2025 KTM 390 Adventure Spied

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KTM is deep into final testing on its new 390 Adventure, which will likely be a 2025 model. (Bernhard M. Hohne/BMH-Images/)

When KTM finally took the wraps off its next-generation 390 Duke earlier this year it was immediately clear that a new 390 Adventure sharing the same improvements would be hot on its heels. And here it is, spied testing in near-final form as KTM puts the finishing touches on a bike that takes a much more serious approach to off-road riding than its predecessor.

As before, the new 390 Adventure shares its platform with the similarly powered Duke, but since the Duke now has a new engine and chassis, those parts are filtering through to the Adventure in the near future. Let’s start with the engine. The latest design is dubbed LC4c, mirroring the name of the larger LC8c parallel twin used in the 790 and 890 models. As with previous KTM engines, the “LC” means Liquid-Cooled and the “4″ denotes the number of valves, but the extra lowercase “c”—a new addition for the single-cylinder in the 2024 390 Duke—means “compact.” While the “390″ element of the name is unchanged, the new engine clocks in at 399cc, up from 373cc for the previous version, with the extra cubes courtesy of an increased stroke, up from 60 to 64mm, while the bore is unchanged at 89mm.

On the heels of the recently announced 390 Duke, the 390 Adventure will share much of that bike’s mechanicals from the engine to the frame. But the new Adventure gets an upright Rally-inspired fairing, a 21-inch front wheel/tire combo, and wire-spoked wheels. (Bernhard M. Hohne/BMH-Images/)

In the 2024 390 Duke, the new LC4c puts out 44 hp, up from 43 hp, while torque rises from 26 to 29 lb.-ft. Not huge increases, but the spread of performance is improved by the longer stroke, bringing the power peak down from 9,500 rpm to 8,500 rpm. KTM isn’t likely to give the 390 Adventure a substantially different tune, and that extra grunt may be even more useful in the off-road-style model than it is in the Duke roadster.

For 2024, the LC4c engine has also become the basis of new 250cc and 125cc singles in some markets—we get the 250 in the US—both with a similar bottom end but a more compact, SOHC cylinder head instead of the 390′s performance-oriented DOHC design, reducing weight, component count, and cost at the expense of some outright performance. There’s a good chance the same smaller-capacity engines will also find their way into Adventure models like the one spied here for markets where there are advantages to the 125cc or 250cc capacities, whether in terms of taxes or licensing.

The new 390 Adventure looks far more off-road ready than the current model. Note the smooth-sided swingarm, which differs from the current 390’s deeply braced unit. (Bernhard M. Hohne/BMH-Images/)

Like the engine, the next-gen 390 Adventure’s chassis is pulled across from the 2024 390 Duke. It’s still a steel trellis design, but completely reworked for revised rigidity and weight. For the Duke, KTM added a cast aluminum subframe, but it’s not clear from these images whether the Adventure will follow suit. One prototype spotted—appearing to be an older one—had a subframe of square-section tubing, while the more finished-looking version is encased in bodywork.

When it comes to suspension, the Adventure veers away from the Duke’s design, and the next-gen bike appears to have a more serious approach to its off-road capabilities than the existing 390 Adventure. Where the current model uses a 19-inch front wheel, the new bike clearly has a 21-incher, allied to high-mounted front fender instead of the existing bike’s tire-hugging design. They are wire-spoked wheels, of course—a change from the cast alloys that are standard on the base 390 (though the US market only gets the 390 Adventure SW at the moment, with spoked wheels)—further emphasizing the off-road intent. The suspension will be from WP, as always, but the alloy swingarm loses the external bracing that’s been a constant presence on previous generations, favoring a cleaner (and easier-to-clean) shape.

There’s updated styling throughout, of course, with KTM’s new family face in the form of stacked headlights surrounded by a separate, coffin-shaped arrangement of LED running lights. We’ve already seen the 2024 990 Duke and the new 1390 Super Duke R Evo adopt this style. The lights are set into a more conventional front fairing than the current 390 Duke, with a tall, upright screen that has the Dakar-style rally-raid look that’s increasingly popular in the class. The screen extends around the headlight, forming the entire upper front fairing and giving a close resemblance to KTM’s real Dakar challenger, the 450 Rally.

We’ve seen in recent years that KTM is moving away from the traditional route of launching all its new models in one hit, trickling them into the market when they’re ready for production. So, while the next-gen 390 Adventure is sure to be called a “2025″ model, that doesn’t necessarily mean we’ll be waiting a full 12 months before it’s ready to be unveiled.

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