Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

Bike is doing absolutely fine now that I have clocked around 1.5k kms. The initial quirks are getting better. The low end is better than it was, heats less, vibes are better now.

The only thing that is not to my liking is how the front brakes have lost the bite and that too by a fair amount. I am having to pull the lever almost till the grips. A few days back I rode a friends baby ninja and was left shocked to experience such stark difference. This is not just with my bike but with 3 390 folks.

The quality of the master cylinder is too poor is what I think as the disc setup should not loose it's bite with time till the time the pads give up because my new bike had good braking. The svc folks on the other hand know nothingh. Their reply.
Saaar, abs bike saaar. It is like this. When I compared it with a duke 200's brakes, he was like saaar abs and non abs saaar.
This coming from a service manager.

And all the 390's have similar issue so, I had no case there. I am getting a little frustrated with this. :banghead:

Sent from my GT-I9100

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

bro, lucky you got the bike replaced.I'm still fighting here for mine.the dealer here in cochin is super uncooperative.the service manager in charge of the entire popular automobiles group is not even an engineer its seems.tried talking some sense into this guy about the engine and we felt like idiots instead. they screwed up the engine twice already and still do not accept why I want the bike replaced.when higher ups concerned are not even engineers you can understand what sort of **** we're in trying to explain about engine damage and replacement.plus basically they just want to push off the issue to a side by tinkering and experimenting with the bike again.

regarding the knowledge levels I agree with you.no point at times arguing with them.they are unable to adjust even headlamp level properly.and that's not an exaggeration.

p.s. time to change profile pic with your new beast?

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

In my case I was able to get it replaced because I spotted the issue right from the showroom and diagnosed the issue within an hour at the svc with the showroom manager informed right from the start. I rode the bike right into the showroom from the svc and left the keys there.

If they are not agreeing to a bike replacement, atleast push for a new engine because god knows what they might have done to your new engine, that too twice.

A new profile pic would come soon.

Sent from my GT-I9100

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

When shifting from Neutral to 1st i get a thud sound ... can any dukers tell me abt it????

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

It is absolutely fine. Nothing to worry about.

Sent from my GT-I9100

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

Guys

When I turned off the engine button by mistake i pressed the starter and i noticed that it still works but it doesnt fire the engine . Is that common dukers ?

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

Today, I saw a KTM 390 fitted with a Givi Monolock kind of box on its pillion seat, at the KTM BTM showroom. What surprised me was that the box was of KTM make.

Did anybody get their rear brake pedal adjusted downwards? I enquired with SVC guys but they said, it can be adjusted downwards in a Duke200 but not on 390, they said the rear brake will lockup due to ABS! I am getting right ankle pain because the brake pedal is slightly above the right footrest. Please advice.

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

Don't ride with the foot over the brake pedal all the time. At first your foot will take time to reach the pedal when you want to brake but slowly you will develop the muscle memory to do it fast. Just like car drivers do.

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

Thanks buddy! Will practice from tomorrow.

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

2 months and 1400 km update. My usage is quite less and took a long break from work post Diwali too.
1st service was done at 700 km since it was almost 45 days by then.

Positives and improvements:

1) Gear box: after completing 900 km, I could do smooth upshifts from 2-to-3 and 3-to-4 at 4000 RPM. This has been the biggest change and has improved city rideability so much. The clunkiness is pretty much gone. No longer need to upshift at higher RPMs to avoid the thud.

2) Braking: was my only complain post delivery. The front brake felt dead and I was thoroughly disappointed. Had to pull in the brake lever too much to get the bike to start stopping. Braking has improved considerably. I wouldn't say its perfect because it doesn't have a killer bite, but it is doing the job to a reasonable level of satisfaction.

3) Handling and power: The handle bars are so light. Maneuvering on road and overtaking is effortless. Handling cannot be enjoyed during two-up riding. Really need to ride alone to extract the maximum fun out of the bike. Power (with safety of ABS) was the reason of buying the bike, enough said on that front.

4) No starter issues in any situation from day one.

Negatives:

1) My biggest complain. Cold starts. Get the bike moving and its jerky till it heats up a bit. Don't expect this from an FI engine. This is barely acceptable in a Carb bike. The fueling has some scope for improvement. In comparison, the fueling in my Karizma ZMR is flawless. I don't believe in warming up the bike too much. Get the oil circulating upon startup should be enough.

