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**sdfonechan** · 04-03-2014, 04:35 PM

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

Ah. Crap. I've bought the 390 as my primary bike for commute and weekend rides. Oh well. So much for making fun of enfields.

**Legend Racer** · 04-03-2014, 04:36 PM

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

Originally posted by krish2778;1053239

The initial joy from the [B

kick the power gives will wear off[/B], just like how ffe on a bike will start to sound annoying after a few months of daily usage.
Trust me, been there, done that .. in both cases..!! :-D

Cheers
Ride Safe
Krishna

what you mean by wear off?? please explain...i using this bike daily for 30 kms.. but if divided from date of sale, its 85 kms per day... the kick is always there. using it on non traffic roads only...ghat section highways...

**krish2778** · 04-03-2014, 04:48 PM

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

Originally posted by Legend Racer View Post

what you mean by wear off?? please explain...i using this bike daily for 30 kms.. but if divided from date of sale, its 85 kms per day... the kick is always there. using it on non traffic roads only...ghat section highways...

Eactly what i told mate, for our kerala type traffic it is fine really, but once you get to real traffic you will just find out how tough it is to manage that power, now imagine doing that daily once in the morning , once in the evening, it will really start getting on your nerve, but once you break free from traffic it is fun.

Also, you won't always want to ride on the edge and bursting with power every time, some times you would just want to be able to cruise comfortable, relaxed in 5th pr 6th gear, which is unknown territory for the 390.

Not many owners would care to admit it. But that doesn't mean it is not a great bike, it is a exceptional piece of machinery, that i prefer to make use of during the weekends in teh rush free time, otherwise , for daily use in city traffic, be prepared for frequent chain adjustments, and blown gaskets.

I am not just blabbering this out, speaking from experince

Cheers
Ride Safe
Krishna

**ags1773** · 04-03-2014, 04:53 PM

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

Originally posted by sdfonechan View Post

Ah. Crap. I've bought the 390 as my primary bike for commute and weekend rides. Oh well. So much for making fun of enfields.

Exactly my thoughts when I read the above comment! I'm gonna book the rc390 as soon as it launches.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

**Legend Racer** · 04-03-2014, 05:03 PM

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

@krish2778

yes, 390 is just not suitable for city. never ever. not even for some of our highways... but you said 390 would wear off and kick would be gone in days??? in which context you said this? for constant city use , yes bike would be mess in no time...but if its a highway usage, or atleast semi highway usage + city , this bike can be reliable enough...isnt?

**krish2778** · 04-03-2014, 05:07 PM

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

Originally posted by Legend Racer View Post

@krish2778

yes, 390 is just not suitable for city. never ever. not even for some of our highways... but you said 390 would wear off and kick would be gone in days??? in which context you said this? for constant city use , yes bike would be mess in no time...but if its a highway usage, or atleast semi highway usage + city , this bike can be reliable enough...isnt?

Mate, you miss read my post, i wasn't telling the power wears off or anything, at times, when you want to ride relaxed, the urgent power delivery nature of the duke just doesn't satisfy that itch to have a relaxed, smooth ride.

And yes, traffic free and highway roads are indeed good to ride on with the 390, but cruising or maintaining a certain speed for relaxed riding is very tough to do.

I hope now you get what i said.

And I am not saying it is unreliable, 6k kms in all imaginable terrain and the bike has not let me down in reliability, but some places, and conditions, it is just not the bike to have.

Cheers
Ride Safe
Krishna

**Legend Racer** · 04-03-2014, 05:17 PM

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

Originally posted by krish2778 View Post

Mate, you miss read my post, i wasn't telling the power wears off or anything, at times, when you want to ride relaxed, the urgent power delivery nature of the duke just doesn't satisfy that itch to have a relaxed, smooth ride.

Cheers
Ride Safe
Krishna

i misread you... what you said is holy truth... coming from a pulsar 150, i dont want any explanation on this from you or anyone, yar... really, this bad ass bike is just not rideable at slow speeds or like other common street bikes. had few experiences in city traffic, damn...

but for that cruising purpose i use mostly 4th and 5th... forget a bit of mileage but on roads other than city, one can have a relaxed ride, with that ugly feeling of not having top gear in use and that power band ready, again back to topic...lol... so, nothing helps to have a relaxed long ride on this bike...power, power,power...no relax...

its quite frustrating...and if you make it go relaxed by riding in top gear at lower speeds or less than 3.5 k rpm, be ready to shell out for damages in engine...

**RBhagawati** · 04-03-2014, 06:12 PM

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

Originally posted by Legend Racer View Post

joined in apr 2012...1st post after 2 years? that too here... lol...

