KTM has introduced a new motorcycle, the 790 Adventure R Rally, and also invented a new category of motorcycle, sort of.

The 790 Adventure R Rally is an upgraded version of the 790 Adventure R, which is itself an upgraded 790 Adventure (It’s sort of like that sci-fi movie, Inception). Anyway, what you’re getting is a motorcycle that KTM says is “the most travel capable rally bike.”

Waitaminnit. Does that mean KTM has invented a new category of motorcycling? Rally-touring? Like sport-touring, but with rally raid racing as the objective? You’d think it’d be tough to find many people in this riding genre, although a few come to mind (Lyndon Poskit, and Egle Gerulaityte are examples).

Maybe that’s why KTM is only building 500 of these motorcycles.

The Rally is different from the standard Adventure R in several ways, but most notably the suspension. KTM used WP’s XPLOR PRO 7548 fork and XPLOR PRO 6746 shock, which were both originally offered as upgrades to the Adventure R model.

The forks use cone valves, which KTM says is a new design that provides much-improved damping, more resistance to bottoming out, less harshness, and more comfort. KTM also says the new forks are easier to adjust, with external adjustment possible instead of changing the internal shim stack. And finally, the new shock and forks offer 30 mm more travel. The seat height is raised to 910 mm.

Seeing as the suspension from the 790 Adventure R and 790 Adventure will swap out, it’s interesting to speculate as to whether this even higher-spec equipment might also swap into the standard 790 Adventure model …

There are several other differences between the Adventure R and the Rally model. The Rally has an Akrapovic exhaust, and the Quickshifter+ is standard. Rally-style footpegs are standard, along with a straight one-piece seat. Paint is also specific to the Rally, and there’s carbon-fibre bodywork as standard as well. KTM also included rims that are more narrow, for offroad performance. The rims require tubed tires, unlike the standard 790s which are tubeless.

We haven’t seen Canadian availability or pricing yet for this model.

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