Re: 2017 Duke 390 Owners Reviews and Experiences

for your use, the dominar feels a better pick.. but the 390 is great in it's own level, Dom is more of a cruiser.. the 390 is a perfect tool for city, certainly not stop & go traffic due to heat & mileage, but other than that, it's an amazing tourer also.. just need to add a windshield..

pillion - I am not sure, but for short trips of 200kms or so, it should be fine..

maintenance, obviously Dom will be cheaper.. the chain sprocket for the 390 is about 3500-4000 incl labour and the chain will go depending on your usage.. the more you rip, the earlier it goes kaput, the more cool you are with it, the longer the life will be.. the most expensive pinch you will feel are the tyres, it's about 15-16K per set.. they are supposed to last longer than the previous gen metz.. you can use MRFs, but the MRFs won't give you the required grip & handling.. the Michelins do give some good grip to some extent.. Dominar uses MRFs, so they are cheaper.. chain - sprocket - I have no idea.. Dom also should offer better mileage..

there you go.. KTM will be slightly more expensive than DOM, but DOM & KTM are not the same bikes, DOm is a cruiser and the KTM is a street fighter..

Re: 2017 Duke 390 Owners Reviews and Experiences

1. It is super flickable, will make you go to gaps which you wouldn't have in other bikes.
2. I have completed almost 2200kms. In that 2050kms is in Bangalore peak hrs Sarjapur traffic
You should be sensible with twisting the throttle with pillion as it can easily take them off guard.
Many slight niggles are there like
1)Moisture in console and headlamps.
2) front left fork is leaking a bit, just a bit notthing alarming.
3) I'm a suker for adventure bikes so don't care for the potholes and slush, may be because of this the fan used to get stuck and caused the engine temps to reach max.
4) and still waiting for the Bluetooth bug fix, beacsue of which not able to use the Bluetooth functionality.

Overall awesome bike nothing can come close to this package.

Re: 2017 Duke 390 Owners Reviews and Experiences

Going to pick up mine tomorrow morning, Delhi, CP Showroom. Me and one of my friend both are picking the D390. We both were proud owners of 1st Gen D390 back in 2013. I sold off mine in 2015.

Now getting the New Gen Duke !! Super Excited.

Wont be able to sleep tonight I'm sure.

Hopefully I'll be sharing my experience here too.

Wish me luck brother !!

Re: 2017 Duke 390 Owners Reviews and Experiences

Fantastic, congratulations in advance

Re: 2017 Duke 390 Owners Reviews and Experiences

Hope you will have even more fun this time around

Re: 2017 Duke 390 Owners Reviews and Experiences

Guys, I'm facing a problem with my 2017 duke 390 lately. I often hear a "Thud" sound when I upshift and sometimes while downshift too. I have never experienced such a thing while riding any other bikes that I rode before owning the duke 390.

This problem is ruining my riding and I've slowly started to lose interest in riding the duke.

Before this problem I used to hear a small knocking sound from the engine-tank area and it sort of sounded like hiccup, which was pretty annoying but after taking it to the SVC it got fixed and now this problem has cropped up for me.

Re: 2017 Duke 390 Owners Reviews and Experiences

The 'Thud' is normal. It may seem new to you, especially if you have upgraded from a smaller bike. If I recall, the 'Thud' is caused due to the speed difference in the transmission shafts when the dog teeth engages with the gear. It's most noticeable when you change from Neutral to 1st gear. It can also be noticed while riding in other gears if you hold the clutch for about 3-4 seconds (basically letting the engine speed drop to idle) before upshifting or downshifting. You wouldn't notice this in smaller bikes because the transmission parts would be lighter and hence would not make that loud a sound.

Regarding the knocking sound, it would be great if you could describe it. If it's a *tink* *tink* *tink* *tink* sound that occurs after you switch off the bike (after riding it for a while), then it's just the different parts in the engine cooling and hence contracting to their original size. Easily heard in new bikes. Does the sound you'd described occur when the engine is running? Does it occur at a specific RPM? Do you hear it only when the bike is moving?

Re: 2017 Duke 390 Owners Reviews and Experiences

Congrats Sanket, enjoy your ride

ATGATT !!!

Cheers,
WindPacer

Re: 2017 Duke 390 Owners Reviews and Experiences

Okay, thank you for the reply. So, are you saying that this is quite normal in ktm's because I had zero experience with riding such bikes before owning my MY2017 duke 390. The sound sometimes scares me like I am some way ruining the bike and I saw a video on YouTube where explaining gear shifts tells that this bad for the bikes transmission. Also now I seem to be putting too much effort into gear shifts which used to happen on the previous bikes naturally.

So do you have any tips for a smoother gear shifts and honestly I never heard this sound during the first month of riding my bike. The other problem that I mentioned is not the sound that you hear after turning off the motorcycle, I am aware of this thing. The knocking I heard from the engine-tank area is sorted out and it was due to some disconnected cable.

BTW, I used to ride my dad's Honda unicorn before the duke 390, probably the reason why this is so strange to me.

I have one more question. Has the duke 390 become a beginner friendly bike because I read a lot about duke 390 being really intimidating to beginner riders but the bike has never daunted me in any way.

Re: 2017 Duke 390 Owners Reviews and Experiences

the knocking sound when changing gears is normal, you need to get used to it & the sound will disappear if you shift it "accurately" at the point of perfection which will take time & practice to get it, one tip : the sweet spot is around 6000-7000 RPM when the bike is rising, just shift, it'll be smooth, tough to put to words, but you can practice, and don't raise the bike slowly like 1000 RPM per second, neither too fast on the throttle, just go little fast like a couple thousand RPMs per second.

the "intimidating" is something of a perception is my opinion.. you go the speed you're comfortable at. yes, it's light and pretty powerful for it's weight and that might be a "intimidation" for folks who are used to heavy bikes and slow power output, but it's all in your mind and how much throttle you give it..

Re: 2017 Duke 390 Owners Reviews and Experiences

So this won't affect the bike, right? Is this a problem that only KTM has or does other bikes have this too? I haven't ridden any bikes other my duke and a R3 ( a short test ride ) which is why I find this really odd.

Another thing that I've noticed while this happen is that sometimes when I upshift, in addition to the sound and a pressure is felt on the clutch lever.

Re: 2017 Duke 390 Owners Reviews and Experiences

its normal.. sometimes you will feel a "tick" on the clutch, and you will sometimes feel that the clutch is "letting go" of something, it's normal. just the functioning of the slipper clutch at work.. these may not be noticeable in the Japanese bikes coz of their smoothness..

what's the "pressure" you mean? you don't let go of the clutch after shifting?

Re: 2017 Duke 390 Owners Reviews and Experiences

The "tick" is what I meant by pressure. Damn, I think I expected too much from the bike. a few weeks ago I was contemplating buy aftermarket levers just so that it might help me in the situation.

Re: 2017 Duke 390 Owners Reviews and Experiences

what's there to expect from the bike? it's just an experience you never had..

Re: 2017 Duke 390 Owners Reviews and Experiences

Recently experiencing coolant loss in every 500 kms. Any one has faced this issue ? cannot locate any radiator leak.