Best Adventure Bikes Up To 500cc - Tell Us Your Favourite

Can the much-awaited KTM 390 Adventure topple the simple but rugged Himalayan and XPulse?

Welcome to the Auto Premier League, India’s only automotive awards where you, the reader, get to pick the best cars, bikes and scooters in each segment. Not only that, you also stand a chance to win some exciting prizes at the end of it! To know more about how the league works, head here. This time around, you can read about the choices for adventure bike of the year (up to 500cc), which you'll be able to vote for in Round 2 from 10 June onwards, so stay tuned.

With road conditions like ours, adventure tourers are quite close to the perfect class of motorcycles. Their long travel suspension is able to soak up the worst of our potholes and the huge amounts of ground clearance mean that they can clear even the most ridiculous speed breakers without bottoming out. Which is why we find it quite odd that there haven’t been too many affordable ADVs for quite some time in India. That’s slowly changing now, with bikes like the Hero XPulse and Royal Enfield Himalayan. To know what you’ll be voting for, check out your options below:

Hero XPulse 200

The XPulse is the most affordable ADV in the country which in many ways also makes it one of the best. It’s small and light, and its simplicity means that there’s very little that can go wrong on it. Despite this, it has all the prerequisites of an off-road motorcycle and packs in some modern features like LED lighting and a digital instrument cluster.

Pros:

• Lightweight and easy to manage off-road
• Adequate suspension travel and ground clearance
• Feature-rich

Cons:

• A few more ponies would’ve gone a long way
• Feels stressed at highway cruising speeds
• Build quality is not the best

For more detailed information about the Hero XPulse, head here:

https://www.bikedekho.com/hero/xpulse-200

Royal Enfield Himalayan

After the 200cc XPulse, the next step is the Royal Enfield Himalayan with more than twice the displacement. It’s supremely comfortable, feels absolutely unflappable on the highway and is quite adept even off-road. Early examples had quality issues but the current bikes have received fuel-injection and ABS, and are pretty much flawless.

Pros:

• Extremely comfortable seat and riding posture
• Feels great at 100kmph on the highway
• Tackles the rough stuff with ease

Cons:

• Feels breathless beyond 110kmph
• Fairly high kerb weight

For more detailed information about the Royal Enfield Himalayan, head here:

https://www.bikedekho.com/royal-enfield/himalayan

KTM 390 Adventure

It’s been a long time coming, but the fabled 390 Adventure is finally here. It’s based on the same platform as the manic 390 Duke, but features longer travel suspension and more ground clearance, along with a comfier riding position. It even features advanced electronic aids like traction control, cornering ABS and a bi-directional quickshifter.

Pros:

• Quickest ADV under 500cc
• Packs in a lot of features
• Good wind protection and highway cruising abilities

Cons:

• Electronic aids don’t work well
• Not enough suspension travel and ground clearance, wire-spoke wheels missing
• Tall seat height will drive away a lot of buyers

For more detailed information about the KTM 390 Adventure, head here:

https://www.bikedekho.com/ktm/390-adventure

BMW G 310 GS

The 313cc platform developed by TVS and BMW Motorrad also spawned the Bavarian brand’s first small-capacity adventure tourer - the G 310 GS. Though it does carry the legendary GS tag, it’s not as hardcore as some of its elder siblings, rolling on 19-inch/17-inch alloy wheels. Its strong suits are in the form of excellent build quality and a comfortable riding posture.

Pros:

• Big bike looks
• Build quality and brand power
• Upright and roomy riding position

Cons:

• Engine vibrations beyond 90kmph
• Expensive spare parts
• Soft suspension setup

For more detailed information about the BMW G 310 GS, head here:

https://www.bikedekho.com/bmw/g-310-gs