2025 lightweight adventure battle! | KTM v Enfield v Honda v CFMoto | MCN

Welcome to MCN and welcome to our 2025 Small Adventure Bike Test. That's proper. Is it? Yeah, that's a big step. Right, so we've been doing these tests for a couple of years now. 2023 we joined up with Nathan Millward and Road Around Devon. Last year we took the bikes to a track and put them through the paces and hot laps, but we've listened to your feedback. We realised you want to know what these bikes are like in the real world. You want bikes that are confidence inspiring. And we're here to try and find out how they perform and which one is going to come out on top. So we've come to the Peak District. We've had a 200 mile journey up here on road. All sorts of roads from A roads, B roads, etc. And now we've come to this amazing setting. We're in Three Shires Head, which is a famous green lane in the middle of the Peak District. And what a location it is to ride motorbikes. Not easy, but a real, real world test of these bikes. Joined by Karl, he's Deputy Editor here at MCN. Karl, can you tell us what bikes we put up against each other and kind of why? Yeah, so this is always a really popular test. These bikes are great because it's proof you don't need big capacity and to spend big money to, you know, go and do some traveling, go and do some trails. So we've got Honda's CRF 300 Rally. Now that's a 286cc single cylinder. It's a really off-road biased machine. It's £6,599 and it's the lowest weight and it's got the lowest power here. Behind me, we have last year's winner, the CFMoto 450 MT. Now that was mega last year, wasn't it? On road and on the trails. It's the cheapest bike here. It's also a twin, which is really nice to have something a bit different on the test. And that comes in at £5,699. Behind us again, we have the incredibly popular Royal Enfield Himalayan 450. Now that bike is just, it's a crowd favorite, isn't it? You see loads of them around and it's going to be really interesting to see how it copes with some of these green lanes, these big rocks and, you know, if it can really cut the mustard. So they start at £5,750. This is a little bit pricier than that just because of the colour scheme and it's got some crash bars on it, tubeless tyres, a little bit more of an off-road biased setup. But what we're really interested in is to see how these three stack up against KTM's brand new 390 Adventure R. Now this has got all the makings of an incredible, incredible adventure bike. It's got a 398cc single cylinder motor. It's making 44 horsepower. It weighs in at 176 kilos as well. So it's got all the bells and whistles, adjustable suspension, a nice dash, and it comes in at a good price too. So this is £6,699. So we're here to see what is going to be the best. I can't wait. What do you reckon? Genuinely really excited for this one because we've been doing these tests, like I said, for a couple of years and A, they're an awful lot of fun. And you guys seem to enjoy them. We get really some great reaction and great feedback from them, which is really important to us. But like you said, the KTM 390 before was almost like, why have KTM given us this 390? It had a 19-inch front wheel and it felt like a road bike in the geometry. And like, you know, KTM, if there's one thing they do well, that is build off-road bikes. So they've clearly listened to the feedback. They've taken this bike on and it really does have the potential to be, like you said, disruptor, I think is a great way of explaining it. You know, it's got everything you need, but we need to actually find out how it performs on what it's like in the real world, which is why we've come here to this sort of challenging environment. You know, we're not here to break lap times. We're not here to push them to the absolute limit. But what I feel we can do is really get a good understanding of what these bikes are in a fairly technical terrain, and that gives a very good steer of what they'll be like to live with day in, day out. This test is brought to you by Rebelhorn, a relatively new player in the UK motorcycling market. Now, we've all been wearing their kit across this test. We've been wearing the Cubby and Hiker textile set alongside the Defender boots. We've been using them on-road, off-road in a variety of weathers. They've been really comfortable and most importantly, they've kept us safe throughout the test. For more information or to see their range, head over to www.rebelhorn.com. Now, let's get back into the action. Right, so we've completed about 200 miles on the bike so far, riding from the offices in Peterborough up into the Peak District and a real variety of roads from, you know, the A1 and then we've come in some great A roads, B roads, all the way up into some, you know, amazing terrain and gnarly little roads. Bit of wet, bit of dry. So, we feel like we've got a real kind of feeling for the bikes now. So, we just want to, at this point, evaluate their road performance. Starting in fourth place. Yeah, I think we should start with the bike that all of us wanted to ride the least. Okay. And that is Honda's CRF300 Rally. Now, that bike is, you know, it's the smallest capacity, it's the lightest but on the road, it really does feel like it lacks the legs, doesn't it? Yeah, it feels definitely the poor relation to the other