KTM
High Flying Bird
 You do have to be tall to ride this bike but if you're very tall it helps. Ian Kerr rides KTM's 950 Adventure...
Despite its somewhat angular lines the KTM 950 Adventure is strikingly good looking for a bike that is intended to be a dual-purpose machine. Some may well question the acres of bodywork when talking about natural terrain and the very real possibility of it ending up lying on its side when the going gets tough/ rough!
But hey, this is a bike that has the capability of competing in the world's toughest rallies and raids just like the 640. It has more power (98bhp), which is probably why the race version won the 2002 Dakar and in the hands of professionals, it is not likely to collide with terra firma!
There is no getting away from the fact though that it is a big bike and to some, it may be intimidating. Like its smaller brother the seat height will preclude many from attempting to ride it, which is a real shame because it has a superb V-twin motor lurking under the panniered petrol tank. (The S version has an even taller seat and more ground clearance and is identifiable by its orange and blue colour scheme!)
This one has over 5 gallons sloshing around, but most of this is carried low down to keep it close to the centre of gravity.
What is a slight pain are the two filler caps and the need to use both of them, despite the fact that both sides are linked.
In the middle of these is a small storage compartment that is not that useful, and houses the fuses making them easy to remove if somebody wanted to be awkward, as it is not lockable!
This sums up all my gripes with this bike, which is just a real blast in everyday use. The 75-degree liquid cooled, 942cc V-twin four-stroke motor is a peach and will propel you well on the way to double the maximum legal speed limit in the UK without ever breaking sweat!
The small screen does a better job than it has a right to and this, combined with the general wind protection provided by the tank and bodywork, makes motorway cruising a comfortable, relaxed affair. A good thing really, as you are sitting as high as any Ford transit type van and you almost feel like a juggernaut of the motorcycle world. However, few of these will ever be as nimble as the KTM, which can mix it quite well round the back roads.
 The twenty-one inch front and eighteen inch rear spoked rims are shod with decent (albeit skinny) trail rubber, which allows it to be heeled into corners with reasonable confidence. Quite how they would perform on some serious off road going I don't know as my brief trips down some RUPP's were mercifully dry!
Serious dirt riders like these big machines as the ride height does give good forward vision and allows the best route to be picked through/over rough terrain. KTM also seem to be able to disguise the weight, or should it be position it so that once on the move, either seated or standing, it does not intrude into the conscious thought or affect machine control.
As you would expect, top notch WP suspension is used to deal with the undulations, both on and off road. This certainly seems well matched to the steel tube trellis type frame and its neutral steering. The same can be said of the Brembo callipers griping the 300mm front discs with a 240mm item at the rear. They provide excellent feel as well as the ability to stop 225kg on and off road!
The bike is quality from stem to stern, good lights, excellent instrumentation all powered by one of the best V-twin motors on the market. It would be interesting to ride the result if KTM used it to power a sports bike similar to Ducati and diversified slightly from their main business of off-road competition machines.
The six-speed box is a delight to play tunes on through the twists and turns of your favourite back-roads. That is not to suggest that the motor has no flexibility because it has this in bucketfuls, it is just that the bike just seems to thrive on being revved and powered along such roads. Sixth is very much an overdrive ratio though!
Unlike some of its direct competition like the BMW GS range, the KTM was designed as an off-road bike and it just happens to be a very good road bike as well. The others are very much road based machines adapted for some mild rough terrain.
It is, as you would expect, very similar to its smaller sibling the 640 and all the comments made about this apply here, except it has a better, smoother motor to go with the higher price tag.
Expect to pay £7,350 for one of these beauties (£7,750 for the S), but of course this will not be a problem once you have sold your house so you can set off around the world!
Personally if I were to do that it would be the simpler single cylinder 640 that I would take, much as I like the better motor in the 950. Fortunately we live in world where choices are available and KTM certainly seems to be able to offer something to suit everybody with their extensive range of machines. Long may they continue to do so!
Ian Kerr
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Issue 132 : December 2003 - January 2004