speeds the electronically assisted WP suspension feels nicely planted and gives good feedback to the rider. This isn’t a dynamic suspension set-up – it won’t alter the boingers while you ride – but is a similar set-up to the ones found on the Ducati Multistrada and pre-2013 BMW R1200GS. It’s basically a preload system that allows you to have preset parameters for example, one rider, one rider with luggage, two riders, two riders with luggage etc. Having ridden quite a few bikes with more advanced electronic suspension set-ups I don’t think KTM riders will be hankering for much more with the WP set-up. The front and rear work well together and with a solid 190mm of travel at both ends, and having the forks and shock able to be adjusted via the 25 clicks of compression and rebound adjustment, you’ll be a hard taskmaster if you think you actually need more adjustment. I know I don’t.

The C-ABS (combined ABS) braking system is one of the better ABS units I’ve tried of late and doesn’t pulse too much when it locks. You know the system is working as you’ll get some action at the lever but al in all it’s a fairly unobtrusive system. The brakes are Brembo Monoblocs up front, so you know there’s plenty of stopping power on hand.

If the front brake is applied on its own, the C-ABS system gives a bit of braking to the rear to help keep the chassis steady. You can switch the ABS system to “Off-Road” if you like, which will allow you to lock the back-end into corners.

Keeping the show nice and solid on braking is the Continental TrialAttack 2 tyres, which were developed especially for the 1190. These hoops have a surprising amount of grip on the dirt as well as the road, and look like they should last a long time as long as the riding conditions aren’t too severe.

Like almost every KTM in the range the 1190 comes with a full range of Adventure parts. Everything from bash plates to luggage, tank bag, GPS brackets, seats, exhausts, footrests and orange bling can be applied to the 1190. The first thing I’d do is throw on one of the Akrapovic exhaust systems. I had a go on an 1190 fitted with the full system and it not only sounds better, but there was a marked increase in initial power and torque.

What I do find disappointing was the lack of heated handgrips on the 1190. For a bike designed to go anywhere, it should have them as standard. Most people that knock heated grips haven’t tried them and seen what an amazing benefit they can be to not just body heat, but your general outlook when riding in freezing cold conditions. You can buy them as an accessory, so all is not lost.

There’s one dangerous aspect of the new 1190 Adventure, and that’s the Powerparts calculator on the KTM website. Coming home drunk from the pub with the thought of buying an 1190 can lead to you getting on the site, buying the bike, completely customizing it using the Powerparts catalogue, and then waking up the next morning wondering what you’ve done, so play wisely…

This new 1190 is a right brilliant machine and will no doubt further the company’s reputation as an excellent world tourer. We haven’t yet ridden the Adventure R model, but if it’s half as good as the standard model you can bet you’ll be seeing a heap of them on trails real soon.

On road or off road, if you pick up an 1190 Adventure you won’t be disappointed.

NZ THRASHING
Snow covered mountains, gorgeous emerald green waterways, smooth tarmac and great people are all part and parcel riding in Queenstown, New Zealand. This was our ride.

After getting out of Queenstown proper, head north-west on Gorge Road which will take you to the foot of the mountains. Here the tarmac opens up and you pass over a couple of bridges teaming with bungy-jumping backpackers and the Shotover Jet, aptly named after Shotover Lake.

Keep on the gas and you’ll eventually get to Crown Range Road. The road turns into Cardrona Valley Road, the scenery changing from tight mountain roads to wide open valleys that snake between the ever-expanding countryside.

The Cardrona Pub is a perfect stop over for lunch, and back on the bike and you’ll pass through Wanaka, cross over Lake Hawea and down to Lake Dunstan. Stay on this road and it’ll eventually turn into the Gibbston Highway and take you back into Queenstown, but if you want a bit more, take the right at Arrowtown Lake Hayes Road, left at Speargrass Flat Road that eventually turns into Littles Road and once you’ve hit Arthurs Point Road, cross over and you’ll be on Skipper’s Road. This road is pure motorcycling magic and will take you to the ski base of Coronet Peak.

But if you’re on an Adventure bike, take the left near Coronet Peak onto the dirt of Skippers Canyon Road. This is a death-defying stretch of dirt, carved out of the mountains by the gold diggers of the 1800s. It’s an incredible stretch, and eventually goes some 40km down to the base where an old abandon gold rush town still survives.

After you’ve gone as far down Skipper’s Canyon Rd as you can handle, turn back, head down Skipper’s Road and eventually back into Queenstown via Gorge Road. It’s not a massive ride, around 250km, but it’s so beautiful you’ll want to take you time.

TRANSMISSION
Type: Six speed
Final drive: Chain
Clutch: Hydraulic slipper

CHASSIS AND RUNNING GEAR
Frame type: Steel trellis, aluminium subframe
Front suspension: Upside-down 48mm WP fork, fully adjustable
Rear suspension: WP monoshock, fully adjustable
Front brakes: Dual 320mm discs with Brembo four-piston radial calipers
Rear brake: 267mm disc with Brembo twin-piston caliper
Wheels: Spoked wheels with tubeless rims, front 3.50x19, rear 5.00 x 17
Tyres: Front 120/70-19, rear 170/60-17

DIMENSIONS AND CAPACITIES
Rake: Not given
Trail: 120mm
Claimed wet weight (without fuel): 212kg
Seat height: 860/875mm
Wheelbase: 1560 plus or minus 10mm
Fuel capacity: 23 litres

OTHER STUFF
Price: $20,995
Colours: Grey or orange
Test bike supplied by: KTM Australia, www.ktm.com.au
Warranty: 24 months, unlimited kilometres