KTM 250 ADVENTURE - VERY APPEALING

This motorcycle has an elder brother, the 390 Adventure, which is an excellent machine any which way you cut it. It looks rugged, has a powerful engine putting out a healthy 44 bhp and is exciting to ride. 

It is also somewhat expensive, and the truth is that not everyone can handle 44 bhp – and this is why the 250 Adventure makes for such a sweet spot. In a market that has 250cc motorcycles of all sorts, it’s also the first proper adventure touring bike, which increases its appeal. 

You’ll find it difficult to distinguish the 250 from the 390 at first glance, because they’re the same motorcycle with different engines and feature sets. 

You get a couple of pretty standard colour schemes to choose from – black and orange – and since this is a KTM, you may as well go with the brighter shade. A little colour in your life doesn’t hurt, right?

I love adventure sport bikes and i personally own 2 xpulse 200 and the 390 adv and i have amazing experience with these 2 and 250 adv is just heaven for entry level bikers and it is totally refined and no different than the 390 adv and it is also budget friendly for entry level bikers i can say awesome bike.

What’s new? KTM has rummaged the 250 Duke’s bin for the motor and sprockets while picking up the chassis from the 390 Adventure. The halogen headlamp and switchgear is sourced from the 125/200 Duke and there you have it – the recipe of the 250 Adventure. The LCD cluster replaces the rich TFT of the 390 which means you there’s no Bluetooth anymore but the information displayed is aplenty; which is typical of a KTM. You can also switch to off-road ABS (switches off ABS at the rear) using the cluster. Suspension and braking setup is exactly the same as that of the 390 Adventure as well. The wholesome electronic package is given a miss which means there’s no quickshifter, traction control and ride-by-wire as well.

What is it? The ADV 390’s smaller counterpart is a more-affordable and and displaces lesser capacity. The resemblance with 390, espespecially the big bike feel, is something I absolutely admire. However, times have changed and today you get adventure tourer bikes that are pretty much the standard when it comes to do-it-all. In the sub-500cc segment, today, we only have KTM that has got two bikes for the discerning customer. There is the 390 ADV and now the 250 ADV. I happened to swing a leg over the latter and while the specs suggest that it is sparsely-equipped by KTM standards, how is it on the road? Or better still, off-road. Can you tour on it comfortably? With a pillion? All these questions have been answered in this KTM 250 Adventure review.

The KTM 250 Adventure design is very much inspired from the 390’s. At first, I was hard-pressed to notice the changes. This being said, look closely and you will find the headlamp is no longer a full LED unit but instead has a halogen lamp (quite bright in night). There are LED DRLs though. The tyres are of the same size as the 390’s but here you get the affordable MRF Meteor units. On the flanks, you will notice the 250 badging whereas the colour schemes too are different. A LCD instrument console has been added and it misses out on those fancy TFT colour schemes of the 390, as well as Bluetooth connectivity. The meters though are easy to understand and can be read under bright sunlight. There is also a 12V charging socket right below the instrument binnacle.

You get various functions on the go like the twin tripmeters, and other bits you will be familiar with other 2013-14 KTM bikes. An off-road ABS mode is available and it disengages ABS to the rear wheel. Whether you like it or not, the mode stays on even if the bike is switched off and the next time you thumb the starter, ABS on the rear wheel will still be off. You got to manually switch it back on. This KTM runs the same engine as the 250 Duke. The sprocketing has been altered to make the 30hp/24Nm, 250cc engine to give more mid as well as bottom-end punch. This being said, the bike isn’t quite happy at a higher gear and lower speed combination. You need to twist the throttle a bit more than you will, at all times. Third gear at 35kmph is something the bike is happy at whereas for speeds as low as 15kmph, first gear works. There is a slipper clutch provided for the 6-speed gearbox that minimises rear wheel hopping during aggressive downshifts. The clutch pull is quite light, however there is no adjustment here and neither is there any for the brake lever.

Mileage-wise, I am happy to report that with its 14.5-litre fuel tank, a rider can easily do 500km. The KTM 250 Duke is a motorcycle that plugged the gap between the 200 and 390. The 250 Adventure on the other hand tries to be the entry-level KTM adventure bike, alloy wheels notwithstanding. KTM bikes have always been value-for-money for the performance they offer. I am excluding the 125 series from here because they are grossly overpriced.

KTM 250 Adventure Summary 250 Adventure key highlights Engine Capacity 248.8 cc Transmission 6 Speed Manual Kerb Weight 177 kg Fuel Tank Capacity 14.5 litres Seat Height 855 mm Max Power 29.5 bhp The KTM 250 ADVENTURE is the lightweight entry into the exciting world of KTM travel. Perfect for daily commuting and even venturing out a little further into the unknown, this compact, powerful, and agile all-rounder will keep you going long after the paved roads have ended. On tarmac, this bike is sporty and loads of fun to ride, it then draws on KTM’s rally experience to ensure it is capable when the terrain gets a little rougher. Its distinctive design was inspired by the successful KTM rally bikes, but their influence is not limited to just the design, long days in the desert teach you how to balance comfort and performance when travelling great distances.

The KTM 250 Adventure is the smallest motorcycle in KTM’s Adventure range. Featuring a liquid-cooled 248.8cc single-cylinder, 4-stroke DOHC engine; mated to a 6-speed gearbox, the KTM 250 Adventure pushes 22 kW (30 hp) @ 9,000rpm and 24 Nm of peak torque @ 7,250 rpm.

The bigger brother, KTM 390 Adventure is also built around the same race-proven KTM 450 Rally’s chassis that’s found on the 250 Adventure.

Suspension duties are taken care of by WP APEX 43mm front fork [with adjustable compression and rebound] and WP APEX rear mono-shock with rebound and preload adjustability. Dump the featherlight clutch and the 250 Adventure gets going in a very relaxed manner. The 250 Duke was always the most relaxed of them all (not considering the 125 Duke obviously) and the same is reiterated here. Below 6500rpm, the mini-ADV feels outright lethargic and that makes you constantly work through the gearbox.

Ride and handling The 390 Adventure is simply outstanding on-road owing to its supremely balanced chassis that allows you to tip it into corners like a sport bike (that’s where the genes come from, so not surprised, are you?). The 250 Adventure is no different; you’ll want to ride this one fast on the straights and even faster in the corners. There’s so much fun to be had that you’ll have a hard time stopping yourself from grinning, under the helmet. The longer wheelbase than the 390 Duke means it is also more stable in corners; especially over broken patches.