Impressive equipment list includes longer-travel adjustable suspension, increased ground clearance and an 18-inch rear wheel | Photo Credit: Yash Gawde

In its 14-year journey in India, KTM has so far made quite a few dreams accessible to riders. Most of our quests, whether they involve the streets, racetracks, trails or the open road, easily end at a KTM of some sort, typically flaunting the coveted ‘390’ decal. With the 390 Adventure R, KTM aspires to fill yet another gap, offering a motorcycle that can unapologetically plough through where the highway ends.

The Adventure R works to a straightforward brief which, in all fairness, is an easy one for KTM; it knows exactly how to build bikes like these and it already had the parts lying around, to put it simply. Indeed, the 390 Adventure R is essentially an amalgamation of its travel-oriented Adventure and the singularly off-road-focused Enduro R.

The result of this is an Adventure that’s the tallest of its kind, riding on 21-/18-inch tubed tyres (the range-topping S gets 21-/17-inch tubeless spokes; the X gets 19-/17-inch alloys), with the highest ground clearance (272 mm, up by 35-44 mm over the S/X), longest suspension travel (230 mm, up by 30/25 mm, front/rear) and also the tallest seat height (880 mm, up by 50-55 mm). It’s nominally heavier than the rest, although on the move you’ll struggle to notice that.

What you will easily grasp is how much these numbers alter the riding experience, especially if you’ve sampled the other Adventures in the lineup. Perched atop, you will find yourself looking over traffic — a rather liberating feeling — and off the road, it makes undulations seem far less intimidating. Fortunately, it has the hardware to keep up with the bravado it induces.

joy ride

The adjustable suspension, sourced from the Enduro R (international spec), has more up its sleeve than I could aim for, and the larger rear wheel enhances the control and stability it already offers a lot of. KTM’s tube-tyre logic (it’s got something to do with bending a rim and losing air rapidly in an extreme off-road scenario) for its off-road motorcycles is debatable, though. Most of us have to travel a fair bit to arrive at a trail and a puncture (I’ve had two on my own Enduro) can be a downright inconvenience that can make you wary of hitting the road altogether. Not a nice feeling, that!

You’ll forget about this when you’re having fun with the R, though — and that’s an easy place to arrive at. I rode it for roughly 260 km, through a mixed cycle of urban, highway and off-road environments and found it to be thoroughly engaging. Contrary to what its specifications suggest — with its strong 45.3-bhp motor now being matched by superlative dimensions — it’s not a particularly challenging motorcycle to get familiar with. KTM’s approach to tractability, assisted by a bunch of rider aids (riding modes, traction control, disengageable ABS) and an inherently great hardware package (the fantastic 399cc engine, terrific suspension, tyres and brakes) make the Adventure R easy to have fun with, and while it’s no beginner bike, upgrading to it once you feel confident enough will continue to feel rewarding for a long time. The properly committed riders amongst you will find it charming in how effortlessly it tackles off-road challenges,

Its ₹3.77 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi) price seats it squarely between the other two variants and, seeing as it undercuts the S by ₹17,000 while unlocking a higher degree of off-road functionality, it sure is a tempting buy. Just make sure you know how to fix a puncture all by yourself, okay?

@The MotorGram

Published on March 13, 2026