VOL. 56 ISSUE 12 MARCH 26, 2019 P81
MOTOR
The 790's engine, which is
mounted as a stressed mem-
ber of the chassis, is the same
LC8c eight-valve, DOHC,
799cc, parallel-twin, four-stroke
that first saw action in the KTM
790 Duke, released in the U.S.
last year. KTM claims about 95
hp at 8250 rpm and 65 lb-ft
of torque at 6600 rpm for the
fuel-injected unit, which is also
the most compact of its kind in
the midsize ADV class. Having
such a compact unit allows for
greater freedom when design-
ing the rest of the bike—a tall
engine will impact ground
clearance, or if you mount it
higher in the chassis, the seat
height will be much taller. Both
are factors you don't want in a
midsize ADV machine.
The 790 runs twin balancer
shafts—one driven off the crank
and the other off the exhaust
camshaft—to smooth out the ini-
tial throttle response. The result
is silky smooth power the sec-
ond you crack open the gas.
The Adventure R has slightly
different cam timing compared
to the 790 Duke, with peak
torque moved about 2000 rpm
down the rev range.
The exhaust is stainless steel
all the way through, with Akrapo-
vic making a PowerParts titanium
muffler you see in the photos.
The six-speed gearbox is
matched to the optional KTM
Quickshifter+ unit for clutch-
less up and downshifts, with
KTM running the same Power
Assisted Slipper Clutch (PASC)
seen in the larger LC8 engines
like the 1090's. The clutch itself
is cable-operated rather than
hydraulic, just because you can
fix a clutch cable in the middle
of nowhere easily as opposed
to a hydraulic unit—and the
PASC system doesn't need
hydraulic, anyway.
The air filter takes about two
minutes to change. The airbox
is located under the seat, and
the intake is at the rear of the
chassis—simply take the seat
off, undo the top cover and the
air filter is out. Ideal for super
dirty weekends.
CHASSIS, SUSPENSION
AND BRAKES
In typical KTM fashion, the 790 Adventure R's
frame and subframe are tubular steel units with
the shock mounted at 45° compared to the near
straight up/down shock of a 1090 R. That gives
the engineers the ability to lower the seat height
to a starting point of 34.6 inches, one that can
be changed to 35.4 inches with different seats.
As with any motorcycle, but especially one
designed to go over severe off-road ter-
rain, much of the 790 R's development went
into the suspension. The KTM doesn't run
electronically-adjustable forks like what can
be found on the BMW F 850 GS Adventure, in-
stead preferring the mechanically adjusted WP
Xplor fork and the WP Apex PDS shock.
This is the first time the Xplor fork has been
used in a production KTM. At 48mm, it's 5mm
up on the unadjustable unit from the base 790
Adventure, it's fully adjustable and gives 9.4
inches of wheel travel. This fork first saw use
in proper rally racing, with development riders
like KTM USA's Quinn Cody and Spanish Dakar
legend Jordi Villadoms tasked with the job of
developing it for public use.
Unlike the WP AER air forks currently in use
on the KTM motocross machines, the Xplor
fork is a spring unit with compression and
rebound circuits separated into the left (comp-
A single rally-
style one-piece
seat is a 790 R
trademark.
