My KTM 1190R Adventures Part 1

Hello and welcome guys to my KTM 1190R adventures. I'm going to be bringing you all kinds of behind the scenes antics on this big beast, living with it at home along the coast, enduro riding and of course adventure riding. I recently had the opportunity to ride one of these for the first time during the recce run for the KTM Australia Adventure Rally, which is set to run in March this year. So long story short KTM Australia sent me to Bairnsdale in Victoria to pick up an 1190R, the very bike I'll be using to film both the pre-run and the actual KTM Australia Adventure Rally through the snowy mountains in March. Before this day I'd never ridden any of KTM's current adventure bikes so I figured the best thing to do is head straight into the high country and get a feel for the beast. The 1190R's handling really surprises me. I'm not expecting a bike of this size to be so capable off-road and by capable I mean it comfortably handles terrain that you'd otherwise ride an enduro bike or trail bike through. Standing up it feels like a big EXC except there's 1200cc of engine underneath you. I muck around a bit with the settings and put both the ABS and traction control into off-road mode. I find I can ride the bike much more aggressively in these settings yet the traction control is still there to save your ass if you get too excited on the throttle, which happens a lot. The next morning I meet Dave, a local from Bairnsdale who's keen on adventure riding. I tell Dave I need to get to Omeo to then take the Barry Way track through to New South Wales and into Jindabyne and it's very important I get there by this afternoon to meet up with the KTM Australia crew. Dave's like, I know heaps of tracks through the snowies, I can get you to Barry Way without having to go through Omeo. So with that I've got a guide for the first half of my journey and we're into it. With every turn we take it's obvious Dave is more of an enduro rider as the tracks become increasingly steeper and rougher. He's all over it though with his KTM 690R sporting the Acro muffler and a few adventure basics. I have absolutely no idea where we are but my GPS is tracking my every move and has a destination fix on Jindabyne which is still over 200km away. My fuel range is reading 240km range so I guess it's all good for now. You alright mate? You alright back there? Yeah. Not ideal. Stuck in the middle of Kosciuszko National Park. Pop the rear tyre on the 1190 and no tube. So we're going to pack this tyre full of grass, mountain grass, should be as good as a moose. What do you reckon Dave? I think so. Let's give it a go. Probably better. Probably better. Will this get me to Jindabyne? It's 140km away. Biodegradable. Biodegradable moose. This is going to be a bit of a two-man effort. One of us lift the tyre open and the other can stuff it. While we're stuffing the 1190's wheel with grass we realised it'd be a better plan to actually rob the rear tube from the 690 and fill its wheel with grass, then put that tube into the 1190 rear. Criminal letting good air out of a tyre. It does. Out here that inflated tube is somewhat precious. And we're rocking again. Dave's 690 is a little squirmy at the rear, but he's getting along at a good pace. I'm also grateful he's put my interests first, knowing I absolutely have to get to Jindabyne to begin filming the preview to KTM Australia's first ever Adventure Rally. It'd be a total screw up if I, the video guy, was holding up the show or didn't even arrive. Good to meet you, Dave. Thanks, Adam. Cheers, mate. Safe travels. The adventure continues, I suppose. We'll see if we can get a tube in for an amber or amber, then off home. As it is, the 690's trundling along quite well with that tyre, that grass-filled tyre. Probably needs another PSI or two, maybe. Or you could drop it back 10km an hour. One of the two. You're getting along quite well. Well, mate, thanks again for your help. We got some epic footage this morning. Dave and I go our separate ways, and I'm now completely at the mercy of my GPS. Seemingly, it's got a good fix on Jindabyne, some 130km away, but I think it's taking me way off the common route. I'm generally not fazed by river crossings, even by myself, but the fact I'm somewhere deep in the high country and have a pending deadline has raised the stakes considerably. Drowning the bike is simply not an option. So, one hour after leaving Dave, I'm digging deeper into the snowies and traversing some of the steepest trails I've ever ridden. I'm not freaking out just yet, because the 1190R is handling it really well, but I have absolutely no idea where I am or where the main route is to Jindabyne. With every turn command on the GPS, I'm hopeful it's a link up to the main road. No chance. I just seem to be heading into steeper and higher country. Nearly three hours since leaving Dave, I've crested a mountain into the high plains. I'm nowhere near the Barry Way and have ended up in the heart of the snowy mountains. It's ridiculous, it's awesome, it's spooky, but the 1190R is loving it and the rear tube is still holding pressure nicely. As it turns out, I've fumbled onto the Davies Plain track, which is closed seasonally due to extreme conditions and impassable terrain. And yep, you guessed it, I've ended up trapped inside the road closure gate. I'm pretty desperate here, so my only option is to boost the 1190 up the bank to get around the gate. It's so much steeper than it looks and I only just make it up. I've been trekking these mountains for hours now and evening is fast approaching. I've got to get moving. I can't go that way, I can't go that way, there's a river. Emergency access through private property conditions. Only permitted when river forward is impassable. Yep, yep, yep, yep, that sounds good enough to me. ****, it's not locked. Emerging out the back of Tom Grogan station, the farm gate is all that stands between me and the open road. Thankfully I get to cross the main river by bridge and make my way down to the rendezvous point at Lake Jindabyne. I breeze in to meet up with the collective hierarchy of KTM Australia and all is well. So that's it, the preview film I captured of the following days is already live on my YouTube channel, so check it out. And given I was so impressed with the 1190R, KTM Australia have since given me my very own. It's not the kind of bike that you just wheel out the door without conditioning it to the Australian landscape, so I'm going to bring in Mikey to set her up. Well basically when the bike arrives it comes in a transport mode which just means everything is deactivated. So we just hook it up to this machine here, this diagnostic tool, and basically make the bike come to life. And that checks all the sensors and that for us to make sure everything's okay. Because it is a 1.2 litre engine right? Yep. With an accro. Yes we added that for you for a little bit extra power. Yeah no I like that, I just like the sound of it. I'm not interested in more power, but hey they sound good. So I hope you enjoyed the first segment and be sure to subscribe to my channel. Click on this link right here.