This content analyzes three small-displacement adventure motorcycles (KTM 390 Adventure, CF Moto Ibex 450, and Royal Enfield Himalayan) to determine their capabilities, value, and suitability for both new and experienced riders seeking accessible adventure riding.
Mind Map
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คลิกเพื่อสำรวจ Mind Map แบบอินเตอร์แอคทีฟฉบับเต็ม
As adventure riding continues to grow in
popularity, more riders are looking
beyond sheer horsepower and massive
machines in favor of bikes that balance
capability, simplicity, and
approachability. Smaller displacement
adventure motorcycles offer the promise
of easier handling, potentially reduce
fatigue, and lower barrier to entry,
especially when the routes get tight,
technical, or remote. For riders willing
to trade outright speed for versatility
and confidence, these mini adventure
bikes open doors that heavier machines
often close. In the most challenging
situations, having a light bike that can
still carry everything you need might
make the difference between exploring
new terrain or not. In the winter of
2026, we set out on three new small
displacement adventure motorcycles from
KTM, CF Moto, and Royal Enfield. both to
see what we could find and how the bikes
performed in getting us there. I'm John
Beck here with Ryan Adams and Troy
Sehon. Welcome to motorcycle.com's
So, we've completed our lightweight free
bike adventure test and we've got a
diverse collection of bikes here. We did
a bunch of different terrain, got a lot
of miles in. I think enough to gain a
pretty good impression about what these
three bikes are all about. So,
>> what are our takeaways?
>> Absolutely. But I mean like I think
going back to the overall idea of this
test and kind of what we were able to
do, you know, these lightweight
adventure bikes kind of make things
easier for everyone, you know, like when
we were out kind of playing and whatnot,
you know, I felt like I wanted to go
mess around a little bit more. I wanted
to go jump a rock or slide out in the
sand, you know, whatever. like it just
wasn't a big deal,
>> you know? So, it's fun to get out on
bike this size and you're not dealing
with a $25,000
500 lb machine, you know? So, I think
what's cool for that is that even if
you're experienced, you can appreciate
how much fun these bikes are. And if
you're looking to get into this, you
know, we've got bikes ranging from 6,000
to 7,700, you know, around us. And so,
the barrier of entry for someone looking
to get into this kind of riding is is
pretty low, you know, kind of all around
the board. Yeah, and we talked about
that too, like even calling these, you
know, entry level bikes is in a way
doing them a disservice because
>> I agree,
>> you know, we've all ridden a lot of
bikes and for the price point, how much
fun these were to play around on.
>> It's, you know, if you're someone that
does have the expensive,
>> like you said, 20 plus thousand bike, right,
right,
>> and you want to have something to go
play around in or maybe you want to do
adventures where you don't have all that
weight, that sort of thing. It
>> these are a great option. A lot of
different choices here. Um,
>> no, it's interesting.
hearing your guys' perspective on these
three bikes from someone who's got the
exact opposite end of the experience
level as you guys do. Uh
the thought of just playing around and
grabbing one of these to play around
with, I immediately gravitate towards
the KTM. It is the smallest. It's the
most nimble. It's It fits me better as a
5'8 30in inseam guy. I mean, it's like
50 pounds lighter than everything else here.
here.
>> Super light. Like, if there was one
thing I would just gravitate towards,
it'd be that. Um, but I'm it's it's
interesting hearing your guys' take
about you could just hop on any of these
three and just go rip and play around
and do whatever. So, curious to hear
more about that.
>> Yeah. I mean, it's a good point, though,
because the KTM is like 388 lbs fully
fueled as tested here. And, you know,
it's probably got the best tires out of
the bunch with the MTOS. And really, in
terms of, you know, what feels the most
like a dual sport kind of bike,
definitely the the KTM. So, it it's
interesting too to think about it where,
you know, Troy's like, "All right, this
one's just the easiest to manage,
right?" and the power comes on, it's
nice and punchy for the single cylinder
engine. But I think I I think John will
agree with me that if we were going to
go out and really push ourselves, we
would also pick the KTM.
>> Well, and also the suspension, too. I
mean, of all these, this thing has the
most travel. Yeah.
>> Uh not necessarily the most
adjustability. I think the CF Moto,
>> correct? Yeah.
>> Takes that. And that it brings up
another point, too. Definitely off-road,
>> this 100% I think rose to the top in the
test. But it's a trade-off, you know,
when you're doing these dual sport
rides. And overall, the motor on that
thing, there's there's so much value in
this. And when you look at the price
point, it's like it's a pretty hard decision.
decision.
>> It's pretty wild. The CF Moto uh IBX
450, it's 6,500 bucks. As tested, this
one has a ton of hard parts on it, which
are really nice to have. Good for
strapping stuff down, good for
protecting the bike, you know, but you
know, without those hard parts, the bike
6,500 bucks. You get uh tubeless cross
spoked wheels, 21 18inch sizes, so you
got all the rubber you could ask for. In
terms of options there, you got an
adjustable windscreen, TFT dash,
adjustable, well onoff ABS and traction control.
control.
