Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

Just look at all the damage done. The frame, radiator, tyres and the whole front portion is kaput. Looking at it it seems that the guy was at a pretty good speed and so was the jeep. If this is not the case then the quality of the bikes is worse than that of pulsars. I have seen P180 crash headlong into jeep at around 80kmph and the only thing that suffered damage was the forks(it was bent). The rider didn't even fall; just shook himself and rode away!!


On another note, yesterday faced the stalling problem again. There was a long jam and the bike stalled almost all the time I would move and slow down (not more than a few feets as is the case with jams.). Four or five times, it refused to start with the engine turning. Had to switch off and on again before it would start. Will be visiting Kirti Nagar svc today. My thoughts right now - What have I gotten myself into and why????

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

Guys, judging the damage on a bike without witnessing the incident and then conceding that the quality is not good, or the frame is fragile is IMO not fair. Yes, the alloys getting bent on potholes is indeed a proven issue.

Coming to the stalling issue that many of you are facing here, I thought I'll add my observation and work around that might help you and help us all take a step towards diagnosing the issue.

These are purely my observations and opinions.

ISSUE:

When you are cruising in any gear/any speed whether in traffic or on a highway, when you disengage the clutch (pull the clutch lever) to shift down, the engine switches off. This happens intermittently without any particular pattern.

Now, I have faced this issue only a couple of times. Once when the engine was just warm (3 bars on the console) and once in normal operating temperature in traffic (8 bars). But, here I am summing up all the possible causes people have posted across forums and threads.

Probable Causes:

1. If the fuel level is low (low fuel warning light on), the ECU thinks it is below the threshold value and shuts off the engine. The point is to protect the fuel pump from damage. This is the most common answer right now and even the service centre thinks the same.

Conclusion: Many people, including me, have seen this issue occur even when the tank was full. So, we can safely move on to the next cause.

2. The clutch switch is acting up. The function of the clutch switch is to ensure the starter motor doesn't get current to crank when the bike is in any gear apart from neutral and the clutch lever isn't pulled.

Conclusion: Though this can't be completely ignored, my gut feel tells me this is not the issue. Plus, the clutch switch is perfectly doing what it's meant to do.

3. Clogged fuel filter/air filter/low quality fuel: Now, this is one more thing that people are paranoid about. For the record, many people including your's truly have covered quite big distances and filled fuel in the remotest areas/highways, thanks to the low tank range of the bike. Nobody has faced any issue with respect to performance till now. Some guys who have tried 97 octane fuel also don't report dramatic improvements. If anything, they have reported lesser NVH levels.

Plus, even if any of these is a cause, it doesn't explain why the bike shuts off exactly when clutch is disengaged and behaves very normally after that. Hence, we move on.

4. I believe this hasn't really been discussed about much and is purely my thought and a little bit of online research.

The 390 has a ISC (Idle speed control) stepper motor. Quoting what I found from another article about the stepper motor. This is written in relevance to a car, but it is applicable here too



Now, I strongly believe this is where the issue is. The stepper motor should come in when the clutch lever is pulled as when the clutch is disengaged, the engine idles at 1500 +/- 50 RPM. There is a delay in the action of the stepper motor sometimes due to which the engine is shutting off.

Many people including me have noticed that when there is no play in the throttle and/or if you keep the throttle open by 5 degrees when clutch lever is depressed and/or when you give a blip of the throttle when clutch lever is depressed, this engine stalling issue can be avoided.

So, if you link one to another, in the above scenario, the job that the stepper motor is supposed to do, is being done manually by opening the throttle marginally.

This work around has worked for me and since blipping the throttle during shift down is a habit, I have faced the stalling issue only twice.

Can any of you more knowledgeable folks throw in your thoughts on this? Also, any of you facing this issue more regularly, can you discuss this with a knowledgeable technician or service manager and get back to us?

Cheers
Suhas

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

i faced such shutting off only before 1st service. but i learnt to overcome it, most of the time by blip, downshift... .. i also had starting trouble... so they did some valve adjustments. and all was well. though now im skeptical about engine oil level...which is low , which is high, ????

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

My bike stalls when I do hard braking during low level of fuel. In other times there is no issue.
However, I suggest you guys to try this method.

When downshifting, do not engage the clutch lever completely. Half clutch or less than half clutch is enough to downshift smoothly. In this way, I am sure bike wont stall.

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

[MENTION=44857]suhas[/MENTION]n: I am not judging, please read my post carefully. Regarding stalling issue, I have also deduced that keeping throttle open won't stall your bike. However, please imagine the situation where you are stuck in 2-3kms long jam. I mean the kind of jams where you move 2-3 feets per 30 seconds or so(here in Delhi its usual to find these kinds of jam). You cannot keep the throttle open in such scenarios.