three. Like you said, the power isn't great. You know, it hasn't got an abundance of power, which obviously makes it very user-friendly and beginner-friendly. But on the road, if you are actually having to cover any sort of decent miles, it is very much lacking. You know, at motorway speed, you've got no options for overtakes. You can, but you have to try very, very hard. It's super buzzy. And when you're sitting at sort of 65, getting up to 70, it's almost like a chore. And although all of these bikes are relatively small in capacity, that's the one where you jump on and you really feel like it needs something extra on the road. Yeah, power-wise, yeah. I mean, the seating position, the riding position is okay. The screen does a sort of reasonable job of keeping, certainly, the wind off your chest. But the seat's narrow, the seat's soft, which initially feels kind of quite plush. But once you've been riding the bike for any sort of length of time... It's like sitting on this wall. Yeah, not quite as bad. But it's, yeah, I think it's the narrowness of it there. So I think, and it feels quite a sort of a small, tight riding position. So yeah, I think that's definitely fourth place. To go into third place, we decided on the Enfield. It's not a bad place to be. No, not at all. And the motor's good, the motor's strong. But for me, the lack of screen is an issue. I think if you were doing a 20, 30 mile an hour, 30 mile ride, it wouldn't be any sort of a drama. But because we actually put in a fair few hours, you do very much notice it. It's really interesting because it's sort of, these three are fairly close on the road. The Honda's that step behind. The thing about the Enfield as well, especially with all of the crash bars and all that stuff on, it is quite a heavy thing. Like it holds its weight well, but it does feel a little bit lethargic, especially compared to, you know, the CF and the KGM when you're getting into the nice twisty road. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I guess you think it's a small bike. It's going to be super agile, but it's not. Even though it does obviously hold its weight pretty low, not as low as the previous model, I don't think. But for me, I think the suspension's good. I think the suspension works very well. It's non-adjustable shower suspension, but it's pretty plush and it does a good job. But it just, for me, it just, it feels like quite an old school single. The way it sort of revs, it's a very gentle bike really, isn't it? It's like, the way I describe the Enfield is like it's a travel bike. Yeah. It's a bike you can spend a lot of time on, but it just, for me, kind of lacked any kind of sort of edge and excitement on the road. Yeah, it's got the charm, but it sort of lacks the finesse. Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay. So, second place, and it's tight, eh? Yeah, this is really tight. It's really tight. We're going to go the KTM as second. Yep. It's a really nice package. It is good. Look, last year when we had the previous 390, that was amazing on the road. And even though they've gone seriously heavy on the off-road inside of this, it hasn't actually been detrimental to it at all, really. It's still a lovely bike to ride, isn't it? Yeah, I mean, I think, for me, the riding position and the seat position is really good. You know, like, you know, the sort of creature comforts, you know, the, you know, the hand guards, the TFT dash is really nice. The screen's brilliant on it. The screen's really good, you know, quick shifter up and down. Yeah, it's only 200 quid for that quick shifter. 225 quid is really worth having. Yeah, and it feels a very accomplished motorbike. And it's got, what power is it? It's 44, 44 brake horsepower, which is, you know, significant. You're not, you're not lacking. And I think balance-wise and handling-wise, it feels, it's that typical sort of KTM DNA. Yeah, it feels like, you know, you want to ride it, you want to throw it around and it feels, it feels good. I mean, I've enjoyed that. I mean, seat and everything, it's typical, it's quite firm. Yeah, after I spent quite a lot of time in the saddle on that and that was the, like, the firmest seat. You really started to want to move around on it after sitting on a motorway. Sometimes having a firmer seat isn't that much of a problem for long-term. Yeah. You know, sometimes the soft ones that feel really good. If you've got a bit more junk in the trunk, maybe. Yeah, right. So no, we really like that. We really like the, like I say, the riding position, the screen protection, the creature comforts. It felt like a arguably bigger CC, bigger capacity, the way it kind of holds the road and yeah, the balance of the bike. Yeah, they've nailed it. But also, even though it does feel like a big bike, it's not, it doesn't put you off. It's not daunting. Even though the seat height is reasonably tall, it's nice and thin and it's really well balanced. So if you're worried about seat heights on bigger bikes, don't let that put you off with the KTM because it is really manageable. