A FASTER ADVENTURE
While no-one who has taken in the svelte and sexy lines of an Italian Superbike would describe any adventure bike as sexy, KTM has done a good job of making the latest Adventure S attractive. Even the most ardent traditionalist would struggle to find a curve that doesn’t excite or a projection that flattens it. And nothing can flatten it.
To go with the beauty there’s plenty of brawn. What an engine! Lots of excitement on tap here. This is an engine that kicks you straight in the adrenal gland. After ignoring everything about “low-power delivery rate modes” and “specifically tuned off-road traction control” in the pre-ride briefing from a very patient KTM staffer, I put the keyless transponder (KTM calls it the Race On system) in the handy little USB port-equipped glove box on top of the tank along with my phone, started her up and selected the mapping to Sport mode which, in turn, sets the MTC (Motorcycle Traction Control) to minimum, allowing some wheelspin, and the ABS to Road. These settings, from the little I gathered in the briefing, bring out the beast in all 1301cc of all-new 75° V-twin awesomeness and allow the brakes and engine to overstress the tyres if that’s your wont.
What makes this engine so special is it’s got big displacement, it’s liquid-cooled via
