This is what the 390 Adventure always should have been…
Two bikes arrived at our offices and we took them out for some “More techy” trails. Then we gave the bikes to the photography team from Black Rock Moto, a Mid twenties aged couple who have had extensive experience with the 390’s and asked them to give us some opinions.
Pics by Black Rock Moto, Foley Photo and Deon VDL
For the office workers test, Glenn loaded his six foot plus giant of a son Kyle onto the back saddle of the Adventure R. Donovan Fourie climbed aboard the Enduro R and they hit the tar road in order to get to where we wanted to put the bikes through their off-road paces.
On the road, with 80KG Kyle and 105KG Glenn in the saddle, the 390 Adventure still managed a solid 130 KPH on the way out, without revving its brains out.
Once we offloaded everyone, a solo ride with Glenn in the saddle saw a top-end run of 167KPH.
That’s impressive for a little 390 – and most importantly, there were no nerve wracking head shakes or anything untoward.
The Enduro R, on the other hand is more peppy, revs more and has a slightly lower top speed, which led us to assume that the bikes are geared differently. But they aren’t. We are waiting for an exact reason from KTM ‘coz that’s pretty interesting.
But, here’s the blurb from KTM:
“Under the skin, the Adventure R runs the same Euro5+ compliant 399cc single as last year’s 390 Duke, producing a claimed 44.3bhp and 28.8lb.ft of torque. There’s a six-speed gearbox, a slip/assist clutch, and an optional quickshifter.
Although hardware like the radiator, airbox, and exhaust are shared across the LC4c range to keep costs in check, KTM say final drive gearing, ABS and TC settings, ride modes and mapping are unique to each model in the range.”
So, they’ve done something clever there.
When we hit the spot where we wanted to ride the bikes on a fairly hard pack, rutted enduro loop, we were impressed at just how light and easy these bikes are to maneuver.
A lot like big capacity dirtbikes really, just not quite as aggressive.
Sitting under the trees chatting during the ride, both riders commented on just how easy both bikes are to live with – a bigger capacity would have been a handful and you are always worried about falling over, whereas, the lightweight, playful nature of these two newcomers turned the trails into a little playground.
Switching between rider modes and playing with the settings is all familiar and pretty simple, and fitting a quickshifter and 21” front wheel on these bikes is a really great addition.
After a few comparative laps, we gave both models to young Kyle who is something of an enduro nut and he proceeded to rail the bikes through the corners and bunny hop them all over the place. After his KTM 250 EXC, we half expected him to find the bikes a bit boring, but he came back grinning each time.
He particularly enjoyed the Enduro R, thanks to the way it makes more torque.
“The way it makes power is closer to a dirtbike than the Adventure, it’s more responsive and fun.”
“But, I’d still choose the Adventure R for day to day use, it does everything that the enduro R can, but it’s less aggressive and I love the Dakar styling.”
This from Blackrock:
In our opinion, the 390 Adventure has always been a leader in its class. When the previous generation 390 Adventure SW came out with updated spoked rims and the much improved WP Apex suspension, it was pretty close to the ideal small adventure bike.
What was lacking?
A proper wheel setup with a 21-inch front wheel for confidence in tackling off-road obstacles. A good set of adventure tyres. Adjustable riding modes specifically with the ability to toggle ABS and traction control completely on or off or in “off-road”, and a quickshifter just for fun.
The newest KTM 390 Adventures have all of that plus much updated styling to match the rest of the model range.
The 2025 KTM Enduro R is a simple, no frills Dirtbike DNA trail machine.
Since we saw the spy photos of this bike back in 2023, we couldn’t wait to give it a spin. After much anticipation, the day had finally come when the new 390s made it to SA dealers, and we got a call to take 2 of the new models for the weekend.
Not only did KTM update the 390 adventure to become, in our opinion, the perfect version of itself, but they put out a total of 3 new models to choose from. A more road-oriented Adventure X with 19-17 front and rear mag wheels and road-focused tyres, the Adventure R with 21-18 front and rear spoked wheels with more aggressive 60/40 road-biased adventure tyres, and the all-out dual sport 390 Enduro R, also 21-18 with a set of 50/50 knobbly adventure tyres.
We got to take these two out for the weekend.
KTM’s smallest Adventure:
The 390 Adventure R has Dakar rally-inspired styling and we love that!
