Re: KTM RC 390 Ownership Experience



I thought it did come with said feature. I guess I was mislead.

In any case, paying near 2.5lakhs for a bike and then mistreating it is just wrong. If he really revved the crap out of his bike before run in then he is an idiot who doesn't deserve anything bigger than a Honda shine or Hero splendor.

However you did say his bike had an issue with the gear lever coming off earlier right so it would not be wrong to think maybe its not his fault, that maybe its a manufacturing defect. It does happen no matter how rare it is.
On a different note. The odo reading is not supposed to be Feng shui-ish or in anyway auspicious or inauspicious. If that were so then I guess all 0 reading bikes would have shifter and engine head trouble and all 15kms reading bikes like mine would have fuel pump problems.
Don't worry, such things are one off and can happen to anyone at any time, doesn't mean its a luck thing.

Re: KTM RC 390 Ownership Experience

hahaha.. i was just happy it was a 'fresh' piece, in fact it was me who opened up all the wrapping and covers off the bike. but then when i faced a issue immediately on taking the bike out (with a showroom person accompanying me for the free full tank fuel).. i realized that ktm failed or should have at least some basic QC or a test ride at the factory.. there were around 4 'ok' stickers on both sides of the crankcase, but still my bike had an issue that shouldn't have been there. I asked them about it 'there are so many ok stickers but what kind of a quality check is that' and to that the engineer who visited the next day said that they check it on the roller bench.. but then i pointed out that if it was so, they should have spotted the issue immediately because it was so right in your face. The mechanics were surprised at my patience while they worked on fixing it and they thanked me (srikant had a surprised look on his face when i said 'its after all a machine..problems do occur'). The so called ktm engineer was snobbish though.. he should learn a thing or two about customer service from those mechanics.
Anyway, am going to talk about this in detail later on..once i am done with the first service. the bike is holding up normally so far and am keeping my fingers crossed. I hope i don't have to drag ktm down to the courts or go thru more hassle.

For the guy with the trouble on his rc.. we were just speculating at the cause.. it could be anything and the owner is definitely not going to accept that he mistreated the bike.

Re: KTM RC 390 Ownership Experience

Gear lever falling off is not a QC issue guys. It's just a nut that isn't tightened well. Hence, one must do a thorough PDI, after service checkup etc.

Tapatalked from my Asus!

Re: KTM RC 390 Ownership Experience

QC includes checking of nut and bolts too Divya. QC is not just to paste "OK' stickers all around. When I do pdi, I do not expect the nuts and bolts to be loose. I do not expect something as important as the gear lever or axle nuts to fall off.
Please, let us not patronise people or companies for failing to do their part of job. Why do you have QC team then? Ship the bikes with "OK" stickers and we owners will check everything and paste them ourselves. And yes, please drop the price as well, as you will save by not having a QC team.

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With KTM it is not that great, but with Kawasaki, yes it is. But that is also due to the fact that they are assembled here and not manufactured.

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Yogesh, that is also because most believe running in hard is another way of breaking in. They did not have bad experience with their early bikes and hence assume it is safe to not follow the manufacturers guidelines.
But as they say, you should not test your luck too much.
What you said is correct. With Bajaj/KTM bikes I have experienced that proper running in is a must, and the chances of blowing up your engine is higher if you do not. If you still have an intact engine while not following proper running in then it is your pure luck.

Re: KTM RC 390 Ownership Experience


Running in hard is a way to run the bike in. But as previously discussed to death on this forum, there is a procedure to it. Most people don't know this and yet decide that they can pull it off which causes these problems.
About QC I agree with you completely.
I would prefer Kawasaki and bikes like it because they are assembled here because their premium standard means they are better built and better tested.

500 km owner ship review

Hi all, after much wait and research I got my RC on friday the 31 oct.
Till now I have completed 500 kms on her and what follows are my observations.


So I own a pulsar 220, I have done 56000km on her in last 3 years. Hence my observations will be coloured by my obvious bias coming from my 220.




So where to start, well was confused as to what to buy, ninja 300 vs RC was there not helped that ninja looks so beautiful to look.
However the maintenance cost and non availability of parts etc drove me towards something which would be easily available here in India. Since I ride long distances frequently the bike should be able to carry some luggage. Initial reviews said RC was not suitable for these.

