KTM 890 & 1290 Adventure Models Flowers In The Dirt

How many times in your life do you have the perfect ride? A ride when the weather is just right, the roads just right, the scenery beyond belief, the traffic thin, the right bike under your bum and - the cherry on top - the destination at the end one of anticipation and in an environment that one feels totally at ease and amongst equals?

- Harry Fisher

Tall order? Completely. But then it wouldn’t be memorable for being the perfect ride if it happened every day, would it? They only happen once in a blue moon, which only goes to make them all the more special.

To be fair, even had the ride there had been less than perfect, it wouldn’t have mattered. In these days of recently-restricted travel, any opportunity to get out of the city is to be seized. Quite apart from that, the reason for the journey was to attend a launch and that is always something to look forward to.

Launches usually involve one new model. You arrive, eat dinner and wake up to spend the day riding before heading for home the next morning. This time, however, we were to be sampled no less than four new models over two days of intense riding. Talk about overload!

KTM has not been resting on its laurels over covid-induced lockdown. If anything, the product development team have been busier than ever. The 1290 Super Adventure models have been given a complete makeover and the 890 range has been expanded to include eagerly anticipated Adventure and Adventure R models.

If there is a problem with this job (and I’m really stretching here..) it is that many months and many bikes elapse between riding a particular model and riding its successor. What that means is that it’s hard to remember what the old model felt like in comparison with the new model.