Definately not the saree guard, becs i have mine attached since i got it from show room, I think some experts should throw light on this issue....

Anyone can explain the possible reasons ????????

Yes, a guy with pillion. Glad to see that he was not ripping it. By the way, you will need to take it all the way to Trivandrum for service or any minor repair ryt? That's the main thing holding me back .

Query

I believe front wheel braking matters most on a race track, but in city conditions I feel the weight distribution on any bike should be 3:2, i.e 60% to the front and 40% at the back, The point i m trying to make is...

Does softening the rear suspension help to put more weight on the back wheels?...If so, i would like to do some hard braking with a little bit more weight concentration on the rear wheel...at least then it shouldn skid..(just a thought)

hi all
this is my first post in xbhp
took a TD of duke today after much cajoling the pbiking guy, seems they dont give a Td on weekends.
was a very short Td the guy insisted on making a short trip. barely 500 mt, infact I mentioned in the feedback form that a longer Td might have resulted in a booking today.
anyways me for one was floored by just the looks of duke.
was a but disappointecd that it didnt turn out to be the illegal cross between a shogun and RX 135 as I was expecting .
I write it off as I was not used to the gearing and the short drive.
but my younger bro had this to say " not as smooth as a 1L+ bike shlould feel like."
this seriously made my home minister reconsider.(wifey)
on the whole so far the pbiking showroom experience was sad , this being my 5 th visit asking for a TD
cbr guys from sapphire honda got the bike home for a Td on the other hand
guess not having competition within town shows .

projectile

Hmmm SAD to hear that, but tat bike is banged by like 50 diff ppl everyday(weekdays) since the test drive began..cant expect it to b smooth..anyways it wont be a good decision to buy a bike becs someone gave u a TD by bringing it to ur doorstep...( now don ask me a TD )...

U can go thru the owner reviews in this thread...and take ur decision..

When you brake, rider and bike weight is transferred to the front of the bike. The forks compress and this weight is transferred to the front wheel. This happens regardless of whether you are braking from 40 or 140. In such a condition, when majority weight is at the front wheel, it is the front wheel which require more stopping force. Thats why a bike stoppies in extreme braking situations. Just a 300mm disc and a twin pot caliper up front is not enough if the rider itself is using the wrong brake.

Since there is very little weight on the rear wheel at this time and if you use rear brakes at this time, since there is very little traction, it will skid. How would a softer suspension help rectify incorrect braking practices? How will the tire grip if it is just about to leave the surface of the road?

A racetrack is not different from the regular tarmac you ride on in your everyday urban riding. Laws of physics do not change on a racetrack. You have to keep a front bias on the braking or else you will never be able to brake satisfactorily and safely.

Okay...the reason I had to ask this question was..I rode the bike today with my brother as the pillion and I found that I had more control over the bike(no pulling to the right) and when i say control I mean only the braking part..not the flickablitiy...so ws thinking of ways to make rear wheel find more traction..anyways thanks for clearing the doubt...

Review after the Run In period and letting the Duke rip!

well ill jump straight to it, i got the duke serviced, and like promised, took it for a spin this past night when traffic is low (seems i forgot it was a saturday night )....

1st up, the gear shifts have become real smooth... no more struggling to find nuetral...
handling and suspension settings remain the same, and offer lovely flickability...

PERFORMANCE:
to be honest, its everything i thought it would be! i took it 1st to marine drive, which is actually a bad road to test a bike....
FINALLY i got to just let ir rip! like all the way till when the rev limiter kicks in!!! and oh my god, this thing pulls like a rocket.... the CBR250 that i ride often also shoots, but due to its riding position, its not felt the way it is on the Duke....you really do end up just hanging on to the bike, caught in the dilemma whether you should ease up on the throttle or just see how far it can go!
as we have been told, the first 2 gears are really short, and the rev limiter suddenly kicks in, fuel is cut, and the mad accelerations jerks to a lower rev.... but once i got used to shifting fast, this monster was nonstop... 100kmph comes up before you know it, comfortably in 4th gear at 10000rpm, and then it keeps pulling!!!
marine drive being not the safest places to do this, i stuck to 1st 3 gears.....
i also kept it at 40kmph in 4th gear and suddenly accelerated to see what it could do, and i was pleasantly surprised to see no power lag! this is one machine that is comfy in a variety of gears!!!

the suspension is on the stiffer side, so small bumps are felt really well... but i noticed that the bigger ones are absorbed pretty effortlessly....

another thing that needs to be noticed is that the bikes kerb weight has its drawbacks.... the smallest bumps at high speeds and it tends to jump and lift off... for light people like me, whose weight doesnt contribute to grip at all, this is something we really need to to take care of....

the brakes still do a splendid job... also, the reason for all of us comlaining of the rear tire skidding is due to the bike structure.... i noticed that skidding is reduced alot if there is a pillion....

well then after marine drive (which is crowded on sat nights) i moved to malabar hill, peddar road and bombay central since they provided smooth roads with lots of turns.... this bike leans in with sooo much ease its addictive...

but my destination was Lalbaug Flyover....i been on this soooo often that i know every turn and every straight rreally well....time to see how fast this goes!!! like i mentioned earlier, 100 comes up before you know it... then it kept pulling effortlessly, 110, 120, 129kmph and i ran out of road!!!... ive ridden alot of bikes that can do 120, but the difference is the way in which the duke reaches that number!!!
string winds seemed to be blowing tonight, so when i rode against it, it shook the bike up and visibly reduced acceleration... but the i rode with it, and all was forgottten ...

