First Ride Review: A Day In the Peruvian Desert with the 2017 KTM 1290 Super Adventure R

What happens when you stuff one of the most tremendous engines available into an off-road chassis designed by a team that's obsessed with dominating in the dirt? You end up with one hot rod of a travel enduro, in this case KTM's new 1290 Super Adventure R. It's 18 grand, 1,301cc, and more than 500 pounds of Austrian aggression, and it's intended to put all other bikes in the ADV category to shame.

I know what you're thinking: This is just another high-dollar, two-wheeled SUV that's not really meant to stray far from the pavement. But if you doubt the off-road intent of this machine or its creators, consider this: At the Super Adventure's press introduction in the coastal desert of Peru, our 120-mile test ride wasn't just nearly entirely off pavement, it was mostly off trail. As in we spent miles hauling ass across open desert, laying fresh tracks across everything from colossal sand dunes to red, rock-strewn terrain that looked as alien as any image beamed back from the Mars rover. It was some of the most exciting stuff I've ever ridden, and the Super Adventure R ate it up without breaking a sweat. (I on the other hand was soaked with perspiration—it is summer in the southern hemisphere after all.)

The 2017 Super Adventure R is an evolution of the outgoing 1190 Adventure R and last year's street-focused 1290 Super Adventure. It utilizes a massaged version of the 1,301cc V-twin found in the 1290 Super Duke R and slots it into a chassis made up of dirtbike-size 18- and 21-inch wheels shod with knobby tires, 8.7 inches of fully adjustable suspension travel, almost 10 inches of ground clearance, standard-issue crash bars, and loads of electronic technology like lean-angle sensitive TC and ABS, cruise control, keyless ignition, LED lighting, and an iPad-like TFT dash.

Climbing aboard the SA-R is a bit of a chore, with a 35-inch-high seat, and it’s hard to lift off the sidestand due to its weight, but once you’re rolling the bike is every bit as enjoyable as you’d expect a premium Euro machine to be. For one it’s very comfortable, with a firm and well-shaped seat, loads of legroom, and a relaxed reach to a wide handlebar. The reshaped bodywork sends atmosphere streaming smoothly around your legs, and with the adjustable windscreen rolled down to its lowest position the humid Peruvian air did what it could to keep my torso cool.

Power, as you might imagine, is abundant. KTM says there are 160 hp and over 100 pound-feet of torque are on tap, and that herculean 75-degree V-twin delivers all of its ungodly thrust in a completely tractable manner. It shudders and barks as you roll open the throttle, sending the speed readout on the big TFT dash and your soul soaring. This engine will ruin you. There are four ride modes to choose from so you can tune the engine dynamic and ABS to suite your mood or riding conditions, and the 6-gallon tank and cruise control mean the Super Adventure should gulp down miles as readily as Austrians gulp down weissbier. I had to develop my on-road impressions quickly, however, because we only spent about a mile on pavement before veering off into the Paracas Natural Preserve.

Within the preserve we had to stick to established routes, which were little more than tire tracks across the sand. Our small group of adventurers rode across a dry lakebed, wound up and over huge coastal hills, and skirted cliffs above the ocean. In places the sea had scooped out picturesque coves that were dotted with families on vacation and fishermen catching their dinners. Just offshore, massive islands of stone rose out of the whitewater to stand guard over the rugged coastline.

The relatively tame riding in the park permitted time to soak up the expansive scenery, get used to the bike’s behavior on loose terrain, and play with the ride modes. Toggling over to the “Offroad” mode stunts power to 100 hp, disables combined braking and turns of rear ABS, and allows loads of rear-wheel spin. It’s fun, but I opted to cue up full power via “Street” mode and switch off TC and ABS completely. Power slides, wheelies, and embarrassingly shrill laughter ensued.

Continental TKC 80s come standard on the SA-R, and in combination with plush WP suspension the Super Adventure was surefooted on rough terrain and slid very progressively. It’s a big bike, but the 1290 is well balanced and my fooling around revealed a remarkably stable machine that tracks true and remains calm and composed well after its rider has started hollering “oh shit!” in his helmet. Don’t plan on sliding and jumping your ADV? No worries. The SA-R is content to plod along at idle and cradle you in sophisticated comfort.

