Instead, the 2020 KTM 390 Adventure debuted with cast-aluminum wheels, a 19-inch front wheel, and less suspension travel than BMW’s road-oriented G 310 GS. While I’m sure the 390 Adventure has delivered many riders to happy motorcycle-travel memories in the nearly five years it's been around, times have changed.

Owners and critics alike eventually wished for more of everything. Not least of which, more differentiation between what’s supposed to be a rugged, off-road travel machine and the 390 Duke, always the foundation for the 390 Adventure. KTM has a strong pedigree with dirt bikes and with racing, and from some points of view the company was overdue to make a small adventure machine that aligned more with the brand’s ethos.

The new 390 Adventure R

In many ways, the new iteration of KTM’s flagship mini-ADV is exactly what everyone has been imagining since 2015. The 2025 390 Adventure R gets a 21-inch front wheel (with a dirt-oriented 18-inch rear to match), nine inches of suspension travel, 10.7 inches of ground clearance, and a seat that’s 34.2-inches high. For some context, compared to the outgoing 390 Adventure the new bike has around two inches more suspension travel, three more inches of ground clearance, and a seat that’s only half an inch taller. Impressive. On paper, anyway.

Pushing the all-new chassis down the road is essentially the entire powertrain used in the 390 Duke, which was updated last year with more stroke to bring the 373 cc engine to 399 cc. There are also three ride modes, switchable ABS, a USB-C port in the cockpit, and even a tool kit under the seat. A mix of modern and customary, you could say.

Also notable, believe it or not, is that the 390 Adventure R uses an “R” in the name. That’s actually important, because KTM’s lineup in 2025 includes a 390 Adventure X, which more closely matches the first-generation 390 Adventure’s look and purpose. The X employs a 17/19 cast wheelset, less advanced (and shorter-travel) suspension, one fewer ride mode, an LCD dash, and shaves $1,100 off the R’s MSRP.

Gentle as it appears compared to the Adventure R, KTM is quick to point out that the new X has more suspension travel and a lower seat height than the outgoing 390 Adventure. It shares some updates with the taller and fancier R version, too. The two Adventure models have had the footpegs moved forward and down compared to the 390 Duke, to create more legroom as well as a more appropriate ADV riding position.

While we’re on the topic, it’s worth mentioning the 390 Enduro R and 390 SMC-R, as well, which are two iterations of machine pulled from the same, long-'n'-tall ideology as the 390 Adventure models, but with different dash units and less bodywork, among other things. All of this is relevant because KTM is aiming to differentiate these four models from the 390 Duke on which they are based.

The 390 Adventure R is the most expensive, with a $7,000 MSRP, and the most sophisticated in so much as it has the most complex suspension components as well as being the only model of the four new iterations of KTM 390 to use an IMU to help aid traction control and ABS.

To put it a different way, the R is easily the one that has the most ADV mouths watering. It is highly anticipated because it is the one that KTM surely expects to post the highest sales numbers and carry the heaviest load in defining the company’s brand and intent within the category.

On the road

Initial impressions from the saddle are likely to confirm what you want to believe about the new 390 Adventure R. It feels tall, maybe even taller than the 34.2-inch seat suggests, and noticeably narrow in the middle. But, being thin at the waist doesn’t mean it feels small — the handlebar is wide and the bodywork at the front of the bike flares out to meet the base of the wide and prominent windshield.

Almost immediately, the 390 Adventure R seems to split the difference between a tall, lithe dual-sport machine and a street-based ADV. In general, I’d say that’s a compliment to KTM, for a couple of reasons. One, this is supposed to be a much more aggressive and capable 390 Adventure than the world has seen up to this point. And two, it is still based on a (small) street bike, so feeling anything at all like a dual-sport is a step in an important direction.

The fact that the bike’s DNA is so obviously split between dirt bike and street bike is a dichotomy that lives right on the surface of the riding experience. Accelerating away from stop lights and letting the (optional) quickshifter pop through the gears reminded me immediately of the 390 Duke, for obvious reasons. Same goes for the bright and conspicuous TFT dash, which looks and feels just like the unit used on many of KTM’s other street bikes and ADVs.

At the same time, in that same urban setting, the 390 Adventure R rides like a dirt bike. It feels tall but not plush, with the fork especially having a surprising amount of compression damping for a small ADV right out of the box. And while the seat is much wider and more thoughtfully shaped than a typical dual-sport machine, it’s hard to forget how spindly the whole machine seems on pavement.