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, bars are nice, position and everything. So the winner, like it was last year, is the CF Moto, the MT450. We've been talking about this a lot, haven't we? I mean, obviously it's the only twin-cylinder bike here and that does make a difference, definitely. It's lovely, isn't it? Like every time I see it and get in it, I forget how good it is. It almost feels like it's a middleweight adventure bike rather than, you know, like an A2 compliant. And the fact that it's the cheapest bike on the test here is just unbelievable, isn't it? That is pretty mind-blowing that it's the cheapest bike here because yes, it's a Chinese bike. Let's get that out there. I don't think that has to be an issue, but it doesn't feel different in terms of the quality, the way it's been put together in any way. Yeah, the suspension's really good on it. The engine's lovely. All right, it's not the smoothest off the bottom, but it's nowhere near enough to put you off. The dash is lovely. Even the screen's adjustable, which is just like a really nice touch. And that's another thing about this bike is how easy and friendly it is. It's comfortable and it's roomy, but the seat height is relatively low. It's easy to get your feet down on it. And it's just a really fun package that, you know, it felt at home on the motorway, it felt at home on B roads. It's just, it does everything you'd want for a bike in this class, I think. And it sounds great. And it sounds the best, doesn't it? Easily the best. And we were actually chatting earlier about the sort of the capabilities of this bike. I said, you know, if you had a group of mates and you decided you were going to go to Spain, Northern Spain to ride something like the Trangiro Trail, the TET, you know, and you had to do the, you know, basically put, you know, put the miles in, goes all the way down to France. I don't think I'd be concerned if I was on those and my friends was on T7s. I think it would absolutely be able to- Punches well above its weight, doesn't it? You could load that up with luggage and it would be no drama at all. And arguably when you're on the trails, it might even be a little bit user-friendly come the end, you know, in the afternoon when everyone's lagging, you know, you might actually find that this is like easy user-friendly bike to be on. So really impressive. So for that reason, the CFMoto MT450 is our winner from our road section. But there is one slight caveat to that and that is the miles per gallon. So Karl- Yeah, I'm not, I'm not being rude. I'm just getting up our figures. So on our test yesterday, we did, as we said, all kinds of roads. So the CF actually had the worst MPG figures of them all at 52.3 miles per gallon. Now it's not actually too much of a problem with that because it has got such a big tank, but it did have the worst fuel figures by quite a considerable margin. The other three were quite similar. So the Enfield came in at 64.6 miles per gallon and the KTM was 61. So that was, you know, a little bit thirstier and the Honda 66.1. Which you'd expect, I guess. Yeah, which you'd expect. So yeah, the CF was considerably worse, but still not bad at all, is it, considering the type of riding we were doing? No, absolutely not. Okay, so that pretty much concludes our road section. Now we need to see how these work in an off-road environment. So we've done a little bit of off-roading. Now we're going to send our resident off-roading expert, Michael Guy, for a spin on each bike. So we're going to start with the CF Moto 450 MT. How are you feeling? What do you reckon it's going to be like? I think it's going to be good. I think I'm a little bit concerned about the tyres. As we know, there's not a lot of grip up there, but we will give it a go and I will report back. Enjoy. Cheers, buddy. Right, so CF Moto 450 MT. You can see it's pretty sketchy. Suspension's not bad. I'm in second gear, a bit of clutch. Pudding quite nicely, to be fair. Soaking up those bumps. So the tyres on this bike are probably the weak point, to be honest. Just because they're quite roadie. I've been quite careful down there. Okay, so as you can see, quite a steppy up there. Bit of trails riding there. It's not bad. It's pretty well balanced, to be fair. And the motor's smooth. That initial tap of the throttle's a little bit harsh, but with a bit of clutch, it's not too bad. A bit more straightforward here. Just down a bit loose there. You can see, I don't know if you can see, it's just need a bit of momentum, but the trouble is, is those... Little dab there. The tyres are just kind of throwing me off. Okay, what a place to ride, eh? Look at this. Amazing views. How deep this is. Steady awake. Feels better once I've got a little bit of speed. Like I say though, these tyres, I'm not too worried about the rear. We're quite lucky it's dry, but the front is just kicking off of stuff. Okay, still think we need a little bit of speed. Sometimes this sort of terrain can be quite intimidating if you're going super slow. Sometimes you're better off with a little bit of speed to kind of roll over stuff. Keeps going in a straight line. You can probably see my front wheel just feels like the front's being just knocked around a bit. I don't know if you can feel that. It's just quite on and offy. I think it's definitely better in second. I don't know if you can sort of see that on the camera, just the way that initial tap is a little bit jerky, which is why steps here. Be a little bit careful with the ground clearance. Easy to get carried away down here. Oh, mirror's come loose. Not