ScottRNelson
Mr. Dual Sport Rider
I have a few more things to report regarding the 790R. I took it in for its first service at 618 miles. They left it outside overnight with temperatures in the low 20's and they had to jump start it when I came to pick it up. They wanted me to leave it for a few more hours to check the electrical system, but since the dealer is approximately 20 miles from my house and there had been no battery issues at all, I just took it. I figure that since it has a voltage reading I would be able to see if there was a charging issue. I left it on a Battery Tender overnight and it's been fine since. My 990 Adv had battery issues and I don't want to go through that again, but I think the dealer did something that they don't want to admit to, so I don't consider it an issue.
I took the bike on some interesting dirt trails to the top of a mountain (5300 feet, not super high) and for most of that trip I enjoyed the 790R more than any other bike I've owned, including my XR650L. Only on the steep rocky section did I think that maybe the XR would have been better. I'm quite happy with how the 790R behaves on rough dirt roads. I'm thinking of raising the handlebars a bit more, though. I'll probably do that to both the XR and 790R so that I'm in a better position when standing. This has been an issue for me with all off road riding and I've never bothered raising the bars in the past.
I also took it on a long highway ride earlier this week to Hells Canyon. Over 300 miles round trip. On higher speed highways and on the freeway I'm missing the better wind protection of the 1090R. Still better than the 990 in that regard, though. Heading down into the canyon, there are miles and miles of great twisties. The 790R feels really good on those roads. I liked the 990 on twisty roads and the 1090R was even better, but the 790R is better still. You can make course corrections mid-turn or hit the brakes in a turn and nothing upsets the bike. The handling gives me a lot of confidence. The tires may have something to do with it, because they work well on the street. The Karoo 3 probably has softer rubber, because it doesn't look like I'll even make it to 3200 miles like the TKC-80 on the 1090R.
One concern I've had is how my backside would feel after riding all day. I need to get off of the bike after two or more hours of riding, but overall my knees and butt felt as good as on either of the other KTMs. I seem to be able to move around a bit more forward and back on the 790R than on the other two, which helps a bit.
There have been a number of complaints online about not enough torque from those who like to stay in 6th gear when making passes. I don't mind shifting to 4th for that, and the bike has more than enough power if you do that. I'm happy with the powerband and rarely take it above 6000 rpms. I remember that on the 990 on twisty roads I would be one or two gear higher than I would have used with a Ducati, because the vibration made me want to shift to where it was smoother. The 1090R is smoother than a 990 and the 790R is smoother than either, but I still find myself in higher gears. It has enough power that I don't feel the need to be running at 7000 rpms in the twisty sections.
I mentioned earlier that I couldn't really tell that the 790R wasn't a V-twin, but now I'm thinking it doesn't quite feel like a V-twin after all. It might just be the smaller displacement.
After more than 1200 miles, the bike has averaged over 50 mpg. There is an ongoing discussion on AdvRider (they're all ongoing there) about fuel mileage of the 790. Some claim that the fuel consumption reading is way optimistic. I've kept track for multiple tanks of gas now, and it seems to be off by about 2 mpg around 50. In other words, if it says I got 53 mpg, if I compute it independently it will be 51. That's still good enough. I got about 225 miles per tank on the last two tanks of gas.
The miles to empty reading is not as useful as on the 1090R. First off, it doesn't provide a number until there is less than half a tank of gas. Then it will read something like 60 miles to empty, then ten miles later it will start flashing and say 25. I'll just stick with the trip odometer on this bike.
I've never regretted for a minute buying the 790R. It's exactly the bike that I need for the kind of riding that I like to do.
That's it for now. If I think of anything else, I'll post it here.
I took the bike on some interesting dirt trails to the top of a mountain (5300 feet, not super high) and for most of that trip I enjoyed the 790R more than any other bike I've owned, including my XR650L. Only on the steep rocky section did I think that maybe the XR would have been better. I'm quite happy with how the 790R behaves on rough dirt roads. I'm thinking of raising the handlebars a bit more, though. I'll probably do that to both the XR and 790R so that I'm in a better position when standing. This has been an issue for me with all off road riding and I've never bothered raising the bars in the past.
I also took it on a long highway ride earlier this week to Hells Canyon. Over 300 miles round trip. On higher speed highways and on the freeway I'm missing the better wind protection of the 1090R. Still better than the 990 in that regard, though. Heading down into the canyon, there are miles and miles of great twisties. The 790R feels really good on those roads. I liked the 990 on twisty roads and the 1090R was even better, but the 790R is better still. You can make course corrections mid-turn or hit the brakes in a turn and nothing upsets the bike. The handling gives me a lot of confidence. The tires may have something to do with it, because they work well on the street. The Karoo 3 probably has softer rubber, because it doesn't look like I'll even make it to 3200 miles like the TKC-80 on the 1090R.
One concern I've had is how my backside would feel after riding all day. I need to get off of the bike after two or more hours of riding, but overall my knees and butt felt as good as on either of the other KTMs. I seem to be able to move around a bit more forward and back on the 790R than on the other two, which helps a bit.
There have been a number of complaints online about not enough torque from those who like to stay in 6th gear when making passes. I don't mind shifting to 4th for that, and the bike has more than enough power if you do that. I'm happy with the powerband and rarely take it above 6000 rpms. I remember that on the 990 on twisty roads I would be one or two gear higher than I would have used with a Ducati, because the vibration made me want to shift to where it was smoother. The 1090R is smoother than a 990 and the 790R is smoother than either, but I still find myself in higher gears. It has enough power that I don't feel the need to be running at 7000 rpms in the twisty sections.
I mentioned earlier that I couldn't really tell that the 790R wasn't a V-twin, but now I'm thinking it doesn't quite feel like a V-twin after all. It might just be the smaller displacement.
After more than 1200 miles, the bike has averaged over 50 mpg. There is an ongoing discussion on AdvRider (they're all ongoing there) about fuel mileage of the 790. Some claim that the fuel consumption reading is way optimistic. I've kept track for multiple tanks of gas now, and it seems to be off by about 2 mpg around 50. In other words, if it says I got 53 mpg, if I compute it independently it will be 51. That's still good enough. I got about 225 miles per tank on the last two tanks of gas.
The miles to empty reading is not as useful as on the 1090R. First off, it doesn't provide a number until there is less than half a tank of gas. Then it will read something like 60 miles to empty, then ten miles later it will start flashing and say 25. I'll just stick with the trip odometer on this bike.
I've never regretted for a minute buying the 790R. It's exactly the bike that I need for the kind of riding that I like to do.
That's it for now. If I think of anything else, I'll post it here.