Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

has anyone used/bought the new mra windscreen for the 390.costs 6.5k.wind blast is a major issue with the pace this bike reaches the ton.

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

Rules are out dated for sure. But inherently Indians are not used to safety gears. Even with them an average biker is not as safe as one in the car at same speed. That risk is the cost for the happiness we enjoy on a bike.

It's tough to ride slow on a long ride when we have less time and lots of kilometres to cover. But it's an important thing to practice to ride rather slow in city limits. As years goes I becomes slower and slower inside city as I observe.



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Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

i do respect rules and regulation for traffic. but this should also me maintained from there side [rto]. just because a person can make 8 and 0 on there car or bike they should not hand over the licence to them.

peace

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

Saw 390 black in flesh today boy does it look good..

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Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences


thankyou nagoo for the link.

Its not about reckless riding, or safety, or riding gears or following rules or city limits. As an individual, its each of our responsibility to practice safe riding, with proper gears every time and follow rules, not 'most of the time' but everytime. Its is also not about riding below 50kmph in city limits just cos there are interceptors around, and go berserk out side city as if people, animals vehicles dont exist there. That would be hypocrisy.
what i am saying is that with time, rules should be revised. today, a number of fast bikes are available off the shelf. Why cant i sanely ride my 390 at 80kmph with in city, as every city will have some stretches which are good and wide and with less traffic? why should i ride at 50kmpl, and feel skeptical/scared of cars and suvs, zipping ahead from my left and right at 80kmpl? why should there be double standard for cars and bikes? In a slow moving traffic at 20kmph, a rider zipping at 40kmph can be reckless, but well within speed limits. Is that fair and acceptable? I am not sure if i am able to convey my point here. All i am trying to say is 50kmph speed limit for bikes should be revised to 80kmph, same as 4 wheelers.

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

Finally got the delivery today, here are a few pics


Me too excited in showroom




Got the bike at just 1km on ODO






RTR must be feeling sad




And btw its a funny story on how I got bitten by the upgrade bug

The moment I sat on Street Triple, I realized it was a really good bike. This got me thinking that I should upgrade but the on road price of 9.1L was something too much

Then came Ninja 650 and that too I was mentally finalizing on and even test rode my friends's bike, it was simply too good, but the maintenance aint cheap and the on road price of 5.8L was again too much

All this while D390 was in the back of my head screaming "value for money", "value for money" and then I came to know the latest batch of 390s have very less issues and are much better overall. So after quite a little armchair research I found no reason to say no to 390, enough power for indian roads, decent maintenance (apart from tyres), one of the best handling bike (again thanks to tyres) and one of the safest bike to ride fast (ABS and those tyres). So for these reasons I finalized on 390 and the first impressions from 20kms ridden today is as follows,

1. The clutch/gear usage needs some getting used to, just a matter time to adjust to it.
2. 1st gear without accelerator goes upto 10kmph, a boon on heavy traffic.
3. Second gear can be used only from around 18kmph and not before that, engine will start to lug.
4. Once you cross 3-4k rpm, its just a breeze to ride, such a pain during run-in
5. Handling as you all know is brilliant.

Planning for a short ride tomorrow and will try to learn the bike better.

PS : Thanks to [MENTION=11482]Samarth 619[/MENTION] for helping me decide better

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

Congratulations mate. Its Beautiful.

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

Congratulations Adarsh. It feels happy seeing you on this bike...! Atleast you were excited, I was damn scared launching it, because they handed me over the bike in middle of the service centre rush with bikes all around... I had to tow it outside just to click pics. Got used to it now though.
Ninja 650R was also in my wishlist once. But again, the same maintenance costs. Plus, the fairing and my fears related to it, tampering and all.

Maintain her well and you should have years and years of happy riding. Like your Apache, I too have a Pulsar in my home, which I try to ride as often as possible...