ideal. So, CFMoto 450 MT, how was that? It was okay. I think one of the compromising things is the tyres. Just felt like it was just sort of, I was just getting kicked off the rocks, you know? Needed a bit of momentum. You know, you've ridden it. You need a bit of momentum over this stuff. If you start going too slow, everything's an issue. I found second gear was better. There was a couple of times where I was just sort of like bogging a little bit. So I did have to go down to first. It's fairly technical up there, you know, to kind of try and ride it feet up because you have to sort of plot your line. You can't just hit stuff straight. I mean, it's pretty capable to be fair. I think with different tyres, it would be markedly better because I don't think you'd get the front end, this sort of lack of feeling and lack of sort of stability with the front end. Like I say, it feels like you're just hitting rocks and just getting kicked off from side to side to side. But pretty manageable to be fair. I did have to have a sit down and a dab on the way up and really low seat height, which is nice. So, you know, it's quite a confidence-inspiring. You're very much in the bike, I find. You're quite a confidence-inspiring bike. Still sounds mega. Yeah, it sounds awesome when you were coming down. And you know, no dramas. You know, I had a dab and had to stick it into first gear for one little bit. But aside from that, you know, Yeah, and it's worth mentioning as well that these, although they're just sort of standard trails, they are fairly technical for these type of bikes. So we wanted to give them a proper test. And yeah, well, engine good, suspension good, chassis good, riding position good. Yeah, yeah. I feel like you can get in sort of the right position. It's not quite right. I don't know whether the bars could do with maybe tilting forward a little bit just to open up a bit. Yeah, I see what you mean. It's quite back, isn't it? But it's not bad. You know, I feel like you can get into the right position and you can get your elbows out. You can get in a strong position on the bike. So pretty good. Good on the road. Good off road. Yeah, let's get you on the next one. So next up, we've got the Royal Enfield Himalayan 450. What do you reckon this is going to be like? I'm a little bit concerned about the ground clearance. If I'm totally honest, it's a really wide bike and it's a really low bike, which kind of has benefits with the weight distribution. But I'm a little bit concerned about catching rocks on the way up. So I think I'm probably going to be going to ride this one like a trials rider, I think. Nice and gentle. And just kind of pick my lines carefully because I think it'd be very easy to have a moment where you just catch an engine casing bar. It'd be interesting to see how this looks after you compared to the CF motor, especially with these tyres on it. Better tyres. Yes, I'm hoping the front feels a lot better. Mind you, we've just arranged to start it. Better get going. Right, OK, so the Enfield. I did the launch of this bike actually in the Himalayas. See, that feels very wooden. Suspension's actually pretty good. But I think with the throttle connection is quite... See that grounding out there? I haven't really done a great deal yet. So this is what I'm a little bit concerned about. Could be the centre stand, to be fair. It's the only bike on the test with the centre stand. Right, like I say, I'm going to just pick my way up here. I'm just going to go up that step here. I mean, the suspension's quite nice, like I say. Just feels like I can't rush it. Better off in first gear. Interesting to see what it's like on the way down. Feels like there's quite a big gap between first and second. Sort of the slower speed stuff. It's almost like I'd like to be in second. I mean, the throttle connection's good, to be fair. This is probably the most technical bit. Tyres are definitely better. Just not getting that front just kicking off so much. Go down there. There, nice. I mean, pretty nice, to be fair. I think it handled that really well. Like I say, maybe not going quite as fast with it. Taking my time. That sort of bike. I kind of class the Enfield as a travel bike, rather than a sort of focused off-road bike. Because I kind of think that it's lazy. It's like your mate, you know? It's going to kind of look after you when the going gets tough. You just feel like it's going to plod. There we go. Drop down into that. There we go. I mean, this sort of stuff, it would eat up this all day. Quite nice, really. Bit of momentum. You see what I mean, though? It just feels suddenly you get a little bit slower and suddenly second is almost a bit too much. But then when you get a bit of speed like this, absolutely wonderful. Right, okay. So I'm going to go second here with a view that I'm going to be able to just carry a little bit more speed and just kind of... I want to be sort of rolling over stuff rather than dropping off of it, if that makes sense. I feel like you just need quite a lot of clutch, really, to keep it... I feel like there's just too big a gap between first and second. I mean, depending on the sort of kick it, hitting my feet there through that bit. The pegs really are... This is the sort of time you need to be careful. The pegs are wide and they're low. Not like one or the