All in all, this is one heck of a bike... it rides like a monster, but at the same time can be ridden in a very civilized manner and very comfortably in city traffic and this is what i like the most about it....

Below are some pictures i took at the end of marine drive...

Thanks, nice post-first service review

Now, about rear tire skids.
1. I'm yet to ride my own Duke, but from the hearsay, rear brake has too sharp/abrupt bite which probably needs to be compensated by very smooth tapping by the rider. This is not easy to master, esp during panic braking.

2. Stopping power of rear brake is too less compared to front due to factors antz.bin already explained. On Duke, lack of traction on the rear wheel can also be associated with very much chopped off rear(Lesser weight on the rear perhaps). Like aadil said, skids less with pillion. Bingo, that supports this argument

3. Now skidding to the right happens due to the rider's tendencies IMHO(In addition to the absense of saree guard in some cases). When we pull the front brake we're probably pulling the right handlebar slightly which initiates a lean to left side(Counter steering). So your Duke is now ever so slightly oriented towards left. Now the light rear with less traction comes under sharp braking. And the rest, I know all of you guys can explain yourselves

That's ridiculous!!
What would ninja owners do? They have drls....

Duke 200

Hi. I got my bike delivered on march 1st in chennai. I've finished 400 kms. I'm really enjoying with my bike. I've only one issue expect everything is good. Did any one notice the engine heat. My bike produces more heat within 5 mins. I can feel the heat from my legs and i got only 2 bars(Engine heat) left on my console after crossing 7-8 mins of riding. Any one facing this issue?.

Nothing wrong with it, but its due to the riding style. Bikes with Disc brakes (at the back) do tend to lock the wheel at the back especially when we apply the them in pannick/hard situations on lose gravel roads. try not locking the disc at the back and ease the pressure of the right foot. An try increasing the frond brake pressure.

S.... the bike does get heated up fast especially in traffic. But my console showed an even 6-8 bars when driving on the highway.

2 bars reading on the console might be off....u might wanna get it checked.
Check the coolent level on the bike and engine oil as well

things i missed out in the previous post

1) i noticed the bike heats up alot SLOWER than it used to before the service....

2) at speeds in excess of 80kmph, wind drafts DO have an effect... and since this achieves 100+kmph with ease, care needs to be taken... i felt the back end start to wobble if i hit a small bump while turning and stuff.... maybe this is because im pathetically light, or maybe due to the fact that the rear wheel is spaced far behind... because the front felt as firm as ever

3) there is this funny vibration felt in the footpegs when the bike is in motion...i dont remember it being there before the service.... its also felt when you hold the clutch when in gear and let it free roll, though it disappears when in neutral... its like the vibration felt on my Apache RTR 180 after a year of usage when revved at 7000rpm+...
any advice?? any one else who got their bike serviced facing this too?

4) everyone is divided on whther it sounds nice or not... but before you make a decision, you have to do this: ride the Duke in 3rd or 4th gear and let it go all the way till the 10500rpm redline, then just leave the throttle and let it decelerate (DONT hold the clutch, let it decelerate) and LISTEN to the sound!!!! the way it sounds till it comes down to 7000rpm, and then how it sounds below that!!! JUST INSAAANNEEEE

5) if you really wanna do that 0-100kmph, you better get used to shifting at the perfect point just before the limiter cuts it, cause that suddenly ruins the experince.... this takes some practice, but once you get it, its worth it

6) deceleration in the 1st and 2nd gear is hard and jerky, so you need to hold the clutch... but 3rd gear onwards its smooth enough to not hold the clutch everytime you leave the throttle

Hey Aadil those are good points you mentioned. Can't wait to get my first service done too...and as for the foot peg issue someone here mentioned that it was just a matter of adding a washer to the front foot pegs since they are spring loaded they aren't as firm as the rear set pegs...I believe it was Shubz that confirmed this.

Also are you getting any radiator coolant leakage anymore? Or did you ever when you had it in running-in?

As far as the exhaust note is concerned it sounds very Ducati-ish and has a Muscle toned Rumble in the Exhaust even in running in!!! I frequently ride till the 7.5k mark and allow it to decelerate on its own so I know what incredible sound must been eminating from that little hidden exhaust at 10.5k!!!

Also I've noticed on my KTM atleast...that when I shift from 1st to 2nd gear very calmly, the second gear just clunks into place, unlike if I were to do a quick shift, where the gear would change to 2nd gear without a sound except that gratifying "click" ...so hopefully you know what I'm talking about? Faced anything similar pre and post running-in