And, I made one mistake with my Duke: I couldn't ride her so much and hence, forgot that the 1st free service is also dependent on the number of days... It should be within 45 days, even if kms run are below 1000. Just keep that in mind.
And remember, the closer you are to 80 kmph and 6th gear, the more will be your mileage (can achieve around 43 kmpl too) and lesser will be the engine heat (around 5-7 bars). Within city, the temperature bars can go as high as 9-10 bars or so. Its no big deal.
Also, if you switch off ignition (using kill switch or Key switch) during downhill or while stopping, keep in mind that the ABS switches off too, so don't rely on it when you off the engine. I had a near fall once. I switched the ignition off and the rear locked while stopping, but due to low speed I was saved. Rear brake does bite hard, as its no softened down version. Ok buddy, all the best. Wish you miles and miles of happy riding.


PS: You know how dominating it is on Indian roads, so have mercy on other road users.

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

Congrats [MENTION=47593]Adarsh_Bk[/MENTION]. Party to banti hai. Lets hit NICE road soon. Wanna see if you can catch up with me.

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

Thanks a lot Sal

Thanks so much Samarth Btw I stalled my bike twice in excitement while taking out of showroom And thanks for the tip regarding service schedules, will see that it happens on time. While I was riding in peak traffic yesterday, temp went up to 8-9 bars but today morning I rode through ring roads in Blore and it was just around 6 bars. Also will keep in mind that ABS is off when ignition is off.

Thanks a lot Divya bhai.. Sure lets hit NICE road but how can I catch up with you?


Btw, few points I wanted to ask 390 owners,

1. The bike idles close to 1.7-2k rpm and doesnt come below that. Is it like this till first service?
2. The fueling at 3-4krpms feels a bit glitchy but I guess its not much of a problem.
3. Faced the starting issue twice already Had to give a bit of throttle and it started. But most of the times it started very quickly without any drama and I have the habit of switching the engine off in every signal.

Apart from all this, it is so much fun to ride, never crossed 7k rpm till now but I can sense whats lying ahead

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

I would also love some reviews for the new duke mra screen.

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

A hearty congrats mate. May you have many happy miles on this beast.

Bike idling at 1.7-2K is ok. This also depends upon the atmospheric temperature. Once the engine is warmed up (4-5 bars), it should idle at around 1.5k.
The fueling is glitchy at 3-4K rpm, but will smooth-en out after you put some miles on it. However, this bike does not like to putter at low rpms. The engine will also smooth-en as you accumulate more miles on it, with the first gear itself going to ~60 smoothly at 10.5K rpm. But this will take time and many miles.
If the starting issue persists, then I would suggest visiting the svc, else, its not an issue.

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

1. Well, try starting it without throttle, and just let it idle for 15 seconds when starting in the morning (generally also this is a good practice as oil circulates the engine well & the general wear & tear is reduced). See if this makes a difference because my idle rpm is about 1500-1750 mostly.
Initially, the Fi increases throttle to warm her up properly. That's normal.

2. Yes, I felt it too. It could be due to bad fuel, as we know that this bike has a high compression ratio. Try filling up high octane fuel for once, and see if it makes a difference.
In any case, you must have already understood that this bike is not punchy enough in the low rpm's, so ride it mostly around 4-6 krpm or above, depending on situation.

3. Initially its a bit of a problem. Refrain from keeping accelerator engaged, while starting it. It goes away with time (from what I experienced).

Its posted here: http://www.xbhp.com/talkies/motorcyc...-ktm-duke.html

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences


Thanks a lot Amit & Samarth

1. Even I thought it will idle higher when colder and then reduce but it didnt seem to happen, anyways let me ride more and check.

2. Good to know that it will reduce with time & had forgotten about high compression, let me try speed 97 from BP (Costs 103/ litre last time I checked ). Right now I filled normal petrol from shell.

3. It was very rare, didnt happen today. I didnt give any throttle initially when I faced issue. But this bike starts faster than the test ride bikes which would take couple more seconds.

Now I am waiting to go home from office just so that I get to ride it

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

[MENTION=11482]Samarth 619[/MENTION],that's the universal model.there's two screens now specific for the 390.does not make the bike look like some queen ant.had contacted Jv promoto.that's the one i was asking review about