other. On the MT, I had a bit more confidence down here. I'm just wary. There you go. See that? That's me just kicking the side of the... You know, I wouldn't have expected to hit anything there, but that was a fairly substantial whack on the right-hand side. Felt it through the foot peg. You know, it's well protected, this bike, in terms of the crash bars. You know, they're not like pretending. They're proper things. You know, the heaviest bike on test by a long way. And I think that's partly because of the pretty industrial-strength crash bar protection on it, which is a good thing, you know? If you're throwing it at the scenery, you're going to try not to do any of that today. Hit my foot there again. That is a bit of an issue. Really trying to get my toes pointed in. It feels... I feel vulnerable. My feet feel vulnerable, like you could twist a knee. There's plenty to hit here as well. How was that one, mate? It's... The foot rest is just too low. Oh, really? Foot rest is too wide. So, literally, on that MT, I didn't hit anything with my feet. I didn't have my foot pegs going up. I didn't have this big clonking... I don't know, you know, count it. I was talking about all the way up and all the way down. And it makes you feel a bit vulnerable. It makes your feet feel vulnerable. It feels too low. That's the biggest criticism. Also, it feels like there's a big gap between first and second. Oh, really? It's like I wanted to be in second just to sort of keep that momentum. But I was just finding that I was having to slip the clutch. And it's very soft down the bottom, which is great. You know, the throttle connection is really nice. But because it's so soft, you've not got a lot in your hands. So you're having to use the clutch a lot. So I rode differently. I was like, first gear, pick my line, call on 30 years ago trials riding and just kind of plot the way through. You know, I didn't have a foot down or anything like that. But... How did you find the weight and the suspension on it? The suspension, it feels very... Wooden's a bit harsh, but it feels like there's a lot of damping. Yeah. It feels kind of... Them forks have got to do a lot of work to carry it on the road and off-road. And I think the suspension is actually pretty good. Yeah. But it doesn't feel... It doesn't feel particularly dynamic. It doesn't feel particularly alive. Yeah. It feels, you know, it feels like... What I said up there is like, you can't rush it. Yeah, steady. This is the steady bike. But on the flip side, like it wants to be your mate. Yeah. You know what I mean? So you felt comfortable enough on it? I felt comfortable apart from the ground clearance. The ground clearance is, you know, it's a bit of a showstopper for me personally, because I'm worried about catching my feet. Yeah. I'm worried about, you know, you're catching your toes and going that way with... You know, knees don't... Not supposed to do that. You know, so I was a little bit apprehensive, which... But, you know, I chose my line accordingly. Mega. Well, let's get you on... Let's get you on something a bit more ground clearance. Thanks, mate. So next up, we've got Honda's CRF300 Rally. Now, this thing didn't really blow us away on the road, did it? But how do you think it's going to fare off-road? This should be its comfort. This should be its place, really. You know, it's soft, it's forgiving. That trail is, you know, ever-changing. You need to be able to react. I think it's going to be a very user-friendly package. You know, there's not going to be too much power to get in the way of things. You know, it should... This should be its moment. It should look after you, shouldn't it? It should be its moment to shine. Well, let's give it a go. CRF300 Rally. The lightest bike on test. The least powerful bike on test. But probably the bike that's most suited to this type of terrain. The sort of unpredictable stuff where... I mean, second gear, just like easy up there. Nice and controlled. Once you're on the throttle, I mean, it's not sort of silky smooth. That initial throttle connection. But because you haven't got loads of power, it kind of deals with it quite nicely. Excuse me, sort of a fly there. Okay, so we're in second gear here. Whereas, you know, on some of those other bikes, we were first. And that's easy, you know. Like I say, good ground clearance. None of the issues. And this is nice, you know. Smooths it out even more. Just sort of rolling along. Keeping the momentum up. Momentum's your friend on a lane like this, you know. Because it's kind of easy to sort of... Down to second. Easy to sort of overthink it, you know. You see a step up front and you think, you know, you sort of focus on it. Scuff marks on that rock there. That's the Enfield leaving its mark on there. On the Peak District. Like that line I took there. You wouldn't have done that on the Enfield. Because you'd just been worried about the lack of ground clearance and the width of the bike. No such drama with the CRF. Again, you know, up to third. Just carrying a bit more speed. Easy changes of direction. Picking my line. No real dramas. Again, trying not to get too wet. Back into third. Just works. Michael, Honda CRF 300 Rally. How was it? Yeah, that's good. Is it? You don't sound over-enamoured with it though. It's not super exciting. It's not super dynamic, you