Re: KTM RC 390 Ownership Experience

Finally, it took you some hammering to get to the practicality side of it. Happy for you, ride it, enjoy the stuff you have with you right now.

Cheers!
VJ

Re: KTM RC 390 Ownership Experience

Ha Ha

Thanks ..Basically i like slight spongy feeling ,it gives me more precise feeling of how much brakes are getting applied. so when i apply my brakes at lever setting 4 than there is a wooden feeling but more than adequate power and lever pull but applying at 3 give little spongy feeling which i like but due to less lever pull there is little less braking so thought of adding this 320mm setup may be it would have done the trick ..Hope I am able to explain it correctly.

Re: KTM RC 390 Ownership Experience

I'm running the same 300mm stock setup on stock organic brake pads. I get what you explained.

1. Get the master slave overhaul kit replaced, the new slave kit will do wonders adding back new life to your braking feel
2. Drain the complete brake fluid, flush it and fill it with Moutl RBF 660(if you can get it somehow in stock somewhere) normal Motul DOT 4 should do the job 90%.
3. For 30% the cost you were about the spend on the entire 320mm setup (disc, alloy wheel, axle etc etc), get the new RCB master cylinder for 7K for the same cost you were willing to pay for RE disc setup 7K.
4. Which front tyres are you using: MRF, Ceat, Apollo, Michelin Pilot all lose steam in terms of front end braking, feel, and how ABS kicks in, stick with Metz M5 or Pirelli only
5. And you already have EBC pads as you mentioned.

Do all these and the "chul" should be satisfied pretty enough for 20-30% of the price and the entire braking setup and feel should be improve by 20-40% easily without messing the with ABS, barking and riding geometry.

Re: KTM RC 390 Ownership Experience

Answer in bold

KTM RC 390 Ownership Experience

Currently facing numerous issues with my 2017 RC390.
•Got my front brake pads replaced(sintered) 2months back and clocked only about 300kms and lost the initial bite now that was evident once i got the pads replaced.
At present there’s completely no hope on the braking part as it doesn’t stop at panic braking situations.
•At present odo stands somewhere around 16000kms and acceleration has dropped for which the KTM service people are recommending a clutch plate change.
I don’t find any excessive rpm raise or lag between gear shifts, it’s normal until half throttle and beyond which the throttle response picksup slow. No rpm raising issues
Is it the clutch plates that are worn out or something else to be checked?
•Gear shift from first to second sometimes feels as though I’ve banged on a wall
Happens occasionally
And sometimes shifts back to N from second gear.
The bike is regularly maintained at KTM service centres and is not ridden harsh or too slow. All these issues cropped up just after a long rest from lockdown.

Re: KTM RC 390 Ownership Experience

Brakes - Get the Major kit checked for dragging and check for any air bubbles. Is the pads from EBC or any other brand? There are so many fake EBC products running out in the market, it helps to mention from where you bought them too to see if its genuine.
Clutch - There is not need to change clutch even upto 30K kms+, myself having ridden, dragging the clutch in bumper-bumper traffic, occasionally clutch slipping, half clutching etc etc they still last easily 30-35K kms.
GearShift - Get the oil changed after bike was parked for longtime during lockdown, stick to changing full oil under 3000-3500kms and only Motul 7100 10W50 or 20W50. Get the "gear shift rod return spring" checked, which is responsible for gear lever to return back to middle position always to middle after once you shift up/down.

Re: KTM RC 390 Ownership Experience

[MENTION=59090]kiran2508[/MENTION] The brake pads were replaced at the KTM service centre,the sintered ones that comes with KTM packing.
Right after the pad change it had very good initial bite and stopped as desired.
As days passed it turned spongy after about 300kms.
And Any idea of what would be the suspected issue regarding the drop in acceleration?
The clutch behaviour seems fine to me.
Is there anything to do with the fuel pump?
As the bike was rarely ridden and was kept idle.

Re: KTM RC 390 Ownership Experience

KTM sintered brake pads are not 100% fully qualified to be called as fully sintered brake pads like EBC, they lose their property very soon. So ya don't expect much from them. Swap it to EBC HH next time.

Fuel pump cannot die so soon, your bike is only 16K kms and 3 years old.
If bike was perfectly fine before lockdown and suddenly acting like this post lockdown means, If you parked the bike long for long months with fuel in it, usually Petrol lose its property 3-4months time inside fuel tank and starts to become bad chemically and start separating, they form sludge too.

Better drain the old fuel, change fine fuel filter. Get done cleaning the injectors, throttle body so that all sludge could be blocking the injector jets and flushed and change spark-plug.

