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Real-world review · UK and Europe testing
There are plenty of motorcycles that can go off-road. There are considerably fewer that make you think this is exactly what this bike was built to do. The KTM 690 Enduro R is one of them, provided you're happy on a big single and you accept KTM ownership in the traditional sense.
By Mat StuckeyFounder of Holloway, rides everything he reviews
I've spent a good amount of time on the 690, including recently taking one from the UK into Europe across a genuinely wide mix of terrain, and I think I've finally got a proper handle on where this bike actually fits.
The short version: it's genuinely fantastic, and for a lot of people I think it could be the best motorcycle for green laning and adventure riding, full stop. There's just one significant condition. You have to be happy riding a big single-cylinder motorcycle, and you have to accept KTM ownership in the traditional sense, because things do go wrong.
The 690 sits somewhere between categories. It's an enduro bike that's capable of covering real distance on the road. It's a big single, but not a traditional old-school thumper. It's light enough to be genuinely useful off-road, but powerful enough to be properly entertaining on the road, and that combination is what makes it so good.
The current 690 Enduro R uses KTM's 693cc LC4 single-cylinder engine, producing around 74 horsepower, with a six-speed gearbox and a fairly sophisticated electronics package, selectable ride modes, traction control and cornering ABS. That's an enormous amount of performance for something that's fundamentally an off-road motorcycle, and you feel it.
The LC4 is probably the defining characteristic of the 690. It's still unmistakably a single-cylinder motor, with the big thumping character that makes these engines so entertaining, but KTM has developed it into something surprisingly sophisticated, perfectly capable of motorway miles when it has to be. Get off the motorway and everything suddenly makes sense: masses of torque and enough outright performance to make the 690 feel almost ridiculous next to a conventional trail bike. Ride gently through technical sections, use the torque to pick your way through difficult terrain, then open it up on a fast trail, and suddenly you're riding something that feels much closer to a competition machine. It's addictive.
That said, if you want the smoothness of a parallel twin, you aren't getting it here. There's real vibration, real character, a big piston going up and down inside that engine, and while KTM has civilised the LC4 a lot, you still know you're riding a big single. I love it, but I can completely understand why someone might prefer a twin-cylinder 700 instead. The 690 isn't trying to be a miniature adventure tourer, it's an enduro bike with a huge amount of road ability, and that's a genuinely different proposition.
This is where the 690 really earns its keep. As a green-laning weapon, it's almost everything I'd want, and the biggest single reason is weight. A modern big adventure bike can be incredibly capable, but put 230-250kg of motorcycle into a muddy rut and things get difficult fast. The 690 doesn't have that problem anywhere near as badly. It's still not a featherweight trials bike, but next to the big adventure machines it's genuinely manageable, and that changes what you can actually ride: attack a muddy section rather than worrying whether you'll get it back up, change direction easily, move the bike around underneath you, ride standing up naturally. When the trail gets rough, the suspension and chassis are built for exactly that.
The difference next to something like the Benelli TRK 502 X is enormous. The TRK is perfectly capable of gravel and light trails. The 690 is designed to make difficult trails fun.
The 690 gets proper off-road suspension, and it shows. Long-travel WP suspension deals with ruts, rocks, jumps, holes and rough surfaces without you constantly worrying about bottoming out or upsetting the bike, and the chassis stays composed moving quickly over difficult terrain. A bike can have plenty of power and still feel horrible off-road if the suspension isn't up to the job. The 690 doesn't have that problem, you can carry considerably more speed over rough terrain than on a big road-biased adventure bike, and when you make a mistake, there's more forgiveness.
Weight is the other half of the magic. The 690 Enduro R is around the 150kg mark without fuel, depending on model year and specification, roughly 162kg ready to ride. That number doesn't sound especially impressive until you put it next to a 230kg adventure bike, then it becomes transformative. Every kilogram matters off-road, especially when it's high up, especially when you're tired, especially when the trail is muddy, especially when you've just stalled halfway up a hill. The 690 feels like a proper motorcycle rather than something you're wrestling through the terrain, and that's probably the biggest reason I rate it so highly.
We recently took one from the UK into Europe across a real mix of terrain, motorways and faster road sections, mountain roads, smaller European roads, and then progressively more interesting ground, and it was a brilliant demonstration of what the bike can do. The 690 handled the transition between all of it well, but the interesting thing was how different the bike felt the moment we got off the tarmac. On the road, you know you're riding an enduro bike that's been asked to do touring duty. Off-road, it was in a class of its own, the point where every compromise disappeared: the suspension came alive, the weight became an advantage, the engine became an asset, and suddenly you're riding something that feels completely at home.
This is where we need to talk about KTM, because it'd be doing you a disservice to write this as though the bike was flawless. It isn't. During the trip we developed a slow oil leak, nothing catastrophic, but not something you want hundreds of miles from home. We also had an issue with the front wheel bearings, and as they deteriorated, the resulting highway vibration became almost unbearable, particularly frustrating on a bike that's otherwise perfectly capable of covering real distance. The irony is that the bike was at its happiest the moment we weren't on the road. Once we got back onto non-tarmac surfaces, the vibration issue mattered a lot less and the 690 went back to doing what it does best.
