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-   -   Entry-level KTM 390 Adventure X launched at Rs 2.8 lakh (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/motorbikes/264681-entry-level-ktm-390-adventure-x-launched-rs-2-8-lakh-2.html)

I and my friend paid a visit to the Hennur KTM showroom here in Bengaluru to enquire, the dealerships have not got any brochures or information on the availability.
The showroom experience was excellent though, test ride bikes of all models were available and the staff was very courteous.

As per the comparison from KTM website the differences are in:
1. Front Suspension (Open Cartridge vs Big Piston Forks)

2. Electronic Aids (MTC, Riding Modes, Cornering ABS, Ride-by-wire, Quickshifter+ are removed)

3. Console (Colour TFT vs LCD)

I second the opinion that 60k is well worth the price paying for deleted items on X version. However, from the 250 customer by paying 34k more he can get the 390 engine.
This very much smells like Bajaj way of introducing versions to me by playing with permutation and combinations of features and price.

The 60k for the electronic aids is definitely worth it. For all our (misplaced?) faith in our own abilities, a little more safety does not hurt anyone. There’s always the option of switching off the aids when the bike is taken off-road where they wouldn’t be needed.
But on the street, where most of these 390s will be ridden, that safety could be the thing that prevents a crash.

60K + taxes in bangalore = 75-80K (based on 3.36 L ex-showroom bike costs 4.38 L OTR in bangalore, I have to confirm with a showroom visit). This is quite a lot of amount at least in my buying decision. I am more of a sedate rider and am most possible never going to push the limits of my bike. At the point of 3.8 OTR (as per my assumption in BLR) this may challenge a lot of interceptor buyers to reconsider (like me, feature wise there is not much difference between the inty and this version X).

Yup, this is the correct way to look at the price drop (atleast for BLR folks). The final OTR difference is much more than 60K. So those who are justifying the additional features should consider the price difference to be around 90k instead of 60K which is just the ex-showroom difference. Also let's not forget that only the KTM 390 comes with these additional aids which no other bike under 5lac offer currently, meaning there are zillions of riders using their bikes without these aids and hence it cannot be considered as a must have feature set for everyone.

Sorry I am still recovering from last day's ride :), so am not yet sober. So the price diff might not be 90K, but more of the tune of 75-80K (which still is a big factor for me.)

Really out of the box thinking from KTM and quite an interesting move. I'm all in for 390X. This gives opportunity for buyers to customize the suspension as some of them consider it on the stiffer side and thus making it tailor made for the owner.

So good move by KTM as it will have its fair share of buyers for both versions of the ADV390. 60k or 90k more, I'd still go for the one with the safety aids. Others think differently and would go for the 390x. A win win for KTM!

The comparison was between the two versions of the 390ADV. If one decides upon a bike which doesn't offer these safety aids he/she has no choice but to go ahead with it.

And there are zillions of riders using their bikes in India without helmets or riding gear. Even those are not a must have to ride a bike but it's always safer to have one!

From the 6 odd features that are removed, only 2 are safety related. MTC and Cornering ABS. MTC as I said earlier would be more helpful in off-road conditions or when you want to launch the bike hard on loose surface. And coming to cornering ABS on a ADV bike with knobby tires, I do not get the point at all, unless you are going to the track with the Adv (which you shouldn't) or you are someone who rides very hard on twisties, it is a feature which would be very rarely used.
I spoke to a friend who bought the regular Adv few months back and he said he has never used these features (MTC, QuickShifter, C-ABS) yet and isn't even keen on using them anytime soon. I guess different people have different opinion on these features, so lets agree to disagree on this. The good part is that at-least KTM is offering both the the option to buyers to decide if they want the additional features by selecting one variant over the other.

How exactly does one plan on using or testing cornering ABS? How does one PLAN to do it? :Shockked:

An ADV with these knobby metzeler tyres, have you ridden the bike hard? And check the lean angles it can still do in this format? If once out of a 1,000 rides, if that C-ABS is to function the way it should, would you not want added safety?

I have been using the 390 ADV for over 3 years now. That quickshifter felt like a gimmick to me too. But on long rides, let me tell you, even though this is no track bike, revving over 6,000 RPM and just shifting up without the clutch use, it is very satisfying. Especially on our highways where the momentum is interrupted multiple times. Not to save any time and effort, but it works. And even inside the city, once you use it daily, you will appreciate the value it adds.

And traction control, just ride both, the 390 ADV & 390 ADV X on a loose surface, or wet, not even full gas, you'll know why you need it. With the explosive power delivery that the 390 ADV offers, MTC is a good added feature.

For your friend, these are not features which you plan to use. Or you want to be in a situation where these features kick in. Nobody wants to be in that spot. But if you get there, with these features, you have a chance of getting out without any drama.

For anyone who was planning the 250 ADV though, I would surely recommend to bring home the 390 ADV X. For those who are willing to stretch it, these electronics, although one might think they're an overkill, they'll save you far too many times than you can imagine.

