BMW R 1150 GS Adventure versus KTM 890 Duke R

Cheap never, well mostly

MW driving has never been a particularly cheap pleasure. Although many specimens are around 20 years old and have collected correspondingly many kilometers, these GS are still not a bargain. It must be at least 5,000 euros, top-maintained specimens like our test bike like to scratch at the five-digit. You can understand this: The BMW R 1150 GS, if you don't catch a rocked-out model, is an almost ideal companion for the very big tour.

If you can do without cornering and agility, the GS is the ideal travel moped, where the road can be three steps below perfect.
As I said, a buddy for the good and the bad days.

Character-strong machine

At the end of the day it is clear that the KTM 890 Duke R is the most sporty model on offer of the Austrians, only the 1290 Super Duke R can compete. But even this model, which is superior in performance, has to be plugged in when it comes to pure curveability.

The new one is thus clearly positioned: If you want to drive corners, then drive corners and plan to push a bend later, there is hardly anything better. For anyone who is looking for a more versatile model, which should be more suitable for touring, for example, the 790 remains the first choice. It's not a scalpel from a marketing point of view, but it doesn't bother.

The test bike was provided to us by Bergmann and Söhne in Hamburg-Harburg.