KLIM 2016 KTM 690
PROJECT
P86
>>THE PROOF
Okay, this bike sort of kills it for a
backcountry-riding junkie. But it
comes at a cost.
We rolled straight out of Klim's
Rigby, Idaho-based headquar-
ters and pointed east towards
Kelly Canyon and the Big
Holes—an area I've personally
ridden a lot. Then, as the plan
went, we'd cruise into Teton Val-
ley in the evening looking dirty
and super cool as we grabbed a
hearty meal over war stories.
We were going across two-
track and a bit of single track
(not too gnarly) to see how fun
a cruise on this bike could be.
We'd stop for obligatory photo
and video ops, and do a little
exploring.
We started (late). And it got
dark (early).
We were a long way from din-
ner with the headlights on and a
choice—take the ATV trail to the
pass and the long way around,
or go straight ahead into the bel-
ly of the beast via single-track,
spotty memory and moose. Yes,
moose. We chose moose.
The 690 responded with joy
on skinny trails. It was a bit of a
handful on some sketchy off-
camber and washed-out ravines,
but otherwise, the big bike stuck
to the rock gardens (thanks Dun-
lop) and chugged out of trouble
excellently. Keep in mind; this
isn't a beginner-level, buffed-out
single-track route. This is good
trail—for a dirt bike. Even the Rally
Raid-spec'd headlight was pretty
good in the deep, dark trenches,
which you can see in action in
the accompanying video.
So when we got in pretty deep
and I began to realize how far
The 690 is already a
fantastic ADV bike, but
even the 690 can be
made better.
GEAR ID'D
PANTS: KLIM DAKAR IN-THE-BOOT PANT
JERSEY: KLIM DAKAR
JACKET: KLIM DAKAR
HELMET: KLIM F3
GOGGLES: KLIM RADIUS PRO
GLOVES: KLIM DAKAR PRO
BACKPACK: KLIM SCRAMBLE PACK
BOOTS: TCX COMP EVO
