In Part 2 of the Arctic Challenge the BMW F800GS, R1200GS Adventure and KTM 990 Adventure take to the dirt as we try to find the king of the adventure hill, in our survey of the three most asked about adventure bikes for 2009.

Three top-notch adventure bikes, the KTM 990 Adventure BMW R1200GS Adventure and BMW F800GS and it all comes down to the Dempster Highway – seven hundred and thirty-six kilometers of dirt, clay, mud, shale and gravel… The perfect environment for the ultimate adventure comparison.

I’d boxed this guy up and shoved him away into a corner of my mind. I thought I’d moved on to more sensible things like adventure and touring, replacing this raving self with a better person, a responsible rider who takes the high road and chooses his moments. Then KTM comes along and hands this speed-ist hooligan a 155hp and 88.5 lb-ft of torque sledgehammer labeled RC8.

Periodically in a review I dance around the topic of whether a bike “spoke” to me or not. This is not one of those reviews. Let’s cut a swath of broken daisies through the meadow and directly to the point; the KTM 950 Super Enduro R is pure delightful lunacy.

Born under a sinister star the 2007 KTM 990 Super Duke has the angular good looks of an Austrian super-villain, who, rather than set his sights on world domination has engaged …

Photo: F. Montero
It seems that when it comes to motorcycles, the Euros always get the special stuff. Lots of exotica that we never see. Makes sense I guess since they seem to be more interested …

Late 2003, the KTM 950 Adventure arrived here in North America with much fanfare.  Almost a year later, the big KTM is still very much that intriguing new kid in town as ever.
KTM is predominantly …

Every junior quantum physicist knows the creature: Schrodinger’s cat – a feline in a sealed box with a vial of poison.  The cat may be alive or it may be dead, killed by a quantum …