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You get grippy wide steel foot pegs, a nice wide set of bars with standard hand guards, a very effective windscreen and a rally bike style tower setup for the dash, which places the TFT display in the perfect spot so that you can just glance down to see all the info you need.
The seat is quite hard but much more comfortable than the previous model due to its slimmer design. The riding position is your typical neutral adventure upright style position, with plenty of room for our smaller frames. The tech controls remain familiar and are much the same as previous generations with added features and fully customisable rider modes.
Street, offroad and rain. Then you can tweak your favourite modes from the ABS setting, to traction control and even throttle response, and you can also toggle the quickshifter on or off.
Nice!
So what’s it like to ride?
Sefan says:
The revvy little single-cylinder engine whisks you away on your next adventure. Top speeds of up to 160km\h+ with my light weight in the saddle is quite impressive, and it’s comfortable and stable at speeds with power to keep it there.
The engine is quite smooth and accelerates linearly with more power at the top end than the old generations. It’s fun, but that’s what I expected.
Off-road, it’s also fantastic, the larger front wheel and gnarly adventure tyres give you full confidence in the rough stuff, making big rocks, sand and rutted trails feel like you’re shredding on a dirt bike. The suspension is definitely tuned for more road riding, so it’s a little stiff off-road, but luckily, it’s fully adjustable, so you can tune it to your heart’s content.
We had more fun on this bike than we can explain. All that’s lacking really is a luggage rack or some sort of rails or handles to load up your gear for a weekend camping trip.
Rene also took a spin on the new bikes, since she’s a long-time KTM fan who has previously owned a 390 Duke. Here are her thoughts:
390 Adventure R – Looks are by far one of my favourites. The design of the Adventure R is very well thought through. The weight distribution is excellent. The bike doesn’t feel top-heavy at all, with the sleek, low-hung tank making it easy to handle. It’s an excellent option for a beginner who wants an easy-going bike that’s lots of fun but is also extremely capable off-road. As a lady with less height advantages than some other riders, this bike is very easy to handle, and I could comfortably get one foot down on the ground when stationary. The bigger wheels felt stable and I was soon racing everything in sight with that lively motor beneath me.
Enduro R:
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This one’s the 390 adventure on steroids, basically, a dirt bike with a quickshifter.
The Enduro R features a much smaller display, showing you only the most relevant info in an efficient manner, and your riding modes are limited to street and off-road, still with customisability. The control unit is also smaller on the enduro, with a joystick design, giving exactly the same functionality as the four button layout on the Adventure.
Seat height and ground clearance on both models are much the same, with most normal sized riders able to put one foot down comfortably, or tip-toe with both feet.
Stefan says:
The riding position is much the same, with a more flat dirt bike style seat on the Enduro R.
The Enduro R feels as if it has shorter gearing, which it doesn’t. We checked.
It turns out that KTM has tuned these bikes differently which results in a much torque-ier, more exciting experience, perfect for offroading and showboating.
The suspension is also a bit softer which makes it feel fantastic in the dirt, soaking up any rough terrain you want to tackle. This bike gave us the confidence to attempt things we would not normally feel comfortable doing. Hillclimbs, rocks and sand, everything is a playground. And although the top end is lower than on the ADV, she’s no slouch.
Cruising through trails, it’s quite comfortable; however, wide open on the open road, it gets pretty vibey with the higher revs.
It’s like a mini KTM 690.
Rene says:
The Enduro R is lots of fun to ride, especially on the back roads because of its more torquey nature. It’s a lot like a big dirtbike really, quite aggressive.
The joystick control unit is also easier to use than on the Adventure and I can reach it without letting go of the handlebars.
If I were to choose between the two, my vote would have to go to the Adventure.
Final word:
All in all, these bikes were great fun. Definitely designed beautifully, and making for some of the best small adventure bike fun around. We’d happily park either one of these bikes in the garage, ideally both.
From what we have garnered during the week or so that we’ve had these bikes is that KTM has been quite smart with these two. For novices, the bikes are light, exceptionally capable and not berserk to ride. They are both really user friendly too, great bikes to learn on.
Older riders who are perhaps looking for something smaller and more manageable will also not be disappointed because the bikes deliver real world performance in a small package.
The guys who ride the bigger bikes will like them because of the easy, flickable, dirtbike characteristics of the new machines.
There are a few places where we can see that KTM has fitted more budget bits and pieces compared to their big adventures in order to keep the prices down, but everything works perfectly.
We do like them. You need to ride them.
