2020 KTM 390 Adventure First Ride

Hugh Janus · April 15, 2020

KTM’s 390 Adventure has plenty of big-bike attitude with a small-bike price tag. (Jeff Allen /)

Third gear, flat out, pitched sideways, and standing on the pegs on an uphill sandy wash road I thought, Yeah, I could be very happy with this bike. And would I have plenty of cash left in my pocket to travel. KTM’s 2020 390 Adventure may only have 373cc, but it has plenty of big-bike attitude. This isn’t a beginner’s-only, low-spec and -tech affair. No, this is a motorcycle befitting KTM’s Adventure badge.

Quinn Cody joined me for the first ride of the 390 Adventure. Cody is a four-time Baja champ, Dakar racer, and is now an R&D rider for KTM. His input shaped much of how this smaller adventure performs, especially when it comes to suspension and handling. For me, this is where the 390 Adventure shines. Cody has helped KTM move away from soft, street-focused suspension settings that compromised off-road capability and performance.

MSRP of the 2020 KTM 390 Adventure is $6,199; you get plenty of adventure motorcycle for that price. (Jeff Allen /)

And it’s a great direction to take, the 390’s 43mm WP Apex fork is stiff enough to handle some serious off-road, albeit at a sane pace as you still only have 170mm (or 6.7 inches) of travel available to you. Compression and rebound damping is adjustable via clicker knobs at the top of the fork caps. The baseline setting handled dirt roads and small bumps with ease, a few more clicks to the compression (right) side added a bit more resilience when the going got rough.

Suspension performance from the WP Apex fork and shock is above what would be expected from a small adventure motorcycle. The 390 Adventure can handle some serious terrain. (Jeff Allen /)

At the back, a WP Apex monoshock is mounted directly to the aluminum-die-cast lattice-form swingarm and supplies 177mm (or 7 inches) of wheel travel. It is adjustable for spring preload and rebound damping only, but I had no valid complaints. Yes, you will bottom the suspension if you ride it like a dual sport, but even when you do, the rear doesn’t buck sideways and forward control is maintained. The 390 Adventure can handle any terrain put before it as long as you attack it at the proper speed.

Street handling does not suffer for off-road ability. Suspension balance on the street makes for a planted and very taut ride on the road. At 387 pounds fully fueled, the 390 is light and agile, easily tipping into corners on the 19-inch front and 17-rear cast wheels fitted with Continental TKC70 tires. Communication from both ends is great, especially considering the 50/50 dirt to street composition of the tires. I feel the off-road-level spring rates actually help with bike balance and fore and aft weight transfer when acceleration and braking.

As good as the KTM 390 Adventure is in the dirt, it’s even better on the street. (Jeff Allen /)

KTM also helps the rider out in the two aforementioned actions with big-bike-level rider aids. Although there are no rider modes—you don’t really need them with a rear wheel output of 37.5 hp and 23.2 pound-feet of torque as measured on the Cycle World dyno—there is lean-sensitive traction control that has two options: on or off. Lean-sensing also applies to the ABS braking system that has an off-road mode that turns off the ABS to the rear tire for sliding in the dirt while keeping the ABS engaged at the front. You cannot turn the ABS off completely—one of the only gripes I have on the bike.

Braking performance from the Bybre units was excellent. The front 320mm slowed the 390 with authority and communicative feel on the street while still having a light touch in the dirt. Rush into a dirt corner too fast, however, and you will quickly find the dirt-ABS setting is not as refined as on the bigger KTM Adventures. One blown corner and desert detour was all it took for me to remember.

Sign up here to receive our newsletters. Get the latest in motorcycle reviews, tests, and industry news, subscribe here for our YouTube channel.

