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How a trip to Ladakh helped me buy KTM 390 Adventure with spoke wheels

5th July 2023, 11:20 by Utkarsh Chaudhary

Before going on this trip, I was thinking of cancelling my booking of this motorcycle or changing the variant.

BHPian vineeth_k recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Inception:

I enjoy travelling by road. I bought a Polo 5 years ago and clocked 1.2 Lakh kms on it. As I am happy travelling in the car, I never thought of owning a bike.

I did a trip from HYD to Kedarnath and felt the bike would be more enjoyable in the Himalayan ghats, particularly in the Rishikesh-Gaurikund-Badrinath - Rishikesh section. From there on, the thought process of owning a bike started.

Requirements:

Mostly touring machine ( A mile muncher)
Mild off-roader
Handling should be top-notch
Rev friendly engine
Should be less than 4 lacs

Selection:

I test-drove the RE Himalayan, the RE 650 twins, and the KTM 390. The test drives are in the city road condition. I felt very at ease and at home with the KTM 390.

Then came the challenge of choosing a variant. As a tech geek, I prefer to have more electronics. The news of the spoked version release came over, and I immediately booked it. The delivery date is not promised; it is just in the queue at the dealer. I thought of cancelling or changing the variant later if needed.

Parallelly, there is a trip planned to Leh, Ladakh, after booking with my cousin. We flew to Leh and rented bikes in Leh. I rented a KTM 250 Adv to get the feel of the bike on all terrains before making the purchase. My cousin took RE Scram 411 because it is low-height. We did a 1500 KMS Leh circuit, and these are my observations on the KTM 250 ADV.

Handling:

It's very light, agile, and stable at the same time. It’s enjoyable on ghats. We swapped bikes, and I immediately felt the difference in handling, particularly on the downhill ghat section, it has to be more controlled than the KTM. We immediately switched back. However, my cousin complained about KTM’s hard seat compared to RE Scram.

Engine:

This is a DOHC engine; I own a POLO 1.0 TSI, which is a DOHC as well. The characteristics of DOHC engines are rev-friendly, with torque from the Mid and Top ends. They lack Low-end torque; I am accustomed to these engine characteristics. I only faced stalling issues when we are dual riders, and there is an uphill with sand. I didn’t drive fast enough and eventually stalled the engine. For solo riders, it should be adequate, given that we should be handy with throttle response. Here, it is more about doing it right, which might not always be easy.

Gearbox:

Initial gear shifts are very hard; later, I started matching the revs, and then they became very smooth. However, the clutch is very light compared to the RE.

Suspension:

Street: Given the terrain of Leh, the roads are not smooth; they have small, uneven surfaces. Since the suspension is stiff, there is continuous juddering throughout the body on the roads.
Offroad: On Sand surfaces, the bike felt very smooth, but on rock surfaces, the juddering is very significant. It kind of irritates me sometimes.

Offroad:

I'd never gone off-roading on a bike before. I had a mountain bicycle, and I used to do mild off-roading on it. Offroading on a bike is an entirely different experience, and I had a small taste of it on this trip. I am now leaning towards doing more offloading as well.

Electronic Features:

Most of the time, I prefer to enjoy the landscape rather than 100% focus on the road. In many places, I see the ABS getting kicked in, and I feel the electronics are very much needed for me. The quick shifter will be a boon for this engine's characteristics.

Mileage:

The MID display showed an overall mileage of around 40 kmpl; however, I didn’t calculate the real mileage. One observation is that we filled more petrol on RE than KTM.

Purchasing:

Before heading on the trip, I thought of cancelling it or changing the variant based on my observations from the trip. Once I am back home, I feel happy with my decision to go with 390 ADV SW, I continue with the booking that was done earlier.

After a few weeks, the sales executive called and mentioned vehicle availability. I completed the PDI and formalities, and finally took delivery. The Purchasing experience was not great, as the sales executive kept making false promises on delivery dates.

First drive impressions:

I bought the bike without doing a test ride with this variant. As driving a 250 ADV is still in my memory, one big change is in the suspension; the settings are stock at 15, 15, for Rebound and Compression. The bike felt much softer; I didn’t feel the bumps and juddering that I felt earlier. I will be posting more detailed observations once I complete the running-in period and do some short trips to any ghat road section.

Thus, I became part of Orange Family Now.