Re: KTM RC 390 Ownership Experience

Congrats on your new bike.
I am sorry to break it you, but this behavior is completely normal and fine with the RC390.

If the temp gauge looks like below while moving, it's standard operating temperature


If it looks like this while moving in bumper bumper to traffic, that is also normal


During break-in period it's fine even if reaches the top bar fully in 1st gauge when you turn OFF the engine in signals, but just check it should fall back to above two positions after 2-3 mins of moving to 1 bar or 2 bar less. If it goes 2nd gauge yes something is wrong, stop the bike immediately and go to nearest SVC.

Coming to coolant, you can switch to after 2nd service to Engine Ice https://www.flipkart.com/engine-ice-...m7pat7ak(1.89L for Rs.1290) you won't be needing full 1.89L, might be half of less if you fill it MAX.
It does a great job in keeping 1-2 bars less compared to stock Motul coolant but just do a complete flush before replacing.

Re: KTM RC 390 Ownership Experience

It never goes to 2nd gauge but most of the time hovers 1 bar less than max in 1st gauge. While stopping in traffic 1st gauge becomes full. When I move again it drops back to 1 bar less. Will check if bike runs a little cooler after first service.

Yeah I do keep an eye on coolant level. Thanks for the advice.

Re: KTM RC 390 Ownership Experience

Guys how much is the KTM bikes
oil capacity ?

My friend owns a Duke 200 and says oil change after 6000 kms is enough !!


At which intervals you all change the oil ?

Re: KTM RC 390 Ownership Experience

KTM RC 390 manual mentions this for Oil capacity:


According to manual oil should be changed every 7500 km after the first service.

But considering the Indian roads, driving conditions filled with dust, oil used, traffic, as well as the driving style of the owner,
I guess it will come down to 3k-6k km for oil change interval.

This is what I read at different blogs and personally I have not even gone for first service yet so better to wait for expert advise.

Re: KTM RC 390 Ownership Experience

Okay BTW thanks for the perception .

May I know the pretty KTM owners, throw in some stuff about your regular oil Changing intervals !

Re: KTM RC 390 Ownership Experience

Can you both let me know for which model year (MY) and manufacturing month you are referring to. This oil related topic is becoming very confusing.

Here is a pic from my manual for the 2015 RC390


Did they just increase the oil capacity overnight?
Without changing anything inside the engine between 2016 and 2017 model how come we can add more oil now(1.7L from previous 1.5L)?
So all owners of 2014-2016 RC390 were filling and running with low oil quantity till now?
Can we also fill 1.7L for the 2014-2016 RC390's?

Re: KTM RC 390 Ownership Experience

Mine is 2018 RC 390 which is basically 2017 version i guess. I have downloaded latest manual from the KTM official website. I guess both 2017 Duke 390 and RC 390 have to be filled with more engine oil now, but I may be wrong.

Re: KTM RC 390 Ownership Experience

For 2015, Engine oil capacity is 1.5l
You can put oil less than 1.5l but don't put more than that else it will cause oil leakage

Re: KTM RC 390 Ownership Experience

The bike is a hot putter and the RC doesn't cool itself enough better as opposed to its naked counterpart. As long as you don't see High Coolant Temperature on the dash and the vehicle stalling, there's nothing to worry. A word of caution is try not to switch off the engine when the temperature is high, this will increase the engine temperature even more and show high reading in the dash. Let the radiator take over, if you intend to cool down the engine, park it for 10 to 15 mins while you take relish a snack or two which would suffice for the bike to cool down itself and you can continue your journey.

You can try Motul MotoCool, Motul Inugel Expert, Castrol Radicool, Bajaj Coolant, Bajaj Koolex, Honda Ultra Radiator Liquid, Engine Ice, you have lots to choose from though I'd recommend these three:

Honda Radiator Liquid
Motul Motocool
Engine Ice

Cheers!
VJ

Re: KTM RC 390 Ownership Experience

to all those confused about oil capacity..
after a proper drain and oil filter change:
1. first add 1.5L and let the bike idle for a minute
2. Turn off engine and hold the bike upright without any stand, and make sure it is not leaning towards the left (even a slight lean towards left may cause the oil to not appear in the sight glass)
3. check the oil level in the sight glass (shud be betwn Min-Max)
4. Add a little more if req. (usually 1.6L is sufficient)

So don't go blindly by X ml.. but have a baseline of 1.5L and add more as required taking care to not exceed 1.6-1.7 ,if you are exceeding this then either the oil is leaking out as you pour it or the bike is tilted hence not showing the right level.
On the 390 there are two drain bolts that need to be undone to drain the oil.

On the 200's 1.3~1.4L is sufficient for an oil + filter change.

Re: KTM RC 390 Ownership Experience

I was following the same for quite sometime, later I started to get paranoid.

I would fill 1.5L exact and drive out of service center, until 2-2.5K kms I was able to see the oil level on the glass window, but after 3K kms even if I bend the bike to extreme right no oil could be seen.

When I checked the quantity of oil left at 5K kms, it was around 1.2L to 1.3L (200-300ml loss is acceptable limit for running 5K-7K kms due to oil burning, gasket leakage, blowback into airbox etc etc), so ya even a 100ml less than 1.5L oil will not be visible the glass window.

Re: KTM RC 390 Ownership Experience

Has anyone used it.?

Re: KTM RC 390 Ownership Experience

300V, in short would I recommend it, not likely. The oil loses its viscosity really easily, and harshness creeps in sooner than one expects. The Duke is best suited with 5100 and 7100. But that wouldn't mean I wouldn't say to experiment, it's a capable oil, personally though, I wouldn't recommend 300V. You can try the Shell AX7 Ultra 15w50 far works even better than 300V.

Cheers!
VJ

Re: KTM RC 390 Ownership Experience

300v was known to cause leaks from certain gasket sealing surfaces and so ktm had advised svc's to stop using it a couple of years ago. as for the oil's performance otherwise, i wouldn't know since i stayed away from it due to it's price and fear of possibility of leaks!

imo the 7100 is the best vfm oil that you can use on the ktm's.. provides good all round protection.
The shell advance ultra 15w50 is a bit more expensive and i haven't noticed any big improvement/change on my D200 using this oil.
If your bike is well maintained, with regular oil changes, i don't think you will notice a big difference in switching between these oil brands.

Re: KTM RC 390 Ownership Experience

This just happened, the screw that holds the right side handlebar to the top triple clamp just sheared off

At first I noticed the front end shaking, first checked the tyre guessing puncture or something else broke on the wheel, then got to know that only hanlde on the throttle side was moving around(the other side was fine and everything else was fine on the bike)

When I checked it was missing the horizontal lock screw, I thought it must have fallen off due the "vibes", got a new one and I was trying to screw it in but it was not screwing in and getting blocked, only then it hit me that the head could have just broken off and bottom part is still stuck inside the thread. I removed the whole part and my guess was right.

Now need to find a way to get the bottom broken part of the screw out with help of drilling and reverse threaded screw or get a new handlebar.

What might have happened I guess either one of the below points or all of them:
1) It was rusted over time and it broke when I might have a hit a speed bump or pot hole
2) It was over threaded and the screw head just gave way due to metal fatigue because of over tightening
3) The screw is made up of very bad quality soft metal

Take a look at the pics:





For someone who does not get what and which handle bar screw I am talking about, adding stock pics of reference from Google (screw is circled in yellow and pointed with blue arrow)