2) The ride is quite bouncy on average roads. Don't know what to do about it. I use 28/32 as tire pressure. I usually ride two-up. It is my office commute bike with wife as pillion.

3) Tank range could have been more. On lowish fuel, startup the bike from side stand, and it will happily show F meter and start calculating distance to empty. Get it moving and couple of fuel bars will show up, bringing a sigh of relief. I would have loved a 17L tank.

Others:

1) Clutch: cannot list this as a negative. The clutch will feel heavy only in excessive stop-and-go traffic. In normal traffic it feels light, or at least no worse than most other bikes.

2) Heat: Is manageable. The pillion can feel it too. Will have to live with it.

3) Engine braking: Can be listed as a positive. I love the engine braking on this bike. But will throw your body forward, and pillion complains frequently during two-up riding, since it apparently upsets her balance and cannot hold on to me properly.

4) After the first service, or near the 700 km mark, engine seemed to have well set. As in, the rawness tempered down a bit. I remember riding the bike back from service. Slotted 2nd gear but didn't feel the raw power, but didn't feel lack of power either. For a moment I thought, raw felt better than smooth.

5) Need to be rather careful in the city. Can't just open the bike anywhere and everywhere. Pune traffic has gone from bad to worse. Heavy commercial vehicles have hijacked city roads. A separate bus lane has been made in my area, but isn't operational yet. So roads are congested. A less powerful bike is easier to manage in the city.

6) Due to late delivery of my bike in October, didn't get a chance to ride in the rains. So haven't tested the grip in wet conditions. Have done only one trip to the ghats; my riding is mostly city. Haven't really done any great cornering. So cannot comment much on the tires. But I do know that they are right sized and offer enough grip, unlike my ZMR.

7) Digital console with all the information is really good, but the RPM digits are too small to be comfortably seen. Wish it came with a bigger digital tacho like the ZX10R :P or even analog tacho like the bigger KTMs and most other bikes.

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

I am not alone then. I was thinking it is something to do with my bike. I wouldn't say it is jerky but a hint of hesitation for the first 1 minute or so.

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

add me to that list. infact a friend took a short spin on the bike and point the exact same thing, that is the levers have to almost kiss the grip which is not ideal. He also mentioned that it was not the case on another 390 which he rode for a while. what options do we have to overcome this?

this happens on my 390 as well, so could be a common thing.

brake pedal can not be adjust much in its stock form. Yes, it can be lowered a bit by slightly reducing the length of two components on the brake lever sub assembly. I am planning to get it done on my bike. lets see.

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

Something interesting I observed during my daily commute.

After I start from Home and come to office parking, Right after I stop the Radiator fan comes up. Though still two bars are left. Same thing happens when I return home and when I begin parking the bike the exhaust fan comes on. And still two bars on temperature gauge are left. I am not sure how it appears to operate but looks like my 390 knows when the bike is going to take long halt :P

Another thing, during first start of the day. After idling for about 90 seconds radiator fan comes up for brief amount of time like 5-8 seconds. Looks like part of POST

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

The gear lever is not as springy as it should be.... comparing with my RX100
This is not a problem and it is there in every 390..., this will only happen when downshifting rapidly at low RPM's
When downshifting rapidly or normally, remove your foot from the shift lever after every downshift i.e. let it come back...

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Noticed the same on my 390 as well...
Thats the right thing i guess, as the engine heats up a lot while stationary, suppose you stop when there are two bars remaining, turn off the engine and you will see that the remaining two also lit up....

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

The fan comes on at a particular temperature. From my observation during service; 92-95degree celcius. So when you start parking/slow down due to no air flow the temperature shoots up from 85-90 to over 95. that is why the fan comes on. When i wait in traffic, if the fan is running and I have only 2 bars left for the bottom section, then I do NOT turn the bike off as it will over heat and the time you start back it all the bars will be filled. But if you are gonna park for over 10mins, then it's better to turn off.

At 100 degrees, you will have all the bars except the top one in the bottom section and yes, the fan does perform a POST after the first bar of heat shows up. This is the fan's way of just making sure - "I can cool this biaatch if she gets a temper later on"