Out of tens of thousands of these new bikes sold in the past few months, some failures are expected. Plus, this is a new design, so there are going to be "teething troubles" anyway. To expect absolute perfection is absurd, even for relatively expensive bikes like this.

Again, wrong. For one thing, your former Ninja is a 20+ year old design, albeit with some recent cosmetic upgrades. All the "bugs" have long since been excised. Even the really expensive superbikes are going to have occasional problems, particularly the ones that are new designs, or at least new to India (just watch for the problems with the Triumphs once they start leaving the final-assembly here). Also, this is a single report of a "soft" rear brake, and that on a bike with very different performance characteristics from pretty much every other bike on the Indian roads; i.e. the rider may not be interpreting the performance correctly.



How is this the service guys' fault? If you read through the original post, you will note that the owner said the oil was "at half-way mark" or something similar. Since his english is so fractured, it may mean the oil is quite low, which would more than adequately explain hard shifting. On top of that, we have no way of knowing if there is any other underlying issue, like the owner started stomping on the shift lever when he missed that first shift, and has now bent either the linkage or a shift fork inside the transmission.

Again, a single report of an issue, and you're ready to condemn the entire design. How about the tens of thousands of other Duke owners who haven't had this problem? They don't count?



Proof? Or just more ignorant brand-bashing? Every maker has different part costs. Go back and look at the difference in price between the Duke silencer and the NS, and those are even from the same Marque.


Total crap. Again, every make and model is going to have some problems, and there will always be one-off machines that just happen to get the short end of the reliability stick. It doesn't mean the whole brand is tainted. Not to mention, these are largely minor issues. We still have no way of knowing why the throttle cable snapped. The other two issues are minor electrical problems, and bikes have always had those.

If you can't do anything but sling crap about the bike, you're not contributing anything useful to the thread, and you should probably just leave.

How is this the service guys' fault? If you read through the original post, you will note that the owner said the oil was "at half-way mark" or something similar. Since his english is so fractured, it may mean the oil is quite low, which would more than adequately explain hard shifting. On top of that, we have no way of knowing if there is any other underlying issue, like the owner started stomping on the shift lever when he missed that first shift, and has now bent either the linkage or a shift fork inside the transmission.



If you can't do anything but sling crap about the bike, you're not contributing anything useful to the thread, and you should probably just leave.[/QUOTE]

Hi guys. I'm happy to report that my bike is working perfectly now. The starter has been fixed and all it required was a new relay replaced under warranty. Also I complained about the constant cutting off of the engine after making a high speed run as well as when idling. That was solved by doing a reset of the ECU with the help of the Diagnostic & Flashing Tool. The last issue I had ironed out with the guys at the Vashi SVC was that of My chain constantly making a noise no matter how much I took care of it(I clean & lubed it every 500kms religiously since delivery of the bike). That said they spotted a link that was distorted and they offered to replace the entire chain under warranty. I feel like my KTM is in a perfect state of tune now. I am really happy with the level of interest and urgency that my issues were resolved after I made a complaint to Bajaj customer care. Truly Bajaj handled this problem like no other Manufacturer I've ever been with. So if nothing else even though there were a few minor setbacks Bajaj was quick enough to resolve them. And they are still a very good company in my eyes because of that.

Quite helpful I too had similar query once my first servicing is done!!

@extremerocker : my friend I have one request of you. You dont need to agree with anybody and as you have said in one year people will see what duke 200 really is. So lets stop bashing the bike for every reported problem rather keep note of it with the post no. and after a year lets say around april 2013 if we really have enough issues....then I promise I will support you in bashing this product out of the market. This way we can preserve the gravity of your words and dignity of the thread.

I hope you will respect my humble request.

Cheers!!!
Ajit

Thanks for letting us know how the issue was resolved.
I hate it when people post a issue and never come back and say how it got fixed

You're welcome! Again these are minor issues, but Bajaj made it really easy for me to get them solved and that too gave me everything under warranty which is good. No reasoning as to why it cam't be under warranty and no blaming the customer. The KTM 200 Duke is a Solid product, these issues are very minor and the most important part is that they were solved to my liking very very quickly which is unheard of from any other company in India atleast!!!

Also to everyone out there trying to bash this bike, there isn't a single product that's perfect in the market. This is a forum to express our issues and also to share how we solve them, its a KTM 200 DUKE support forum to me atleast. Stop using this forum as a grounds for pointing out these tiny issues with a bike that is so refreshingly different and radical that these are the only things that can spoil its image. IMHO even after having all those little issues with the bike it's still one of the most thrilling rides I have owned.

The great part is that Bajaj is coming up with new improved parts to replace the ones that are showing signs of not being quality components.
The Monoshock for the chipping problem

Solution- This will be dealt with by reducing the 180 micron paint coating that is currently present on the spring to just 90 micron thereby increasing the gap between the coils of the spring during its compression and even at standstill which according to Bajaj should address the chipping issue.

Secondly the MFD (Multi-Function Display) has had a few complaints about getting fogged up and reports of condensation happening in some KTM 200 DUKE's.

