Re: Duke 390: Long Term Ride Review

2:30ish was when I took it out for the test ride. Lol.

Re: Duke 390: Long Term Ride Review

I was finally able to take the TD of the D390 yesterday. It was fun to drive and I rode it for about 7kms in total with some long stretches. It has excellent pickup may be not as much as D200 but boy does it pull after you cross the first 2 gears. It keeps pulling and in one stretch I reached 100kmph in 3rd gear itself and has a lot more still in its kitty. As reviewed by MG, the 120 come very quickly and I was able to take it to 125 in 4th when I ran out of free road and caught up with the traffic which was ahead. In short, this is fun to drive bike and keeps revving like crazy its almost like experiencing in real the zipping cars we see in cartoons. Overtaking is as easy as drinking lemonade and brakes work perfect.
The gears as said by all is tall and in city probably we will end up using mostly 1-3 and maybe 4th depending on time. I was able to do the following low speeds in these gears-
6th-50, 5th-40, 4th-30, 3rd-25, 2nd-works from standstill. Note that these speeds are close to knocking and will require a good amount of run-in before we can do these without knocking.
I was not very satisfied with the seat, it made me repeatedly slide forward against the tank while riding which was uncomfortable. I don't know if they have changed the angle of seating for D390 because the seat of D200 felt perfect. The foot pegs are pushed back and with low seat height the seating posture will probably be bothersome for some. The D390 looks slightly smaller compared to the D200 maybe because of reduced saddle height, the rest looks same. The temp was ok and during the TD it hovered around 3-4 less than max and I didn't particularly feel much heat but the weather was cool too. It did stall a couple of times once at signal and another time at a speed breaker so the clutch which is very smooth needs a little getting used to compared to other bikes.

While riding it does feel somewhat like a dirt bike what with its raw acceleration, high flared rear wheel guard and see through frame which hides nothing. I have a mixed feeling after the test ride, have no doubts the acceleration and power are a delight but as a tourer I don't know how it will fare with its seating and serious lack of luggage carrying fittings/space and small tank which reduces the range. My personal feeling is this bike is not well suited for either city riding (<50kms) in traffic or real long distance touring (>400kms) it's sweet spot is somewhere in between. Do not mistake what I said with its performance- It's an absolute meat grinder!

Re: Duke 390: Long Term Ride Review

For everyone above who is saying its pick up is not as much as the duke 200 or the pickup is underwhelming....I would say what a joke. Rofl!
Now, I have ridden the 390 thrice and total of around 50kms and all three times right after riding the 390 when I rode the 200 (back to back), the 200 felt terribly slow.
I mean the sense of speed was there but the speedo was just not climbing in comparison.(even the sense of speed is not even close to what the 390 offers)

I agree that the 200's gearing is such that if you engage the 2nd or 3rd gear and pull it from 15kmph it would do so absolutely without any complain.
But if you try to do the same on the 390 it would just lug the engine. So, if you were trying to ride the 390 like the 200, i would say go ride it again as it should be.
People, you need to know how to ride a bigger bike. Its gearing is really tall. Its no ninja 650 which would pull cleanly from even the 6th doing a 60kmph.
Let it pull through the gears and then see how overwhelming the acceleration can be inside the city limits, so much so that you would be searching for the brake lever in no time.

Understand the bike and its character first and then post comments saying if its actually faster accelerating or not, been reading this a lot in the last few posts.

Sent from my GT-I9100

Re: Duke 390: Long Term Ride Review

Well said dukedey.my thought is also yours . Your right.

Sent from my ST18i using xBhp Connect mobile app

Re: Duke 390: Long Term Ride Review

Another review: BonkersVille – KTM Duke 390 road-test | ...in search of that perfect world.

Re: Duke 390: Long Term Ride Review

Dude, please no more discussion on this topic. It has already been debated to death. Let us focus on delivery and ownership experience.

