Hello friends,
as my dealer and trusty mechanic happens to sell KTMs nowadays, he promised he'd lend me his brand new Adventure 1190 for a test (it looks like he both trusts me as a rider and thinks I may buy a 4th bike from him
).
Well, this day was yesterday, and I must give the bike back to him tomorrow morning. But I've had the chance to ride over 100 km in some of my twisty favourite roads!
I must say that our Vara is clearly behind this bike in some things. Namely, IMO:
-power (well, that's figures, not opinion
)
-electronic suspension setup
-weight
but Vara is better in:
-aerodynamic protection
-overall smoothness
-comfort
This KTM has a deeper sound and a more noticeable way to deliver power. Also, it has a clutch and gearbox very gentle to operate.
There are a series of minor details that I didn't like very much.
One is the silencer; I just hate this current trend of bulky elements just at half height, making it impossible to have large, symmetric luggage at either side. Another are the small mirrors. And its geometry made me need some learning, I mean that when I tried the CrossTourer, I could tackle corners as usual, but this toy behaves different.
I didn't like the "Street" setup, too unbalanced front and rear suspensions IMO, but the "OffRoad" and "Sport" were better. Maybe the brake power is much higher than Vara's, but I still find that the ABS operates "too early", which gives somewhat a feeling of "this damn thing is unbraking me and I'm going to hit there!"
Greetings,
Josep
BTW. If Honda makes really an AfricaTwin of the 21st century, who among us will consider buying this KTM or a Triumph or a VStrom 1000 or...?
BTW2. I believe Bernard would love these tyres!