This is quite a surprising move by KTM. I think KTM never achieved the sales numbers that they expected out of the 390 ADV. Further there are other 400CC adv bikes that are to be launched this year, probably at a lower price than the 390ADV. This should have forced them to launch this trimmed down version.
Being a 390 ADV owner myself and having experienced the benefits of these rider aids I would never opt for the X variant. This bike allows you to carry some serious speeds in corners and I can personally vouch that cornering ABS comes in very handy when you enter a corner too hot. Ride-by-wire also makes a world of difference w.r.t throttle response.

To put it simply, someone who has already planned to get the 390ADV and has already set aside funds for the same should go ahead with buying the original variant without any second thoughts. However someone who was planning to settle for something smaller and has the leeway to stretch his budget to get the X variant can go ahead with the X as you get most of the bike for a significantly lower price.

The price difference for riding aids is not justified for folks who
1) never push the bikes more than the skills acquired to control the bike and know where to stop pushing. Sure they will help you control in those bad days when it’s unexpected that you’ll go wrong and these kick in absolutely. But then again, if you are relying on these aids to kick in; there might be something wrong with your approach!
2) these are nice to have features and these should not be treated as a part of the ride when you are going in on twiste or off road run, since these aids will kick in let me push as much and see where I land! NO absolutely NO, these features are supposed to help you become a better rider, not the other way round.
3) current 390 ADV is either ways a SUV equivalent which mostly help you navigate better on roads and highways. The current setup is not for enduro. If you need to have that setup and MTC to kick in extreme conditions where you cannot wing it manually, then think again if this is a bike meant for it or not? Obviously we’re still talking about the stock and not beefed up modded ones.

All in all, x version make way more sense than the outgoing one. Swap the suspension and wheels in the stock 390 with the lower end figures and it’s a whole different conversation to have.

TFT will be a sore miss, but however we all love mounting our phones for the most part for navigation. This will still be a bad thing to settle on in the x more than anything else.

Debatable!

My father once told me after my crash, that always assume that you are surrounded by fools out on the streets. Your safety, is always in your hands. Assume and anticipate as much as you can, for your own safety.

Like you said, even if you are the safest person on two-wheels with the most sensible right wrist, can you say the same about every one else out on the streets? Can you confidently say that the road conditions would always be ideal? Will you be sure that there would be no sudden wet / oily patch on the street? Can you say all across the country, you would never find a dog run across or cattle in the middle of the highway?

My point being, you don't willingly have to reach a point where these safety features save you. There could be times, when you would least imagine a scenario, and would wish that you had them.

Not a pessimist at all, but I had a crash on my Apache RTR 180 because a dog ran across the highway, up & down, and the non-ABS motorcycle back then could not keep me the right side up. Did I know how to stop the bike? Yes. Did I know where to direct the wheel? Yes. But did I know what the dog was about to do? Absolutely not.

Never underestimate safety features.

If someone is planning to buy these bikes on a loan, can someone throw some light on the difference in EMI?
Is that xxx rupees saved worth more than safety on two-wheels? Especially on the 390 ADV which can reach triple digit speeds really fast?
What would a rider want to save? Money or Life?

PS. For those with the same line of thought as quoted above, you would be far more happier on the RE Himalayan than the KTM 390 ADV.

Everyone comparing the 390 ADV X with the Non X, have you done something similar with the competition bikes?

Maybe the 390 ADV X is not supposed to compete with the original. Comparing it with the BMW 310 GS on features, there isn't much that the BMW offers that this doesn't. BMW does have the wider tyres but this one offers 30% more power. It offers that for ~40k less.

Moving on to the Himalayan, the price point of the ADV X splits the difference between the OG 390 and the Himalayan in exactly half making it all the more attainable. It doesn't lose out on features as well, apart from maybe the Trippr Navigation module.

The Yezdi and the Suzuki ADVs do such poor numbers that they wouldn't even warrant a discussion.

Anyways, how the removed features translate overall into day-to-day vs the OG remains to be seen but for now, the 390 ADV X remains a solid offering when looked at with the same lens as the competition for someone who was not originally looking at the more expensive OG.

I don't know who exactly ends up using cornering ABS though. It's only going to kick in if you grab the brakes hard while leaned over in a corner, and 99% of users of this bike are not gonna be leaning that much and going that quickly through a curve (there are hardly any roads where you can). And it's a really good skill to learn to gently apply the brakes through a corner in a panic situation and lift yourself up. People had huge, powerful bikes without this feature for the longest time and were fine. If you get the ADV 390 X, there are two wins, you save money, and you get a purer motorcycling experience which will enable you to develop and finesse certain riding skills. We may not be too far from a future in which a combination of six-axis IMU, cameras, and machine learning can create a self-riding motorcycle, safer than any human hands, but it's not something anyone would want to ride, right?