2023 KTM 390 Adventure | First Look Review

2023 KTM 390 Adventure

KTM has announced details of the 2023 KTM 390 Adventure, which will be available in dealerships in March. The 390 Adventure has been given a new look and increased off-road capability, for a bike that KTM says offers “sheer usability, superb power, and incredibly light handling.”

2023 KTM 390 Adventure

In our review of the 2020 model, our reviewer said the KTM 390 Adventure was “a lot of bike for the money, with an impressive list of standard features that make it a serious threat to value-oriented Japanese competitors like the Honda CB500X and Kawasaki Versys-X 300, as well as BMW’s G 310 GS.”

Related: 2020 KTM 390 Adventure Road Test Review

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The 2023 KTM 390 Adventure still features a compact 4-stroke DOHC 373cc Single with four valves, a balancer shaft, a PASC slip/assist clutch, and electronic fuel injection. Two catalytic converters ensure the system breathes within emission targets, and the vapor design of the 3.8-gal fuel tank also contributes to its eco-friendliness.

2023 KTM 390 Adventure

Also returning for the 2023 model and contributing to the bike’s off-road persona is the Offroad ride mode (offering more rear-wheel slip) and linked Offroad ABS (disengaged on the rear, reduced on the front), as well as throttle-by-wire, Motorcycle Traction Control, and cornering ABS. Stopping power comes from Brembo BYBRE brakes (320mm front and 230mm rear discs with a 4-piston calipers on the front and single-piston in the rear), and the bike has adjustable WP APEX suspension.

2023 KTM 390 Adventure

See all of Rider‘s KTM coverage here.

The KTM 390 Adventure also still has 19-inch front and 17-inch rear wheels shod in Continental TKC70 tires, but for 2023 the wheels are spoked and have black anodized aluminum rims. The bike also comes with a two-tier seat that can be easily removed to reveal storage space or swapped out for other models in the KTM PowerParts collection, LED lights, and a windscreen with two positions. It has a claimed wet weight of 379 lb.

2023 KTM 390 Adventure

KTM says both the lightweight steel trellis chassis and the new 2023 colorway takes design cues from the company’s work at “the sharp end of rally competition.”

MSRP is $7,399. For more information, visit the KTM website.

14 COMMENTS

  1. I’ll be that guy. Spokes are great, but tubeless would have been better. I likely would have bought one if they had gone tubeless. I don’t ride that hard off-road, and I’d rather patch a hole than replace a tube.

  2. I’m with you Jay. For that weight and tubed tires might as well get a DR650. It wasn’t just that that though that led me to buying another DR650 for adventure riding. It was all that made in Japan reliability vs. that made in India reliability. Worlds apart.

  3. With tubeless wheels and cruise control, this could be a great down-sizing option if my 790 ADV R gets too big as I get older (I already downsized from a Tiger Explorer 1200). Of course, I’d have to spend as much money on farkles as I have on the 790 to improve its comfort and function.

  4. Way to heavy for a 390. When are the manufacturers going to start thinking about the weight? We need too be able to tool down the road and then do some trails and not be punished by an overweight slug.

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