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Re: 2017 Duke 390 Owners Reviews and Experiences
TL;DR - Amazeballs bike. Completed first service, experience so far is 9/10. Issues are weak battery and very noisy cooling fan. The former seems to be an issue the ASC can resolve, the latter seems like a case of undue expectations.
Long version:
After having lived with a 2017 Duke 390 since Nov 4 of this year (completed about 1020 km in 40 days, first service done at 1011 km - 38 days) here's my story:
1. Appearance of this bike is decidedly more aggressive and intimidating than the 200. My dad, who used to remark casually that my old 200 looked like a toy bike, was genuinely awed by the looks of the 390. The bike doesn't look like a toy any more, but more like a transformer that went on a crazy diet and exercise plan. Random people have bugged me with questions about the price, mileage, heating, and so on. (Not complaining though, I find the attention amusing.)
2. The orange metal panel that covers the tank appears stronger than it actually is. I'll explain why shortly.
3. Given that I use the bike in Bangalore traffic a lot (easily 60% of the aforementioned 1k was due to city riding) I should be used to the sound of the radiator fan. But somehow, it's not happening. The fan is obnoxiously loud, but I've had a similar experience on others' bikes as well, so guess that isn't an issue with mine specifically.
4. The 200 had a much softer and smoother clutch. The clutch on the 390 feels like it was designed to give my fingers a workout after a few hours of riding in city traffic. When I left the bike at the Kasturba Road ASC, they said that it's not possible to have the same softness of the clutch. At least I'll have strong fingers soon...
5. Parking the bike in crowded places is a little difficult since the bike's angle with the stand is very low. I didn't face this issue with the 200 since it had an additional peg welded to the end of the stand which made the bike stand a little more upright.
5b. A note for everyone out there - when parking on asphalt roads, please, PLEASE, remember to check whether the bike is on solid ground. Why do I say this? Some time ago, I had parked my bike outside my office on Bull Temple Road, and when I came back out I noticed that the left mirror looked like someone had tampered with it. Not unusual, because there are always vandals out there. As I got onto the bike, I was shocked to see that there was a big hole in the road (the tar had caved in) barely an inch from the stand. Only later did I realise that the bike's weight, concentrated through the stand, had caused the tar to cave in, and the bike had thus fallen on its side. Someone had picked it back up and parked it safely. And this fall had also loosened the mirror. Although the left hand guard took a scrape (and the clutch lever had been spared the damage) there was some scraping on the end weight. But the most painful part was that the orange metal cover over the tank had cracked slightly. Not enough to be obvious, but once you see it, you can't unsee it types. Lesson learned.
6. To people who are yet to get the bike/who are still within run-in period and apprehensive about taking it on long rides: You can touch 103 km/h at 7k RPM in sixth. It's not like many other vehicles where you shouldn't cross 40 during the run-in period (this was the rule on my 2011 Unicorn, BTW) so if you're itching to hit triple-digit speeds, feel free to.
7. The TFT display used to work fine the first few days. Bluetooth, odo, everything. And then it started acting up - not connecting to phone despite repeated tries, resetting itself sporadically and the occasional "ECU failure" when I turned it on. I stopped using the bluetooth feature altogether, and simply ignored the resets. The ECU failure error showed up a few times again, but generally went away when I turned off the ignition, waited a few minutes and turned it back on. So far, so good.
Now for the last, and most irritating thing I have been contending with on this bike - the battery. The day I picked up the bike at Langford KTM, I rode just a few meters, and stopped at the signal. Since fuel was low, I turned off the engine. Seconds later, it refused to turn back on. I pulled it back up to the showroom and they replaced the battery, apologising for the trouble. The new battery installed, the mechanic told me to leave the engine running for some 15 minutes to ensure the battery would be charged. Thereafter, I noticed that the battery used to stay at 12.1 to 12.4V when ignition was on (engine not running) even though the engine would start running at any voltage above 11.9V. One day the battery had somehow dropped to 10V even though I had just run the engine for a few minutes prior. Luckily, a passing auto driver kindly helped me push start, and I was in a hurry so I forgot about getting the issue resolved.
When I collected it from the first service, the ASC mechanic started the engine, showed me everything was okay, and I turned off the engine to push it to the gate (fuel level was very low) and when I tried starting the engine, surprise - ABS failure error!
I called the mechanic, and he said it was some issue with the display software. They wheeled it back inside, hooked it up to a diagnostic gizmo, and ten minutes later, I was assured it was all back to normal. I pushed it to the petrol bunk just adjacent to the ASC, refueled, and tried starting it - only to see that the battery voltage was at 11.8 V. Annoyed now, I took it back to the SVC. The mechanic unplugged the mobile charger I had connected to the battery (despite me telling him that it was no load since it comes with a switch of its own, which was also off the whole time) and the bike still refused to start. They finally said that they would replace the battery under warranty. Now they had no stock of spare battery (like seriously? A service center not having a spare battery?!) so they gave me a temporary replacement (a red one - not sure which brand - as opposed to the black Exide that the bike came with) and said they would contact me as soon as the stock replacement arrived. Not sure if others have had similar experiences, but the battery works very well now, showing no less than 12.4 V when engine off, and a brief dip to 11.x V when cranking the engine.
First service bill came up to 1.5k. Overall, good experience with the bike except for the cooling fan noise (which gets very loud, esp. in traffic, drawing curious stares from onlookers) and this irritating battery saga. The bike is fairly comfortable for long rides, but would be much better if I could install a visor to deflect some of the wind blast. My last trip of around 300 km resulted in a bad case of lower back pain - an issue I never experienced on the 200 to which I had retrofitted the visor of the Yamaha SZ.
