Words: Séan Hendley
Pics: Black Rock Photography
“Road Touring… an Adventure Bike, WTF?!?!”, we hear you exclaim.
Well, yes. In reality the truth is that this is where the majority of these machines will do most of their mileage, like all those Double Cab bakkies with the big light bars, lifted suspension, dik mud terrain tyres and ‘grens vegter’ sticker kits wif skoops on the bonnet.
Then again, look at the state of our roads You do know that before rowwe bliksem dirt roads in this country we actually had lekker tarred ones? So, even though the majority of “Adventure” machines spend a lot of their life on what passes for tarred roads in this country, they are actually justified in that use.
Hit one of our Jacuzzi sized potholes on a road or superbike and you are going to need a visit to your orthodontist, chiropractor, renal specialist and your local mag wheel repairer. Hit the same pothole on your adventure bike, stand up and lighten the front wheel while the rear shock does the rest.
And this was the thinking when we asked KTM SA for the 1290 R for our annual pilgrimage to the NAMPO show. We all know that it is spectacularly good in the dirt but what are its manners like as a road bike? The road to NAMPO consists of rush hour traffic choked freeways, open flowing freeway, main roads and secondary roads, a lot of which are in worse than shocking condition, strewn with sand, stone, rocks and craters, missing sections of tarmac and in some sections completely under water with ducks swimming past the speed limit signs. The one section was so bad with debris and detritus being sprayed up that we had a radiator on one of the other bikes get holed and require some emergency repairs before we could continue on our trip.
I have ridden most of the previous iterations of the Super Adventure R all the way back to the 1190’s and they are undoubtedly in my top 5 favourite motorcycles. They are ridiculously fast and powerful, which appeals to the speed demon in me, and with each new version they just get faster and more powerful, but they also get more refined and a lot easier to ride. To date, I had not had the opportunity to swing my leg over the latest version, Glenn and Kyle went along to the launch and I always seemed to be otherwise occupied whenever it was at the office, so I was quite keen to get my grubby paws on it and give it a bit of a whirl and recovering from a broken foot made the road trip the perfect occasion.
Swinging a leg over the Super Adventure R my first words were, “Flip this is a big bike! And so tall…!!!” as I tried to retain my balance whilst trying to unhook my riding pants from the pillion grab handles. Then I used “Flip!” again… or something along those lines when I cracked my shin against the crash bars around the bottom of the fuel tank, reminding me of my personal Bavarian steed. The tank is quite wide, but it is well designed and doesn’t get in your way. The 2023 1290 R is actually slightly lower than the previous generation and I had also spent the last few weeks riding compact little naked and superbikes and did need to adjust my thinking to taller bikes. After a few minutes I was all settled in, one or two more shin bangs on the crash bar and I stopped doing that as well. Still, the open front pillion grab rails were quite easy to hook baggy adventure riding pants on. And that is the end of my whinging and whining, because those are the only gripes I actually have with this bike.
Prepare for the lyrical waxing from here on in.
We’ve always been fans of these big KTM adventure bikes. That V-Twin motor not only gets me cackling like a crazed axe murderer when I twist its ear but it just plays the most beautiful melodies. If you’ve never heard a short stroke, big bore V-Twin at full thrash – you have not lived.
Predictable power too, you can predict it attempting to dislocate your shoulders and try to shake its head at the sky in fury when you yank on the gas and dump the clutch. It predictably blurs the landscape as you hold the gas wide open and kick through the gearbox using the exceptionally smooth quick shifter. It predictably scares the heck out of superbikes bumbling along at 200kmh plus as it booms past them. Yes, the power delivery is that predictable… and it’s just such a fun bike to ride. I spent much time parked at intersections and turn offs waiting for the rest of the crew to catch up. Eventually that got boring, so I matched their speed and engaged the very easy cruise control, sat back and enjoyed the scenery. Unlike its more road-oriented sibling, the Super Adventure ‘S’ it does not have adaptive cruise control.
On this particular trip the other guys were on 900 and 1000cc super nakeds and were bobbing and weaving like Cassius Clay’s opponents dodging his mighty fists as they did the “Pothole Waltz”. Aboard the KTM I happily glided through over our government’s footprints, salivated with excitement when the road disappeared completely and encouraged tailgaters in their bakkies and trucks to back off with a hard blip of the throttle when crossing heavily stone and sand strewn sections.
