from the 13.5 litre tank does not really cut it for distance work . The seat is also on the hard side ... so , a true ‘ adventure bike ’ it is not . And , to put it politely , it is too big and bulky to be a pukka dirt bike . This leaves us with what many riders are actually after – a tried and true trail bike . Think Honda ’ s beloved XR650L or Suzuki ’ s DR650 , but modern suspension , brakes and engine – far more capable when the going gets ugly . Vibes were the main issue for that trail bike role – and I ’ m not talking campfire beers kinda vibes either ... more the hand-tingling / numbing kinda vibes . Thankfully , In 2019 KTM put some serious work into the LC4 motor , reworking it with much better internal balancing ( twin balancers to cut vibration ) and that is when it became a serious option as a road-going trail bike because vibration was all but gone . For a big single it is very smooth and nice to ride all day – not to mention bloody quick . But we ’ ll get to that . Ok , lots of history ( but it ’ s for a reason , bear with me )... and now along comes the ES700 . The red colour scheme is outstanding . To my eye ’ s it ’ s the best-looking bike of three models using the same base – hardly surprising considering the Spanish are reputed to be outgoing , flamboyant and passionate ( arguably words not used to describe the Austrians or Swedish ). The bodywork ,
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