Re: 2017 Duke 390 Owners Reviews and Experiences

That's sad indeed, one after another. What's perplexing is Bajaj still hasn't ironed out the petty aspects of the design and QC . But nontheless, I'd suggest you not to tinker with anything. Go along the warranty route, get it replaced under warranty during the first service. Water ingestion can cause electricals to go havoc especially in the Duke. The 2013-2016 earlier Dukes were notorious for electrical gremlins when it rained or when pressure washed, you'd have the console display either of the indicator arrow light up, without the indicator actually on and indicators flashing rapidly. But once dried up, they get exorcised and return back to normal.

Tire can be bent, especially radials given the wrong circumstances. The steel belts inside the tire deform and permanently alter the tire structure, something similar to tyre bulging. As long as your tire pressure stays constant and front end isn't veering towards a side, you can continue to ride, albeit with caution till your servicing comes up.

Post which you can get your defective components replaced.

Do keep your observations posted.

Cheers!
VJ

Re: 2017 Duke 390 Owners Reviews and Experiences

This is done taking the wellbeing of the rider into consideration, reduces load in knees and ankles, also ensures that worst case scenario the shifter lever doesn't go through the riders foot.

I guess we Indians are the only lot who flat foot while riding a motorcycle cause the rest even while riding on the streets keep their balls on the pegs.

Re: 2017 Duke 390 Owners Reviews and Experiences

I've decided to go for the service in another 2 days. 1st service at 760 km. Not sure if i can wait until 1000km, tyre may get damaged and with electricals, I cant trust it not to cause further damage. I will post the about repairs during service

Re: 2017 Duke 390 Owners Reviews and Experiences

I took delivery of the white beast on Sunday. I would be using the bike mostly for daily office commutes and weekend jaunts in and around Mumbai, in addition to medium distance touring. Initial impressions:

1. It gets extremely hot real fast. The display showed 5 bars yesterday, while I was stuck in a jam. Was advised by the showroom guys that this is normal before the first service, so not really bothered about it at this point of time.

2. Sometimes, when accelerating from standstill, the bike stalls. Happened quite a few times initially, but was ok today. Might have been an issue with my riding style early on, still in the process of getting accustomed to it.

3. Pain to ride below 2.5K, the engine actually comes to life only after around 3-4K rpm. Even in the run in period, the way it pulls from around 3K all the way to 6K is just amazing! It's difficult to keep it tame and below 7K because the bike begs to be revved! I can only imagine the fun it would be beyond 7K.

4. Bike came with the V41 version. Haven't yet faced the niggles highlighted here on the thread(*touchwood*); that might also be because I haven't paired my phone yet with the TFT.

5. Badly feel the need for a windscreen. A radiator guard and windscreen are going to be my first set of accessories for the bike.

6. Today heard sounds coming from around the front disc brakes, something similar to the one you hear when metal parts rub against each other. This happened only while pulling the front brakes when the bike was a snail's pace(while moving in a traffic jam), while I didn't hear any such sound on braking at a high speed. Doesn't appear to be serious at this point, will monitor it over the next few days and get it checked if gets troublesome. On the whole, the braking is extraordinary and very confidence inspiring.

7. All said and done, on Mumbai roads(and other metro cities for that matter), I've realised that the restrictions of the run-in period itself provides more than enough power for day to day usage, and the full potential of the bike can never be exploited inside the cities. This bike deserves to be taken out on highways and twisties for the meditative experience that it has to offer!

Overall, I'm happy with the package on offer and hoping for a trouble-free ownership.

Re: 2017 Duke 390 Owners Reviews and Experiences

Are the gear shifts clunky on Dukes? Like sometimes they do make a clunking noise while shifting. Also hearing slight squeaking noise from front brakes.

Re: 2017 Duke 390 Owners Reviews and Experiences

No issues with gear shifts as such, but yes, at slow speeds, I'm hearing a grinding noise from the area around the front brakes. This seems to be happening only on braking at slow speeds(for eg, in B2B traffic). At higher speeds, I haven't heard the noise yet.

Anybody else who has faced similar issue and can point out to the probable causes? I haven't gotten around to doing the RCA yet.

Re: 2017 Duke 390 Owners Reviews and Experiences

While applying front brakes when slow. I hear screeching sound sometimes happening because of dirt I guess.

Re: 2017 Duke 390 Owners Reviews and Experiences

Yesterday while returning home had low oil pressure warming came on and off . Since I read most of the feedback I didn’t take it seriously. Then today morning while driving to office again started oil low pressure warning . This time it was continuous. So I decided to have a check at SVC.
Also I had the long coolant disappearance issue . They checked and asked me to give the bike to 2 to 3 days and when insisted on my coolant issues . This time he acknowledged that it is mixed with engine oil . And will rectify all issues in one shot . Luckily I didn’t stress and over ride the bike. Nothing would have gone . Mostly it’s the sensor and gasket need to be replaced .

Re: 2017 Duke 390 Owners Reviews and Experiences

Also they told me All these minor problems were sorted out in 2018 model

2017 Duke 390 Owners Reviews and Experiences

Guys,

Recently I noticed my coolant reservoir is empty, when I checked the radiator it was also empty.
however, when I tried changing the coolant near 1 liter old coolant was left.
I changed the stock coolant with engine ice, I don’t see any issues now but I don’t know how the old one disappeared from the reservoir and radiator, any issues with gasket and it got mixed with engine oil? How to confirm?

Re: 2017 Duke 390 Owners Reviews and Experiences

Take ur bike to SVC, this is the common problem in 2017 models, it is due to the the gasket issue. It will be mixed with engine oil. Get it rectified at SVC.

Re: 2017 Duke 390 Owners Reviews and Experiences

Definitely it would have mixed with oil. I too was like you when I had the same issue .
Now I saw it to my own eyes . Check the oil indicator by slanting the bike to your right . If it didn’t appear. Then start the bike and raise it to the point the radiator fan kicks in. Now stop and slant the bike to your right and you can see layer of coolant water above the thick oil level.

2017 Duke 390 Owners Reviews and Experiences

Next thing you should do is take it to SVC and ask them to open and change gasket and also any related items . They knew about this problem and instructed what to do to fix.

Will update here after I get my bike in 2 days

Re: 2017 Duke 390 Owners Reviews and Experiences

They will change the oil ? Or I have to change it?

Re: 2017 Duke 390 Owners Reviews and Experiences

Indeed. Far worse you could have seized your engine bottom and top end. Do keep your observations posted along with the prognosis.

Sad to see back to back and probably even worse effects in the 2017 lot. All said and done, one way to find that coolant is mixing with oil is the exhaust smell. Usually coolant when burnt have a distinct sweet smell to them, it's hard for me to explain, but it has a distinct smell, which is clearly distinguishable from the carbon and emissions smell. After your engine is ridden for some KMS check the exhaust and the engine and observe if you smell anything different, if you do, then yes we have coolant burn. There are many cases with coolant burn, but for east of understanding, we'll keep this one point.

Secondly, your engine oil color, if it's turning whitish and see frothing or foaming after the engine is ridden for some 15 plus kms, you can confirm the coolant is ever so slightly entering the crankcase or via the cylinder gasket. This will be a sort of slow poison, as the effects won't be immediate, they are gradual and can kill the motor when you least expect.

I'd also suggest you to do a leak down test to identify the issue. Your SVC can help you with this.


Now that you're topping the radiator, make sure the radiator is bled, pre-mixed coolant used and observe for a few days and do keep your observations posted here.

Good luck.

Cheers!
VJ