Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

Don't sweat, the spokes are supposed to break during an impact.

I had the Duke 200, went head-on in a Wagon-R, the alloys & the fork took the most impact, and now the bike is done with

So if it broke, its supposed to be that way.

O.T. Have seen a GSX-R 1000 crashed, the spokes had come off, just like yours.

Chill

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

OMG This is concerning ! See in the third pic, one of the spoke has broken into piece.

I mean it cracked from the tyre side and also from the point at where it connects near axle and disc plate.

From what you've mentioned, you were trying to achieve 60-0 which with an ABS on which shouldnt really have caused such a scene.

Or was it 100 - 0? cause if say you started off from signal and covered 200 meters, its considerable distance from signal.

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

Omg ...first of all wish you a fast recovery

Noway, the bike doesnt look like it was slow, that pocket rocket was travelling.

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

Bike was in second gear and accelerating at around 50-60. If its designed to crack in this kind of scenario, nobody should be surprised.

But in this case even the KTM service guys are also surprised. Lot of people assumed and declared that I'm fast because my wheel spokes cracked on impact. But if we were really that fast, we would have severly injured. All 3 people were safe and sound except for minor bruises and small cuts. After the accident girl was in shock and shifted to hospital but she is alright. All tests confirmed that except few bruises she is doing good.

Breaks would have stopped the bike in time, but the lady was also coming towards me with certain speed. Did not observer if she applied breaks or just came and crashed into my bike. I only remember the visual where I spotted her and realized crash is inevitable. After that all went so fast, and I remember after I stood by myself and came to my senses.

However, wrote the incident to KTM and waiting for thier response. KTM service guys mentioned similar cases happening in past with D200 and one D390 in hyderabad too.

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

Glad to know that you all are safe. I personally don't believe that the alloys are made so that they break at impact so as to protect the rider(s). This looks to be another area where Bajaj/KTM have compromised to reduce the price of the bike. Hope that there was no damage to the chassis.

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

OMG Get well soon dude...
this is some thing serious and has to be taken care of...

even if the Rims are designed to take all the impact and damage its self then any thing else then that's a good thing But not at such low speeds come-on this is a real Beast and every one knows what figures it reaches and in what time... But Such high damage at so low speeds are not acceptable what say People...?

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

For ABS mechanism, it works on electronics, observing and calculating different dynamics simultaniously to function.

But there are no electronics added to the rims so that it will calculate the necessity when to destruct the joints on its own.

I wonder what if the rim keeps taking a near threshold impact but does not break a couple of times and weakens. And one fine day decides to self destruct on a average impact - crash landing the front when the ride is on move at considerable speed? Too bad to imagine. I would like to see the rim bend but stay on firmly on bike than sending me projectile forthward.

Again, i am not crossing your assumption but putting what i feel.

PS: On the other note - Being a cast composition, the alloys will break but wont bend for better.

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

Hey bro, I do understand you POV, what I'm implying is the spokes are supposed to brake during a long/fast impact, it acts as a buffer.
Why I say this is because, during my crash, I was doing 70ish where-as the opposite car was doing 120ish and the spokes broke, taking the impact the crash on itself and not sending it through the bike.

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences


I would say this was a major impact... 120ish + a standstill its self gives out a hug impact but in your case 120+70 that too from opposite direction is some thing serious...

But hear in this case the impact was very minor he says the bike was in some 40's and this is D390

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

Well i found this here on xBhp itself http://www.xbhp.com/talkies/general-...oy-wheels.html

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

Scary and sad to see the 390 lying in that shape on the road. Good to know that no one was majorly hurt.

if alloys are designed to absorb shock in case of impact and break, the question is whats the shock threshhold? Whats scary is, in this case the bike was not at high speed, still the pics tell a different story. If the speed was not high, a crack or two would have favoured the alloy's material and not that shatters in to pieces pic. The other incident of a 390s alloy cracking over a pothole on the flyover adds to the quality issue. I mean its common in India to accidentally come across pot holes at higher speeds, esp when one is on a relatively fast bike as 390.

Reminds me of a personal experience which happened a few years back. I was doing about 90kmph on my machismo 350 with my wife as pillion. we were on bangalore mysore highway going towards oonty. suddenly a truck appeared from one of the side roads, and stopped right in front of me. Bulls are no best known for their brakes, esp with added pillion and saddle bad weight. i braked hard, but the distance was too short, and i crashed right into the truck at a decent speed. the tyre and the spoked rim took the impact and was majorly bent. my hand went and hit some part of truck and suffered a big cut requiring a few stitches. bike fell on the RHS after impact. wifely suffered some silencer burns. nothing major in terms of personal damages. All in all, if i imagine a similar situation with casted alloy wheel crumbling, i think i would have sustained more injuries.

I was contemplating switching to spoked rim. Have seen a few 200s with them. have heard its easier to convert the front setup to spoked rim, the rear one is tough. am sure just the front with spokes will be better than both alloys, especially looking at incidents like these.

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

Good to see you alright . This is a really really serious issue. Alloys breaking into pieces at such low speeds is no way acceptable from a bike of this class and performance. The pricing of the 390 is at the lowest possible point for the motorcycle. Again you guys are expecting 'crumple zones' in such low cost alloys? Alloys breaking over speed breakers/potholes have been reported for both the dukes on several forums. If you run over a pothole at high speed, the suspension absorbs most of the impact, causing almost no problem to the rider. But here the alloys absorbs the impact and breaks itself down. How this become a safety feature? Its anyday better to ride past the pothole than to get thrown off from the bike due to non-existent spokes. Cost cutting is really a good thing, both for the manufacturer as well as the buyers, but things go the wrong way when the same cost cutting measures interferes with the riders safety.

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

Could you share with us where you saw that the duke 200/390 aloys breaking over speed breakers or potholes?

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences


A video about EuroNCAP tests conducted on cars @30 miles/hr or 48 kmph approx:



Hope this video gives us an idea about the forces and energy dissipated during a crash even at speeds as low as under 50 kmph. If the rider from the other end was riding at speeds of 40 - 50 kmph then the total force at which the accident took place was close to 100 kmph (calculating 50 +50 kmph from the opposite side.. not sure how scientific is it!! )

Though there is a possibility that the breaking of the alloy spokes may be inherently designed. But let me not speculate and let the KTM guys get back to you.

Hope you recover from the bruises and scratches quickly...

Cheers,

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

Quite a few pages back, a guy had posted pics of his bikes cracked rim. It happened when the bike went over a pothole.