>> Uh the fully adjustable suspension. Like
this is a very
>> goes on and on. The two power little
things like the two USB power ports.
Even when I was putting GPS wiring and
popping the seat open, there's like pre
wiring pre-range for auxiliary stuff
just ready to go. I mean, the thing's
clearly geared towards someone that
wants to set it up as an adventure bike.
>> Yeah. And and really do the full thing
like, you know, like we did on this
trip. We did we did plenty of super slab
and roads and twisties and off-road and
stuff. So, we did the you know, we had
the full adventure experience. And I
think that's what, you know, helped the
twin. It's the only twin here. You know,
the other two are Thumpers.
>> So, that that twin engine really puts
the power down smooth. It's fun off-road
in the sand. It comes on really
tractably, but then onroad it's super
smooth. So, you know, on that one, just
droning down the freeway is not so much
of an issue. Yet, some some vibes creep
through on this. I think probably a
little more on the KTM than than the
Royal Enfield. But
>> the KTM is surprisingly smooth. >> Yeah.
>> Yeah. >> Yeah.
>> Yeah.
>> For a small little thumper. >> Yeah.
>> Yeah. >> Yeah.
>> Yeah.
>> The vibes were between the Royal Enfield
and this the vibes were just
>> to me because coming off that these are
both vibing but just very different.
This is this has a more of I guess
industrial feel. >> Um
>> Um
>> Yeah, the Anfield 100%. Um and that's
the weird thing too because it had we
all commented it had a heavier feel as
well, but that one especially with the
hard parts is the heaviest bike. Yeah.
So, fully fueled that with with the full
setup is like 447 lbs to the Royal
Enfield's 435, but the Royal Enfield,
>> it just feels heavy. Yeah. And like, so
back to this one being kind of a
contender, it really carried the weight
well on and
>> offroad. But let's let's take a second
to go back to the engine on the CF Moto
>> and highlight the fact it's a 450cc
parallel twin, but it has the 270°ree
crank. So, it sounds killer even with a
little exhaust. Yeah,
>> I've heard some of these with an
aftermarket exhaust and it's just
>> it sounds so good. But
>> super smooth. It can do highways. It can
do off-road. It's I've ridden this
engine in other packages, too. And it's
>> such a good engine.
>> Which surprises me. Why did they put
such a light clutch on it? Because it
feels like with a little bit more clutch feel.
feel.
>> Yeah. We want to talk about some size
because the CF motor is a stellar
package, but it's not all gravy, right?
>> The the clutch. Yeah, it's super
lightweight, which is
>> that's nice, but it's so vague.
>> It's totally vague. You can't feel the
the the engagement point at all.
>> And in thinking of gripes, that's the
only thing immediately that comes to
mind really. Oh, the the seat, too.
That's that is a CF Moto C, but it's not
the stock one you're saying.
>> Correct. Yeah,
but in my opinion it's kind of
artificially low for like a spec sheet
number because I mean I have a 30 inseam
and with the standard seat it feels like
a low seat so you get a lot of bend at
your knee. This is the slightly taller
seat but like you were saying John it's
it's pretty squishy which is not really
something that you're into.
>> Some people might be. Yeah, for me,
especially doing long long pavement
days, it just seems like foam like that,
you kind of sink into it after a while.
So, it's like comfortable for the first
x number of miles and then that quickly
runs out. But like I point out before,
I'm a fan of like old 990 and 950 seats,
which are basically like 2 by sixes and
because it's like
>> for long miles though, it's like I like
that consistency. Um, it was interesting
too on this one, oddly enough, on the
road that might have been the most
comfortable saddle cuz it would had a
good firmness and it was wide.
>> Yeah, the Royal Enfield. It's Yeah, it's
pretty firm, but it it is wide. wide.
Yeah, exactly.
>> You know, and even with the luggage
strapped to the back, you still had
plenty of room to move around in that
kind of wide seat. It's not above 7 kg
of luggage. That's what
>> oddly enough, on the KTM, I think I've
done the most highway miles on the KTM,
>> and it should not be comfortable,
>> but it's surprisingly
>> not bad. I mean, it's narrow. It's
stiff. Well, stiffer for sure.
>> But I I rode around thinking like, I'm
not dying here. like this is totally
fine. So, pretty impressive as far as
that goes.
>> And the windscreen's nice.
>> And the wind screen's really nice, too.
Yeah. Yeah.
>> No, I mean the like as soon as I got on
on the KTM on the highway, you know, for
well, the first thing that I noticed was
how much top end pull it still has, you
know, really like this feels again, you
know, probably sportiest onroad and off.
