Re: KTM 200 Duke

Pretty much echo's my ownership experience albeit at 28000km now
You will get used to the seating/leg position.. Do not keep your body/legs stiff, but let it relax and you will be fine. Takes time to adjust on a new motorcycle such as a duke. If you weigh more than 75kg, bump up the preload on the shock to level 5 (i.e. two notches up from the stock setting of 3)
Tank capacity is not really an issue.. I've done plenty of long distance rides (some in excess of 600km a day) and has never been a issue for me. I am capable of riding for a long time without a break (not bragging but just stating my tolerance level) and I am yet to come across a riding buddy who can ride longer without a break they always have to stop for a smoke, pee, photo op, food, rest before i run out of 3/4th of the tank.
So no big deal, stop, fill up and use the stop for other activities mentioned above.
As you said, on the highway if you keep it around 85kmph (most of the time) you can easily cover 300km and still have enough fuel to look around for petrol station. Mostly I keep it to around 270km before i start looking to refuel.
Overall the bike was primarily designed to be a 'street fighter' (lol), and so it's light weight metallurgy and it's design/features. Turns out it can munch miles on the highway too..
As for the brakes, use the front mostly (except in wet/sandy surfaces), the rear to stabilize the bike. The rear bite improves (will start locking up more often) once a bit of pad material wears out. Or you can have them remove the pads and rub them down with sand paper to remove about 1mm of material. FYI.. am still on the stock pads at the rear, 2yr 3months (28k)! And the front pads were replaced in between under warranty, or they'd have probably been changed at around 22k km.

Re: KTM 200 Duke

I weigh 80Kgs and am 6 feet tall, but I am comfortable with the stock monoshock setting, but will try the next notch and report back.

Re: KTM 200 Duke

Sid, how did they replace the brake pads under warranty? Isn't it a wear n tear part?

Re: KTM 200 Duke

Yes, brake pads are never replaced under warranty.

Re: KTM 200 Duke

A couple of months after i bought my D200, there used to be a high pitched squeal from the front brake once the rotor got warm (i.e after using the brakes a couple of times.)
So we first tried to clean the pads and rotor with sandpaper, then applied a bit of caliper grease behind the pads but the squeal continued. So they decided to replace the pads under warranty and check. The new pads were ok for just a few days and the squeal was back. They then decided to replace the rotor itself under warranty. So when they replaced the rotor, I essentially had new set of pads (they din't put back the old pads) and a new rotor and paid nothing for it. The squeal was gone for good.

Fast forward a year or so later, my front disc was warped (very severe pulsing at lever when front brake was applied) and first they said lets put new pads and check, but that din't work out.. rotor replaced again (I paid for the rotor, Rs.1400.. they kept saying it might have 'bent' due to a impact). I know there was never a impact that i've known of but decided not to argue with them because they are usually helpful and I get my work done to my satisfaction.

So yeah I got two sets of new pads and did not pay for them .. the first rotor was under warranty and I paid for the second one.

I still have the old rotor, it's impossible to see the warp/bend with the naked eye.. maybe if i find someone who will resurfe/tru it back to normal, will get that done sometime in the future.

best part.. a set of both the front and rear brake pads together cost less than Rs.500. the front now has enough meat for at-least another 10k km while the rear should be good for another 5k.

Re: KTM 200 Duke

Sure will get it checked no time i live 40KM away from the service centre and i am a scuba diver i am always busy on Saturdays.
Seriously KTM should provide more service centers where i live i have Honda,Yamaha and others but not KTM.

Its just exactly been an year and 20,000KM.
What if i was on a ride and my battery have given up ? it gives me chills to think about it.

Once out of no where in the city accelerator cable got cut pushed bike around 5KM and travelled 40KM up and down to get accelerator cable and got it fixed from an roadside shop. Sometimes it just doesn't give me peace of mind with all these small niggles yet which are very important to run the bike.

When i gave bike for 3rd service in an service centre the person told the spark plug adapter is missing i don't even know how a bike can run without an spark plug adapter.

I gave for 4th service in main KTM service centre in Chennai (Adyar) bill was around 7.5K with chain sprocket and brake pads replacement won't they check all the parts especially any cracks in cables , voltage , fuel pump etc before delivering them ?
I am not happy with the money i have spent for maintenance on the Duke.

