I rode a KTM 1390 Super Duke R Evo 3250 miles in Spain, here's one feature I wouldn't be without

You read a lot about Bluetooth-enabled displays like the one fitted to the KTM 1390 Super Duke R Evo nowadays. We’ve come a long way from simple analogue dials. They generally work with an app and when you link them together your snazzy colour dash transforms into a clever interface to control music and calls, but their most useful function is satellite navigation. 

Read more

• Update one: Can wheelie control turn you into a stunting god?
• Update two: Testing the Evo’s advanced electronics on track
• Update four: A pillion lap of the Nürburgring

During a press launch or group test we rarely get the chance to dive particularly deeply into these systems. They blend into the background, but living with them is a different story.   

Colour screens and fancy apps may not seem that big a deal on the face of things. They’re the icing on the cake of your motorcycle, but on a long road trip they can almost dominate the riding experience, especially the sat nav.

I’ve been using bike apps to find my way around the UK and Europe since 2019, firstly on my BMW S1000RR long-termer, then a BMW S1000R, Triumph Speed Triple 1200 RR and Tiger 1200 GT Explorer, Kawasaki H2 SX SE and now my trusty KTM. They’ve all been ‘turn-by-turn’ systems, except the Kawasaki’s which uses a proper map, but it needs two apps on the go to run it: Kawasaki SPIN and Sygic.

I’ve just returned from a seven-night, 3250-mile trip to the Picos, Pyrenees and the gorges of the south of France, leading three mates and my bro from place to place using my KTM’s KTMconnect app. We pre-booked our hotels along the way, then looked for a nice twisty route each day to get there. Each morning, we’d lay a paper map over the breakfast table to get a feel for where we’d be heading, then plot the route in the KTM app map, using its ‘waypoints’ function.

It’s user friendly, both inside the app and reading the directions on the dash, although like every system I’ve tried, the app sometimes inexplicably refuses to talk to the bike. Bluetooth can be flaky at the best of times but turning it off and on again fixes it. 

Generally, the KTMconnect app is reliable, which is a relief when you’re in the hot seat leading people for thousands of miles. But like all sat navs, even on foot using Google Maps, it’s easy to fall at the very first hurdle when you need that very first direction pulling away from a café or hotel. Sod’s law you’ll head off the wrong way before realising and plucking up the courage to do the ‘U-turn of shame’.

My brother occasionally tried to lead on his Ducati Multistrada V4 Pikes Peak during our trip. It uses a similar two-app system to my old Kawasaki, but it dropped out so often he gave up. His phone also had to be unlocked and plugged (making it run hot) in to run both apps, unlike the KTM single app system.

I’ll admit that using a sat nav can dilute some of the joy of riding and taking in the scenery, but if you want to cover huge swathes of unfamiliar ground quickly it’s a price worth paying and the KTM app is the best I’ve used. With more time to spare I’d use a proper map and remember road and place names, but having on-board sat nav is so useful, I can’t remember how I managed to find my way around Europe for all those years before 2019. 

Away from staring at my KTM’s dash all day (some of its digits are way too small for my 54-year-old eyes to read quickly) the 1390 Super Duke R Evo is my ideal bike for a trip like this. It was comfy on the motorway, turned into a supermoto in the Pico switchbacks and went like absolute stink on the fast run from Dignes Les Bains to Cannes. What a machine.