COMPARISON I KTM 890 ADVENTURE R VS. TRIUMPH TIGER 900 RALLY PRO
P78
unlike the Triumph, the fuel is carried
down near the rider's shins, which dra-
matically changes the center of gravity
and how the motorcycle reacts when on a
full tank. Slightly taller than the Triumph in
seat height at 34.6 inches, we measured the 890
on the scales with a topped tank at 490 pounds.
Braking is taken care of by dual four-piston cali-
pers gripping 320mm discs up front and a single-
piston caliper clamping a 260mm disc at the back.
Cornering ABS is standard fitment on the 890, which
can be disabled on the rear when you get into the
Off-Road mode. Rubber comes in the form of Conti-
nental's TKC 80 with wheel sizes varying slightly from
the Triumph in the 21-inch front and 18-inch rear.
ON-ROAD, OFF-ROAD
Right. Enough of the tech talk. What are they
actually like to ride? Well, bloody different is the
short of it.
There's two competing ethos here.
The first is KTM's now admittance that
they aren't building the 890 Adventure R
as anything other than the best off-road
travel bike they can. The Adventure R gets
every concession made to it that makes it a better
off-road machine, while the Triumph still has a few
benefits to on-road performance while trying to
match the KTM everywhere else.
Over three days and about 600 miles of testing,
we found just about every condition we could think
of where you'd take one of these bikes. Touring
miles on freeways, commuting, dirt roads into the
mountains, doing milk runs (both Jesse and I have
young kids at home), we did it all on these bikes.
Where the Triumph shines is predictably on the
tarmac. As a travel motorcycle, the ergonomics
and especially the way the three-cylinder makes
its torque gives the British machine an edge over
the Austrian. Freeway jaunts are a cinch on the
(Above) Heated
seats and grips
are a win for the
Triumph (left).
