Re: KTM 200 Duke

I see a wanton distaste for Indian manufactured components, and then I see people lamenting why the country fails to see greatness.

Anyhow sticking to motorcycles, the KTM's do not face any QC concerns as such, the reason the consumables give away frequently is due to the state of tune of the motor and nothing else.

As for aesthetics they tend to wear down in accordance to the KM's you wrack up, very less can be done about it within reason, unless investing in preventive cosmetic protection which to be honest is pointless as far as the functional aspect of any motorcycle goes, but if that is what sets the owner at ease then better not point the obvious.

Re: KTM 200 Duke

Rightly said.

Re: KTM Duke 200 Ownership Experience

Where do you get all this info man ?
The spares are in fact manufactured in India and exported abroad. Only if you have looked at the parts/packaging would you know, don't blindly believe some half knowledge chum.
And I wonder why people automatically assume "imported = better" .. very difficult to change the typical desi mindset i guess

Re: KTM 200 Duke

[MENTION=37035]ashwinprakas[/MENTION] You're right on some aspect of it, it's not always the case. It's not the state of the tune of the motorcycle that causes premature wear, it's QC that does come into play, sometimes it's the QC of the parts themselves that are in for a toss as opposed to the state or tune of the motorcycle. People lament, crib not because it's a desi part, they'd lament even more if it's an imported part for that matter. Being an owner of the KTM I personally can vouch parts that can be improved and parts that are a frequent pain point for the KTM gamut as a whole. Some aspects of the motorcycle's build is equivalent or even better than any imported motorcycle. Failure that occurs with respect to the tune of the motorcycle automatically would parse it under poorly engineered, as opposed to poor QC.
[MENTION=95554]Ajay Krishna[/MENTION] Not to beat a dead horse here, there is lots that meets the eye when it comes to motorcycle upkeep. I'd strongly recommend you to take it a motorcycle detailer so that they can guide you with respect to motorcycle upkeep. There are umpteen polishes each with its own usage characteristics. Not all plastic shine, which is another aspect of in and of itself. Nonetheless, what I'd like to re-iterate is this, the bike is built to a budget, right from its inception. KTM has constantly worked upon revisions with feedback from customers on the entire KTM range, a commendable job in fact. The bike is, was and still is manufactured in India with NO MAJOR imported components whatsoever, with respect to the chassis, engine, console, radiator, tires, everything is manufactured here in India. The rims, they're too manufactured in India. All parts fail, some extremely early, some last the owner and the vehicle itself. Take it easy, give your bike some TLC and you should be all right, hopefully.

Ride safe!

Cheers!
VJ

Re: KTM 200 Duke

Well this is a 'Well' we certainly should not peep into, reason being this conundrum has been going on ever since the second motorcycle came into production.

At the end of the day a seal is seal and most probably manufactured by the same supplier and if it lasts more on one motorcycle compared to another then I doubt we should bluntly blame QC, as the same goes for tires, them being consumables as well, a pair of tires may last 10k on the KTM's where as the same would last twice as much on the Honda's, doesn't mean that the KTM's follow inferior QC norms, it's just a result of the state of tune which again as you've mentioned is Engineering, a look at the CR is the best indicator of state of tune.

Hence why a KTM 250 with a CR of 12.5:1 would have components wear down considerably sooner than a Honda 250 with a CR of 10.7:1, now a Kawasaki 250 with a CR of 11.6:1 would have better component life than both the aforementioned motorcycles but when you look close its because of the twin cylinder configuration putting two 125cc cylinders at 11.6:1 configuration translating to even distribution of load on internals plus considerably lesser blow translating to lesser internal crankcase pressure resulting to considerably longer seal life.

Now the less informed would say that the KTM is the least reliable option but knowing the facts like any economical question the answer would be, "It Depends!"

And what it depends upon is the owners priority.

Just saying, cause even the alloys cracking/bending is in fact attributed to improper use rather than component quality.

Re: KTM 200 Duke

Agree, less informed and misinformed. People expect and compare 'reliability' with a fill it shut it commuter segment motorcycle.
a lot of 'issues' are downright to the owners fault or lack of proper maintenance.. sometimes it ends up like a garland in a monkeys hand
if only folks would educate themselves about their motorcycles from a good source like a service manual and use basic common sense, will a lot of whining reduce. and many service centers really don't bother to do a good job, further causing bad experiences to the owners.

Re: KTM 200 Duke


Dear Ashwin, sometimes your posts confuse me so bad that I go dumbfound at times whether to answer or not to answer, it's hard to link to any of it. Well, let me reiterate this, an apples to oranges comparison isn't the right way to measure a product or a component's effectiveness nor it's state of tune. What we're talking about here is general component life and overall product quality. Well, after all it's hard to make everyone understand what's what, and a tune or design is more what meets the eye, i.e. Compression Ratio, CC and the likes. Perhaps sometime later.

Cheers!
VJ

Re: KTM 200 Duke

Sirji, to understand certain things you need to get your hands dirty, no other way about it because there is a limit to what you can learn from the internet.

