Re: KTM RC 390 Ownership Experience

Agreed, so if I stick to stock oil can't I do the long ride anymore ? I've seen people doing lengthy stretch on their Duke !

I myself did bangalore to Mumbai(1200kms) on a Yamaha fzs in 16 hours [emoji615]️ and had no issue with the oil drain.

My concern and a question here is

Shall I stick to stock and do the highway by keeping 2500kms as service interval ?

Re: KTM RC 390 Ownership Experience

First of all let me congratulate being a fellow RC owner for touring on it for 1000+ kms and for doing 200+kms on a single stop and doing 600+kms in a single day, it's good to see proving people wrong and breaking the stereotype and not to judge the bike based on the looks or just after 10-15kms short test ride.

I always keep telling to others that RC is a very tamable machine for long ride if you know how to do, what to do and when to do eventually over time you'll get a hang of it!

Coming to issues:
1. I can confirm Motul 300 or 300 v2 burns out close to 100-200ml per 1000kms, even Motul 7100 20W50 has burning issues of 100ml per 1000kms, even without any smoke, coolant mixing, not head gasket leak or no bad clutch. Why it happens no clue for me too.
Best is to use 7100 10W50, has very less oil burning.

2. Spark has nothing to do with this, it's of no harm, you can continue to use it.

3. Again fuel has nothing to do with this, as long you can afford and find fuel stations for 97ron fuel in stock here in Bengaluru, then no problem.

Also low oil pressure warning is because of using 300v, it's not recommended for city or highway use, it'll lead to leaky head/valve gasket and seals, meant for race use only where you'll be rebuilding engine after every 3-4 races, don't believe whatever good they say about 300v in videos or manual.

And yes do a full oil change every 3500kms and full service interval of 7000kms (so you'll be doing 2 oil change for 1 service from the showroom), check and top-up 100-150ml every 1500kms.

Re: KTM RC 390 Ownership Experience

Refer to your owners manual and follow accordingly, you can do saddlesores every day if you feel like it.

The oil specification mentioned in the manual is:
JASO MA2

Use any oil within the recommended grade and spec and you'll be good.

Re: KTM RC 390 Ownership Experience

Thanks man this helped a lot .. I was bit worried about the piston rings but now my mind is clear.

Will do the follow up. [emoji4]

Re: KTM RC 390 Ownership Experience

that sort of oil consumption isn't normal unless maybe you rip the heck out of the bike.
some of us have in fact squeezed our much smaller ktm 200's with almost negligent loss of oil on the either on the 7100's. our rip master [MENTION=70615]Ajay Vishwanath[/MENTION] is testimony to it. i've myself done several morning to evening 700km rides with 200+ km non stop at pretty high rpms (compared to what a 390 will do at same speed) and had no loss of oil. maybe people dont check oil the same way every time (you know sometimes immediately after shutting off engine, sometimes on side stand, sometimes on paddock)
300v is just a waste of money imo with a risk of it developing a leak somewhere. 7100 either variant is the way to go imo.

stick to the 7100 and it easily lasts 3500km if that's how early you want to change the oil. otherwise easily up to 5000km under normal use.
you might want to open the air box and check the breather pipe for any oily deposits. 500ml oil consumption isn't normal.
change the oil to 7100 and keep an eye to see if the consumption continues.

Re: KTM RC 390 Ownership Experience

Was riding at 120kmph, guess it's quite not much for a 390 and I always check for the oil level at the engine casing on a paddock stand as I don't rely on sensor to warn me.

As said before I've done 1200km within 16 hours on my Yamaha fzs and I never had a problem, This is first time I'm having this issue with my 390.

