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2027 KTM 1390 Super Adventure S Evo Review
Step right up and witness KTM turn its latest adventure bike into every motorcycle, all at the same time! (Photos by Dominik Buchner and Thomas Dobler)
One aspect of riding that I miss these days, aside from a healthy right knee, is the absence of intrusive safety aids that mute and numb my experience. Sure, I regularly engage ABS, traction control, and cruise control when I ride a modern motorcycle, and sometimes that stuff is fantastic. But do I want to do so all the time no matter what? No. Instead, I would choose to increase or decrease their intrusion based on my skills, mood, or situation. Go ahead and call me reckless and immature for wanting to strip off the baby bumpers from time to time, but I’ve been happily married for years, so I hear that stuff most days.
The 2027 KTM 1390 Super Adventure S Evo is a state-of-the-art, high-tech machine.
If you share my frustrations, I have a special treat for you. I just got back from the beautiful island of Tenerife, where I set a new personal best for childish hooliganism on the 2027 KTM 1390 Super Adventure S Evo. Allow me to tell you about it.
Ask and ye shall receive. Everything you want in a motorcycle is a mere tap, click, and scroll away with KTM’s intuitive 8-inch TFT display and left-hand control cluster. But with 173 hp on tap, be careful what you wish for.
The 1390 Super Adventure S Evo is the street-oriented, Automated Manual Transmission (AMT) version of KTM’s off-road-capable 1390 Super Adventure R. That means it rolls on 19-inch front and 17-inch rear cast wheels, sits lower than the R, and doesn’t possess a physical clutch lever. No, a street-oriented adventure motorcycle didn’t see me reaching for my pom-poms at first. But then I read three words printed on a drink coaster during the technical briefing: “More is more.” That did bring a little jazz and sparkle to my evening.
Mission control.
KTM made it clear that the 1390 SA-S Evo embodies its “ready to race” mantra. This was evidenced by its 1,350cc V-Twin with 173 hp and 107 lb-ft of torque, a frame with significantly increased rigidity, WP’s latest-gen semi-active suspension, and tons more. I was shotgunned with so much information that at the 4-minute mark, my brain hit maximum capacity and I went Condition Black. Only peanuts, nougat, and sleep would help at that point, so I reached for a Payday and packed it in.
The 2027 KTM 1390 Super Adventure S Evo rolls on 19-inch front / 17-inch rear cast wheels.
The next morning, 24 journalists were broken into two groups and were each assigned a shiny new 1390. We were advised that the test ride would start with a short freeway blast, followed by twisty canyon riding up to and around the dormant volcano of Mount Teide. I was rested, fed, and excited to swing my leg over the big Katoom. Even better, I noticed that the seat felt full and firm but wasn’t overly wide towards the front. But since I’m 6-foot-2, the seat felt a little low, as did the windscreen. Sensing my quandary, a technician walked over and assisted in raising my seat and showed me how to raise the windscreen by spinning one of two knobs located on either side of it.
Do yourself a favor and put this ballet-dancing grizzly bear on the short list of bikes to test out. Adventure rider or not, this bike will blow your mind.
GEAR UP
Helmet: Schuberth J2
Helmet Brake Light: Brake Free Tech
Jacket: Richa Toulon
Gloves: Lee Parks Design DeerTours Outseam
Pants: Richa Original 2 Jeans
Protection: Bohn Armored Riding Pant
Boots: Indie Ridge Crossfield
KTM’s 6-speed AMT is different than BMW’s Automated Shift Assistant or Honda’s Dual Clutch Transmission. Rather than having 1st gear at the bottom, the gearbox begins with “P” for Park, then goes up through neutral, 1st, 2nd, and on. When you fire up the bike, it starts in neutral and you must select 1st gear prior to launch. With such massive power output numbers, I expected takeoff to either stretch my arms or frustrate me with electronic intervention like a frenetic bull restrained by ropes around its neck. Oddly, I was propelled forward gently, similar to a traditional clutch when power is transferred from the engine to the driveline. Automatic clutches can make a motorcycle feel like a scooter, where you crack the throttle only slightly and get immediate thrust forward. The AMT operates more like a manual clutch: The engine builds power but doesn’t fully transfer it to the rear wheel until around 1,900 rpm. That delay might sound like a bad thing, but to me it was a revelation. It meant I could ride slowly and controlled for things like stop-and-go traffic, U-turns, technical skills maneuvers, or maybe a wheelie or two. The motorcycle was behaving like I had a traditional clutch even though I didn’t.
Let your fingers do the walking. Change settings, use the paddle shifters, and more.
Once we got rolling, I used my right thumb to set the AMT to Manual mode. From there, I used my left foot to row through the gearbox in the traditional manner. And every press or pull of the boot was greeted with smooth, snappy shifts. A few miles later I grew curious about the paddle shifting option. There were similarly snappy upshifts and downshifts when I let my fingers do the walking. Eventually I relinquished my pride and selected the fully automatic option, and to my surprise the AMT chose shift points close to where I wanted them. That is because it uses a vast set of parameters to determine when to shift, like gear position, engine speed, torque, lean angle, acceleration, etc. But if it missed the mark, I momentarily reverted to any of the manual-shift options and put the power curve back where I wanted it.
Once at speed, I was surprised at the lack of wind buffeting and the bike’s overall stability. It felt planted, quiet, and calm – not words typically used to describe adventure bikes, which can feel a bit bouncy, have vague tracking at times, and wallow excessively during rapid direction changes. But the 1390 Super Adventure S Evo provided responsiveness and cornering accuracy akin to a sportbike.