However the reviews are reviews, there is nothing in the world that a jugaadu Indian can do. So here is the first photo of my ride today to yellagiri. Just had the tank bag today but I guess I will be able to accomodate the saddle bags too.

Coming from 220 I was used to the grunt and acceleration above 5k rpm, however on 390 she pulls i mean literally pulls you to warp speeds in first 3 gears above 5 k rpm the feeling is same as they showed in start trek, the bike accelerates and the white lines of the road just blast by you.Everything which was far away sudeenly hurtles very close to you

The sound just makes you mad. I thought i will get a akra for her but no need she is already too loud. on speeds above 100 the bike feels silent since the wind noise over powers the bike sound.

You do not need to use the brakes that much too since the engine breaking is phenomenal. In city that is so easy since you dont need to touch the rear brakes at all, just close the throttle and the bike will slow proportionately.

This brings me to the bad/ good part well the niggle if you say. Since the bike is ultra powerful for anything less than 90 shifting to 6th gear is waste since it starts to lug @ 86 in 6th.

This made a lot of my highway ride in 5th gear also was in part since I am not habituated to having 6th gear. In city you will be mostly 1 and 2 gear. However the buzzing on handlebars are a bit too much., My left hand does go numb with the pressure on wrist and the buzzing, which makes me adjust my posture.

Which brings me to the most difficult part of the bike for me atleast, the posture. Since the tank is very slim there is no natural place for the knees to stop against. So the gripping of tank needs a bit learning. Also the riders seat is made of wood. I wore cycling shorts today they were padded in the butt region and that made the ride more comfortable.

This bike needs you to be on top of your health to ride her. If you do ride for long do stretch a lot , and keep adjusting your position on the seat.

As far as pillion riding is concerned in the city My wife was comfortable while sitting, since the rear seat is bit more plush when compared to the riders perch.
The bike can be ridden in medium traffic no issues since the engine breaking makes the speed modulation easy, however the mileage will be dismal.


I had to refill her 175 km after the delivery and next refill was after 200 km. So expect mileage in higher 20s in the city before first service. Usual full tank costs 550 bucks.

As far as the tires and wheels are concerned, thank fully the tires are not jelly like and the alloys wont break as soon as they see a pothole.BTW I am still level 2 on the tire scale ( man it is fun to check how much you can bend ) will be trying to goto level 3 now.

Re: 500 km owner ship review

[MENTION=43953]archanmishra[/MENTION] : congrats bro. and thanks for that informative review. it answered a lot of question i was wondering about, especially the lugging part
below 86 km. wishing you many happy miles ahead

Re: 500 km owner ship review

Regarding the defective RC, I think no amount of hard revving should cause engine to malfunction unless there is sufficient quantity of oil. The engine is already tested till the rpm limiter for every gear and hence shouldn't throw up as speculated.

I suspect the manual specifies an rpm limit during run-in is mostly for keeping it well within limits of safety and interestingly they ask us to do so until coincidentally the warranty expires, why? I think maybe it is a good idea that we find out if the engine can take reasonable revving bursts during the initial run-in itself to identify any serious issues.

Re: KTM RC 390 Ownership Experience

From now thread :

I had the same problem on my RC390 twice. I let it go because it wasn't that common, but now that you mentioned you had the same problem on your D390, I guess I'll have to keep an eye out for it.
What was the problem with the D390 ? What fixed it?
As of now I have been riding in city as I didn't have my temp registration numbers; hopefully will go a weekend run and get more idea about how the bike really is. I feel like the idling rpm of the bike is on the high side, anybody else ?
The mirrors are becoming a problem day by day, blinded on the left side! The right one is perfectly aligned and works, I wonder it these mirrors are misaligned. Looking at how these mirrors are setup, I dont think I can adjust the arm that hold the mirror. Any thoughts ?

Re: KTM RC 390 Ownership Experience

I ride my RC once a week on weekends and it starts without any trouble. However, something strange happens when the bike stalls somewhere in traffic. Even a long press doesn't bring the bike to life. Sometimes, I rev the throttle while thumbing the starter to get it to work. The other day, I stalled and had to turn the key off and on again to get the bike started.

As for the idling RPM, it does feel a bit on high side but I don't think it can be changed easily. Also, it is better to have high idling than stalling here and there.

