Re: Duke 390: Long Term Ride Review

Thank you everyone

Gearing is not that tall except for the 6th gear. Couldn't make out what you tried to ask in the second part

Till 140 crouching is not required and even beyond that but because of the wind drag you will seldom found yourself crouching for any speeds above 140kmph

To my knowledge we don't have a VBOX or other data logger equipment although I will try to add some figures when time permits

From what I understood it is because of a large single cylinder and a built in decompressor similar to bullets. And hence you will find that the starter sounds and acts very similar to how a bullet starts


As I mentioned relaxed cruising can be done in 6th gear at 110kmph @6k rpm where it will return a mileage figure of 30
You reach there very fast but to hold it you will require some amount of protection. I 'm really looking forward to that windscreen to find out how effective it will be

If you are in the mood to cruise then 6th gear is very useful

These are same RVMs which are there on Duke200 and although they are useful at triple digit speeds but because of the shape only 30-40% of it is useful when you are wearing a riding gear

Will reply the other queries whenever I get time

And under popular demand as to how it fares in comparison to Ninja300, will try to add some points around the weekend

Re: Duke 390: Long Term Ride Review

Thanks for the review MG. I'm guessing i should have mine by end of august or early september. Problem is i will be out of station for one month frm end of september. Is it ok if i dnt start the bike for one month during the run-in period? Should i empty the tank?

Re: Duke 390: Long Term Ride Review

I had my D200 stored with half tank for 2 months (didn't have time to empty it, was in a rush), and it was OK, no problems. Battery got little discharged, took 3-4 sec to start instead 1 sec, but it got charged after a ride.
It's better to empty the tank if away for longer period (months), but a month shouldn't be a problem.

Re: Duke 390: Long Term Ride Review

Dear MG
When you are talking about starting the bike you said it's big single cylinder and have a decompressor, if do then is it same in duke690 also? Just to clearmy doubt.

Sent from my ST18i using xBhp Connect mobile app

Re: Duke 390: Long Term Ride Review

Do all the big single cylinder bikes starts in the same fashion like duke390?

Sent from my ST18i using xBhp Connect mobile app

Re: Duke 390: Long Term Ride Review

Thank you sirji, we were eagerly awaiting for this - Awesome review and pics as always beautifull. i wont be touring much but for the proper weekend bike and for short office trips i guess its qualifies well.

Thank you once again just one query does the engine heat often and limits you to 4K that would be pain...

Re: Duke 390: Long Term Ride Review

The test ride duke390 here sometimes take four or five press of the starter for the engine to start. Is this common with all duke390 or an isolated one?

Sent from my ST18i using xBhp Connect mobile app

Re: Duke 390: Long Term Ride Review


The bike I test rode started with a single press every time.

Re: Duke 390: Long Term Ride Review

[QUOTE=kkamaleshh;974393]The test ride duke390 here sometimes take four or five press of the starter for the engine to start. Is this common with all duke390 or an isolated one?

mine starts with a single press 80% and 20% 2 or 3 times!

Re: Duke 390: Long Term Ride Review

Guys I've made a group for all 390 mumbai owners or ppl who've booked from mumbai. Feel free to join. The group is ktm duke 390 mumbai owners club (The Dukes of Mumbai)

Sent from my Note 2 using Tapatalk 2

Re: Duke 390: Long Term Ride Review

[QUOTE=nomad;974428]The reason for the long pressing of the starter is due to big single cylinder and a inbuilt decompressor as said by MG. So wether this thing prevail in every big single cylinder machines?

Sent from my ST18i using xBhp Connect mobile app

Re: Duke 390: Long Term Ride Review

Thanks for the Great Review @MG, awesome pics, enjoyed every one of them...cheers.

Alrite, just came back from D390 test ride, doing my bit,

Finally KTM Indiranagar called me for Test ride of D390. Pre-scheduled my office meetings tried to wrap everything by 4:30pm, got to the showroom, was greeted by Friendly KTM staff.

Filled in the test ride form, there were 6 guys waiting ahead of me, had to wait for about 45mins, there were no pillion riders, they were just holding one’s Driver’s License as collateral

The rider before me, took more than 10mins to get back, on the 9th min I thought he stole the bike, nevertheless the bike was back and it was my turn.

I've been riding D200 for over a year; read a lot of reviews about D390, had a mixed reaction, kept saying to myself, let me ride the bike without expecting anything.

Flick the starter, louder grunt from the Engine, huge rush hour traffic and signal ahead of me, took a side road, the torque was obviously stronger than D200. Found an empty open road with a traffic cop riding his Pulsar 150, opened the throttle and the cop was long gone behind in the rear view mirrors, loved the power delivery especially from 5000 RPM. BTW, this motorcycle sounds even amazing at this RPM and above, engine is very relaxed at all RPM range and its very smooth. When you downshift too, you can hear a smooth engine sound that's signature of Honda engines.

As many have mentioned, the ride is quite Mesmerizing, hmm the ride just blew me away, this is the bike that should have rolled out before 200 and 125 (No offense) the main reason is that chassis, handling, engine, tyre comes together very well, its just amazing combination. Metzeler tyre/ABS works just great, tyre just glues to the road, inspires loads of confidence.

Being ridden bigger capacity, multi cylinder bikes in the USA for over 2 years, I still had a BIG GRIN on my face at the end of the ride.

Once again, KTM Duke 390 changed my perception about motorcycling, what they have proved again is you can have awesome fun with single cylinder engines and dont have to spend a lot a MOOLAH. Hats off to KTM for their engineering.

I think for Indian traffic conditions, this will be a good all rounder, thanks to KTM, Bajaj for bringing this to INDIA, along with the rest of the world.

I am quite happy that I booked it, now the wait begins

Mods: Posting it here since the other thread is locked.

Re: Duke 390: Long Term Ride Review


Alrite, just came back from D390 test ride, doing my bit,

Finally KTM Indiranagar called me for Test ride of D390. Pre-scheduled my office meetings tried to wrap everything by 4:30pm, got to the showroom, was greeted by Friendly KTM staff.


@ Ethusiast.

Are the test rides being given to all, including those who have not yet booked? Or is that business of 'rides first for those who booked' still on?

Re: Duke 390: Long Term Ride Review

From what i heard from the staff, they are giving it to everybody, however check with them if the bike available, they are sharing the TEST MILL among 3 locations, langford road, indiranagar and marathalli...

Re: Duke 390: Long Term Ride Review

To all ye lucky D390 owners, and the ones expecting :P I wish you all congrats! Its an awesome piece of machine to have.

Ride safe and ride hard,
show those kids just how its done!