The Best KTM Motorcycles Ever Made [2024 Edition]

Why We Picked It:

Whether you are new to riding or are an experienced rider wanting something that can flick sideways into a tail slide with a thought, the KTM 390 Duke is the bike for you. It is one of the bets equipped small displacement bikes on the road today, and has earned the nickname "Corner Rocket" for a reason.

Boasting a full steel trellis frame, dual zone ABS, upside down forks, and a full electronics package that even includes a "Supermoto" riding and braking mode, it absolutely devours any corner you show it. Flick the riding mode to supermoto, and with a little throttle modulation, you'll be doing tail slides with your inner boot scraping along the pavement in no time flat.

While it might seem like a tiny bike with a single cylinder that might not ignite your passions, it is more of a bigger, nastier supermoto that got left in the dryer a little too long. It's tiny, it's light, but godDAMN is it fun to ride. There are very few bikes out there, even full on supermoto bikes, since its introduction in 2013 that can even hold a candle to it. It is seriously that good.

Why We Picked It:

You know that you're getting a serious bike when the company themselves call the 450 EXC-F Six Days an "offroad attack vehicle." Named for the International Six Days Enduro series, it is about as hardcore a dual sport slash enduro bike that KTM has put out in years. While the USA had the bike for a couple of years in 2017 through 2019, it has since become a EU only model, as America gets the 500 EXC-F Six Days instead.

This is the bike you want if the trail you plan on riding on the weekend has been rained out and is nothing but mud. It's designed to tackle the gnarliest, nastiest, most impassable terrain off of the paved road and then turn around and stick its tongue out at it. It is also built like a KTM, so you get WP competition grade suspension, terrific brakes, a surprisingly comfortable bench-style seat, and, oh yeah, one of the torquiest 450cc single cylinder engines on the planet.

It is also ridiculously light at just about 250 lbs wet, with 57 HP and just about 30 lbs-ft of torque, it will scramble over even the most unfriendly rockfalls, easily hop over felled trees, and unless you weight 400 lbs yourself, will avoid getting stuck in mud by the simple fact it doesn't really weigh anything. That lightness does come at a mild cost, though, in that you don't get much, if any, of the toys that KTM's often come with. No ABS, no traction control, no anti-wheelie, and even the dash is a tiny LCD screen. Then again, if you're buying this beast of a bike, it's kind of expected you know how to ride quite well already!

Why We Picked It:

The Suzuki V-Strom 650 is one of the two pure adventure bikes that we think also make great day tourers. This stems from the fact that the engine of the V-Strom is the same one that lives at the heart of the Suzuki SV650, a very rider-friendly V-twin that puts out 70hp and 46 lb-ft of torque.

The rider-friendly power delivery and torque curve, combined with the more relaxed standard seating position and the windshield deflecting all the air that would otherwise be hitting your chest, makes for a bike that can take the miles. With 19-inch front and 17-inch rear wire-spoke wheels, the V-Strom 650 is also well equipped to go off-road, should you ever choose to tread off the beaten path.

Why We Picked It:

The Suzuki V-Strom 650 is one of the two pure adventure bikes that we think also make great day tourers. This stems from the fact that the engine of the V-Strom is the same one that lives at the heart of the Suzuki SV650, a very rider-friendly V-twin that puts out 70hp and 46 lb-ft of torque.

The rider-friendly power delivery and torque curve, combined with the more relaxed standard seating position and the windshield deflecting all the air that would otherwise be hitting your chest, makes for a bike that can take the miles. With 19-inch front and 17-inch rear wire-spoke wheels, the V-Strom 650 is also well equipped to go off-road, should you ever choose to tread off the beaten path.

Why We Picked It:

The Suzuki V-Strom 650 is one of the two pure adventure bikes that we think also make great day tourers. This stems from the fact that the engine of the V-Strom is the same one that lives at the heart of the Suzuki SV650, a very rider-friendly V-twin that puts out 70hp and 46 lb-ft of torque.

The rider-friendly power delivery and torque curve, combined with the more relaxed standard seating position and the windshield deflecting all the air that would otherwise be hitting your chest, makes for a bike that can take the miles. With 19-inch front and 17-inch rear wire-spoke wheels, the V-Strom 650 is also well equipped to go off-road, should you ever choose to tread off the beaten path.

Why We Picked It:

The Suzuki V-Strom 650 is one of the two pure adventure bikes that we think also make great day tourers. This stems from the fact that the engine of the V-Strom is the same one that lives at the heart of the Suzuki SV650, a very rider-friendly V-twin that puts out 70hp and 46 lb-ft of torque.

The rider-friendly power delivery and torque curve, combined with the more relaxed standard seating position and the windshield deflecting all the air that would otherwise be hitting your chest, makes for a bike that can take the miles. With 19-inch front and 17-inch rear wire-spoke wheels, the V-Strom 650 is also well equipped to go off-road, should you ever choose to tread off the beaten path.

Why We Picked It:

The Suzuki V-Strom 650 is one of the two pure adventure bikes that we think also make great day tourers. This stems from the fact that the engine of the V-Strom is the same one that lives at the heart of the Suzuki SV650, a very rider-friendly V-twin that puts out 70hp and 46 lb-ft of torque.

The rider-friendly power delivery and torque curve, combined with the more relaxed standard seating position and the windshield deflecting all the air that would otherwise be hitting your chest, makes for a bike that can take the miles. With 19-inch front and 17-inch rear wire-spoke wheels, the V-Strom 650 is also well equipped to go off-road, should you ever choose to tread off the beaten path.

Why We Picked It:

The Suzuki V-Strom 650 is one of the two pure adventure bikes that we think also make great day tourers. This stems from the fact that the engine of the V-Strom is the same one that lives at the heart of the Suzuki SV650, a very rider-friendly V-twin that puts out 70hp and 46 lb-ft of torque.

The rider-friendly power delivery and torque curve, combined with the more relaxed standard seating position and the windshield deflecting all the air that would otherwise be hitting your chest, makes for a bike that can take the miles. With 19-inch front and 17-inch rear wire-spoke wheels, the V-Strom 650 is also well equipped to go off-road, should you ever choose to tread off the beaten path.

Why We Picked It:

The Suzuki V-Strom 650 is one of the two pure adventure bikes that we think also make great day tourers. This stems from the fact that the engine of the V-Strom is the same one that lives at the heart of the Suzuki SV650, a very rider-friendly V-twin that puts out 70hp and 46 lb-ft of torque.

The rider-friendly power delivery and torque curve, combined with the more relaxed standard seating position and the windshield deflecting all the air that would otherwise be hitting your chest, makes for a bike that can take the miles. With 19-inch front and 17-inch rear wire-spoke wheels, the V-Strom 650 is also well equipped to go off-road, should you ever choose to tread off the beaten path.