I can lock the fuel tank lid without the key. Just have to make sure the key doesn't get turned into the Lock position before taking it out, that's all.
TL;DR - Amazeballs bike. Completed first service, experience so far is 9/10. Issues are weak battery and very noisy cooling fan. The former seems to be an issue the ASC can resolve, the latter seems like a case of undue expectations.
Long version:
After having lived with a 2017 Duke 390 since Nov 4 of this year (completed about 1020 km in 40 days, first service done at 1011 km - 38 days) here's my story:
1. Appearance of this bike is decidedly more aggressive and intimidating than the 200. My dad, who used to remark casually that my old 200 looked like a toy bike, was genuinely awed by the looks of the 390. The bike doesn't look like a toy any more, but more like a transformer that went on a crazy diet and exercise plan. Random people have bugged me with questions about the price, mileage, heating, and so on. (Not complaining though, I find the attention amusing.)
2. The orange metal panel that covers the tank appears stronger than it actually is. I'll explain why shortly.
3. Given that I use the bike in Bangalore traffic a lot (easily 60% of the aforementioned 1k was due to city riding) I should be used to the sound of the radiator fan. But somehow, it's not happening. The fan is obnoxiously loud, but I've had a similar experience on others' bikes as well, so guess that isn't an issue with mine specifically.
4. The 200 had a much softer and smoother clutch. The clutch on the 390 feels like it was designed to give my fingers a workout after a few hours of riding in city traffic. When I left the bike at the Kasturba Road ASC, they said that it's not possible to have the same softness of the clutch. At least I'll have strong fingers soon...
5. Parking the bike in crowded places is a little difficult since the bike's angle with the stand is very low. I didn't face this issue with the 200 since it had an additional peg welded to the end of the stand which made the bike stand a little more upright.
5b. A note for everyone out there - when parking on asphalt roads, please, PLEASE, remember to check whether the bike is on solid ground. Why do I say this? Some time ago, I had parked my bike outside my office on Bull Temple Road, and when I came back out I noticed that the left mirror looked like someone had tampered with it. Not unusual, because there are always vandals out there. As I got onto the bike, I was shocked to see that there was a big hole in the road (the tar had caved in) barely an inch from the stand. Only later did I realise that the bike's weight, concentrated through the stand, had caused the tar to cave in, and the bike had thus fallen on its side. Someone had picked it back up and parked it safely. And this fall had also loosened the mirror. Although the left hand guard took a scrape (and the clutch lever had been spared the damage) there was some scraping on the end weight. But the most painful part was that the orange metal cover over the tank had cracked slightly. Not enough to be obvious, but once you see it, you can't unsee it types. Lesson learned.
6. To people who are yet to get the bike/who are still within run-in period and apprehensive about taking it on long rides: You can touch 103 km/h at 7k RPM in sixth. It's not like many other vehicles where you shouldn't cross 40 during the run-in period (this was the rule on my 2011 Unicorn, BTW) so if you're itching to hit triple-digit speeds, feel free to.
7. The TFT display used to work fine the first few days. Bluetooth, odo, everything. And then it started acting up - not connecting to phone despite repeated tries, resetting itself sporadically and the occasional "ECU failure" when I turned it on. I stopped using the bluetooth feature altogether, and simply ignored the resets. The ECU failure error showed up a few times again, but generally went away when I turned off the ignition, waited a few minutes and turned it back on. So far, so good.
Now for the last, and most irritating thing I have been contending with on this bike - the battery. The day I picked up the bike at Langford KTM, I rode just a few meters, and stopped at the signal. Since fuel was low, I turned off the engine. Seconds later, it refused to turn back on. I pulled it back up to the showroom and they replaced the battery, apologising for the trouble. The new battery installed, the mechanic told me to leave the engine running for some 15 minutes to ensure the battery would be charged. Thereafter, I noticed that the battery used to stay at 12.1 to 12.4V when ignition was on (engine not running) even though the engine would start running at any voltage above 11.9V. One day the battery had somehow dropped to 10V even though I had just run the engine for a few minutes prior. Luckily, a passing auto driver kindly helped me push start, and I was in a hurry so I forgot about getting the issue resolved.
When I collected it from the first service, the ASC mechanic started the engine, showed me everything was okay, and I turned off the engine to push it to the gate (fuel level was very low) and when I tried starting the engine, surprise - ABS failure error!
I called the mechanic, and he said it was some issue with the display software. They wheeled it back inside, hooked it up to a diagnostic gizmo, and ten minutes later, I was assured it was all back to normal. I pushed it to the petrol bunk just adjacent to the ASC, refueled, and tried starting it - only to see that the battery voltage was at 11.8 V. Annoyed now, I took it back to the SVC. The mechanic unplugged the mobile charger I had connected to the battery (despite me telling him that it was no load since it comes with a switch of its own, which was also off the whole time) and the bike still refused to start. They finally said that they would replace the battery under warranty. Now they had no stock of spare battery (like seriously? A service center not having a spare battery?!) so they gave me a temporary replacement (a red one - not sure which brand - as opposed to the black Exide that the bike came with) and said they would contact me as soon as the stock replacement arrived. Not sure if others have had similar experiences, but the battery works very well now, showing no less than 12.4 V when engine off, and a brief dip to 11.x V when cranking the engine.
First service bill came up to 1.5k. Overall, good experience with the bike except for the cooling fan noise (which gets very loud, esp. in traffic, drawing curious stares from onlookers) and this irritating battery saga. The bike is fairly comfortable for long rides, but would be much better if I could install a visor to deflect some of the wind blast. My last trip of around 300 km resulted in a bad case of lower back pain - an issue I never experienced on the 200 to which I had retrofitted the visor of the Yamaha SZ.
Originally posted by driftjockey
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