Mirrors are same for me. Near perfect right and absolutely useless left. Yes, they are misaligned and have only horizontal adjust. However, they are mounted to bike by two screws and I am hoping they can be tweaked by use of spacers. Will try this when I visit showroom.

Re: 500 km owner ship review

Yes, the bike in question had the right oil level. That was the first check carried out and it was also checked if it was smoking..and it wasn't.
Who told you that the engine is tested till the rpm limiter for every gear ?? --From what I have experienced on my d200, I am sure that is just a myth or maybe all bikes are not tested.

Second part, from which manual did you read ? The manual only specifies to not exceed 7500rpm during the first 1000km. And even with this limit a d200 can cross 100kmph in 6th gear.. so imagine the speeds a 390 can touch.
And I can't comprehend what you mean by "interestingly they ask us to do so until coincidentally the warranty expires, why?" -- FYI, the warranty is for 2yrs or 30000km.. and the manual doesn't ask you to baby the bike during this period.

The bike does have a rev limiter that prevents the engine revving beyond its set limit (it thinks its around 10000rpm)... but if you rev the heck out of a new engine, especially when its not warmed up properly.. it has a high probability of causing issues. There is a difference between revving in short bursts on a warmed up engine and just revving the heck out in every gear on a cold engine.
But again as i said.. its just an assumption on what could have caused it. Neither is the owner going to accept it (if in fact he did it) and more than likely ktm will also try to play safe and try to point a finger at the owner.. but i am sure he would get it fixed under warranty. I'll find out the extent of damage some time later this week when i visit the svc.

Re: KTM RC 390 Ownership Experience

I could be wrong : Don't give throttle while starting up the engine as these are FI. It takes about 4-5 seconds to start which is normal I think.

Ownership update : The bike is getting better and better with each mile, got used to the heat it generates in bumper-to-bumper traffic. If I have to nitpick, my only issue is the rearview mirror. The seats haven't been a problem for me, not that it's a bean bag, but it doesn't stand out like a thorn.
I also feel that the bike makes you more confident in terms of what you can do. I was always skeptical about moving between uneven surfaces on the same road - new tarmac and old tarmac are not evenly laid out. On other bikes, the bike usually jitters a bit when I switch between surface, don't have that problem on the RC.
I might have a faulty fuel indicator or the most economical RC390 that was shipped out of the line, I think it's the former. Completed close to 100ks on the odo, yet the fuel indicator is down only by 1 bar. I have checked this while riding the bike too, so it isn't because the bike is on the side stand. I'll have to keep monitoring it, and if the fuel indicator doesn't change even after 150ks I'll check in with the service centre and find out what's going on. Comments on this subject from other RC owners are appreciated.

Re: KTM RC 390 Ownership Experience

I am not sure if throttling while starting is good or bad but it is something I avoid even on my old discover. But stranded in the traffic with a stalled bike, I am forced to resort to it.

RC does start in a second when everything is fine though.

Don't forget it is a Bajaj made bike in the end!!! I haven't checked how the level falls from full tank but the level was at mid way and suddenly fell to low fuel level!! I doubt if the progress of the indicator is linear. Isn't either on my Discover.

Re: KTM RC 390 Ownership Experience

Okay guys, Neither the dukes nor the RC bikes have any starting issues, be it stalled in traffic or cold morning starts.
The bike has an electronic ignition timing adjuster (its in the specs for gods sakes). This causes the bike to take 2-3 seconds to calibrate the engine and throttle body as per the stroke position every time the engine is turned off for any reason at all.
We Indians have the habit of thumbing the starter in panic or impatiently (whichever applies to your situation) and thus the bike is unable to calibrate itself for optimum starting.
So just thumb the starter when the yellow ignition light on the left side of the gear shift indicator turns on and the bike will start in 2strokes of the piston max.
Follow this guide and trust me, like myself you'll never have starting trouble again. Also please stop calling it a Bajaj bike. I know its still Bajaj but it makes me feel like I bought a chetak for 2 lakhs.

Re: KTM RC 390 Ownership Experience

I disagree... I took a test ride on a RC390 recently and I know how fuel injection system works. And I did face the starting issue. And this didn't happen in traffic or something. This happened when I started the bike for the first time out of the showroom.

So many have reported this issue on their Duke 390s, I do not think that all of them are starting the bike impatiently and many of them have been owners of FI'ed bikes previously. But yes, not all Dukes or RCs have this issue.