2022 KTM 1290 Super Adventure R | First Ride

With the 1290 Super Adventure R, KTM squeezes extra juice from its orange flagship. Is the competition pulp? How much is too much? Inside a four-story building in Mattighofen, Austria, there’s no such thing as too much. That building houses the hundreds of engineers, technicians, and test riders for KTM. When it’s time to design any motorcycle bearing the name Super, you’d better bet everyone in that building will make damn sure it lives up to its title. In this case the bike is the 2022 1290 Super Adventure R. Too much is never enough for KTM, but is enough for them too much for mere mortals? KTM revised the 1290 Super Adventure models for 2022 with minor updates to the engine and major changes to the chassis. There’s an updated user interface with a new dash and switch gear. This bike is the most refined Super Adventure to date, and I have to say it looks great as long as you don’t face it head-on; that’s a face only KTM could love. So what is the criteria for a “Super” model designation? One thing: a 1,301cc LC8 75-degree V-twin. This particular example cranks out a claimed 160 hp and 102 pound-feet of torque. On the Cycle World dyno, the Super Adventure R produced 132.3 hp at 9,200 rpm and 87.5 pound-feet at 7,000 rpm at the rear tire. Those weren’t easy numbers to hit; KTM had to maintain previous levels of performance while achieving Euro 5 compliance. It started by reducing friction with revised oil routing, diamond-like coating on the camshaft followers, and...