KTM 390 Adventure vs BMW G310 GS: The Off-Road Bike Battle
KTM had showcased the bike few weeks back, and now we finally know how much the 390 Adventure is going to cost.
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KTM has finally announced the price of its 390 Adventure bike for the Indian market, and as expected, the bike is priced lower than the BMW G310 GS. Both KTM and BMW have local partners, Bajaj and TVS respectively, who help them assemble the bike within the country.
KTM has priced the 390 Adventure at Rs 2.99 lakh (ex-showroom) and promises better performance and quality than other off-road bikes selling in the country. But more importantly, KTM’s pricing is 50K lower than the Rs 3.49 lakh you’d pay to buy the BMW G310 GS. So, now the question we’re asking is, which one offers better value, performance, and quality of course.
This comparison piece takes a closer look at all that.
Design
With the 390 Adventure, KTM seems to have borrowed a lot of design elements from the 790 Adventure to come up with its scaled-down version, which is not a bad thing at all. But more importantly, KTM seems to have followed the basics, which is essential for touring purposes.
The 390 seems durable with its steel trellis frame and the front-end USD forks are fully adjustable to suit the needs of the rider. There’s a definite touch of aggression to the bike especially with the headlamps, which we expect from KTM, and people might find it to their liking.
The BMW G310 GS also gets a trellis frame chassis, although the rear portion is different from how the Apache RR310 looks (the first BMW-TVS partnered bike in India).
For the G310 GS, BMW has gone for a taller stance, making it look imposing on the road, even though it isn’t biggest in terms of size. It’s fair to say the G310 GS is nothing but a fairing version of the G310 R but with few tweaks to make it off-road capable. The G310 GS gets regular halogen headlamps and features a full LCD instrument console with standard switchgear for the segment.
Power
The 390 Adventure is all about performance, even though it carries a smaller engine compared to the Himalayan. The bike gets a BSVI compliant 373cc single-cylinder liquid-cooled engine mated to a six-speed gearbox, which is capable of churning out 44PS of power and 37Nm of torque.
This is KTM’s first bike in the market to feature the BS6 engine, and other bikes in its fleet are expected to be updated in the coming months.
The BMW G310 GS gets a single-cylinder, liquid-cooled 313 cc engine that puts out 34 bhp of power and 28 Nm of torque.
The engine is mated to a six-speed manual gearbox and BMW has managed to get the most from the engine on offer. Having said that, the G310 GS falls way short of the 390 Adventure, and the numbers tell you the story.
More Features
So what else can we compare with these bikes? For starters, both KTM and BMW are providing safety on the bike with over 320mm and 300mm front discs respectively. At the back, the bikes come with 220mm and 200mm disc brakes. Both the bikes offer dual-channel ABS, which has become mandatory for bikes in this segment.
Apart from that, the KTM 390 Adventure is feature-loaded in its own ways. The bike gets lean angle sensitive Motorcycle Traction Control (MTC), which offers better traction on dirt & loose gravel surfaces.
It also supports cornering ABS, offroad ABS for better steering, quickshifter+ for smooth clutch-less up and downshifting. In addition to this, riders can connect their phones via KTM MY RIDE app to access calls, music and even turn-by-turn navigation, which shows up on the TFT screen.
In comparison to this, the BMW G310 GS is slightly dated with its feature set, and people would have probably expected more since it costs more than KTM’s adventure bike.
Also, the KTM 390 Adventure weighs only 166 Kg, which is pretty light for an adventure-tourer, gets 200mm of ground clearance and packs a 14.5-litre tank. Having said that, the BMW G310 GS is no heavyweight either, as it measures at 169 kg but it gets a 11-litre fuel tank only, which might not be ideal for long touring.
Which One is Better?
So as you can see from the details given here, the KTM 390 Adventure isn’t only proving to be cheaper than its closest rival, BMW G310 GS, but also fares well in terms of performance as well as feature set on offer.
BMW's bike not only costs more but even its after-sale service support, as well as spare part costs, have also been claimed to be pricey.
All said and done, if you’re looking for an adventure bike with speed and features that will work to your benefit on off-road conditions, the KTM 390 Adventure is your best bet, that too for under 4 lakh. But if you’re keen on buying at least one BWM-branded vehicle, the G310 GS which costs over 4.2 lakh (on-road) could be your most affordable choice from the German automaker.
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