None of this is necessarily good or bad, but it certainly sets itself apart in the market. Compared to a CFMOTO Ibex 450, the 390 Adventure R feels like a Dakar Rally bike. Next to a Suzuki DR-Z4S it seems luxurious and comfy, with a huge windshield and backlit switchgear. Alongside a Honda CRF300L it’s more of the same, but you can add that the KTM feels stiff, serious, and expensive.

Let’s be super clear, strutting around town with poise and purpose isn’t what makes a good ADV — that’s usually a fringe benefit of being both comfortable on the highway and competent in the dirt. Those are the two places an adventure-touring motorbike needs to excel in order to be considered some version of “good.”

Because the 390 Adventure R holds such disparate values in high regard (tall, dirt-bikey chassis with a street-bike powertrain) the bike’s travel ambitions and off-road chops are each a priority, and both in question. First, that updated, 399 cc engine. If you read my review of KTM’s 390 Duke last year you might recall that, overall, I did not like the motor. Powerful and energetic, yes, but quirky to the point of being flawed, too. 

To get right to the point: This 390 Adventure R suffered from a lot of the same oddities. It stalled a lot, sometimes simply decelerating toward an intersection and other times on start up, hot or cold. It also occasionally bobbled and coughed at low rpm, which is representative of how the throttle response feels in general — that is, very obviously ride-by-wire in a way that often feels disconnected and synthetic.

Once it’s spinning in the upper half of the rpm range, things get better. Vibes come and go depending how high the engine is revved, but in any case it is much happier. That’s good news for highway miles, because the 390 Adventure will drone down an open road pretty happily at 75 to 80 mph.

The rest of the bike offers the same compromise as you’d expect. On the one hand, it’s a narrow and tall saddle with long suspension, knobby-ish tires, and a sub-400 pound wet weight. That means it can feel flighty in a touring setting, or at least not as planted as a machine that’s heavier or more street-oriented.

On the topic of street-oriented, there’s no missing the huge windshield. At six feet, two inches with a long torso I found a fair amount of noisy air around my helmet, but even so the wind protection is excellent. I think it’s a great balance of looking cool and appropriate for the machine, and working well at speed. After about 90 minutes bobbing along in the current of commuters flowing north out of Los Angeles, I peeled off, headed for empty roads. 

Off the road

Once every couple of years there’s a thunderstorm in Southern California and this was that day — as I trotted up into the rural hills on the hem of the L.A. basin, lightning flashed and the skies opened. I splashed my way carefully up two-lane tarmac just in time for the rain to ease and my tires to touch dirt. A Tuesday afternoon, with miles of trails freshly watered just for me (and a photographer). Not much better than that.

The 390 Adventure R seemed to relish open fire roads and unpredictable surfaces. Sharp knuckles of bedrock sticking out of the road, loose gravel, and pockets of sandy washes all rolled under the bike’s wheels with practically no drama. Naturally, the same chassis that can feel a little gangly on the road snaps into focus weaving up a scabby dirt road. The 21-inch front wheel is an obvious and marked improvement, and it’s just the beginning of what the little Adventure R can do.

First, the suspension. I had backed some compression damping out of the fork to take some of the harshness away on the street, but skipping over water bars and potholes made me spin the adjuster back in about 10 clicks to support my 200 pounds. To cut to the point, I ended my ride impressed with the fork. It never bottomed out and felt amazingly controlled in most off-road situations.

The shock I liked a little less. Initially it seemed to match the fork’s control stride for stride, but eventually I asked too much of the spring and in doing so, I was surprised. It wasn’t so much that I bottomed it out, that’ll happen, but it felt like when the shock got to about 80% of its stroke it just gave up and collapsed the rest of the way. The 390 Adventure R’s architecture uses a linkageless rear suspension and yes, I know, KTM has a lot of experience with this. I just can’t help but feel like a linkage would help.

Perhaps the biggest surprise was the electronics package, which uses all of the same lingo and makes most of the same promises as every other premium system. Off-road ABS and traction control, switchable this and adjustable that. The real standout was off-road TC, which allows absolutely enough wheelspin to scramble up a sketchy and loose climb, but reins in truly foolish wheel-speed differentials.

Suzuki’s DR-Z4S showed off a pretty good system in this regard, too, so maybe companies are simply figuring it out. Still, crummy calibration for an off-road electronic system is exactly the kind of mistake that can make a burly little ADV feel cheap and under-engineered. Not so with the 390 Adventure R; it offers simple options for adjustment with noticeable effects.

Many other things are great, too. The footpegs are properly wide and spikey if you remove the rubber inserts (the tradeoff being that they're then vibey on the highway), the brakes work well on and off the road, there’s a premium-looking tapered handlebar, the levers are adjustable, and it all works well together. Well, almost all of it.