know, in the throttle connection and everything. It's the least amount of power on the bike on test. But saying that, I'm in second, I'm in third. Yeah. Because you can carry momentum. Because it's the lightest bike on test. And it just feels, it just feels, it feels agile. It feels like you can just, you know, you're looking ahead, you're picking your lines. You know where you want to be and you can get there without any dramas. The suspension is soft. I've said it, you know, there's a couple of light sort of dips and, you know, I'm doing like, I don't know, 15, 20 miles an hour and it's bottoming out. Yeah. But on the flip side... And you're not a big guy either. No, but when it gets gnarly, when it gets a little bit technical, that suspension, you know, it's almost like it sits down in the stroke. You can feel it gripping and it's just sort of traction. And these are the standard tyres, you know. Yeah. And they're not, they're not the best. You know, they look quite knobbly. They look probably the most knobbly out of all the tyres on the test. But it's not, they're not that amazing, you know. So I think we're getting away with it because they're not packing out with mud. But I think, a bit like the Enfield, it's your mate. Yeah. But it's far more capable. When the going gets a little bit more difficult, if you were riding all day and someone said, oh, you know, you're knackered and you've got to get home. This is the, this is sort of the easiest, friendliest. Easiest, friendly thing. I think if you had to put a clock on me, I reckon I'd be quicker on the KTM. Well, we're about to find out, aren't we? Let's rock and roll. So finally, this is the bike that we are really excited for. We've been waiting to test this bike all year. We finally got our hands on it. It's last up. How are you feeling it's going to cope in the, in the world of off-road? I think it's going to be good. You think it's going to be good? Yeah, I think, I think you only have to sit on it and you know the riding position's right. You know, you've got good leverage. You've got, you know, you've got the almost like good stance. I mean, KTM, if they know one thing, it's how to build off-road bikes. Yeah. And I think it feels like that DNA, you know, has filtered down. Yeah, that's exactly what was missing last year from the previous 390. So it's going to be really interesting to see if this fixes that. Yeah. If it can take the win. I'm looking forward to this one. You ready? Yeah, ready. Right. So this is the 390 Adventure R. Surprisingly now, the front feels a little bit light. Probably going quicker though. Straight away, that riding position just gives you the confidence to just attack things a little bit more. Second gear. It's quite tractable. Like I say, had to do that in first on the Enfield. I'm second all the way here. The MT I had to go into first. I'm not sure it's a gearing thing. I think it's just the fact that it's got better geometry. And as a result, you're just able to feel that much more confident. Front's moving around a fair bit though, to be fair. Nice. So that sort of roll on, I mean, I'm using the clutch, but that sort of roll on there in second gear, super smooth. Oh, nearly wanted to stall there though. He just hit that. Rolled up it nice. It was a little bit boggy off the bottom end there. Feels like I've had to cash it a couple of times with the clutch. Nice. Feels alive. Weather at Enfield, like I said, just felt wooden. Yeah, I just feel pretty comfortable on this. Famous last words. Here we go. Yeah, this is a different proposition. Much more confidence inspiring. Nice. Changes direction well. Feels agile. Feels like you can kind of put it where you want. Having just the confidence there just to blip it off those rocks. I mean, I'm in third gear here. That's where I clipped the rock on the Enfield there. No such drama. Front does feel flighty though. Whether that's a tire, whether that's suspension. Nice, that's good. Hey, I'm enjoying this. So this is the bike that we are really excited for. It's the last one that Michael Guy's taken up there, and I'm really interested to see if KTM have built, you know, the perfect small capacity adventure bike. 390 Adventure R, what do you reckon? Yeah, that's proper. Is it? Yeah, that's a big step. Really? Yeah, so like I didn't use first. So you're in second the whole time. Third? Up to third. Okay, so fault for me, the front end feels flighty. When you're hitting the rocks, it's kind of going left, right, left, right. I don't know whether that suspension being a little bit too soft maybe. Yeah, which is adjustable. Although I did do the test of the 390 R. The Enduro. Enduro R, sorry. I ended up winding it up, but it wasn't making a big difference. But yeah, you can adjust that. I mean, you can see it's gotten out. You can see the rims on there. So that's the negative thing. It feels a little bit, felt like I had to catch it a couple of times from stalling. Yeah. Which I think is something we've all pointed out at the bottom. We've all found that today. It was cold though, to be fair, when I set off. I mean, we've obviously run it today, but it had been standing for a little while. But the plus side is that you just feel like it's the best of both worlds. You could be going quicker and just hitting stuff. And it looks off. And it's just