BTW, the KTM 990 adv has almost 1" more suspension travel and has 10.3" of ground clearance over the triumph
Frank, I know what you are going for, but misread this the first time. The KTM has a total of 10.3" of ground clearance. I can't actually find ground clearance specs for this bike, the 800XC is about 8.5", from what I'm reading.
Maybe it's because I'm fairly new to riding, or maybe it's because like so many other items on this forum were everyone thinks that they NEED so much more than they really do to explore (don't get me wrong, I'm guilty of it as well), but any of the modern "ADV" bikes including the GSA, 990ADV, 800XC and even a mildly outfitted DL650 are all so heavy I wouldn't consider taking any of them out into anything much more than a badly washed out gravel road. I would hate to drop any of them, they all have fairly short suspensions compared to a dirt bike based thumper, are heavy.... did I mention that they are heavy?
I ride a little bike, and after a a strenuous ride in some nasty mud on legal roads, down a hill, I hit a rut weirdly and dropped the bike. It was facing downhill, and had tipped over far enough into the other rut that I had to pick the bike up from more than a 90 degree angle. My buddies were further ahead than I, and while I could have waited for one to return if it was bad, it was still fairly difficult to pick up my under 300 pound bike by myself.
I guess what I'm saying is that regardless of all of the suspension/ground clearance/power of any of these big bikes, they are so heavy to essentially negate any offroad advantages they have over the others as 99% of people (sure, a guess, but I'm definitely in this group) will NEVER push a bike into a situtation that actually warrants the need for all of the offroad capability.
EDIT - Maybe it's a riding environment difference? In the east, we can't really go flat out when riding off pavement, 45-50 miles an hour is usually the top speed we would take. Our riding areas tend to be forest roads that are curvy and often have other vehicles on them. Perhaps out west, in the desert, etc, "off-road" on an ADV style takes a different meaning.