VOLUME ISSUE NOVEMBER , P101
off and it's a wild ride indeed.
Unless you are a regular enduro
demon, you also feel that weight
after a few hours on the 'pegs.
I also guess that anyone who
rides a lightweight single-cylinder
enduro will find the Adventure
unwieldy and real dirt experts will
find the ABS too intrusive, but
as a road rider who likes week
-
ends exploring the trails, I loved
it. There is even comprehensive
crash protection should you
get a little carried away.
On the street, it's no less
potent as an adventure machine,
but retains a typically GS sport
-
ing edge. In Road mode the ride
quality prioritizes comfort over
performance via the Dynamic
Suspension Adjustment (DSA),
giving a sumptuous ride that
hardly seems to affect either the
bike's stability or effortless speed
over the ground. We encoun
-
tered surfaces so bad they were
broken by tree roots that would
send many bikes into grade A
tank-slapper, but the implacable
Adventure absorbed everything in
its path, stability unchallenged.
When the pace picks up on
the road, you can flick into the
Dynamic or Dynamic Pro modes,
which gives the Adventure more
support and a tauter ride. There's
noticeably less suspension travel
and more feedback from the rub
-
ber. Suddenly the Adventure is
pushing on a bit: stable, accu-
rate, calm and, yes, sporty.
The dirt-biased Karoo 4 rub-
ber copes well on the road, but
on occasion I could feel the
tires move on their tread blocks
and took that as a warning. All
modern GSs are exceptional
handlers but it's asking a lot of
a 19-inch front wheel when you
dive deep into an apex, braking
relatively hard.