Re: KTM RC 390 Ownership Experience

can't say for sure without riding the bike about the clutch plates. you could get the fuel tank cleaned and fill with fresh fuel along with a new fuel filter. And also get the throttle body cleaned. and see if the throttle response improves. also make sure the chain is cleaned, well lubed and adjusted to spec and the tires pressures are correct.

coming to the gear shift issues/false neutrals. first start of by adjusting the shift lever slightly lower and see if that helps.
if not you might need to replace any/all of these parts:
1. gear shift shaft assembly (comes with the spring)
2. shift stopper drum
3. the spring that holds the shift stopper drum - a weak spring can cause these false neutrals/not shifting into next gear type of issues
4. gear shifting star (correct part name iirc is called 'guide')
to replace these parts all you need to open is the rhs clutch cover and the clutch basket. only closer inspection will tell you what needs to be replaced. usual suspect is the shift shaft assy or the spring
these parts dont cost much.. all together around 800 bucks, plus say around 400 in labor.
basically what happens when you shift is, the gear lever action causes the star to rotate and the shift stopper drum has a bearing on its end that 'slots' into the star giving you that 'click' feeling that the gear has engaged and prevents jumping up gears (basically one gear at a time up/down).. if this is getting stuck and not slotting in then you have a false neutral.

here is a link to a very old post of mine https://www.xbhp.com/talkies/motorcy...ml#post1120613
for a clear pic zoom in to see what i have marked , the gear shift shaft is missing, it goes into the hole on the left and it connects to the star with its 'teeth' on either end. https://ibb.co/rs7rL3b

Re: KTM RC 390 Ownership Experience

LED Projector installation step by step process.

Just to add to what other Bhpians have added and taking in your earlier posts too. Your false shifts can be as simple as adjustment to the tie rod assembly, sometimes the leverage you provide on the shift lever doesn't completely engage the gear and hence slips. Get your gear shift freeplay slack checked and see if it helps. Secondly, a bike that is idle and made sit for a while has a high probability of throwing tantrums sooner or later, the reasons are aplenty right from dirty/old fuel, clogged filters, et cetera. Start off by inspecting the old fuel, if your bike has stagnated fuel for more than 2 to 3 months, drain the old fuel completely and try using ADON-P or System G they help remove a little of the fuel system deposits and help recover the lost performance. Try this on a tankful method.

Regarding brake sponginess, I'd recommend you rebleed the system if your SVC didn't replace and bled the brake system and just replaced the pads instead. If that's the case, rebleed the system thoroughly, as ABS systems need to be thoroughly bled.

Good luck.

Cheers!
VJ

Guys my rear mono shock is leaking badly. Any idea if it can be repaired? Also what is the approx cost of replacement?

There is no point repairing a faulty rear shock or for that matter a leaking fork. The ideal way is to replace the rear shock absorber. You can look anywhere from 4 to 5k for the rear monoshock.

Good luck.

Cheers!
VJ

Finally crossed 1K kms after the full top-end rebuild, due to COVID running has gone down significantly hence took 4+ months just to cover 1K kms! Which should have ideally taken 1 month!

Out of 1K kms, 550 odd kms was purely highway miles, so I did open up the engine a bit constantly varying the rpm from 3000-6000rpm and occasionally touching the 7000rpm for couple of a seconds and using the engine braking for slowing down to work on the seating and back-pressure.
Rest of the miles covered was in city traffic puttering around at city speeds.

Followed all the break-in rituals,
1) Warming up the engine morning 2-3mins with bike on flat surface before the ride. Wait for coolant temp bars to reach 8 bars operating temperature before pushing the engine.
2) Check every morning all fluid level, nuts, bolts, for coolant mixing and for any oil leaks or smoke and for any wired sounds before and after the ride.
3) Always ran with full tank-to-tank fuel and stick to same fuel station(BP the one who I trust in my area from last 12years).

Overall feedback and impression till now,
1) Engine runs perfect, the power is spot on(I feel under me it definitely makes more than 43.5ps to crank) its better and more raw than what came from the factory.
2) No power hiccups or clutch slipping or powerloss at speeds and during acceleration.
3) Throttle delivery is more refined(the old jerky on-off fuel delivery in slow speeds is no longer seen).
4) Gear shifts are instant and seamless(no Thud or Tak sounds).
5) Bike doesn't bog down in-between gear shifts during clutch-in.

Got the first service/inspection done at 1057 kms,
1) All the seals, gaskets, hoses, casings, oil and coolant level was proper. No oil leaks, no oil burning, no smell, no coolant mixing, no wired tappet/shim/timing noise. Did a through inspection.
2) Re-checked/tightened all the chassis and engine mount bolts and nuts.
3) Checked for any fault codes and increased the shift RPM's light.
4) Adjusted the clutch and chain.
5) Did not drain/change/top-up the oil, will be doing a complete drain at 2500kms.



Overall, I'm happy with the bike and end result of the engine rebuild. Feels and rides better than new from factory.
Can say rebuild is a success and was not a catastrophic failure.

Hello..today i faced starting issue..basically i was riding it & stopped to check for directions switching off engine as well. I tried starting it after like 1 min but faced issue ..it was just giving tak sound but not starting ..everything else like horn ,indicator was working fine,i called my ktm guy and he advised me to temp connect 2 points ( i think which connect starter to battery not sure whats its called)near battery with some metal ( just placing on top lightly) than press starter and it worked ,there was no issues faced after..not sure what happened there as he just said no worry but does some one have any idea about it.i will get it checked at ASC next month when i will give her for service.thanks