WOW!!! what to say, all the words were echoing in my ears when I was reading about it, KTM finally here and that also with these amazing specs figure. Now even I think I need to think about it. The only drawback for us tourers seems to be the 10L tank, but otherwise, I think the time has come to paint the country roads to color the orange..... waiting to see it in flesh

Nice and pretty glamourous review, with a lot of bling. Ought to multiply buyers for Bajaj, surely . I agree with Shivanshu, a 10.5 liter tank is certainly a drawback! Would not even have a range of 250 kms, which is painful for a tourer. A good to have city bike. Zip and flash it around your neighbors and pretty chicks out there . I don't see a lot of touring potential (Rear dosen't look able enough to support a saddle to say the least). However, I'd like to see you folks ride it out on a tour and provide a feedback on the same.

Newbee...here....

I am not new to bikes...but new to forum...
Very nice pics and good review..

Very keen to have this as my first bike..

I just wanted to know whether it needs High Octane petrol only or normal petrol is fine...

Tourers buy RE Classic 500, which has a mileage of 25-30 kmpl..

No Magazine has done a full on braking comparison between bikes sold in India. Unless this is done we can never know the real world advantages of ABS.

for instance what if the breaking distance is greater for the ABS fitter bike than the non ABS bike. In this case isn't ABS a danger? We'll never know till a full on test is performed.

Till then buy the bike you feel most comfortable on and practice panic breaking as best you can.

ABS is know to increase braking distances on all vehicles as compared to NON ABS. Reducing braking distance is not a function of ABS. Thats what fatter tyres and bigger brakes are for(which the Duke well and truly has).

Why does ABS increase braking distance?

This can be explained with simple physics. For all materials, rolling friction(which acts when the tyre is rolling on the road) is always lower than kinetic friction(which acts when the the tyre is sliding on the road). Higher the friction, higher the stopping power, lower the stopping distance/timing.

What ABS aids is control over the bike in a Panic situation. Since the tyres are still rolling and not locked, the vehicle (car / bike) still retains the ability to be steered around the obstacle even with full brakes applied. That way you can avoid crashing straight into the obstacle as it would have happened had you kept on going straight.

The important thing to note here is that for ABS to kick in, the frictional force from the brakes should be greater than the rolling friction of the tyres. So, given sufficiently phat tyres on good grippy tarmac with speeds as moderate as the Duke does, the ABS might never kick in! Anyways on dirt tracks, using ABS equipped brakes can even be counter productive when, say, you need to go down a hill with a 35% slope .

Was busy for the last couple of days and hence couldn't reply to various queries
No and also the headlight comes into life only when you thumb the starter.

No it doesn't come with the center stand.

1) It is a plastic tank
2) Can only be answered at a later stage


https://www.facebook.com/pages/KTM-R...08399232542783

Another Wallpaper, click the small image below to download it:

sunny bhai which camera and lense is used to capture this picture?????

On the contrary I remember magazines like OD (admittedly not the best auto mag) have done 0 - 100 - 0 tests which have tested both the acceleration and braking of Indian bikes.I cant point out the latest such test though.

+1 I had seen a 0-100-0 test article on Bike India

Here is a link to the online edition of that particular issue

Bike India August 2009

Just click through to the 0-100-0 article inside for all details.

This pic is the real deal.............
KTM200 is good, and its review thread is glorified by the presence of this

Sunny is one lucky man, no matter what critics and fans have to say

Thanks alot..

Awesum..thanks helped me alot..sure thing 2 buy 4 myself after this review..thanks..

@Sunny>>>

Hey Sunny I really admire your job!!! you get paid to do what I would gladly do for free!!! I remember my photoshoot with you and soulreaper us doing wheelies at bandra reclamation and then at BKC that was really fun for me and I have still kept that first ever issue of BIKE magazine :-D

Now then...I just wanted to ask if you knew about the color options of this bike?
Is it just the Orange or will we also see the BLACK & GREEN version???
OR even this Silver Version??? I guess a lotta people have been asking but yet we have no answers to this!!!

MG had already told earlier that currently only one color scheme is getting launched i.e the orange one.