KTM 950 Adventure Review Road Test

On taking my helmet off at a service station, pool of water appearing underneath me, and dripping from 200 very wet kilometres aboard the new KTM Adventure, another customer filling his vehicle remarked, “Not a good day for that mate”.

My instant reply without a thought was, “It's always a good day for this.” And that really sums up my travels with KTM’s first foray in to the really big-bore adventure market, I had a ball.

KTM have two alternatives in the 950 Adventure line-up. The standard silver model and the orange 'S' model. Ground clearance is a generous 281mm for the standard 'low-seat' model, or a full 316mm on the taller 'S' version.

But ‘low-seat’ is something of a misnomer in this case as it is actually a quite high 880mm, on the tall version it is a quite extreme 915mm. At 179cm tall I was tip-toeing it on the shorter version while at traffic lights, if you are much shorter than me, you may find things a little difficult. No doubt many will opt for the taller version but the standard model isn't exactly lacking in ground clearance, I was able to negotiate some logs and plenty of very rough terrain without bottoming the machine.

The White Power suspension is without par in this segment of the market. It is firm in the initial part of the stroke, allowing for some reasonably sporting road use. The suspension then stiffens nicely as more travel is used, while still maintaining very good damping control.

I have no doubt that an accomplished dirt rider could get some serious pace going aboard the Adventure on even the roughest of trails, even a bit of ‘airtime’ would not be out of the question. The standard model has 230mm of rear suspension travel while the taller 'S' version extends through 265mm.

The PDS White Power shock is adjustable for low and high speed compression damping and rebound damping can also be set to the riders preference. Preload is easily adjustable by a convenient handle that folds out from the left side of the body work, nice touch.

Up front 48mm cartridge forks offer a similar amount of travel as the rear and are also fully adjustable.

Specially developed Pirelli tyres suit the machine well and can handle some reasonable hard charging on the road, while also providing reasonable grip on gravel surfaces. However, if you intend traversing any sandy stretches I would look for some more aggressive dirt rubber, given the 18" and 21" rim sizes choices will be wide and variable. But you should also keep in mind the speed rating of more dirt oriented tyres if you intend travelling quickly.