Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

I was really upset this morning when my bike wouldn't start. Cranked it 7-8 times, each time by turning of and on the ignition key and engine kill switch. The starter would roll over but nope the bike wouldn't fire up. There was enough petrol i.e. just three bars short of full. I opened the fuel tank lid and it looked like there was sufficient petrol. I opened the pillion seat, pressed the rubber thingy on the battery terminals (struggled to put back the seat) and tried again. No use.

Feeling absolutely hopeless, I moved the bike over and put it on side stand and walked towards my car. But just as one last try, I tried cranking the Duke and then it finally roared to life! Came to office and there was no difference in performance.

This is the 1st time in close to 4000kms and 7 months of ownership this has happened. I am wondering what could be the cause. If it was battery then the starter motor wouldn't have rolled over right? There was no engine malfunction light or anything of such sort. Scary experience to go through. I dread to think what would happen if this were to repeat in an unknown area!

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

Was the side stand down when u tried cranking?

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Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

Initially when I tried cranking the side stand was NOT down. But the attempt in which it started finally, side stand was down!

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

not at all an issue... keep cool...some bikes like mine need very careful starter input,coupled with bit throttle. but some bikes are a breeze to start.

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

[MENTION=39214]B7ACKTHORN[/MENTION], is there some way we could use the projector setup of the p220 on the 390? instead of aftermarket hid kits.

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

Not a 390 owner, however was the petrol tank cap open for sometime and then the Bike started. Sometimes this issue crops up in my friends p150. Usually happens when bike was kept in hot environs, which cause petrol to vaporise. The solution for that is to kep the tank cap open for some time and then crank the bike.

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

My bike was a breeze to start till this morning. Hopefully it remains the same :-) I did try (just once) giving a bit throttle also to no avail.

I did open the petrol tank cap once to see petrol level and closed it. But when the bike finally started the tank cap was not open.

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

Please see the video in the following link. Its pretty much similar in real-life. the light are pivoted to its frame and can be moved up-or down. I have kept the LED beam throw closer to the OEM low beam. on highways, or whenever required, the LED beam throw combined with OEM highbeam give a fairly decent illumination.

the link:

10W CREE LED Foglight, LED for Motorcycles India

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

Absolutely normal Nithin. Sometimes just as carburetted motorcycles, F1 machines do take quite some cranks to start. Secondly in Duke the won't crank meaning dead, when the side stand is down before ignition. Once the engine fires up the stand is obsolete in whichever position it is up or down.

Secondly there is something called vapor lock which is prominent in all bikes which as the name suggests is due to fuel vapor causing blocked liquid fuel flow. Hope i tried to convey the point.

Thirdly just as a tip when you crank the bike in the morning... for which it should start in half to one crank... for some reasons if it doesn't, pls don't switch off the ignition on and off vise versa with engine kill switch. This not only makes the pump prime every single time, but induces unwarranted stress on the pump. If your bike doesn't crank, after repeated cranks wait for few mins and crank. Don't gun the crank continuously and switch on off on off on every interval. This way you reduce Unwarranted wear and tear.

P.S. The pump is more smarter than us.

Hope it helps.

Yes and no. Firstly as you know the 220 has two headlamps, and the low beam has a convex mirror for that perfect arc light throw and a separate high beam. Secondly in our 390 single bulb does the duty so while low beam throw would be good, you won't the high beam throw. Personally I'd suggest you to go for a complete high quality HID setup.

The 220 setup can be installed by some good experienced hands and some jugaad, but I'd suggest a HID setup

Cheers!
VJ


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Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

Yup, aware of vapour lock, faced it extensively in my RX135 but absolutely didn't occur to me this morning the issue could be that. It never happened in the past with my Duke but then there is always a first time I guess.

Didn't know about turning off the ignition switch multiple times. Thank you for letting me know. Will take care of it from next time.

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

Suzuki engineers back in the day solved the vapor lock problem using an old-skool technique. Notice the big black pipe sticking out of the tank [emoji14]



I wonder how they deal with this problem in modern bikes (like the Duke). Maybe then we can find a solution for the vapor lock issue using some jugad

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

This looks decent and definitely will work as a low beam. However the 6000K color temperature has me worried. It may not be so efficient to use in the rains.

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

Had a really scary situation yesterday returning from office. Large part of my commute is on a highway. I was going fairly fast and suddenly both the brakes stopped working
Thanks to the fantastic engine braking I managed to slow down the bike and stop at the side. Turns out soft thermocol like sheet was stuck in both the tires and brakes.
I managed to remove it from the front brake but it is still stuck in the rear
Planning to take to svc today to get it removed.

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

This is one of the reasons I always check the bike briefly before starting to ride; had a near accident on my previous bike when I found out that the brakes do not work and that too on high speed road!!! Somehow managed to avoid a crash and since then I follow this mantra religiously: check the bike and then ride.

Re: KTM Duke 390 - Owners Reviews and Experiences

My left crash guard bolt had come off last month. Like always my svc didnt have stock of that bolt. So they put some other screw. Yesterday I found that one missing too. My svc is crap... sorry for that word. But it was necessary.

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