KTM 390 Adventure – why no spoked wheels?

After a long wait for the KTM Adventure 390, the bike finally was showcased at the IBW 2019 at Goa. The bike was expected in 2 variants with the upper variant with added power parts and more offroad abilities. This never made it to India and a lot of KTM fans were disappointed. The major disappointment was that there wasn’t an option of the spoked wheel on the bike. The bike came with alloy wheels as standard.

Every dual-purpose motorcycle enthusiast is aware of the need for spoke wheels. The spoke wheels allow absorbing most of the energy during the harsh landing.

During the harsh landing, there is a chance of bending the alloy wheels while the spoke wheels easily retract the bend occurred.

So, if it is so important for an ADV motorcycle then why doesn’t the KTM 390 Adventure gets it?

Pricing

KTM is not known for pricing the bike attractively but the products are usually solid. With the KTM Adventure 390, they were trying to bring in a solid product in the market which will be the ultimate adventure machine. But the pricing is where they faced the first problem. The tubeless tyre with spoke wheel is quite difficult to manufacture and this rises the price of the bike. Simultaneously, the pricing will have gone up by a significant amount. Also offering tube tyres for an adventure vehicle beats the purpose of the vehicle. Offroading will expose the vehicle to a lot of rough terrain. Having a tubeless tyre is better than having a tubed tyre.

Majority Wins

KTM or even any manufacturer will target a wide set of customers. If we took a survey of people doing hardcore offroading, you will find that most of us are not even close to hardcore offroading. And the alloy wheels offered on the KTM with the dual purpose tyres serve the purpose. The alloy wheels are quite strong to absorb the medium level of shocks. So KTM had a thoughtful of the Indian market and find no need to have spoked wheels. The question still remains about why dint they offer as a powerful part upgrade?

Also Read: Hero Xpulse Rally Kit Top 5 changes

Bigger Sibling

KTM is currently planning to bring the bigger sibling of the KTM 390 Adventure, the KTM 490 Adventure. The bigger KTM will be on the premium and exclusive side of the KTM’s lineup. So to make it exclusive, the bike has to make a difference over the smaller bike.

The KTM 490 Adventure will be getting a parallel twin 500 cc engine and also it could get equipped with a spoked wheel with tubeless tyre. Due to the premium equipment over the 390 Aventure, the 490 Adventure can easily attract customers.

Overall, the KTM 390 Adventure is a good offroad motorcycle. The bike gets WP Apex 43 mm shock absorbers at front and WP Apex monoshock at the rear. WP is popular suspension manufacturer known for its quality suspension. The bike gets pretty strong brakes, 320 mm disc for front and 230 mm disc for the rear. The brakes are assisted by dual-channel ABS, however, the rear ABS is switchable so that you can have fun while offroading.

The bike gets the same 373 cc KTM Duke 390’s engine.

The engine produces around 42.3 bhp max power and 37 Nm of peak torque. The engine comes mated with a six-speed gearbox and anti-hopping clutch. The pricing of the KTM 390 Adventure starts at Rs 2.98 lakhs (ex-showroom). The bike competes against Royal Enfield Himalayan, BMW G 310 GS and Hero Xpulse 200.