Solution:- A new improved MFD is in testing which should greatly reduce the formation of water droplets\condensation under the MFD.

This is ofcourse what I've learnt having spoken to the Area Manager for KTM Mumbai/Gujarat the past 2 days.

Here are a few pics of the day there:-

Thanks mate.

i have a question - first time yesterday i.e. at completion of 250 kms on ODO i went up till 7000 rpm in 6th gear, i noticed engine got bit vibey cross 5000 |( 5000 being the rpm which i generally do not cross) , I have read a case where since the engine was not revved beyond a certain low rpm during running in ie. around 5k for a bike with 14k red line hence when the biker revved it till 10k at completion of 1k on Odo he was simply finding it too difficult to reach that rpm.

Now what i am trying to get at is that - in this forum only, some have advised not to cross 5k rpm till 500 kms on Odo while KTM just says not to cross 7500 rpm till 1000 on Odo and never to use full throttle .

Motoman and some other web based sources advice to go all the way to redline in each gear from day one

Some say to reline once in a while but not frequently

Till now what i have done is (I) i tried Mountain's advice of brake breaking in and Kudos to it , it really works. I have no squealing brakes etc

(2) for engine break in - i from 0 KM on Odo on my bike never lugged engine as well as never revved engine beyond 7k. I during initial bike run let the rev limiter touch 6 k rpm knowingly and after that i generally change gear at 5k , 5.5 k .

Now should i occasional reach 7, 7.5 k for a minute or two so as to facilitate engine break in? any other advices regarding engine break in?
I hope Mountain and other experienced members will come to rescue I am hoping some one experienced shed some light on this matter quoted above , or is everybody is already in holiday mode

Just ride the bike as you normally would till the 7k mark and when I say normally I don't mean babying the bike till 7k rpm. Like the manual says don't go full throttle just yet. You want to gradually progress through each rpm and also make sure the piston rings get set in properly. What I used to do was to allow bike to engine brake while slowing down from relatively medium speeds of 60-70kmph. This will ensure that those piston rings get properly bedded against the cylinder walls. All this will happen during your normal course of riding anyway so don't get too anal about it. Just ride normally. In fact try not to ride on highways and stick to city riding where there will be a lot of stop and start traffic that will also help bed the piston rings. The thing with highway runs is that it doesn't put too much pressure on the piston rings. Most importantly DO NOT Go for a long ride like from Bombay to Lonavla because you most probably will be riding the bike for a long period of time and you really do not want to subject the engine to long periods of high temperatures before you complete the run in. So on a final note don't ride for too long. If you feel like its getting too hot too often as in the fan keeps coming on then its time to retire for the day and probably take it out later that night maybe. The mechanic who test rode my bike in the Vashi KTM SVC said he'd never ridden a bike like mine because of the way it progressed through the gears and how fast it touched the top speed when compared to the other bikes there which had completed 4.5k kms so I guess I was doing something right in my running in!!!

thanks, i am doing the same, i.e. riding for not more than half an hour at a stretch, using predominantly engine breaking but only till speeds of 50 km/hr . I am generally trying to accelerate smoothly and decelerate only problem is i was till now generally keeping in limit of 5-5.5 k .
I will now extend it to 7k as per your advice .
Surprisingly till now radiator fan has never switched on ? is it because engine has never reached the top three separate bars?
bajaj used to have facilities of using dynamo's to test bhp and top speed, i hope you try it for your bike as i also believe that the way you ran in your bike it should have better performance figures then the rest

by the way how much your bike has clocked? and what the max km's any duke has clocked in India?
I did read in this thread someone has already clocked 10.5 k. Is it the maximum?


By Doga
PS : people who really like to take the pain can also head to the bike polish thread and go through posts by n_aditya and stefanm there. Stefan has posted detailed instructions on how to do it much like the above post by Eshan-P180. It's better to have different perspectives and then decide how to go ahead.
Also keep in mind that much of the painted area of duke is covered by stickers and that only the trellis frame, engine and the shocker are metallic.The plastic tank cover is cheap too
cheers

Can you point me to bike polishing thread or the posts which you have mentioned, i am unable to find the thread

i had kept the revs below 7500rpm before first service .. i went past 7.5k rpm quite a few times after first service and the engine seemed to be more excited than me . still remember that scream ... my friends are now scared to take the rear seat ..

Do a search using the Wibiya Search bar at the bottom .. you should be able to find it....

I think Nitin from Delhi has completed 18k or so.. not sure on the exact figure..have started a poll in the FB group... once there's decent response will share it here

Welcome Back.
Which Museum?

Are you trying to convey the below message ?

''No there is no Duke that will cross 10 K KM without problem.They will also have problems after 10 K KM.The service is pathetic and you will never get spare parts.Everything on the bike is third class and will not last long.Everybody dont buy this bike.Everybody who have allready bought the bike please make a desperate attempt to claim warranty of all the parts or sell it. ''

If yes, go create some new goals in life.

You are not bashing the downsides of the bike alone.Afterall what do you expect to get out of it ?