2003 KTM 950 Adventure and 950 Adventure S
KTM INVITES US TO SPAIN TO CHECK OUT ITS HOT NEW V-TWINS
By
KIT PALMER
PHOTOS BY RED EYE PHOTOGRAPHY
Irfl"l alk about
putting in some serious
seat time. Unfortunately, most of
it was on an Air France jet rather than
on KTM's long-awaited V-twin Adventure motorcycles that our friends from
Austria invited us to ride in Spain - in
the south of Spain, to be more specific, where the sun always shines, the
air is clear, and the beaches are full
of topless senoritas. Well, almost
always.
Rain, and lots of it, arrived in Marbella about the same time I did and
didn't leave until about the same time
I did. But the rain didn't stop me from
lJ.
40
MARCH 12,2003'
cue
I
e
having fun riding the Adventures
around the mountains of Spain during
KTM's world introduction of the allnew LCa V-twin-powered 950 Adventure and 950 Adventure S.
So what is the 950 Adventure,
anyway? In Europe, it's considered a
"travel enduro" bike - a bike designed
to take you far from home, either by
way of pavement or dirt, or both. A
kind of go-anywhere bike. This segment of motorcycling is big in
Europe, where there's a huge interest
in rally-type competition, and rallies
are, for all intents and purposes, a
way of making a race out of touring.
Rallies, however, are pretty much
nonexistent in the United States, and
n e _
s
as a result, so are rally-type bikes.
Many have tried making a living here,
but most have moved back to where
they're more appreciated - though
some have hung around, such as the
BMW R 1150GS and the KTM LC4
single-cylinder Adventure.
It seems that Americans aren't into
rally bikes because most of the rallytype bikes we've seen are big, heavy
and cumbersome, especially for offroad riding. And if the bikes aren't
mondo-sized, they are powered by a
single cylinder, and we also don't like
riding around wide-open freeways
and highways on singles. KTM is hoping, however, to change Americans'
opinions on rally bikes by bridging
the gap between the bulbous twins
and the lighter-weight singles.
Of all of the bikes that fall into the
travel-enduro genre - such as the
BMW Rl150GS, the Triumph Tiger,
the Aprilia Capo Nord, the Suzuki VStrom, the Europe-only Honda Africa
Twin, Varadero and Transalp, the
Cagiva Canyon, and the Moto Guzzi
Quota - the KTM LC4 Adventure was
by far the most off-road worthy, but
by going to a V-twin motor, the 950
Adventure is now far more appealing
for the pavement dweller.
In case you're wondering, there
isn't much difference between the
950 Adventure and the 950 Adventure S. Besides color, the 950 Adven-
