1500 kilometres following part of the Trans European Trail through the north of Spain with three friends seemed like the perfect opportunity to test the 2024 KTM 890 Adventure – perfect for a guy used to an EXC and no experience of distance riding on ADV bikes...

We could say that the Trans European Trail, a trail that runs throughout Europe mostly off-road on legal tracks, is the natural habitat of medium-displacement Adventure bikes. It’s long, there’s nothing too technical and needs a bike which is comfortable but capable for long hours of riding.

So when we had the opportunity to do part of the TET through the north of Spain we couldn't pass it up – the problem was, we needed a bike. KTM’s 2024 890 Adventure is a bike Enduro21 hadn’t spent enough time testing and it proved the perfect choice and a good platform for a big bike novice to get to grips with.

I’m new to this big bike thing

I’ll introduce myself because, as an adventure bike novice, it seems important. I work for Enduro21 but also travel the world working in the EnduroGP, TrialGP and SuperEnduro paddocks. I’ve ridden off-road all my life and particularly ride hard enduro when I can with my friends in Northern Spain.

My own bike is a 300 EXC and a typical day on the bike for me are almost always technical enduro riding where we'll luckily do 30 kilometres in a morning at an average speed of 20kmh. I never do races, and with the exception of a life goal doing Romaniacs in 2023, long days and distance riding are something I've done on rare occasions.

Perfect timing arriving back to Spain after the EnduroGP of Wales saw me stop by KTM Spain headquarters, throw the backpack on and ride away on the ‘24 890 for a week or so - via 500 kilometres by road home which it was one of the hardest days, if not the hardest days of the trip...

This isn't enduro, is it?

The first thing that struck me when I picked up the bike was how big it is. I don't have an adventure bike and I'd never ridden anything so bulky, so a few ghosts came to mind.

Luckily, it was easy to fix. When I got home, I hit some tracks to see how it behaved and I saw that it was easy to move around, apart from the fact that it’s a freaking rocket – you can’t go with the enduro mindset!

The position of the fuel tank, very low compared to other bikes, helps both to contribute to its image of a big bike and to make it easier to ride. The space between the legs is quite similar to the one in the enduro bike and it gives you confidence when holding it.

This also translates into easier direction changes and moving position on the bike while riding – in the image you can see that we rubbed our FOX boots against the plastic of the KTM quite a bit.

The part of the TET that we did was mostly on easy tracks, but on some occasions when the terrain became more tricky we had no problems. The only drawback, due to the shorter travel of the suspensions and the low tank, is that it is quite vulnerable in ruts.

We realised this early on, but too late at the same time. In a muddy climb with ruts on the sides we tried to get through the middle until the bike went off and ended up in a rut with a good hit on the skid plate, which, for being standard, does its job very well.

On the other hand, this lower height was good for us when turning the bike at a junction where we made a mistake or to put our feet on the ground when we had to stop. The 890 weighs a lot, so having a good base helps, especially if you are not very tall.

Suspension: effective but easy to reach its limit

The Adventure model is equipped with a shorter suspension than the R model – 200 mm compared to 240 mm – due to its orientation more towards mixed trips, something that is better not to forget when we go off-road, especially when the terrain gets tricky.

At first glance, the fork travel looked like it was going to be a bit of a challenge, and I thought it wouldn't hold up once we hit some rough terrain. We didn't carry any extra weight on the bike, but we still adjusted the compression settings on both the fork and shock to their maximum hardness –  just like with the EXC enduro bikes, this can be done without tools and practically without getting off the bike.

This made the 890 a bit firmer and improved its handling when riding at a faster pace, although in the water crossings and on the rockier sections we had to be careful not to bottom out. We rode with a KTM 690 Enduro and two Yamaha Teneres, one of which had standard suspension and had the same bottoming problems as us.

On dirt roads and easy tracks, it behaves very well and allows you to ride at a high pace with confidence taking into account the weight of the bike and the tires we were using, Pirelli Scorpion STRs that really surprised us with their off-road capabilities.

The riding maps are your allies

Almost the first thing you see when you get on the 890 Adventure is its TFT screen and the handlebar controls, even more so when you are like me who practically only rides enduro and you have practically nothing on the handlebars apart from the start and stop switches.

From the left control you operate the screen where you can change between all the riding modes as well as navigate through the menus of the bike. There are quite a few so you have to familiarize yourself with what each button on the controls does, but it is a very intuitive process even for a novice.

The 890 has five riding modes, Rain, Street, Sport, Offroad and Rally, the last one being optional, and the difference between them is obvious. Even on the road, a terrain where we were like a fish out of water, the behaviour of the bike was very distinctive among them, with the Rain being the one we liked the most because of how calm the KTM was.

That said, as soon as you switch to dirt, the Rally mode will be your best ally. Some will say that the Offroad is enough and to some extent yes, but the Rally lets you fully customise it, so you end up having all the modes in one.

With this mode, apart from deactivating the ABS completely at the rear and reducing its intervention to a minimum at the front – don’t be alarmed by the fact that it doesn’t deactivate, it didn’t bother us at any point – it lets you choose the throttle response and change the intervention of the traction control at any time from the left control by pressing the + and - keys.

This customization was what made us opt for this mode instead of the Offroad and we had it set up like this:

Throttle response: Offroad – we tried both the Offroad and the Rally, but Rally made it slip non-stop if you weren’t careful with the gas, largely due to the tyres, but we think that if you want to preserve them and not get any brown pants if you twist it too hard. The Offroad mode is ideal, if you want to have fun, go for the Rally, but don't expect your tyres to last too long, we left ours looking bad…

Traction control: Between 1 and 4 – we started the route with the TC always at four as we had to get familiar with the bike and we didn't want any extra spins, but once we got used to it we practically had it at one all the time. With the response of the Offroad mode it was very easy to regulate the torque.

With these Rally mode settings we felt like the KTM 890 was a bike without limitations and at the same time with a sweet throttle response that made it go through even the slickest terrain without problems.

As we said above, with the Rally throttle response it is more fun, but either you have good tyres and you are going to do a short route or it is better to be cautious.

Our verdict

After 1500km off-road we have gathered enough information to have a formed opinion on this bike. While we were doing the route, we often referred to the 890 as the Cadillac. It was the biggest of the bikes we were riding and the one that had the most comfort for the rider, and I think that's a name that suits her.

It's a big bike with a bulky appearance, but at the same time manageable and capable of taking you anywhere, even if the tires aren't the most off-road like we had, so it does what an adventure bike should do.

If you like to go on motorcycle trips in where you combine off-road tracks with roads, this bike will be perfect for you, and if one day you decide to complicate things, if you don’t forget about the shorter suspension travel, the Cadillac will overcome everything without problems.

Although, if on the other hand your routes are mostly off-road and you like to go at a high pace even when it gets rough, we would recommend that you opt for the R or Rally model, if not you will be constantly hammering the suspensions.

Now, having said that, and without wanting to offend anyone, we would say that many of the users we have seen in Spain with an 890 R or Rally could have opted for the standard version and, apart from having saved a few euros, would have had an easier time when it came to getting to the ground and manoeuvring the bike.

Personally, I wouldn't buy it for myself right now, but simply because motorcycle trips don't appeal to me, at the moment it's all enduro and with doing a trip like that once a year or every two years I have more than enough – we hope that for the next one KTM Spain can lend us another of their bikes (wink, wink). Of course, in the future, if my off-road orientations change, it's a bike that I would consider buying for its versatility as a daily bike as well as an adventure bike with which to embark on your next trip.

Photo Credit: Nicki Martinez | Enduro21