You have unmatched sense of humour mate. Carry on, good for you

**viper3683** · 04-03-2014, 06:37 PM

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

The rim is heavy and the spokes are incapable of handling the weight of the bike.. just have a look at the pictures of the broken wheel.. you will get the answer for yourself. ..

Tyres are suitable for track like conditions only... When I had my tyre removed... it took some time for the person to get it back... it liked the deformed state... its very thin.. and soft of course. ...

Take a close look at your rear tyre.. you would be amazed/shocked to see the cuts and the embedded debris...

I have removed a small glass shard, a metallic foil like element... some more metallic debris is still in the tyre...

I am not complaining about the bike or tyre... but truly this is built for European conditions. ... I hope Michelin comes up with some alternatives. ..

Sent from my GT-I9300 using xBhp Connect mobile app

**viper3683** · 04-03-2014, 06:43 PM

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

Originally posted by chinmayakar View Post

Thanks Krish...I would prefer a bike that doesn't leak. Reminds me of bullets. How about your 390?

Those leaks happen due to the heat and they are pretty minor ones... the oil filter one is the most common, I also had a leak from the cylinder. ..

SVC is able to fix in no time. ..
So don't consider this to be a factor for not purchasing. ..

Sent from my GT-I9300 using xBhp Connect mobile app

**ags1773** · 04-03-2014, 06:48 PM

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

Originally posted by viper3683 View Post

The rim is heavy and the spokes are incapable of handling the weight of the bike.. just have a look at the pictures of the broken wheel.. you will get the answer for yourself. ..

Tyres are suitable for track like conditions only... When I had my tyre removed... it took some time for the person to get it back... it liked the deformed state... its very thin.. and soft of course. ...

Take a close look at your rear tyre.. you would be amazed/shocked to see the cuts and the embedded debris...

I have removed a small glass shard, a metallic foil like element... some more metallic debris is still in the tyre...

I am not complaining about the bike or tyre... but truly this is built for European conditions. ... I hope Michelin comes up with some alternatives. ..

Sent from my GT-I9300 using xBhp Connect mobile app

Track conditions are much more demanding for a motorcycle and it's rims, as compared to commuting or touring. Also, the Duke has soft compound tyres. Stuff getting wedged into the rubber is perfectly understandable. The rider has to keep checking the tyres for nails and stuff from time to time. That's the price one has to pay for using soft compound tyres.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

**THE46FAN** · 04-03-2014, 09:10 PM

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

Was curious to know why a world class product could compromise on alloys and wanted to know what Shubhabrata Marmar of OverDrive thinks about this. This is the answer i got...

"The breaking rims is a difficult answer. Making alloy rims is a tricky thing. You can get lots of strength by making them heavy and lose performance (disproportionately because wheels are unsprung mass) or make then light which gives you lots of performance but trades in impact strength. The KTM rims favour the latter. This doesn't mean that that they're shattering all over the place. It means you need to help them a little bit to survive."

**senotrius** · 04-03-2014, 09:32 PM

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

well, if this is the case super bikes /ninja 650/300 even cars should have their alloys break every now and then in india which we don't hear commonly.my bike has gone through potholes at higher speeds without breaking apart.luckily.they were unavoidable ones thou.
cost cutting/quality issues are there for Indian manufactured duke.its Bajaj made and not yamaha.speedo not working properly.my brakes have no initial bite whatsoever and still squeals every two/three days due to dust(?).same does not happen to my fz.still has much more initial bite than the 390

**sdfonechan** · 04-03-2014, 10:00 PM

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

Originally posted by ags1773 View Post

Exactly my thoughts when I read the above comment! I'm gonna book the rc390 as soon as it launches.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

Too Late .. Picked it up from Indranagar, Bangalore showroom this afternoon.
Ho BOY did I smile all the way home..

Full leathers in the Height of summer. I seriously need mesh jacket!!

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

Originally posted by ags1773 View Post

Exactly my thoughts when I read the above comment! I'm gonna book the rc390 as soon as it launches.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

Too Late .. Picked it up from Indranagar, Bangalore showroom this afternoon.
Ho BOY did I smile all the way home..

Full leathers in the Height of summer. I seriously need mesh jacket!!

**sdfonechan** · 04-04-2014, 09:32 AM

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

Hey. Can anyone with a new 390 confirm something for me? I was riding last night for about an hour to see how hot it can get (boy was it warm) and decided to test out the hot start issue. I didn't seem to have it. Temp was at 2 bars below maximum and every time I killed the engine, it restarted first go. Have they fixed it?

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