Re: My KTM Duke 200 (White) review-cum-experience

Thanks for this video!

I looked it up and the guy from Malaysia who uploaded it points to his other, much better, video:
duke 200 top speed and cornering ulu yam awana part 1 - YouTube

It's crazy! Duke 200 at one point doing 165 KMH!!! The guy says in YouTube comments it's a standard sprocket (which is now 42T, old Dukes had 43T) and the only difference is there's no ECU cut off. Nothing else. If he's doing 165 kmh that would put rpms at around 12,150 rpm.

So there you go, D200 doing D390's top speed. Scratching my head after watching this... [MENTION=35854]chinmayakar[/MENTION], you're reading this? Or testing your new top speed?

BTW, regarding sprockets - few people put 38T and have reported the pick up dropped down considerably, the bike lost its crazy Duke character, and even the top speed was just little higher, although more relaxed. I have the older Duke with 43T, and am thinking to switch to new stock 42T. 41T would be ideal with Kiirus ECU, but not sure if there is a matching sprocket. Even 40T would affect the pickup but would give more relaxed higher speed.
For me personally, the pick up is much more important than high speed. I ride around town much more often than tour on highways...

Re: My KTM Duke 200 (White) review-cum-experience

Hey,

I was not sure about the correct T size of the overgearing rear sprocket hence, didn't mention it. Regarding the ECU remap, personally i would not want to remove the rev limiter completely as working an engine at the absolute red line will greatly reduce its life. Its like making one do a hundred mtr sprint speeds for 10 kms non stop.. not worth it.. Rather make changes in the map, fuelling and retain the new rpm rev limiter set at 11,700 or slightly higher. I am not so gung-ho about the after market FFEs for Duke, somehow it kills the look of the bike and max gain one can achieve is 10%. But that's me..

Probably at a later end one may opt for a mild lift cam to gain quicker speeds.. But besides that i would not want to do any major engine modifications with this crazy two stroke at heart little Duke! She is already perfect..

Cheers,

Re: My KTM Duke 200 (White) review-cum-experience

I agree about the exhaust completely, I just love the stock exhaust looks and placement / weight balance setup. Although, the sound could have been little beefier...

About the rev limiter - I fully agree, but it all depends greatly on the engine.
I hit the rev limiter 5km out of the showroom upon the delivery of my Duke when I was overtaking a truck, and have stayed at redline for around 2 sec before I realized what was happening. The reason for not realizing instantly that I was hitting the rev limiter wasn't just that the bike hit the rev limiter super quickly, but also because the sound at 10,500 rpm redline was equal to the sound of some other bikes at let's say 7,000 rpm. The engine felt FAR from being stressed even though it was at redline.
My first thought was "wow, they could have easily set the stock rev limiter at 12,000 rpm, whereas aftermarket modifications could push it to 13,000 rpm."
So, that rev limiter at 11,700 rpm sounds just about right. I tried RD's ECU piggyback on my Duke and revved it to 11,700 rpm, and it felt it could go even higher.

My point is that, IMO, Duke's rev limiter has been set way below what the engine is capable of.
And, IMO, the reason for that is more of a business nature - they can't make the bike too fast because they have to sell some 390s as well...
That was probably the main reason why they reduced the rev limiter in 5th and 6th gears to 10,000 from 10,500 rpm and reduced the top speed by 5kmh with that ECU remap last December.
They did the same to Duke 390 - during the launch in Austria few months ago D390 had 44 hp and could power wheelie, but now they detuned it to 43 hp and it can't power wheelie.

But hey, that's why there exist aftermarket solutions.

Re: My KTM Duke 200 (White) review-cum-experience

Initial impression with the ECU has been good. I shall provide my feedback as I munch in more miles. Regarding FFE's it depends on who is the designer. Joel's FFE's are very light than he stock exhaust. In this regards I feel Joels FFE for a Duke 200 shall serve the intended purpose very well. This I am saying after using his mods extensively on my P230.

I spoke to Joel, and it seems he had worked on a couple of D200's. Would like to get the head of my D200 customised from him along with other mods. But for that I have to be in Bangalore, and thats not happening quick.

Re: My KTM Duke 200 (White) review-cum-experience

Finally some good discussion going on after a long time. Do post your review on the Kiirus ECU Remap. cheers!

Re: My KTM Duke 200 (White) review-cum-experience

I was not aware of the reduction of the speed with the latest factory ECU maps nor change with the sprocketing on stock Duke 200. But as far as the rev limiter is concerned, even my puny air cooled 153cc FZ (now souped up to 182cc) can hit 10,000 rpms (9,500 CDI rev limiter) but that doesnot necessarily translate to huge amount of power and takes a toll on the reliability and the life of the engine. Normally a manufacturer sets a rev limiter to ensure that the rider doesnot intentionally hit the redline for extremely long distances which will tire out the internals, increase operating temperatures and especially the exhaust port which is not good for the engine. I believe what ECU tuning house like RD and KIRIIUS have done is increase it to 11,700 rpm to give the rider that extra punch but still keeping it few rpms short of the peak rev build up.. My guess is reliability of the engine is the prime reason behind the rev limiter being set at that figure.