Re: KTM 200 Duke

Failures such as cables snapping can happen to anyone at anytime.. one thing you could do is periodically keep an eye at the cable ends and look out for any fraying and replace cable if found damage.
As bikes get more 'electronified' , they become a little more of a pain at times of failures. The instances of stator/rr going bad have come down significantly, but yes that's not a strong point on the ktm's. Do get it checked and identify the root cause.

Coming to the mechanics.. what most of them do is just blindly change the filters and oil, and that's the case with most of the brands and mechanics. Gotta live with that or stay with your bike and get everything checked during service.

Rather than leave it to mechanics, I think we should do what is in our hands to keep failures to a minimum and recovery methods at hand during failures, this might get you out of sticky situations.
So learn about your motorcycle (Read the Owners and Workshop manual), and how the components work.
Carry spares on long trips & since you live out of bounds of a svc, keep some spares at home and learn how to use/install them.
Here are some of the spares I keep:
1. Extra fuses (i know the fuse box has spares, but i still keep a set extra) and extra oil,coolant and brake reservoir plastic caps
2. Cables (Clutch and Throttle cables)
3. Side stand by-pass plug (always under the pillion seat with tool kit)
4. Levers (Brake, gear and clutch): Came in Handy when a friend crashed on a long trip.
5. Tire inflator (Resqtech) and tubeless puncture kit: It has helped me inflate a tire in an emergency
6. Battery Jump starter (Helps you start a vehicle with a dead battery) -- This was the only product I got from the USA (Cost around $50 iirc)
7. A few zip ties, duct tape and a meter of good quality electrical wire(the one used in house wiring)

Now, all these spares don't take up much space and will not cost you much (barring the jump starter)
If you are stuck with a dead battery, but have access to another battery (from another motorcycle) but do not have cables to jump start it, what you could do is remove the good battery and hold it upside down and touch the terminals with the ones on your bike (works well if the batteries are same size) and start your bike. Do it quickly and pull back the good battery. Seen this being done on a ktm and i was like good technique in an emergency.

Re: KTM 200 Duke

I will start gathering all the 7 of them which you have mentioned s1d.

I did 1500KM , 1000KM and number of Chennai to Pondicherry (120KM up) trips . Duke always puts smile on my face except that due to this issues in just an year i am seriously agitated.As my work demands me to be in office by 6AM to 3PM i can't really take the bike ASC which is 40Km one way all the time.

Ok so my bike is not starting and i have charged the battery once, was able to use next day around 30KM past 2 days i dint use the bike because it din't start.

I am going to charge the battery once again and take the duke and leave in service centre coming Monday or Tuesday.

This is the solution i find which is apt.Hope this repair won't put a hole in my pocket.

Thank you s1d for all your valuable inputs.

Re: KTM 200 Duke

Repairs should be under warranty and you don't have to pay a penny. In case it's the stator/rr then that would be free (labor and parts). Now along with either of these if your battery is also out( due to it going dead a couple of time) then you can push them to replace battery also.. Since battery went bad due to the failure of the stator/rr.
Also please drop in an email to ktm if they refuse or play around with warranty claims. And make it a point to write these comments down on job card.

Inverted forks and Slipper clutch..

Why many top class bikes are equipped with inverted forks rather than conventional forks? What are the advantages of these USD forks?

Can we add a slipper clutch to the KTM Duke 200? If not, why?

Help is appreciated and requested.

Re: Inverted forks and Slipper clutch..

Re: Inverted forks and Slipper clutch..

Slipper clutch to Duke 200?

Re: KTM 200 Duke

I went to SVC and shown him the problem of engine oil leak near engine oil cap, he is changing the lower right side part of engine (ktm is printed in orange) where clutch is connected, He is doing this under warranty.
I asked him more about this problem, he said some 2016 models have this problem.

Second service is done bit early(6800 Kms) because of this problem. Part was not available, hopefully by this week it will be replaced.

Thanks VJ and s1d for valuable suggestions.

Re: KTM 200 Duke

Okay, so we understand that they've replaced your clutch cover casing. I haven't see clutch cover replaced due to faulty oil cap in the 390, at least until now. But, do keep a tab once you're done with the installation.

Cheers!
VJ

Re: KTM 200 Duke

It shouldn't take more than 20 min to replace the clutch cover case. Try to be around when they do the replacement, so that you know for sure it's a new part and not the same part with some juggad fix.
And make sure they use a new gasket and clean the surface (with a clean cloth) where the gasket sits. Sometimes on a new bike that hasn't run many km, the gasket can be reused (if it's intact) but it's better to use a new one.