going up stuff, no problem. Or you can be kind of accurate. You can change your line. You can pick your way through and it's there. I think if you use the clutch, it's super light. And I think if you can get that balance of the clutch and the power, I'm impressed with it. You know, like I say, I felt a lot. I mean, this isn't about going quick. But I do feel like if you feel confident going quick, it's a pretty good sign that it's working. We wanted to find out what bike fills you with confidence. And this is where the old 390 Adventure really lacked. Yes. And the 790s and the 890s are incredible bikes to ride off-road. They are just brilliant. And it's so nice to see now that they've put that same DNA into their 390, isn't it? Yeah. What took them so long, I do not know. No. But no, I enjoyed that. Yeah, I had a proper smile on my face when I got to the top. That's what it's all about, isn't it? Absolutely, no. Rock and roll. Well, let's go and do a few more trails. Right, so we've come to the end of our test and it's been really good. It's been some amazing riding, amazing place to ride. And it's been really interesting, I think, in terms of what we've learned about each bike. They've all got their pros and they've all got their cons. So given where we are, we're on a lovely lane here. We're going to start with arguably the most off-road focused bike, which is obviously the Honda CIS 300 Rally. It's a proven green laning bike. You know, it's a fan favorite, let's say. Very, very popular. And it does do what you want if your bias is very much on the off-road side of things. I think if you have to start introducing a lot of road miles, then you need to start maybe considering some of the other bikes on test day. But as a green lane bike, I think pretty much whatever ability, I mean, I enjoyed riding it, you've enjoyed riding it. Our videographer, Joseph, who's done a lot of miles on the Himalayan, and we had a bit of a tricky lane and I said, jump on the Honda, jump on the Honda, it will be easier. He didn't believe me, but then he actually did it and it worked well. And he kind of admitted I was right, which is nice. So what's your take on the Honda? I'd say for the road miles, it's the key that you take last. And that was the same across the board. But when you're getting into sort of the harder off-road stuff, it really does hold your hand, especially if you're not as confident off-road or you haven't done as much off-roading. I'd say it's much user-friendly of the bunch. Yeah. It just really looks after you. It's not intimidating. Sure, it looks high, but it's really light. It's really well balanced. It's just really easy to ride off-road. If you're pretty much purely doing off-roading, bimbling around, you don't want too much power. It's a cracking choice, but road miles, it just doesn't cut the mustard, especially when you're on the motorway. No, exactly. And I think, like you said, the power's soft, the suspension's soft, and even, like you say, it is high. But actually, when you sit on the bike... It just goes straight down. You know, it sits a lot lower. The seat is actually quite soft as well, so it's easy to get your feet on the ground. For me, I've mentioned it already, but just the riding position, I don't think is good. I think it's just too short from your feet to your hands, which is a bit of an issue, I think. And I think more experienced riders will probably... You run into those limitations, don't you? Yeah, you'd want a little bit more. Okay, so moving on on the other end of the scale, from a road perspective, which one, we've obviously covered this already, but the CF Moto is, I think, the most fun, the most accomplished road bike here. It's an exceptional road bike. It feels far bigger and far more purposeful than just an A2 adventure bike. It's almost like a sort of middleweight X. It does. That motor is lovely. It's really fruity. It's really punchy. And it's just a pleasure to, you know, ride for miles. We've done a lot of miles, hundreds and hundreds of miles on and off roads, and the CF is just brilliant, isn't it? Yeah, I mean, it's smooth and it wants to rev, I think. Everything else here are all singles, so having a twin on the test, it's... Yeah, it's enjoyable, isn't it? Yeah, and we've mentioned it again, it sounds great, you know, for this little bike, it sounds really good. And off-road, I mean, it's not a bad motorbike at all. I mean, I think we've been a little bit let down with these standard tyres, but we wanted to run things on standard tyres, so that has been a bit of a compromise when the conditions have been slippery. I'd say that was its biggest limiting factor. It's still really nice to ride off-road for, like, drier days, it's brilliant. Even on this type of terrain, where it's rocky, it's not too muddy, it's really easy to ride, the seat's really low, it's a nice position, and it's really just, really forgiving, and really balanced. I really enjoy it. I guess the only thing is, it is sort of physically the biggest bike here, so if you were ending up in a situation where you're having to sort of push and shove a bike, it probably wouldn't be the one you'd want, you know, as hold of the handlebars. But I'd still rather be pushing and shoving this than the Royal Enfield Himalayan 450. Yeah, I mean, the Himalayan is, the way I view