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

Question: Any one tried other RVMs than stock? The stock ones are pretty useless. I am thinking of putting on RTR's as they suit and gel in with 390's figure.

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

LOL! Why do you think my post was directed at you?

I don't have to "imagine" traffic. I ride in such traffic everyday!

My post is an attempt to put in some deductive logic so that it helps all of us instead of just ranting about the issues and blaming the manufacturer!

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

Well... that was my awesome deduction skills at work. Also, I agree that any kind of solution should be posted. (i posted my observations a few pages back). However, any kind of defect in product is/should be manufacturer's concern and members ranting provides us of information, should we ever face this kind of problem and also allows other members to chip in with their solutions/thoughts.

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

having similar issue for last 4-5 days now. please share the diagnosis and the direction the workshop takes to try and rectify the issue. Also if there is any improvement or not. tomorrow, i will be visiting autoservie to show the bike. THe issue is been something thats gettin on the nerves now.

The stepper motor theory makes sense. Could the Idle speed be increased a bit through the ISC? in my classic 500 (fuel injected), they had a brass screw on the throttle body. one could increase/ decrease the idle speed with a simple long screw driver.

I have been facing this stalling issue very regularly. i faced this just twice between delivery to 2700kms, so never really bothered. since last 4-5 days, its happening everytime i ride the bike. its reached a point where i am uneasy to use the bike in traffic.

a few traits which i have observed are :
* stalls regardless of amount of fuel in tank
* stalls regardless of engine temp - stalls at 3 temp bars, stalls at 8 bars as well
* if it stalls once, its very easy to stall is again immediately, almost at will. Just accelerate a bit, pull in clutch and release the throttle.
* If its not stalling, then it a bit difficult to purposely stall it by the above method.

* amongst all this, another thing happened this morning. I was riding at 90kmpl in 6th gear on the express way. i wanted to slow down as i was approaching toll gate. Just released the throttle without pullling in the clutch. the bike stopped for a sec (missed beat), but started again as it was moving at good speed. At the precise time when it stalled the MIL flased for a sec. Now this is something which i experienced for the first time. Not sure if these two are related.

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

[MENTION=16093]suhasn46[/MENTION], I also personally believe that delay in activation of idling circuit is the main cause. With the air flow stopped by zero throttle and idling not active, I think some sensor indicates something is wrong in the engine and the ecu shuts down the engine immediately.
With even a small throttle, the air flow is sufficient to continue normal engine operation.
However what causes this delay? It is not consistently reproducible which means dirty stepper motor cannot be the cause.
The SVC don't even acknowledge this problem.

I think we should write a combined email to KTM and Bajaj indicating a lot of us are facing this issue.

----consecutive posts auto-merged-----

Duke does not have any external control of idling speed. The idling rpm is ok only it does not activate correctly.

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

A similar thing happened to me as well (and for the first time).

Was riding slow (around 55kph in 5th gear, don't ask why :P). Suddenly the engine dies for a fraction and the bike jerks, a warning light flashes and the fuel indicator lights up, and then it restarts and no problem at all.

The clutch had not been engaged, nor the brakes, and throttle was constant. Pretty scary IMO. I thought it was a one off incident and now you have faced it as well.

Going to the SC tomorrow. Also I have an idling problem now... sometimes it idles at 1.1k (and dies if I don't give it throttle), and other times varies wildly between 1.3k and 2.5k mark....

What a problematic bike!

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

If anyone is in the know how of which persons to contact, so that this issue is brought to their notice, I can send them an email.

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

The thing which i dont understand is, how can there be something which a bike manufacturer can not get, i mean, of course ktm bajaj has come across this, so they must have found a solution to it and recalled their bikes. They have to be accountable for this, and should not be giving us a chance to guess in the air.
Sad.

sent from my batphone using my batsignal

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

I mean, this is what accountability is about right??
Your premium's product is failing in your biggest market, and because of this you are endagering the trust you have built by your unmatchable service over the years, you should be scared more than anybody else. You stand to be the largest two wheeler company in this nation, it is a lot more than this what people had expected of your premium product.

Accounting for the dissatisfaction of such a large base of customers, you weren't only supposed to rectify all your bikes with due apologies, you should have even fired your Chief Technology Officer.

sent from my batphone using my batsignal

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

There was a discussion in the Facebook group 'Kreigers' about similar stalling problems and a person named Ravi from Kasturba Road,Bangalore had fixed it. He seems to have won quit a few hearts in forum. I am in office and cant see that group but if you are interested would dig deep.
Not sure about anyone in Delhi but you can send a emails to KTM North India ids ( available at any SVC) and maybe Rajeev Bajaj as well. Go ahead and post your concerns in their Facebook and twitter pages as well.