After a catered lunch atop a cliff overlooking the ocean, we exited the preserve and entered open desert, where our ride leader, eight-time New Zealand Enduro Champion Chris Birch, encouraged us to explore, have fun, and “fear the desert.” He was referring to the frequently changing surface and the visual tricks the landscape can play on you. “Start slow and learn how the different terrain behaves.” It was good advice, because slight changes in surface texture or color might mean hardpack or powder, and cresting a dune might reveal a garden of salt rocks, a scree field, a gully deep enough to swallow a truck, a sea of foot-deep corduroy ripples, or any number of other bizarre and exciting challenges. At one point we were ripping through rolling hills that had a thin crust of dark brown covering yellow powder, so our group of riders was throwing mustard-colored roost and leaving bright-yellow tracks arcing across the landscape.

MC COMPARO: R1200GS Adventure, 1190 Adventure R, Triumph Tiger Explorer XC, and Yamaha Super Ténéré ES

Our post-lunch ragefest really served to highlight just how capable this monster of a machine is—I was riding hard and having a great time doing it. I did bottom the fork a few times on abrupt hits and the front end would occasionally wag over washboard ripples, but if I forced myself to stay loose and get on the gas it would always calm down. I also felt that the shock rebounded too fast, as it would kick the bike’s tail up over small jumps unless you loaded the suspension and gassed it as you ascended the obstacle. Those characteristics can likely be tuned out of the suspension (I was too busy having fun to stop and make adjustments), and other than that, my only complaint is that the small-footed sidestand isn’t really suited to soft surfaces.

In the afternoon we rode for miles up a beautiful sand valley, skirting the sloped face of a 10-story sand-dune wall. Due to the soft surface you had to be hauling to keep the bike planing. That meant 3rd or 4th gear and 60 mph or more while standing up and leaning back—for a solid 20 minutes. It was an experience I'll never forget, one because the landscape was so magnificent in its barren beauty (the scope of it all rivals anything I've seen in Alaska), and two because the sound and sight of seven 1290 Super Adventure R's at high revs—throwing roost and laying down huge high-speed broad slides—was compelling enough to make any gearhead's heart race.

And that engine. My goodness what a motor KTM has created. I love the LC8, but who the hell needs 160 hp off road? “That’s exactly what I asked the R&D guys!” laughs Joachim Sauer, KTM’s offroad product marketing manager, who, prior to joining KTM 30 years ago, was a racer with several European Enduro Championships and an ISDE win to his credit. “I said they were idiots,” laughs Sauer, “but the first time I rode it, my mind was changed.”

I was skeptical, too, but as with Sauer, riding the bike swayed my opinion. If you’ve got the space to use it, 160 hp is definitely a good time. Engine aside, I’m skeptical about this category of bikes in general. I mean, who in their right mind is really going to thrash nearly 20 grand and 500 pounds of premium ADV bike off road? The 1290 SA-R’s existence is all the more questionable given that KTM is poised to release the new 1090 Super Adventure R, which is liable to be a much more popular option in part due to its more reasonable $14,699 price tag.

“It’s like in the SUV world,” says Sauer, “where people want the biggest and best. The buyer might not really intend to ride off road, but he wants to know that he has the ability to do so.”

So KTM built the the Super Adventure R because they know there's a market for premium, all-out ADV machines. And they introduced the press to the bike in the rugged desert of Peru because they knew they'd developed a travel enduro that's as capable as it looks. And it is. At $17,999 and roughly 510 pounds with gas, the Super Adventure R is well positioned to take on BMW's G1200GS Adventure (which starts at $18,700 and has a 580-pound claimed wet weight) and Ducati's Multistrada 1200 Enduro (starts at $21,300, 560-pound claimed wet weight).

There are plenty of other big ADVs out there, but in my mind the BMW and Ducati are the only real competitors for this beast. And with the SA-R’s new features and its bona fide off-road chops, I’m not sure the competition has a chance.