You guessed it: To the same degree that the engine feels at home cantering down a four-lane freeway, it feels off balance in the dirt. I can’t say it does anything truly wrong (aside from stalling a lot) but it left me with the impression that it’s too one-dimensional to keep up with the rest of the machine. Rev it and you get more power. Don’t rev it and you suffer the consequences — that is, lurching and sounding uncomfortable, until you slip the clutch or downshift.

Also, I can’t say whether or not it’s a problem, but the coolant temperature fluctuates suspiciously. A gauge on the dash simply reads “OK” once the engine is up to operating temperature. At one point, after riding the 390 Adventure for a couple of hours, I noticed that the temp gauge read “LOW.” I toggled the readout and found that the coolant had dropped to below 150 degrees F, then proceeded to reach over 200 degrees later in the ride. 

Boiling temps in a cooling system are not uncommon, but a 60-degree swing felt like a lot. Again, this isn’t a problem on its own. But, somehow it feels notable when an engine responds strangely to throttle inputs, stalls more than it should, and is already living with some blemishes on its record of service.

Only one more oddity stood out, and it was a surprising one. Among the innovations and design breakthroughs that KTM achieved on the 390 Adventure R, some brave employee managed to botch the kickstand. Simply put, it just… sticks out. Way too far. It tagged my foot when I dabbed in some gnarly ruts, and hooked my pants once when I dismounted. Even just looking at it you might think it's not returning all the way.

Sadly, that might not be the worst of it, because KTM has learned that some riders (based on size, or technique, or some other variable) press on the kickstand with their left heel when standing on the pegs. I never experienced it, but apparently this can trigger the sidestand switch, which in turn kills the engine if the bike is in gear. Official word from KTM is that the company is "developing a solution to eliminate this issue with the kickstand for all new and retailed 390s" and will release more information for consumers when it is ready. As odd a problem as the kickstand presents, that's probably not the biggest problem with the bike.

On the record

For me, the engine is the biggest miss. It stands to every reason that KTM used the 390 Duke mill to power this bike — I can only imagine how many design hours, R&D, and testing have gone into the 390 mill. But, even if it ran perfectly I don’t think it would be a good dirt-bike engine, and the fact that it seems to be tuned for power rather than wide usability kind of rules it out as a good engine for an ADV machine. Especially one as raw and spunky and capable as the new 390 Adventure R.

Having ridden Suzuki’s DR-Z4S recently, I can’t help but think that a more conventional dual-sport engine would fit the bill a little better. The new DR-Z powerplant is not as powerful or sophisticated as KTM’s 399 cc single, but holy crap was it trustworthy and compliant. That mantra would go a long way in making the 390 Adventure R feel more like an adventure partner on the trail and less like a bipolar terrier on a short leash.

I find myself with one last thing to consider, and it's an important one: Dreams are tough to beat. Even just matching the expectations that our own imagination served us, of what a KTM 390 Adventure could and should be, was always going to be a steep hill to climb. Most of all, I am impressed with this new bike. Some of my marks against it are minimal. I suspect a linkage would help the rear shock, but am I mad about that? Heck no. The thing has nine inches of suspension travel, a TFT dash, and a price that (theoretically) starts with a “6.”

This is a serious effort from KTM to make an approachable ADV that corresponds to the caffeine-laced attitude of the brand and delivers true capability. The new 390 Adventure R might be imperfect, but from where I am sitting it has catapulted the model from a slightly unserious and feeble motorcycle into a new echelon of small-bore adventure machine.

2025 KTM 390 Adventure R
Price (MSRP)	$6,999
Engine	399 cc, liquid-cooled, four-valve, single-cylinder
Transmission, final drive	Six-speed, chain
Claimed horsepower	44 @ 8,500 rpm
Claimed torque	28.8 foot-pounds @ 7,000 rpm
Frame	Steel-tube trellis
Front suspension	WP Apex 43 mm fork, adjustable for spring preload, compression and rebound damping; 9 inches of travel
Rear suspension	WP Apex shock, adjustable for spring preload, rebound damping; 9 inches of travel
Front brake	ByBre two-piston caliper, 320mm disc with ABS
Rear brake	ByBre single-piston caliper, 240mm disc with ABS
Rake, trail	27.1 degrees, 4.3 inches
Wheelbase	58.3 inches
Seat height	34.2 inches
Fuel capacity	3.7 gallons
Tires	Mitas Enduro Trail+; 90/90-21 front, 140/80-18 rear
Measured weight	391 pounds
Available	Now
Warranty	24 months
More info	ktm.com