Words: Bill Hunter.

It’s been over four years since I rode the KTM 890 Adventure R, so I was quite excited to have another ride on what’s claimed to be the best ‘hard-core’ Adventure bike variant. Since then the 890 Adventure R had an update in 2023, mainly cosmetic, with a few technical additions and superior suspension.

Words: Bill Hunter.

Ignore the bike; let’s firstly talk about iconic paint schemes on race bikes, not so much in the modern MotoGP era but from the past, where tobacco advertising dominated the fairings on most of the grid. That was, however, banned in later years in the socially moral attempt of preventing kids from rushing to the store to fill their lungs with the vile nicotine enhanced leaf that their favourite rider was promoting. Brands like Rothmans, Lucky Strike, HB and, of course, Marlboro were discarded, and now we have energy drinks that generate liver health issues in kids who devour litres of the stuff! 

Words: Bill Hunter.

I can’t understand why we still have motorcyclists that turn up their noses when it comes to an automatic gearbox found inside a motorcycle chassis, well in South Africa at least. When I arrived at my local bar on this striking new Africa Twin people, at first, went ‘wow’ that’s cool, until I said it has Honda’s automatic DCT transmission. Then the ‘wow’ factor turned into ‘mmm, ok’, even though they ALL drive automatic cars, WTF!