Re: Duke 390: Long Term Ride Review

I was following 390 thread of 390 since 1 year & after 97 days of waiting finally got the bike cant express happiness......KTM kolhapur received all 10 bikes on Monday. crazy mad acceleration & I realized that lot of maturity must needed for these bikes.

Re: Duke 390: Long Term Ride Review

Which city are you from and which dealer did you book at .


I am planning to give the final amount to the CP KTM , New delhi guys this sunday. Any updates from their front ?

Re: Duke 390: Long Term Ride Review

Im from Madurai, tamilnadu.

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Re: Duke 390: Long Term Ride Review

Book your bike at Lajpat Nagar instead and you will get it earlier most probably by next week itself since they have a smaller booking queue than CP showroom !!

Re: Duke 390: Long Term Ride Review

Well i got a call from KTM CP that the bikes are arriving tonight and if everything goes well, i should have the bike by sunday

Re: Duke 390: Long Term Ride Review

An excerpt from team-bhp.com. Posted by ebonho:

"You know, the concept of the first 50 odd kms being critical for loading-unloading of the rings against the fresh hone to the point where the rings and the peaks break in against each other and form the perfect seal, as well as heat cycling etc. - all these are written more from the point of view of freshly (re)built engines. The first few high rpm pulls by the mechanic after first start-up more often than not itself do 80% of the ring seal work.
For factory fresh bikes, especially "Ready To Race" quality KTM motors, most if not all of this is already done fresh off the assembly line, where the bikes are pulled to redline far more violently than any owner would ever do. Even the really violent ones!

I'm not an expert on running in, and have more than my share of failures on fresh builds on my Bullets (more thanks to wrong/too tight clearances and metallurgy and machining than my own fault - but then, that's me talking), but overall what I find best while running in a new bike, is to go more by sound and feel. Keep listening to the engine note. Be perceptible to how "tight" or "free" the motor feels as it warms up and as you progress into your ride.

The motor tells you when its not well. It also tells you when it is ready (or not). The mistake most of us do is push through that feel and let our minds and what we read on the Net and books take over. Plus the huge muddle of differing advice. And push when we should not. Or baby excessively when the engine is crying out for increasing load."

That's just brilliant. Especially the part made bold.

You have to feel the bike, listen to it like a mother would listen to her baby.

Re: Duke 390: Long Term Ride Review

The HeartBrokenBiker - Vlog 044 - The KTM 390 Duke - YouTube

D390 with CBR 250's windshield

Bad boy's bike | Business Standard

Just another review

Re: Duke 390: Long Term Ride Review

Found this on Kiirus page:-

"Who's willing to leave their 390 with me for a week? No not for enjoyment purposes but for some R&D. Won't hurt ur bike for sure. That's our guarantee. in return u will hv a complimentary FREE remapped bike."


Now how exciting is that !!
What can we expect?
A higher top end or the sheer awesomeness that we witnessed in 200.

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Found this on Kiirus page:-

"Who's willing to leave their 390 with me for a week? No not for enjoyment purposes but for some R&D. Won't hurt ur bike for sure. That's our guarantee. in return u will hv a complimentary FREE remapped bike."


Now how exciting is that !!
What can we expect?
A higher top end or the sheer awesomeness that we witnessed in 200.

Re: Duke 390: Long Term Ride Review

Finally got the bike today. And what more should i say !! Its brilliant. Now i gotta ride more and more. Will update in a few days time as i will cover more distance and will get to know the bike more

Re: Duke 390: Long Term Ride Review

Congrats bro.:thumbup:

Anyone here from kharagpur please.

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Re: Duke 390: Long Term Ride Review

Anyone tried the smallish windshield which come as a powerpart in India for 2500 bucks.
it looks too Small for doing any good at high speed on highways.

For aftermarket jugaads, waiting for long term reviews at high speed.
MRN seems too costly.

Re: Duke 390: Long Term Ride Review

you should look at the duke 200 thread.. many members have tried their our jugad.. and also the duke 390 thread..

Re: Duke 390: Long Term Ride Review

yes, saw that.
I am waiting for long testing on higher speeds from someone for that.

Re: Duke 390: Long Term Ride Review

Thank you Xbhp and all my fellow bikers for what I have today. Yes, I finally got my KTM Duke 390 on October 4, 2013, Friday evening at around 4 pm.