If you do opt for head porting of your Duke 200, bear in mind you will have to adjust the fuelling again on the ECU map for any changes made with the engine. An engine is nothing but a glorified pump so any change in the flow of gases automatically translates to changes with the AFR and the fuelling applied at different RPMs. Plain physics, no other alternative to it. The stock Exhaust is really something i like personally minus the exhaust note... Since, you are in Mumbai, do bear in mind that now our traffic Pandus are increasingly catching guys with after market exhausts and they either go for a hefty bribe or with the 3 star officers around, force the rider to take exhaust out completely and revert to stock. Been noticing this trend on Marine drive since, a last few days thanks to the menace created by "Macchar bikes" (street racers on 2 stroke RXs) and pulsars with loud pipes. I personally feel and good ECU tune can give you a gain of 2 bhp over stock easily and with head porting and a good camshaft the acceleration can be even faster.. have only seen two such bikes from Motozone , while i was getting my FZ -X's work done there.. So personally i have no idea regarding the long term effects on the reliability of the engine and any other issues that may crop up in the future with such mods on the Duke.

So may be you can keep the exhaust as a last mod and try out these things first??

I hope i am not sabotaging a good ownership thread with my crazy talks about performance mods eh? Pardon the pun...


Cheers,

Re: My KTM Duke 200 (White) review-cum-experience

No, there isn't any leak .

Maybe, but I am not sure.

Re: My KTM Duke 200 (White) review-cum-experience

Guys, What abt the Engine warranty after ECU Remap? It's tempting tough! I was in love with D390 for a while, but the ECU Remap brought me back to my senses.

Re: My KTM Duke 200 (White) review-cum-experience

Void. I have already asked my service center this. They do say a Exhaust won't void it though.
Also the reason for voiding is pretty easy to understand, higher revs = a more stressed engine (not saying that the engine cant handle, but just saying more stress).

Re: My KTM Duke 200 (White) review-cum-experience

hi guys,
an off the topic question from the ECUs...regarding insurance...is there any maturity amount on the sum insured on motor insurance like life insurance..???
I searchd on internet but couldnt find any relevant info..
might be a rookie question...hope someone knows the answer...

Re: My KTM Duke 200 (White) review-cum-experience

----consecutive posts auto-merged-----Hey dude, my bad. It is around 30k for the akrapovic. 8k is for the Indimotard exhaust. Apologies. Damn man, i was having wrong knowledge and hence i was so happy to know i could buy one soon. Now i am tensed. I need the akrapovic soon! I gotta do something man!Btw, does an exhaust do any good to the performance of the bike or is it just for the sound? I mean, would it help in improving power, acceleration or anything of that sort? I have no idea on this. I need a stronger reason than mere sound difference to buy it with that much money coz i would first need to convince myself that it is veryyy necessary so as not to get second thoughts (budget based).[/QUOTE]

Hey,
yeah man exhaust do perform...any aftermarket exhausts are lighter than the stock ones.so there is an advantage.
another thing...yes you do get a 10% boost on accelerating after 3K-4K RPM.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the info but if you know the duke 200 has an underbelly exhaust and not a side cylindrical one. And about the 10% boost in acceleration after 3k-4k rpm, could you please explain a little more as in how does that happen?

Re: My KTM Duke 200 (White) review-cum-experience

There is a workaround to it, though. You can use Race Dynamics ECU to get the same outcome. It's a piggyback ECU, so your existing ECU won't be remapped/modified in any way. Just take the race dynamics box out before servicing/claiming warranty. :P

Re: My KTM Duke 200 (White) review-cum-experience

I already know it and will be doing the same. Will be getting an exhaust then go to the RD for the ECU + custom map for my bike and the way I want it, I dont mind paying extra, but if someday something does happen, I can just install the stock exhaust + remove the RD ECU and get a complete stock bike back.

Re: My KTM Duke 200 (White) review-cum-experience

I am from Hyderabad and going to pick my friend's Duke this Saturday from Bangalore. Could anyone please suggest tyre shops in Bangalore that stocks Duke tyres at reasonable prices. Considering every MRF shop has it's own quote for the tyres, please provide the pointers for cheapest price. And what is the total cost of tyres(with breakup)

Re: KTM 200 Duke

Regarding the engine warranty and ECU - I'm not bothered about engine warranty because, unlike most other parts of the bike, engine is the least likely to have problems or to fail, even with rev limiter pushed to 11,700 rpm.
And even if you somehow end up with a big problem and broken engine I'm sure you could talk to Kiirus guy and send your ECU for stock remap for some reasonable fee, and put it back before sending your bike to KTM for repair. Not that it (or doing the same with RD piggyback ECU) would be fair towards KTM...

Better performance is more important deciding factor for me in Kiirus vs RD ECU. RD piggyback also takes all the space under the back seat, and is ultimately limited with how it works because it doesn't replace the stock ECU - the signals come first from the stock ECU and then the piggyback ECU reduces or enhances those signals. Basically, the stock ECU remains as a "filter" between the throttle signals and piggyback ECU. So, if the stock ECU has low power at let's say 5000 rpm then the piggyback ECU has a limited scope in how much it can weaken or enhance it. The overall power delivery curve simply theoretically can't be very different than the stock ECU power delivery curve.
Modified ECU, on the other hand, is a single solution, and has a full freedom to create whatever kind of power delivery it is programmed to.

I've been pondering hard last days whether to go for D390 or remap my Duke's ECU.
I've decided I'd rather have more fun and full throttle with a less powerful Duke than less fun and half throttle with faster and more powerful Duke. The roads aren't good enough for D390 full throttle, and the way D390 delivers power combined with tall gearing offers less fun than D200.
28 hp and 125 kg (224 hp/ton) vs 43 hp and 139 kg (309 hp/ton) is not good enough difference to sell my Duke and buy another one, especially when taken into account the above mentioned reasons.

I'm going to send my ECU to Kiirus in a day or two, and when I get it back I'll update with all the juicy details, full throttle in every gear.