Can you post some pics of the actual peeling, where metal is visibly separating from the surface of the pipe? If you're just assuming the pipe is "peeling" because of the speckled appearance, then it's not the same thing. The pipe on the Duke is not chromed. It's a satin-finish stainless steel exhaust with no coating or plating on the metal. The irregular discoloration is due to patches of differently-stressed metal in the pipe as a result of the bending when they made the exhaust. It's not going to "rust", nor will the discoloration affect the longevity of the exhaust.

Now, if you can actually see metal flaking away from the surface (not just patches where you think metal has already peeled off), and can produce legitimate bits of metal that have fallen off, then that's a different matter. That's a metallurgical error on the part of the manufacturer and should be rectified.

Hey bro.. the pic that you have added has a smooth look and a good looking colour change which i guess many would like to have on their bike..

But the pics of KTM's exhaust are looking seriously ugly.. That's the only thing that should be addressed..

New Coolant - Interested !

BTW.. Is anyone willing to change the coolant to - Engine Ice Hi-Performance Coolant??

If yes then we can go in group and maybe we can get some discount too

Any one up for this??

Devil_rider & the_mountain: Pls. start using multiquotes instead of posting consecutive posts.

The pipe on that scooter is made from mild steel, not stainless. That's the difference. Unless the KTM pipes are actually pitted, or have chunks missing, the discoloration you're seeing is just that: discoloration. KTM isn't going to replace those pipes just because of the color.

They *all* do that. Bikes here in India, for the most part, have either painted or chromed exhausts. The painted ones discolor, but the paint hides it. The chromed ones don't because no bike here really runs hot enough to do anything to the metal, and chrome discolors differently. All of the street bikes I've owned, every single one, had discolored exhausts, and they weren't the pretty rainbow like you think they're supposed to be. They *all* looked just like the pics posted by Nikhil and Antz. That's NORMAL. The exhaust header isn't supposed to be a cosmetic piece unless you ride a Harley. Its sole purpose is to move hot exhaust gases from the cylinder to the silencer.

Frankly, KTM is just going to tell you to go away if you all try to pester them to replace the header just because it has spots. Every bike they sell does this, as do the bikes of every other major manufacturer out in the real motorcycling world, because that's how the metal they use for exhausts behaves. I've seen countless bikes from KTM and every other make, and any bike with a bare-metal exhaust like this one has the exact same discoloration. It's only here in India where the bikes are so puny they don't really get hot, and where they still use chromed exhaust because it looks pretty, that the consumer thinks the exhaust should look showroom-shiny all the time. Well, welcome to the first steps into the world of real motorcycles. Stainless exhaust discolors. It's not going to look pretty, and the water you wash it with has nothing to do with it.

With the advent of bikes like the Duke, which are genuine 21st-century designs, you're going to be seeing a lot of things you're not used to: bare-metal exhausts have been on bikes in the rest of the world for nearly 20 years now. Dual rear shocks are a thing of the 1980s. Drum front brakes disappeared from the rest of the world in the 1970s because they're not safe. The bikes available here are woefully old designs, with puny motors, weak frames and laughable suspensions. As an aside, frankly, I'm surprised that the Duke doesn't come with a fully-adjustable suspension. White Power is a wholly-owned subsidiary of KTM, and makes probably the second-best suspension systems in the world behind Ohlins. In any event, you need to realize that things that don't seem right about this bike are actually common-place: the exhaust discoloration, the heat from the engine (ask a Buell rider about heat sometime), the screech of disk brake pads. Remember, everywhere else in the world, the 200 Duke is a beginner's bike. It's top speed is barely enough to manage highway driving, and the engine makes just enough horsepower to be fun without overwhelming the rider. A few will buy it as a commuter bike because the small displacement is easy on fuel, but most riders will leave it behind after a year or so because they're ready for a real motorcycle.

Dude it was totally different thing and i wanted it to have more attention so didn't miltiquote.. No offence

Dude.. firstly i was just trying to make a point..

besides i am not yet (phew) having this problem except for some tiny dots on the exhaust.

But it was good to your explanation.. thanks bro

@Mountain

Thanks a ton for the explanation.