Sorry for the late write-up as I was not able to get into the internet much after that. We all know how it is; the wait, the talk, the discussions, the conclusions, the irritation, frustration, etc, etc before we got our bikes, but the moment I got it, I forgot everything and just started to enjoy the ride. The delivery was as planned. I was there when the lot arrived in a closed container truck. There were some 6 duke 390s, 2 ninja 300s, 1 ninja 650, and 25 duke 200s. I was allowed to choose 1 from the 6 the next day and I took my family to select one and the bike was delivered 6 days after that day as there was Gandhi Jayanthi in between and the RTO had some scheduled days for every showroom. I saw my bike once again prior to delivery and the PDI was completed and was ready for registration. I was given an option to choose the registration number if I wanted with a payment of Rs. 2500 and I too chose a number which I liked and was satisfied. I wanted the # 390, but we were not in the series at that time, so could not get it. So as scheduled, everything was done and I went for delivery on Oct 4, Friday evening by 3.30 pm and the bike was ready with the registration number. I asked the service people to remove the saree guard, tyre hugger, and hand guards and they did so, I brought a big backpack with me to accommodate them and packed it in the bag. Bought a bike cover, tank lid sticker, and tank pad and installed those before delivery. Got a KTM keychain, some custom made locally by the showroom guys I guess. Not even the keychain was given free. Not a single rupee discount. Everything on payment and that was actually bad. But I did not want to make my delivery time a mess and just paid for everything and was happy to take it. I had already purchased a SOL metalman 68SII helmet, DSG riding jacket, and Cramster summer gloves, but just brought the helmet for delivery as to get used to the bike first. All went well, started the bike, waved goodbye and thanks to the staffs, moved to a pump, filled premium petrol for Rs. 500 and went on. Bike stalled once in a signal nearby and refused to start, pushed it to the side and switched off and on the kill switch and pressed the starter alone and it fired up. Went to a church nearby, prayed, did some offering and took it home. That weekend, took the 390 to a Coimbatore-Mettupalayam-Coonoor-Ooty-Kotagiri-Coonoor-Mettupalayam-Coimbatore trip. Had a night's stay there and the bike did pretty well in the hills. Pickup was awesome and I never saw any other vehicle that overtook me the whole trip. All my family members loved it. Waiting for the first service, after which I am taking it to Kollam, Kerala for a trip to my wife's place. I love the 390 and it is worth the wait and our money.


Regarding break-in, I just drove it normally as I used to ride any other bike, but definitely faster though since the bike never liked riding it slow. I feel I have been riding it a little hard than I normally do or can. Never seen the rpm reading any time while riding and actually it is hard to see it, I guess the rpm limiter was not set during PDI. Wanted to change the oil and filter now at 350 kms, but the service engineer says it is fine to change it at 1000 kms and that is the recommendation. Also he says he can only change to Motul fully synthetic and the oil change and regular service would cost around 2.5k or more, so I opted to change it at 1000 kms before my Kerala trip.

Positives:
1. Pickup, pickup, pick up.
2. Technology
3. Kms per liter, guess I get around or above 30 kmpl, which I feel is great.
4. Tyres and brakes, really great and inspires confidence.
5. Does not gather too much of a crowd here, guess people are used to the 200's design now.

Issues faced:
1. I feel a noise somewhere in the front right when we lean in the corners, felt most on my trip to Ooty. It is somewhat of a paper crushing noise from the front head or somewhere near the fork, only when we lean to the left or right side. On straight roads, no such sounds, got to check it during the service.
2. Gears are a little clunky, not a major issues though. The clutch pull is really heavy and it pains during heavy traffic and slow runs. There is always a thug sound when shifting from 1st to 2nd or vice versa at low speeds. Finding neutral is not an issue as I had a RX100 prior to this, and it works fine.
3. Engine heat is a real issue in traffic, it gets very hot, but never to the maximum. As the kms extends, I feel the heating issue is coming down.
3. Suspension is too hard for bad roads, can feel the pain.
4. Seats are really hard and it aches on long rides.
5. Hand grips are low quality and hard, never look premium, not a match for the KTM.
6. Gets dirty very very quickly.

Suggestion: Some parts like the hand guards, hand grips, bar end weights, body graphics, radiator joints, wires, etc could have been made with a higher quality material. These really look cheap and never a match for KTM's heritage and the price we pay.

All said, I am really happy with my decision of buying the KTM Duke 390 and it is worth it folks. Enjoy, cheers.

Re: Duke 390: Long Term Ride Review

Congrats Buddy
Enjoy the beast and treat it with respect... Yet to receive mine ..