also jumps well , quite happily enjoying decent air time within reason . On road comfort is great too with nice riding , composed suspension action . In general , the suspension action really is excellent .
ADVENTURE BEAST So , what we have here is a highly focused , extremely capable adventure beast . It is fast and unapologetically so . For the not-so-experienced hard adventure rider , the power delivery could be intimidating , but I ’ m sure most will love the chassis and suspension if they ’ re taking on adventure riding where the gravel road ends and the trails start . Genuinely good , strong riders will love the grunt and the ability to shred the passing scenery and move to to a far-flung location ... perhaps not quite as far as with the 1290 , but almost . For less extreme riding the 890 can still be still gentle enough and has the torque to tour in a more civilised manner . If you ’ re a keen hard adventure rider and up for something with some road manners , that ’ ll never be lacking , it ’ s an awesome bit of kit . front end and help settle it down . The chassis has had minor updates with a change to an alloy steering stem and a lighter sub-frame .
SUSPENSION The single most standout feature of the 890 is the suspension . It is significantly better for off road work than all comparable opposition machines . It ’ s sporting WP ’ s Xplor suspension at each end with 240mm of travel . Up front the 48mm USD forks are plush , controlled and quite bottom resistant . The rear PDS ( link-less ) shock has the same attributes . Both ends sit up well in the stroke . The rear is particularly nice by comparison on gravel road corrugations , which seems to be quite a problem for big , heavy and powerful bikes to cope with smoothly . The 890
58 KIWI RIDER