I gotta check the air box though, I've been using 300v with oil change interval of 3500 kms from past 8k kms and never had any issue with the oil leak. I'm yet to find this ! I let my mechanic guy to go thoroughly into it and will update the same here

Re: KTM RC 390 Ownership Experience


Just to add to what Bhpians have offered. I am not going to go into depths as the pros and cons of the 300V which has been a topic of beating a dead horse. But, in simple terms, I strongly advice not to use 300V. The 7100 and 5100 is as best as it can be for the KTM. And with regard to spark plug, you're all set, as the iridium is basically long life and offers comparatively better cold cranking results than the stock plug, personally have experienced this in KTM and other bikes, but apart from that, the difference whatsoever in performance isn't that perceptible. Thirdly, don't use very high octane fuels. Though, "the higher the octane the better" never goes out of style, but using too high octane a fuel will lead to more heat in the engine, as the fuel is being more compressed for a given volume and hence more heat, more heat means more wear and tear. Stick to normal 91 or 95.

Cheers!
VJ

Re: KTM RC 390 Ownership Experience

the oil level is supposed to be checked with the bike on a flat surface.. no stand.. hold the bike upright and check (30-60 seconds after shutting off the engine). and when you fill up with a new oil filter and check after running the engine for a few minutes the level would drop a wee bit bit due some it being held in the oil filter.
same goes on draining.. you will obviously see say around 100ml less due to it being soaked/held by the oil filter.

do keep an eye and let us know your findings on oil consumption.

Re: KTM RC 390 Ownership Experience

With 300v the oil burns up pretty much that for interstate runs you could literally get a burning smell.

It crapped out after 1k km's and I had to drain it at 1.5k km's as I had 500 more km's to reach home, else would've drained it sooner.

This was way back in 2013 on my Bajaj Discover 100 4G and one side commute was about 750km's, the reason I went for 300v was due to everyone recommending it to be top notch, only after the experience did I read into why it happened so.

Re: KTM RC 390 Ownership Experience

Yes, I understand the fact 100-150ml consumption per 1500kms is not a normal, but this consumption is not because burning inside the combustion chamber but it's because of oil blow back at the oil-air breather pipe which connected from Crankcase to Air box.

So considering the slight amount of oil blow back into the Air box for ripping hard and slight burning at the clutch due to hard down shifts while engine braking, I guess 100-150ml of drop is normal for bit hard riding and peak B2B traffic riding conditions like you mentioned, as long as it's not burning inside the combustion chamber and/or due to weak or end of life valve stem seals.

Re: KTM RC 390 Ownership Experience

Guys -

I have had to put up my almost new RC390 for sale.
I picked up a Versys in June for touring and now the wife is mandating me to sell the RC.



Please pass around the link in case anyone is interested.

Thanks,
Roy

Re: KTM RC 390 Ownership Experience

Congrats on the big bike Versys, sad to see that the only RC I've ever seen and probably the only one I'll ever see even in future to have top box installed is going away and leaving the family!
But then when wifey mandates you've to let got of everything, atleast when wifey has agreed and let you upgrade to a big bike!!!

Also, would love to see some life added back to the long dead Versys ownership thread with your initial review and thoughts.


Safe rides

Re: KTM RC 390 Ownership Experience

Thanks Kiran.

Well I have seen, at least, one more RC with a Rop Rack sans Top case. Some guys were riding from MP to Leh and one of the bikes was a RC390 with a top rack. They were in Karol Bagh to get something fixed on one of the bikes and that's where I met them. Kudos to them though for attempting to ride a RC for such a long distance and harsh terrain!

Thanks for the tip on the Versys thread. I shall come in with some questions soon.

Re: KTM RC 390 Ownership Experience

Hello guys,
I've found some green liquid deposit in the fuel tank gap between the fuel cap and the hole of the tank. It smells like fuel but it gets deposited on a cold day and won't be there on a hotter days.

Re: KTM RC 390 Ownership Experience

green liquid is the coolant. check the coolant expansion tank (the plastic tank where you check the coolant level/top up).. make sure its not over filled, that its cap is intact/secure and that it is not broken (on the rc in some cases the tank/its overflow pipe connection is know to crack/break)