Each one of us has test rode the bikes in different conditions. We have only written what we felt. Our experience is not cast in stone and it will change after we actually ride our own Dukes. Show some respect to fellow forum members. We are not 15 yr old kids riding bikes for the first time!
I am really sounding like [MENTION=35854]chinmayakar[/MENTION] here

Re: Duke 390: Long Term Ride Review

Hey buddy,

No disrespect meant to anyone, was my language harsh in anyway? If so I apologise.
I just shared my opinion about the acceleration, I was not debating on low end power or anything. Just the acceleration. I seriously was laughing after reading that its acceleration may be a little less than 200.
I have been riding the duke 200 myself, almost 8k clocked and I did ride the 390 through most the situation like city, highway, rain etc. Thought I should share my experience. This is a forum where people should get the correct info and prospective buyers who go by rider reviews should not be put off by casual comments. (That acceleration is less)
If you doubt my opinions see what I posted when someone asked if he should go for duke 200 or 390. (Would the duke 390 be suitable for me thread)
I believe in keeping honest opinions without being biased towards any product just because I am going to own it.

I just wrote what I did because I have ridden the 2 bikes a lot more than what sparky has ridden(as mentioned by him) and I exactly know what both the bikes offer. So, just advised him to go and take another ride and post once again.

Chill out fellows, whatever I wrote was in good humour. On a more serious note I am not here to argue with anyone.

Cheers, ride safe!

Ps: thought it was a long term ride review we were discussing here, how do you expect me to just focus on delivery or ownership experience?

Sent from my GT-I9100

Re: Duke 390: Long Term Ride Review

Another video: Duke 390 Version Finale Essai - YouTube

Re: Duke 390: Long Term Ride Review

Sorry buddy, I was harsh in my earlier post.

Regarding the statement in the above quote. I meant, we are all waiting for deliveries and subsequent ownership experience, that's the thing we are looking forward to. So lets discuss more on that. Of course, we should discuss ride reviews too.

Re: Duke 390: Long Term Ride Review

I agree with DukeDey, Misconceptions should be cleared for people looking to buy this Bike. The 390 is nearly 4 seconds quicker to a Ton than the 200, this could not be possible if its acceleration were slower. Sometimes higher revs feel as if we are going faster.

Re: Duke 390: Long Term Ride Review

I think this "issue" of D390 low end and comparison with D200's much better (which is just relative to cc!) low end will be popping up more and more.
It's difficult to understand what "character" means.

It's not easy to discriminate between a "feel" and actual speed.
D200 feels faster than it is. D390 feels slower than it is. But the truth is D390 is much, much faster than D200.
That's why I say it's best to put good earplugs when you go for a test ride and rather watch the speedo and not tachometer if you want to check the performance.

390's character is much closer to a race bike (like R15 with weaker low end but strong top end) than to a street bike (like D200 with relatively stronger lows and mids).
Maybe people should test ride R15 before they have test ride of D200, and compare those two?

I personally prefer "street bike" character than a race bike character and power delivery, as long as the performance is satisfying, which made me keep my D200.

If one is ok with 390's power delivery then it's a fantastic bike with fantastic power for 375 cc engine.


Oh, I couldn't agree MORE!!!
There's so much frustration about deliveries and waiting...
Many should look at the title of the thread, read the first post again and talk about the bike itself!

Re: Duke 390: Long Term Ride Review

Point noted. But this being the only active thread about the D390, we have no option but to discuss everything here!

Re: Duke 390: Long Term Ride Review

Dude, chill out. I hope you can read with patience what is posted, carefully with punctuation. I have put in a word "may" in that sentence I said and I believe that should be clear.

" the D390 accelerates faster than D200" - Does this sentence make you happy. Let's rest it then.

Coming back to the topic- I felt the engine braking was little too much, I mean how are we going to coast at top speeds when we dont have to keep it always on throttle. The moment one leaves the throttle the braking is so much that it slows down considerably leaving you behind.

Re: Duke 390: Long Term Ride Review

Hey, I am all cool buddy. I enjoy a nice discussion with like minded fellows, that it.
I just have a habit of pointing out the nitty gritties and thought even that 'may' should not have been there.
All in good spirit fellow bikers.

Enjoy the discussions, I repeat I am here to share and learn. I am not trying to show anyone down.

Cheers mate!

Sent from my GT-I9100

Re: Duke 390: Long Term Ride Review

This bike grows on me with every passing day. Also did you guys know that they are already offering the Duke 390 for rentals in Manali? Rs.2500 a day on the Manali-Leh route