You know, the power comes in a little
smoother on the CF Moto, but this one
delivers a bit more punch. But also, I
mean, I I was asking Troy, you know,
after our freeway stent if it felt
flighty because it's thinner, lighter,
you know, uh, and whatnot. But yeah, you
felt and and I felt the same way once I
was on it. So, you know, I mean, the
handlebar is nice and wide, the
windscreen's big,
>> the the bend at the knee is comfortable,
totally neutral. And for me, I I did
think that the, you know, I rode the
infield on the way out here, so put a
lot of freeway miles on that. And I did
feel like I had a little bit more of a
bend at the knee than I would like. Um,
but it's got that little tiny
windscreen, but it seems to do a really
good job. And other than that, I mean,
it's it's not a bad place to pound out
some miles.
>> I I think I got the most highway miles
in on this cuz that's the one I rode out
here on. Um,
>> the IDA.
>> Yeah. And I got to admit, I was really
impressed with the couple things, the
windscreen and the motor.
>> Keep going back to the motor. The windscreen
windscreen
>> usually, it's funny with those things. I
usually don't like adjusting them. And
typically it's I want it gone. I like
the smooth air flow. Surprisingly, this
one I found going up and down a lot and
didn't get any buffeting or anything
like that. So, I was impressed with
that. The other thing that was it was
odd because it does pull at, you know,
once you get up in like 90 mph or
something and it still wants to pull,
but I'm looking down and all
everything's flashing red and I'm in
some sort of red line zone, but you
don't feel it like rolling off. It seems
like that motor has a lot more, but the
TFT is telling you like chill out
because all of a sudden the thing's
flashing red at you. But we never hit a
limiter, I don't think, on it the whole trip.
trip.
>> I think Troy managed.
>> I did because you were curious about it.
So I artificially did for you.
>> I'm taking the blame.
>> I mean, it it'll it'll rev to 9500.
>> 9500. Okay. Where does the flashy thing
start happening?
>> I didn't pay attention.
>> I wasn't concerned. was just concerned
with getting to that rev limiter.
>> I wanted to know when does the power
stop and it was 9500 RPM and then it
hits a limiter and you definitely feel it.
it.
>> And I think for us, you know, when we
did our closed course testing of the top speeds,
speeds,
>> everything was right around 100.
>> You know, the the KTM took the cake at
101, but everything else,
>> this one was 98. What did this
>> CF I saw 99.
>> Yeah. So, I'll pretty much
>> in ballpark. Yeah. almost do the ton,
>> which is crazy, too, because these two
are singles and kind of big displacement
difference between these two. And that's
a twin and they're all in the same ballpark.
ballpark.
>> Yeah. Well, and but like we were talking
about on the freeway, you know, through
our comms at 80 miles an hour, the Royal
Enfield spinning like 61 6200 RPM,000
above that.
>> Yeah. And what was the CF Moto? Like 7500
7500
>> 75 76.
>> Okay. And was a little bit lower like >> Okay.
>> Okay.
>> 71 72 something like that. Yeah.
>> And for a multi-cylinder bike, I mean,
it stands for reason, I guess. >> Mhm.
>> Mhm.
>> But the fact that these two were close
and this one, it makes me wonder about
the final drive ratios. I don't know if
we looked at that to find out if there's
differences between these, what the
difference is,
>> I don't know. But getting back to a
point, getting back to like the newer
rider looking at one of these and
getting back to the uh clutch thing with
the CF Moto, um
I think the newer rider should be aware
of just how much you're going to use the
clutch both onroad and off.
>> And with the CF Moto, we you know,
having a light clutch pull is great. And
a lot of times manufacturers, not just
CF Moto, but others, achieve that a
couple of ways. They can either use uh
lighter clutch springs to achieve that
lighter pull and or less clutch springs altogether.
altogether.
I'm not sure which one the CF Moto has,
but it's like the actual bite point is
not bad. I mean, the clutch pull is
really light as we know, but the actual
clutch bite point is not terrible, but
usually on other motorcycles I've
ridden, the further out you let go of
the clutch, the more you feel the power
engaging, right? Whereas the CF Moto is
you feel that bite, but then the more
you let the clutch out, there's no
difference in how much power is being
put to the back tire.
>> And that's the part
>> that's really confusing.
>> That vaguess,
>> the vagueness of the bite point to full
engagement of the engine to the back
tire. And so,
correct me if I'm wrong, but especially
off-road when you kind of need that
clutch pop to get out of a situation,
you want to know boom, boom, boom,
exactly when to pull the clutch in, when
to pop the clutch out.
>> With the CF, you don't have that feeling
of having that clutch pop to do what you
need it to do. Um, in theory, I haven't
checked out the actual mechanics of the
engine. In theory, you could either add
stiffer clutch springs to solve that,
but uh it kind of feels like the the
clutch is already slipping or the clutch
is burnt or you know you have a bad
clutch when it's just kind of the way it is.
is.
>> Exactly. That's why this one was so fun
in that play area. It has that feel that feedback.