The LED headlight in the center and the LED surround look like those on the 1390 Super Duke R.
Since our group was still in single file, I tested the adaptive cruise control. The Bosch-developed system uses front-mounted radar to allow you to set following distance, and it will generate braking input to slow down if necessary. More significantly, the system detects objects not just in front of you but at a lateral offset, so if you are in a staggered group and someone slows, the system makes the necessary adjustment.
Additional safety features include collision warning, distance warning, and braking assist. This last feature monitors the distance between you and the vehicle in front of you to determine if you are braking enough to avoid contact. If not, the system will apply more braking force. While this helps slow you more rapidly, it also causes the front brake lever to go soft, reducing overall lever travel. How do I know? It happened to me twice when I was trailing a pack of quick riders through a series of sweeping corners, and it was alarming because I thought my brakes were fading. Once the gap steadied, the lever pressure came back. I was not a fan, and neither were my riding shorts.
You can chill out and play adventure bike rider or push a few buttons and transform yourself into a canyon carving assassin. You decide.
As with most challenging situations in life, this little mishap turned out to be the start of a fantastic revelation. At our next stop, I buttonholed the first person wearing bright orange to complain that my brakes just lost pressure at the front lever and something must be terribly wrong with my test unit. The technician just smiled, calmly reached over to a cluster of buttons on the left handgrip, located the brake assist feature in the menu, and shut it off. With that simple adjustment, I realized KTM had provided next-level features that I was not married to if I didn’t want them. And just like that: riders, 1; lawyers, 0.
After our first stop, the speeds picked up and the roads became more festive, so I decided to upgrade my ride. With a gloved hand, I touched the 8-inch TFT display and selected Sport mode from an intuitive scroll-down menu. This simple on-the-fly selection put a completely different motorcycle underneath me by changing a multitude of parameters. The suspension damping got firmer, the throttle response became more direct, and the transmission’s shift points increased.
It’s odd at first to blur through corners on an adventure bike, but with top-tier brakes, suspension, chassis, and electronics, the only real difference is far greater comfort.
I liked the additional performance Sport mode provided, but I noticed the front end wasn’t loading into the turns while trail braking as much as it did in Street mode. So once there was a break in the action, I poked at the TFT display, went into suspension settings within Sport mode, and shut off the anti-dive feature. The front suspension then moved farther through its stroke and planted the front end in a manner I was more comfortable with. Again, this was a feature I decided I didn’t want for the situation, and I was able to shut it off on the fly. A little later, I decided my roll-on power was hitting later than I wanted during initial throttle opening, so I changed settings to increase engine braking, which generated earlier power and delivered a better ride experience. It was liberating.
At some points along the route, I wanted stiffer suspension, so I dialed it up. Other times I wanted to decrease traction control, so I turned it down. The system is so user-friendly I started tweaking all kinds of settings just because I could. And the best part? Those changes remained until I decided to reset everything back to original settings. I played with Rain and Offroad modes, and I even created my own “Custom 1” setting to see just how completely bonkers I could go. With a few simple clicks I was able to transmute the 1390 Super Adventure S Evo from a delightful little bunny rabbit into a post-apocalyptic hell hound.
Clutch lever? We don’t need no stinking clutch lever to loft this beast to the sky! KTM’s new AMT is the most clutch-like automatic system available today.
This got me thinking: What if I wanted all 173 hp, totally unmuted, sharpened to a razor’s edge, and handed over without traction control, rear ABS, collision warnings, or any other electronic nanny designed to help save me from myself? Surely KTM’s engineers pondered the legal ramifications of making such a beast available to me? Um, no. It was all available, every last wheelie-inducing, tire-smoking horsepower was there, unrestricted and without safeguards, for as long as my ridiculousness could manage. Was I politely warned first? Absolutely. But in the end, they unlocked the gates to the Thunder Dome and let me ride through, full throttle. It was glorious and scary, and I didn’t want it to end.
After spending time with the 1390 Super Adventure S Evo, I realized it’s not an adventure bike. It’s a hyper-configurable motorcycle for every mood, ability, or situation you might find yourself in. Everything you want when you want it, and nothing you don’t want when you don’t. That means your 1390 Super Adventure S Evo will not be like my 1390 Super Adventure S Evo, and that’s great news. This KTM is every bike, everywhere, all at once.
2027 KTM 1390 Super Adventure S Evo
2027 KTM 1390 Super Adventure S Evo Specs
Base Price: $22,699
Price As Tested: $23,599 (Tech Pack)
Website: KTM.com
Warranty: 2 yrs., 24,000 miles
Engine Type: Liquid-cooled, transverse V-Twin, DOHC w/ 4 valves per cyl.
Displacement: 1,350cc
Bore x Stroke: 110.0 x 71.0mm
Horsepower: 173 hp (factory claim)
Torque: 107 lb-ft (factory claim)
Transmission: 6-speed Automated Manual Transmission w/ centrifugal clutch
Final Drive: Chain
Wheelbase: 61.3 in.
Rake/Trail: 24.7 degrees/4.3 in.
Seat Height: 33.3/34.1 in.
Dry Weight: 500 lb (factory claim)
Fuel Capacity: 6.1 gal.
The post 2027 KTM 1390 Super Adventure S Evo Review appeared first on Rider Magazine.
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