2023 KTM 690 Enduro Review. 3000km test

Smaller than 790, bigger than 500. Shape of pear.

This is only ‘part one’ because I’ve found myself rambling. Engagingly I hope. Bikes are safe ground, but first time I’ve enjoyed writing anything in ages.

I needed to sample the six. If I’m fantasizing about buying a totally rooted second hand Adventure bike in 2052 when I can afford it, at least I should try all the flavours.

A fruity 890 was on offer but they’re just steroidal 790’s. Having already gained intimate knowledge underneath a 790, experience suggested lying under the bigger version would not shed more light.

200km old.

Adventure bike positioning statement pour moi. They’re many things to many people. I’m a 95kg ex offroad racer people with about 30y under my belt. This test comes to you from the letters M & X, a dirt world with air, skids, pointlessly competitive pace and shoving an adventure camel through the eye of the extreme-enduro needle.

It’s unlikely I’ll ever buy a GS – too much moose. And I’m not looking for a gazelle, dirt bikes are for proinking (great word) around on and I already have one.

It’s too easy to end up with two of the same bike, ergo, I dont really want a 500 with a big tank. There’s other reasons for that, which i’ll get to.

I’m looking for an antelope. Comfy enough on the road to get to the fun stuff with hair & makeup intact. Smooth and not too much weather on me are my road requirements, offroad it needs enough grunt to make me think twice, decent travel, relatively stiff and doesnt mind air.

Less about me.

The 690 tries to baby-bear like the 350 did for dirt bikes – smoother than it’s smaller brother and more manageable than the bigger.

It’s yardstick is weight, not power – the road boys can quibble over that – what we’re after is something you can pick up alone after it’s decided to lie down. It’s quite the opposite to the 790, where one awkward pickup shot my anus clear across three valleys.

Looks better with baggage. Tube storage protected my knees nicely in thorny sections. rethink required.

We’ll get to handling later but sampling a 500 with a big tank which IS just a big dirt bike (hugely flickable, plush as you like, all gazelle but agricultural at 120kmh along gravel) really showed the engine refinement of the 690. Smooth as butter, plenty of power fully laden for fussless road journeys.

The aero, not so much. A little part of 690 appeal is accessibility and with a dirt bike front it’s not near as daunting as the Starship enterprise expanse of 790 frontage.

Absolutely 100% delivers in terms of marketing niche but 10 minutes in a stiff breeze and you’ll give your left tit for something to hide behind. You’re in the weather like Kate Winslet on the titanic.

Suspension is as it is on the 790, arguably rather stiff offroad, but for something out of the box I loved it. You can back off the clickers to make it more playful (5 or more clicks out from std, all settings), but it is still VERY resistant to bottoming.

To me it feels a little like KTM’s gone with a high fork oil level and steep rising rate; long term I’d plush it up to use more travel and bottom out occasionally. No matter how much I messed with clickers it out it was still a bouncy handful in broken rocks.

Spleen ventage

I HATE the quick-shifter. Proper vicious, crazy-person, I-shall-kill-babies hatred. It could be a me thing but for the love of god I could never reliably NOT foul the fucking thing in a corner.

To be fair, this is only in the dirt, but it nearly has me off every time, every corner in transition from brake to mid/exit. It earns a right royal shouting plus an intense internet search to figure how to turn it off (came to nothing).

To break it down a little, my feet are tilted back under brakes until I lean forward to power-on. At this point my toe will brush the lever. Normal shifters dont really want to move. On a quick shfter it really really REALLY wants to do it’s job, bidden or not.

Two things happen. One, it kills ignition momentarily so you haul your chin to the front mudguard to counter power that doesnt come.

Two, it takes that brush as full consent, excitedly executes a lovely blip then drops a gear. You execute a full scorpion with it revving its tits off and grapple to keep you both out of the bush.

I messed around with lever height and got it better but never erased it.

We will talk about this in the next post.