KTM’s plucky single lifted from the 390 Duke is highly entertaining and gives enough motor to get down the freeway. Although you will be buzzing the engine pretty high up in the digital tach at a California-normal 80 mph. Top speed will break into the triple digits if you have the wind at your back. The power is lower than the last 390 Duke (40.5 hp and 26.1 pound-feet), yet the torquey nature of the 390 Adventure’s engine is a blast on twisting roads and really comes into its own in the dirt. Forward thrust is only limited by the TKC70 tires that do like to spin up when the dirt is loose. More aggressive tires would really wake this thing up in the dirt.

The KTM 390 Adventure is powered by the same 373cc single that is used in the 390 Duke. (Jeff Allen/)

Take a seat on the 390 Adventure and you look down a very familiar landscape if you have sat on the 790 Adventure models. A 5-inch TFT full color dash is perched proudly behind a short windscreen that is attached to the LED headlight housing that is very much a spitting image for the 790’s unit. A four-button control pad on the left side of the handlebars commands all of the menus found within. And there is plenty to control, like the KTM My Ride function that pairs to an app on your phone for turn-by-turn directions and allows for control of music and phone calls through your headset. The switch gear along with the grips have a bit less refined feel and look than the 790. This is one of the only indications the 390 is built in India, the other being all of the quality-control stickers and marks all over the bike. KTM has also equipped the 390 with an optional Quickshifter+ that gives clutchless upshifts and downshifts.

Control of all functions of the KTM 390 Adventure’s 5-inch TFT dash is done via your left thumb. (Jeff Allen /)

The seat is a tallish 33.7 inches for the small ADV segment, but you more than make up for it with ground clearance (7.9 inches) and suspension travel. There is plenty of room to shift your weight on the rider’s seat in the dirt, and it also provides plenty of options for long stretches on the road. Reach to the off-road-type footpegs is roomy for my 5-foot-10 frame and the effort to go from seated to standing is low, again thanks to that seat height.

Although the seat height is 33.7 inches, the 390 Adventures seat gives you plenty of room to get comfortable. (Jeff Allen /)

After a 250-mile day on the street and in the dirt, the $6,199 price tag of the 2020 KTM 390 Adventure has me daydreaming of a long ride down the Baja peninsula with plenty of pesos in my pockets for tacos and beachside accommodations. It’s a capable, comfortable, and entertaining adventure motorcycle, displacement be damned. Its street civility and off-road chops will allow it to hang with larger and much more expensive adventure motorcycles. KTM listened to the fans and gave them what they have asked for: a small-displacement motorcycle worthy of the KTM Adventure name.

The 2020 390 Adventure is a worthy off-road mount that lives up to the KTM Adventure name. (Jeff Allen /)

2020 KTM 390 Adventure Specifications

Price:	$6,199
Engine:	373cc, DOHC, liquid-cooled single
Bore x Stroke:	89.0 x 60.0mm
Compression Ratio:	12.6:1
Clutch:	PASC mechanically operated slipper
Fuel Delivery:	Bosch EFI, 46mm throttle body
Transmission/Final Drive:	6 speed/chain
Cycle World Measured Horsepower:	37.5 hp @ 8,970rpm
Cycle World Measured Torque:	23.2 lb.-ft. @ 6,990rpm
Frame:	Steel trellis
Front Suspension:	WP Apex USD fork, adjustable for compression and rebound damping; 6.7-in. travel
Rear Suspension:	WP Apex monoshock, adjustable for spring preload and rebound damping; 7.0-in. travel
Front Brake:	Bybre radial-mount 4-piston caliper, 320mm disc w/ ABS
Rear Brake:	Bybre 2-piston floating caliper, 230mm disc w/ ABS
Wheels, Front/Rear:	Cast wheels; 2.5 x 19 in. / 3.5 x 17 in.
Tires, Front/Rear:	Continental TKC 70; 100/90-19 / 130/80-17
Rake/Trail:	26.5° / N/A
Wheelbase:	56.3 in.
Seat Height:	33.7 in.
Fuel Capacity:	3.8 gal.
Cycle World Measured Weight:	387 lb.
Warranty:	1 year
Available:	April 2020
Contact:	ktm.com