Just to be sure, I'll run my fingers on the cold exhaust header to check if peeling is involved or not.

Agreed a bit on that, but being riding a Two Stroke with Chrome Headers for almost years together, I haven't faced this issue. So, which by your theory my bike runs cool or doesn't get too hot from chipping away isn't it? I remember once putting a Temperature sensing probe into the chrome exhaust header of my Rx 135 5S & it showed a value close to 600 deg Cel. If that temperature doesn't affect my exhaust like what Nikhil is experiencing, What will on a 4 Stroke?

P.S. I'm neither arguing here with your point as you've given a great explanation, just my 2 cents to solve Nikhils Issue

Buddy can you pls post some daylight pics.Even i have been trying to get rim tapes done since first day.But all i find here is atleast 10 mm thick.I feel these are somewhat same.Looking at the daylight pic i will be able to decide whether to go for the same or not.

Thanks in advance.

You are correct Dude... I don't understand why some of our friends in this forum are compromising and some are supporting the Exhaust Issue, I think we should demand for a better quality exhaust...

First, a 4-stroke exhaust pipe is cooler than 2-stroke because the power pulses are twice as far apart, giving the exhaust more time to cool between exhaust strokes. Second, chrome doesn't discolor the way bare steel does. The chrome plating acts as an insulating layer, spreading the heat out along the entire pipe. Lastly, 600c *is* cool for an exhaust temp. The normal exhaust temp on a car is over 700C, and that's for a low-stress naturally-aspirated engine. A modern bike engine, which is generally tuned for much higher performance, will have a correspondingly higher exhaust temp of close to 1000C, especially right at the exhaust port. That bend in the pipe right by the motor on the Duke is experiencing direct contact with the flame front of the exhaust gases, and is therefore going to be heated even more than a straighter pipe would be.

my 2 cents with respect to the exhaust discoloration debate going on.
(dont own a duke yet, waiting for 350).

To me, duke exhaust discoloration being discussed here looks like a quality issue of plating. It is does not appear to be anywhere close to the discoloration caused by excessive heating of material, which starts with gradual yellow and moves towards bule as the temp rises. I have experience them all on my various bent pipes on my bullets, but the transformation never looked this this.
As someone pointed out that duke exhaust (bent pipe part) is made up of stainless steel. I doubt the use of SS as its a difficult material to work with, and would take the pricing high. It appears to be mild steel bent pipe. Its not plated with pure Chromium, looks like a mix of zinc/nickel and other alloys.
In this case, its simple looks like a case of bad quality of electroplating, and could lead to rusting issues. Please do try and get it replaced under warranty, or remove the bent pipe and get it re-plated at a good local shop.

but im gonna remove the mirrors
they hit some fellow pedestrian walking on the road near a signal jam
.
and about coolant
its about 1.8lts na so how much will our bike need ?
i live in andhra pradesh visakhapatnam
so il take the whole bottle if i can
.
and is it normal for the coolant to reduce drastically to that below minimum mark ?

The Duke pipe isn't plated. Plus, your Bullet runs a LOT cooler than the Duke. The bullet uses a heavy, low-compression (and very old design) motor, and a chromed exhaust with a very gradual bend. The Duke uses a high-compression watercooled motor based on their off-road bikes.

As a corollary to my earlier post about modern bikes, welcome to the world of real motorcycles. Stainless exhaust has been common on motorcycles for well over a decade now. It's not hard to work with, and is not expensive. You might be thinking of titanium, which is still expensive, difficult to work with, and not yet used commonly for bike exhausts (though some manufacturers are selling bikes with titanium exhaust systems from the factory now).

Education education education

On a topic unrelated to the exhaust issue, I stopped by the local Bajaj dealers here in Bhubaneswar last week. I wanted to see if and when they would be carrying KTM. I was told that KTMs would be sold here starting at the end of May, which is nice, and that booking was already open.

The funny, and education-related part of this was that one of the dealership guys tried to tell me that there was a 200 and a 250 KTM available, the Duke and the Ninja . He thought KTM stood for Kawasaki Technology Motorcycles, or something like that.