This is the elephant in the room. KTM has a reputation, some of it probably deserved, some of it probably exaggerated. If you're considering a 690, go into ownership understanding it isn't necessarily going to give you the same start-it-every-morning-and-forget-about-it experience you might expect from a Honda. Sensors, bearings, seals, fasteners, electrical components, oil leaks, the occasional KTM-specific gremlin, things can go wrong. None of that changes what the motorcycle is when it's working properly, and when it is, it's bloody brilliant. I'd rather be honest about that trade-off than pretend it doesn't exist.
This is one area where modern KTMs have moved a long way from the old stripped-back enduro idea. The 690's ride modes and rider aids genuinely make sense: off-road, being able to alter traction control and ABS behaviour is useful, more intervention when conditions are slippery, less when you need more freedom from the electronics. The off-road ABS setting specifically is one of those systems you don't think about until you ride a bike without it.
Ours now has a Rade Garage navigation tower fitted, and I love it. The standard setup is fine, but if you're turning the 690 into a proper lightweight adventure or expedition bike, a navigation tower is one of the modifications that genuinely makes sense, a much more practical navigation setup, and it looks fantastic too. You can build the 690 into exactly what you want: keep it relatively standard for a lightweight green-lane weapon, add navigation, luggage and protection for a lightweight European adventure bike, or do both, which is where it really shines.
This is where the compromises become more obvious. It's good, but it's not a road bike. The riding position is upright and comfortable enough, but you're sitting on a relatively narrow enduro-style seat, and after several hours you know about it. Wind protection is basically nonexistent next to a proper adventure bike, and the tyres and suspension are both set up with off-road ability in mind, not outright road comfort. But the engine means you can still travel, if I need to cover 200 miles of road to get somewhere interesting, the 690 will do it, I'd just rather not spend all day doing it.
I'd give it around 7/10 for touring, which is actually a strong score considering what it is. The UK-to-Europe trip proved it can tour, but it's never going to be as relaxing as something like the TRK 502 X, and that's not a criticism, it's simply the consequence of building a motorcycle around off-road performance. Want to spend eight hours on a motorway every day? Buy something else. Want to spend two hours getting to the mountains and the next six riding trails? The 690 starts looking extremely clever.
The 690 is surprisingly economical for the performance on offer, though riding style has a huge effect once you've got 74bhp from a single-cylinder engine and you're enjoying yourself. The fuel tank isn't huge, so your real range depends heavily on how and where you're riding, worth considering auxiliary fuel options if you're heading somewhere remote.
Maintenance matters more here than on a typical road bike. Oil changes, filters, chain adjustment, bearings, fasteners and general inspection shouldn't be treated as optional, and if you're riding it hard off-road, be even more proactive. That's not unique to KTM, a motorcycle being thrown through mud, water, rocks and ruts needs more attention than something commuting down a motorway, the difference with the 690 is that it's actually capable of being ridden hard enough for that maintenance to matter.
Riding genuinely difficult trails without wanting to trailer the bike there, ride to the trail, ride it hard, ride it home. Also genuinely good for an ACT or TET-style trip without compromising heavily on off-road ability.
Mostly motorway touring, wanting a plush seat and real wind protection, hating vibration, or wanting Honda-level ownership simplicity. It demands more from the rider than most bikes on this list, which is also why it's so rewarding.
For me it's the compromise between its brilliance off-road and its relative awkwardness on-road. You can't have the lightweight, long-travel suspension, huge ground clearance and enduro geometry without paying for it somewhere, and on the road, you pay it. But KTM has got the balance about as right as anyone. The 690 doesn't feel like an adventure bike that's been made slightly lighter, it feels like an enduro bike that's been given enough road ability to go exploring, and that's a much more interesting proposition.
My verdict
Not the best touring bike, not the smoothest, not the easiest to live with, and certainly not the bike for someone who wants completely trouble-free ownership. But if you want a motorcycle that can ride to the trail, absolutely destroy the trail, and ride home again, there's something incredibly compelling here. Yes, we had a slow oil leak. Yes, the front wheel bearings went bad enough that the resulting highway vibration became almost unbearable. That's exactly the sort of thing you accept when you buy a KTM. But once we got onto the non-tarmac sections, none of that mattered, the 690 was in a class of its own. Provided you understand what you're buying, I'd recommend one without hesitation.
Holloway's map shows every legal green lane and byway's difficulty, surface and length for free, so you know exactly how far you can push a bike like this before you're committed to it.
Open the mapThis is a genuine first-hand ownership review, not a manufacturer-supplied test. It's not the bike Mat reaches for to grade lanes for Holloway day to day, that's still the Voge, but it's exactly the bike he'd reach for when the trail itself is the whole point. Your own experience may vary with spec, tyres, modifications and how the bike's been maintained.