I’ve been in the market for a new adventure motorcycle for some time now and I've narrowed my choice down to the KTM 390 Adventure. The confusion I have is about whether or not I should buy the full-spec bike or the newly launched 390 Adventure X and save some hard earned money. Please help me decide.

Rahul Yadav, via email

The KTM 390 ADV is perhaps the most capable long distance travel motorcycle that you can buy for less than 5 lakh rupees today. That character should hold true with the new base model 390 Adventure X as well, because you still have full access to the performance and chassis capabilities. What you will be sacrificing is the traction control system, quickshifter and full colour TFT display. 

For most riders, this will be a worthy sacrifice because 44 horsepower is still very manageable without traction control and the bike continues to get the crucial safety net of dual channel ABS. Some may miss the look of the TFT and the convenience of Bluetooth compatibility, but in our experience, the LCD display from the 250 Adventure (which is now also on the 390 Adventure X) is functional enough. 

The one thing that needs to be seen is that the X model appears to get a different USD fork (likely to be from the 250 ADV) and we need to see how this performs. Overall though, you will still get a very similar riding experience for a significant price savings of 60,000 rupees on the ex-showroom price which makes it a sweet deal. In fact, it makes this bike even more affordable than the BMW G 310 GS and quite close to the KTM 250 Adventure.