OK KTM...I get it.

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Omninorm

Race Dog
Joined
May 28, 2013
Messages
4,062
Reaction score
103
Bike
KTM 790 Adventure
So I bought a KTM 690 a little while ago.



Yesterday, I took it on it's first outride in single track, gravel, a little bit of sand and even did a bit of bundu bashing up a small koppie, then back on the old Malmesbury road.

This bike is absolutely phenomenal. I really gelled with the bike this weekend.
I could not believe it when I got home that it did all that in it's stride.

I hit a mud hole coming over a rise...first reaction was to hit rear brake then saw I was not going to make it - in my mind the 690 is not the WR250 I am use to and I was bracing for the fact that I am going to go down, right here , right now,  because of the weight and the speed i was carrying etc. Anyway, so I decided last minute,  nope, I'm opening up. I hit the water hole in 3rd gear. All I saw was muddy water....then waited for the front to go down. It didn't...I came out the other side and just carried on. I was laughing out loud in my helmet when the pucker moment passed. Holy shit...that was awesome!

Later we were hitting the loose stones along a train track... I was thinking...this is not a 250...i'm going to struggle......nope....no problem. Then we went onto some hard pack dirt with washed out ruts... i was ok...the ruts and so on I'll need to be very slow and careful here..nope...was in 3rd gear going at a lekker pace the 450 behind me that I though I will hold up in my rearview.I  was having so much fun. Up a hill, lost our way a bit and riding in the veld with no trail or anything "Oh shit, this is not going to end well. I'm going to drop my new bike here a couple of times and will probably have to turn around". ...over humps, through grass and shrubbery, back onto the dirt - no incident and was having a ton of fun.Then later hit a little piece of the N7 at max legal speed, then some dirt roads again.

All on one bike.

Given I didn't do much loose sand and incredibly difficult stuff and I suppose, for some riding gods,  that terrain would be doable on a 1200GS but man. I had a huge grin when I got home.

OK KTM. I get it. I get it.
1 bike. 1 happy owner.

8dvE6Dq.jpg
 
Top