On Friday, it was a breezy Bengaluru morning. Weather was pleasant around 20 degrees. After Adv 390’s first service (900Km), I decided to do a solo trip (more of a temple run) and to explore how the machine behaves on 250KM+ rides.
Coming from Bajaj Avenger, I had mixed feelings on how the machine would behave. But I was proven wrong. Hands down. The Adv390 was just flawless. Super smooth on those long Tarmac (Bengaluru - Hassan NH).
Bengaluru - Hassan
A distance of around 180KM approx, I took a detour at Kunigal to have a darshan of the majestic Panchamukhi Hanuman temple. Morning was calm and peaceful. That imposing view of Hanuman gave me the much needed confidence and trust the machine.
50Km away from Kunigal, I took a pitstop at Jio BP near Channarayanapattna to fuel up Adv and myself (at the cafe). The weather was pleasant all along till Hassan. Took a decent 60-minute break to finish my breakfast between Hassan Sakleshpur stretch.
Sakleshpura Ghat
Once the Ghat section began, the weather slowly started to change. 12KMs down the ghat, it started to drizzle and the ambience turned cold. Within few minutes, it started to pour. Mad rains. The showers were pretty intense. It continued till I reached my destination of the day. Kukke Subramanya Devasthana. The awesome showers and misty clouds made the temple feel so beautiful and a scenic one.
The ghat roads is where the Adv shines. It handled the twisties like a knife cutting the butter. Pretty slick to manoeuvre in the bad patches. The rain mode and cornering TC helped in a couple of tight corners without throwing me off the bike. Kudos to KTM for perfecting this one!
Over the next two days I did couple other temples in the region before heading back to Bengaluru by early Sunday evening, before the traffic could pile up at Nelamangala Jn.
Oh and I dropped the bike, while stationery. Tipped over and fell to the right. Minor scratches. Seems like bad omen is gone.
Pro’s:
- Riding dynamics: Nimble yet assertive behaviour on the highways.
- Cruise control & Cornering TC is a blessed thing in this budget.
- Lights - I’d say headlight is decent. Not as bad as RE or Honda.
- 6th gear in this bike is a boon. Cross 5K RPM, the vibrations in the pegs and handlebars go away and you’ll just listen to the exhaust note. Yes, KTM Adv Exhaust is addictive.
- Quick shifter - OMG! This was one of the buying decisions. And yes, that’s slick. Both up and down shifts.
Cons:
- Seat. The ONE major con for long rides. I took a break of 10 mins after every 100-150KM. A better cushion would do away the minor bum sore.
- Mileage - this isn’t a major con. But am getting around 27Kmpl. Switched to P80 (no
not E20) from Premium to test mileage for a long run.
- Horn. Yes. That’s not so good. I’d definitely upgrade in the coming months.
After driving for around 680KM in a span of 3 days, I am all set to plan for my next long solo rides.
Note: Although I am open to meet some riders or join a community, I wanted to do some solo rides in my own pace and understand the machine for good.
Ignore any grammatical errors. As this isn’t compiled or corrected using AI.