this bike is it's a great travel bike. It sort of wants to be your friend, it's an easy-going bike, but it's not as capable off-road. I mean, look, we've seen people ride them hard off-road, and it is possible, but I think its restricting factors are the ground clearance and the width of the bike. You know, if you end up in ruts, if you end up in rocks like we were yesterday, that's the only bike that you're sort of consistently hitting the ground with or hitting the side of banks with, you know, and you could argue that's down to the rider, but ultimately, you know, I rode that, the same track on all these bikes, and that's the only one that's happening with. But on its plus side, it's got a lot of charm still, you know, and the suspension's good. It's not all non-adjustable, but it does a very good job of... It covers a lot of bases, doesn't it, on-road and off-road. It really does, and I think ridden in isolation, you wouldn't be disappointed with the Himalayan because it can take you pretty much everywhere you want to go on the road, and it'll take you pretty much where we want to go off-road. So it is a very accomplished motorbike, but in some ways, you're pitching it against a bike that's very good on the road, and you're pitching it against a bike that thrives and is built for off-road, so... Yeah, I think what I'd like to add to that as well is we had a variety of testers on this test, and for me, I love getting on the Enfield. It's really nice and casual and gentle, but for what I like to do, it just lacked a little bit of sort of zest and excitement, and that's sort of where we come to the final bike on this test because we were really, really excited to see how the KTM 390 Adventure R sort of coped with the real world, coped with green lanes, coped with motorways, coped with B-roads, and it hasn't disappointed us, has it? No, it hasn't. I mean, first of all, I think it's the best-looking thing here. Yeah, it looks like a rally bike. Yeah, I mean, yeah, the proportions, I think, are absolutely spot-on, you know, like we've covered, you know, the previous 390, it wasn't right. You know, it had fundamental flaws with the chassis, footpeg position was awful. You felt you were going forward, 19-inch front wheel, you know, and KTM have done what they do well and do what they do best and actually built us an adventure bike. And I think from my point of view, from where I am in terms of my experience, it's the bike I would go for on an off-road environment because even though I think the Honda's possibly a little bit more friendlier, I think ultimately this would be more capable, especially if you are on faster stuff, you know, more like these sort of lanes. I think this is gonna, the suspension's better, the suspension's firmer. I think it would just soak up like sort of adventure travel a lot better but still be able to deal with the gnarly stuff. And then to add, you know, add another layer to the sort of credentials of the bike is that it's very, very close to this in a road situation, isn't it? And we, you know, we love this on the road and this is only a few percent behind really, isn't it? Yeah, so we always sort of sit down and chat after we've been riding, we swap bikes and it was really difficult to sort of pick a winner. We've sort of come to the conclusion that it depends on what you want from your bike because this KTM is exceptional. If you wanna be doing more of the off-roading stuff, if you want something a bit more capable, if you want something a bit more hardcore, this is the 390 Adventure that the 390 Adventure always needed to be. Yes. It's really been impressive but the way that they've still kept that road manners just makes it a really complete machine. It's bloody brilliant, isn't it? It is, it's a great bike and it's engaging, you know, you get on it and it puts a smile on your face. You know, as soon as I was doing those trails yesterday, you know, it was the last bike I rode and, you know, straight away I found myself in a gear higher, felt really good body position and you can like, it's engaging, you know, you can feel like you wanna, you can sort of, you know, attack stuff within reason, you know what I mean? Whereas the others, the Honda's incredibly capable but feels soft, this is like a travel bike, I think this is like, wants to be your mate and this sort of, you know, excels in a road environment. So, I mean, in summary, it really does depend who you are and the type of riding and that isn't a get out, you know, I think for me personally, if I was gonna be choosing one of these bikes, it would absolutely be the KTM because it delivers on road, great fun on road and I think it is ultimately the most capable in an off-road environment. This is an awesome end to what's been an awesome test, we've done probably three, four, 500 miles, we've done some epic lanes, we've done some epic roads and we've got far more of this stuff coming for you. We've got another test in the works, we're gonna do the DRZ4S versus that KTM's little cousin, the KTM 390 Enduro R, so I can't wait for that, that's gonna be a bit more hardcore because they're a bit more focused and we've got loads more awesome group tests coming up for you, so please make sure you like, subscribe, leave your comments below, let us know what you think of this and yeah, we'll see you soon.