The reason you absolutely fail to see my point is because you've not opened up different motorcycles from different manufacturers, once you do so you'll realize what I'm getting at. Until then do go with what notion sets your heart at ease.

Peace Out!
A.P.

Re: KTM 200 Duke

I'm really sorry to drag on this post, and I don't mean to offend anyone. But I think, most people these days with half-baked theoretical knowledge removing a few links of the chain and adding a capacitor here and there think they've mastered it all, which I think is detrimental to one's own ego. Having insight into what you own is different rather than having hearsay and wordsay knowledge and then comparing it with the rest is a habit won't yield proper knowledge, even though one has stripped every tom dick and harry engines.

Take it easy! Learn from others, it will do good rather than misguiding.

You can continue on with your "notion" but irrelevant posts will be deleted henceforth.

Ride safe! Keep learning!

Cheers
VJ

Re: KTM 200 Duke

Absolutely true [emoji106][emoji106]

Re: KTM 200 Duke

So the battery on my D200 finally gave up today. Had to push start it.
I know this was coming and waited for it to totally give up.. this was the stock battery. 4yrs 1month old.
So this was what happened..
Last year (2017)around December, saw the low batt warning during a service and tested it at svc and the tester showed a 'replace' warning. I let it be and rode the bike and the warning went off and everything was fine until around Aug this yr.. then the bike usage reduced and it used sit unused for a 15-20 days at a time. And used to pop up the low battery warning, but would fire up and riding for a few km made it ok. This would repeat over the periods of non usage the past 3 months.
Yesterday I took it out after two weeks of non usage and it did not show any warning and I rode around 130km.
Today again went out on a ride (Started just fine early morning, even stopped and refueled and proceeded) , then stopped to meet up fellow riders.. The bike wouldn't fire up !
Flipped the key to ON ,the console briefly went off with the JG warning.. turning it off and back on, the console lights up.. no low battery warning.
Doesn't fire up on pressing the starter - no cranking also. All this while no warning on the console for the low battery. Horn, indicators work fine, fuel pump primes, no blown fuse.
Finally decide to push start it.. fires up. We ride for around 60 km, have our breakfast/tea etc.. and again it wouldn't fire up-no cranking-no warning. tried a few times, momentarily low batt pops up. Again push start it, and return home.
Unfortunately sunday no shops open.. will have to wait till tomorrow to get it replaced.

So what we have to understand from this is that even if there is no 'low battery warning' the battery might still be out.. the low battery warning usually comes on when the battery voltage is below 10.5V , but it's not just the voltage that is important, what is more important is it's ability to supply enough current during a start (Cranking amps).. so clearly it did not have enough juice (Amps) to crank the engine even though the voltage was 'ok' at times.

4yrs out of a battery is good imo, though i would suggest one replace it around 3-3.5 yrs especially if you see the low voltage warning lest you get stranded later on. I pushed and waited for it to fail and see what happens & I hope I haven't fried other components like the coil or rr unit

Re: KTM 200 Duke

You won't fry anything per se, but you can probably ruin your RR with extra load that it goes through charging a downed battery. Running a bike that constantly requires its voltage from battery for the electronics to work would mean the stator and the RR have to work harder to make sure it provides the juice to the battery which in turn would heat up things and voila you have a shorted stator or a bust RR. Though usually RR doesn't give up easily, it's the stator that's in for a royal burial. After installation check the voltage across terminals with the new battery.

Nevertheless, we have a replacement from both Amaron and Exide, do keep your replacement reviews posted.

Cheers!
VJ

Re: KTM 200 Duke

but a chance to ruin the rr or coil ? man, you first say nothing will be fried and then contradict your statements and confuse people like me who understand simple English.
when i said 'fried' i used it in the sense people use to refer to failure in electrical/electronic components.
there are other electronics on the bike that could/might have behaved erratically or caused issues too due to a bad battery.
i just penned my experience knowing what i was getting into, just to experiment and see how it goes.

Re: KTM 200 Duke

This is why I say to "read or re-read my post" in order for better comprehension. Come on Sid, I expected better from you, not this, you too Brutus! Gosh! I'd only make a dweeb of myself commenting on such amok comprehension.

No one is contradicting oneself, it's just you contradicting yourself. You understood that I've "mentioned it as a chance" then you come along saying simple English and what not. What are you trying to say? If you've understood, very well.

See, I'd definitely like to know your experiments, your ownership and what not. Please don't get into silly pointless arguments that spoil the nature of an ownership thread. We have enough already, and I definitely don't want you to be, just one of them.

Cheers!
VJ

Re: KTM 200 Duke

Got a new battery today - Amaron APBTZ9 for Rs.1750 (Mrp.2153) with exchange of the old battery.
Checked the voltages and everything was fine.

The stock exide battery had a label on it that specified the "charging date" - mine was dated 22/09/2014. I bought the bike on Oct 14th,2014. So maybe those buying new bike can check this date also to make sure its recent.