KTM 390 Adventure Revisited - A few trail in Wales... 

A few YT'ers from the beginning have been misleading our biking community. Understand one thing - You can never harness any motorcycle's true potential, unless you've made that connection with it. And that means spending time with it. The ADV390 is an epic epic motorcycle, on and off road. Once you've made connection with yours, it really shines and shows you what all it can do. I've had the opportunity to spend time with this machine, it took me 6-8 months to make that connection, but after that, there's no other motorcycle i'd rather pick. The light nature, nimbleness, excellent on and off road characteristics and power make it truly an all round machine. Spend time with it and it'll reward you with memories of epic adventures you conquer with this motorcycle.

Absolutely spot on. Not as good as others off road, but really light, nimble and quick on road, and capable of a tour.

Every ride on my 390 adventure makes me laugh with the sheer fun. It's a hooligan machine, and for forest trails and such around me it is perfect. Got rid of a T7 because of weight, the 390 suits my age and strength as the years pass.

I love my 390 its just a fun bike you can use all the engine on the road and its ok off-road as long as you dont expect crf300 ability 11k in no problems...hope they show up next year with a revised model its on my list

Love ragging the t*ts off my 390 through Kent. Brilliant fun always had big sports bikes in the past. The fun you can have on the KTM is brilliant tho. Keep up the great videos 👍

Love my 2020 390ADV. Reliability has been great and it's an exciting ride. Good allrounder and frugal on fuel.

After our ride out on the bikes last week, it’s really interesting to get the perspective of someone who’s ridden it over a long period. Great day out by the way, despite the weather.

Great video Nathan. Love my 390, added fuelx lite and a 14t sprocket on the front and it helps with the low end! Will be bringing it on LEJOG so you can have a go. Amazing trails so will have to do some googling!

That looked fun. 20 odd thousand miles on my little 390. Still love it on and off road. Those sorts of tracks are definitely its sweet spot but I get on great with it in tricky stuff as well. Definitely interested to try the new Himalayan out when they get to my part of Sweden. Really look forward to your assessment of it as well. If you enjoy that sort of ruff gravel track riding I couldn't recommend Sweden enough. Cheers Paul

I loved your 390 on the road. I reckon on a twisty b road it would put lots of bigger bikes to shame. So much fun.

I pick this up on sale last year I put different foot pegs and handle bar riser and a fuel commander and it dose great now wouldn’t recommend it is the deep woods, but it’s great on stuff like this

Thanks for the video and explanation

Great bike; looks good, too. Reliable. My 390 Duke Mk2 is superb. Nick

Take it to a dealer at let them update the software. you get an offroad mode, that you can switch while riding. saves a lot of nerves!

Nathan! Amazing review! I really love your videos and reviews. Im 35 and want to learn to ride motorbikes in order that in the future i can start traveling with a bike. Like cross marrocos, South America. Im thinking of getting a gs310 or a ktm 390 adv as first bike. Which one do u recommend as easier to ride for a beginner? My use of it will be mostly road and some light offroad. I live in porto Portugal, so here the offroad roads are very enduro style. I have to drive always 1-2-3hourd to south of Portugal to find better suited for beginner gravel roads. Your advice would be great

I took my 2022 down to Stella Alpina last year (from Glasgow), rat running through the twisties on way down, autobahn from Basel to Arnhem on the way home. I didnt find the traction control problematic on the climb up the mountain, even the muddy and snowy bits. My only critiscm of it, when loaded for camping/touring it doenst like being parked on an incline. Twice it has tipped over backwards on me, even when keeping anything heavy down low.

Traction control settings sorted on latest model. Stays off even when key turned off. Also has off road traction settings, and separate abs settings. New pegs and bar risers fix the other two main complaints. Aftermarket front springs gives more travel on the front. A very underrated bike in my opinion.

Like it or not you are correct regarding its off road abilities . However with couple of inexpensive mods ie pegs fuel tuner bar risers and permanently disabling the traction control its definitely the best allround small adv on the market . Others are too heavy underpowered and expensive to mod like crf suspension. My two cents

Interesting comparison between the KTM and the 400X. I think the standing position has been sorted on the latest 390, but at a price. Gutless bottom end does not make for good slow technical going, but every bike is a compromise. Algos like comments and Fray Bentos pies.

Best bike there at 7.28 the 1990s Kawasaki serow 225. Very nice. I want one

Nice video, cheers. If you put a couple of washers as spacers on the rear ABS, it's dissarms all the ABS and traction controls, if I remember correctly. Mine pulls really sweet at lower revs now I've got slightly lower gearing and fuel module, different exhaust, airbox filter/cover etc.

Nice engine, shame about the ergonomics. I bought one when they first came out and sadly was massively disappointed when I tried it on even the simplest of trails. Put me off 19" front wheel adventure bikes for life. Little Voge for me on the dirt. Having said that, the new CF Moto 450 looks like it could be interesting. What with that and the new Royal Enfield, perhaps longer distance adventure riding has a brighter future?

Price wise it’s horrendous. Too much ktm hate on here to justify ever buying one. Thanks for lovely views. Still love the postman bikes but on the roads too slow

A good review on the KTM 390 ADV. The traction control issue can be resolved with the new software update.

I only ever really found the traction control switch annoying in a group setting, because you always feel a bit rushed to be off and going without too much faff.

Any plans to test the new CF Moto 450mt and the Kove 500x?

Have you seen the 2025 390 spy shots? Looks like a proper adventure bike, and where are those lanes, is that Nant Y Mochyn?

Fantic Caballero 500 Scrambler ever tested one Nathan ?

If you've to compare it to your scram 400x.. which one will you pick and why?

What tyres are you running on and are you happy with them? Cheers

Seven and a half thousand miles on a sub 400 cc bike’s chain and sprockets doesn’t sound too good to me.

Greetings from Iceland and thank you for a nice video. Blaming the bike...it sounds like you just don't know how to ride this bike properly on trails and off road. When are you heading to Iceland??

Himalayan review coming..?