The flooded section of road at Viljoenskroon did prove to be the only real obstacle to this beast of a bike, I didn’t want to frighten the ducks…
The entertaining bit came when some of the other riders pulled alongside me urgently pointing at their bikes fuel tanks and signalling for to me to tap off a bit so they could all line up in the big KTM’s slip stream and get a draft tow to the closest fuel pump, about 40 kays up the road. The KTM might have had the heaviest fuel consumption for the day but it also had a significantly bigger fuel tank and better fuel range. Considering it was 300cc’s bigger than anything else, with the most wind resistance and the biggest, heaviest rider riding like an idiot, its fuel consumption at 17,5 km per litre or 16 litres over 280km really wasn’t actually too bad. But you don’t actually buy a bike like this to sip fuel.
Which is a great Segway to my next point. Looking at the windshield on the Super Adventure R you would be expected to be buffeted quite nastily by the wind judging by its diminutive size. In fact, one would expect the cockpit to be a singularly focused off road weapon with very little in the way of road touring creature comforts. When, actually it is a very comfortable road tourer, and the cockpit is a very nice place to be with great ergonomics, (mercifully, also for the taller rider), and an instinctive layout. The TFT screen is easy to read and navigate with all the information kind of where you would expect to look for it. Rider modes and settings are generic throughout the KTM family and take little to no time to come to terms with. Cruise control has to be one of the easiest on the market and most importantly for me… on the correct handle cluster. That itsy bitsy little screen with the rest of the front-end body kit and tank does keep you efficiently out of the full draft of the head on wind and can be adjusted up or down easily with a very simple hand adjuster. The tank is sculpted around the rider’s legs and further deflects the wind off the rider. It is also designed to carry the majority of its fuel somewhere between the rider’s feet, noticeably lowering the R’s centre of gravity and making the big girl a lot more agile and compliant to the rider’s input.
I don’t have to hammer home how well the chassis and WP suspension are and how well they work together, that is just a given. What I do have to mention though is how well this big adventure bike carves up the tarred corners bullying road bike riders to either up their game or get out of the way. Even with the more off road oriented Pirelli Scorpion Rally STR tyres this particular bike was shod with.
Cranked over at 205 kmh through a bend on the chicken strip does take some doing on a proper Tupperware torpedo with decent road tyres fitted, doing it on a big adventure on essentially knobbly tyres does take a lot of faith in the engineering and quality of the machine you’re on, and if they are all up to scratch you will be rewarded with some cool stories to tell anybody who will listen.
I can really understand why adventure bikes sell so well.
Dialling it back and putting it into cruise control while eating up the miles is also quite an eye opener, especially the seat. I have always bemoaned the firmness of the KTM seats, but what I realised is that you do not sit through them on a long journey. Softer seats are great for shorter trips but eventually you end up sitting through them onto the base plate of the seat which becomes miserable quite quickly. The firmer seat, however, retains the correct amount of firmness throughout a long day in the saddle and keeps your delicate butt cheeks off the base plate. Sure! You do eventually get a sore bum, but significantly less so than you do on a soft seat. The rider triangle is also very relaxed with your shoulders and hands aligned at just the correct angle on the wide handlebars, as is the angle on your hips and knees. There is also enough space to move around in the cockpit if you do start getting a bit stiff after a couple of hours.
I’m not a fan of carrying a pillion and my wife prefers riding her own bike anyway, however, the rear seat is wide and comfortable with plenty of room for a pillion to be comfortable without encroaching on the rider’s space. The grab handles are also a nice touch for the pillion. There are various luggage options and a top box would be a good choice if you carry a pillion a lot. Personally, I am a fan of soft panniers as they serve to bring you centre of gravity down and do not knock you off when you are squeezing through a rock and a hard place.
What else can I tell you about this bike other than it is a fantastic all-rounder for an accomplished rider, but maybe a bit too much of a handful for a novice rider. I have had its predecessor up and down Sani Pass a few times a couple of years back and found it manageable, but I did enjoy the 690 and 790’s a lot more out there.
On the road and as a tourer, this bike is really hard to beat…
www.ktm.com for your nearest dealer
