Orange is the New Black!!!

Got my bike......the bundh garden showrrom folks....have been super nice and cooperative. Thanks a lot.

well I am still getting the run around..now they say, you should get your bike by monday evening 29th jul, post registration.

Can you tell me the exact location of the showroom in Marathalli, I am pretty new to the area. Any big landmarks will be helpy

Yes, Marathalli. The +point is next to the showroom on the Doddanekundi Road where there is not much traffic is the bike can be ridden to once hearts content. A very apt place for a test ride compared to any other branch in Bangalore.

Which showroom? Is it the new one in Marathalli?

Totally agree with you. Bought the autocar aug issue ther's not a single word about the bike it's very strange. There was just a add...[ATTACH]109861[/ATTACH]

Are the foot peg assembly on D390 adjustable? I felt it was so rearward set anyway.could this be why I didn't feel the heat issues many are talking about(plus cold weather)when I took the TD.

@shelton_jh, nice review! :thumbup:I see you say you'd keep your RTR for daily use if you buy D390. Can you comment little more on usability of D390 in regular daily use and city ride?The thing is that I don't want to have a second small bike for daily use and have D390 more for weekend or fun rides. If I'd have two bikes then I'd want a bigger 600+ cc bike for that purpose. I have D200 and thought D390 will be still small and convenient enough to be a bike for daily use. If it is I'll buy it. But if it isn't then I won't go for it.

Great review brother Me also waiting for all the reviews to be out & First ride reports from fellow XBHPians.BAJAJ-KTM ought to clear the air about any niggling issues [though i can forgive them once they commission the first lot of deliveries ]

Okay had a test ride today on ORR Bangalore

Finally took the test ride

The bike had just come to the showroom 2 days back, so it took a bit of coaxing to get the test ride which he was promising to start from Monday on-wards. Anyway now that I have had my few minutes with the bike I thought I will share what I felt about it:

* Me being 5'9" I felt it requires a little more to throw your leg over the bike compared to the RTR 180. Once you have settled in, it feels you've been "slotted" onto the saddle and somehow the foot peg being a little aft than usual makes me feel more comfortable (This might be a problem for long rides but again it depends on how you adapt to it for long rides)

* Decent build quality, nothing great about it though. Cables loosely hanging with no proper routing and hangers in place is not what you expect from a 2L bike but all these are minor things which can be overlooked

* Before starting the bike the showroom guy was saying about some setting issues with the bike and was explaining what to do if it stalls and all. Then came the good and the bad news; first the good: he said he wont accompany me. Second the bad: all that I got to ride was a small stretch (would have been 700 to 800 meters in total). Nevertheless soon after the short boring session I had a slight smile on my face because it was time to roll on! Had to take the bike off the pavement on to the road and surely I dint want to consume any of the already very short distance by getting "used" to the bike. Soon after both tires hit the tarmac wrrrrrooooommmmm................. The bike gave me a wide grin with a bit of fear as she hit 80kmph in no time and still climbing rapidly that I had to slow her down so that I dint miss the U-turn which I was supposed to take. Once the U turn taken I knew straight away it was time to test the first gear and she dint disappoint me in any way, she gave me just what I had expected from her, went past 50kmph in no time with no real effort, no vibrations and still happily climbing ! Have felt this only on the RD 350HT till now.

* Coming to the next few gears I neither had the time nor the distance to test it properly but felt the bike begging to be pulled nicely on each gear well before you slot on to the next gear. The gears are little clunkier than the D200. It's got really tall gear ratios which surely would not make it as good as the 200 in the city (here i'm talking in terms of ease of riding the bike in traffic). Immediately felt that my RTR is going to stay for my daily commute even If I buy this bike. Again this is a matter of learning how to deal with it and it should only take few days for a seasoned rider to adapt to this kind of gear ratio with loads of usable power. I truly feel once you get used to the gearing, montruous torque combined with plenty of cc and loads of power you can be really quick in hitting speeds above 100 and the D200 is no where near to this monster in terms of pick up, pulling power and torque. If the available torque combined with the cc advantage is used properly I don't see this being a slow couch off the blocks! Again remembered both the LT and HT versions of the RDs while trying to compare both the D200 and the D390 in my mind where according to me the HT always remained the Big daddy!

* Bike feels more planted, agile/manoeuvrable and grippy than the 200 and you all know these are due to obvious reasons!

* Coming to the brakes, had to brake hard twice during my short stint and it behaved really well (It felt great compared to my slippin'/slidin' characteristics of my RTR) but not as good as the Ninja though

* I stop the bike, get down, just to feel the engine revving stooped down and was welcomed by a gush of hot air from the engine, Yes it had really heated up for such a short sprint. I just feel that this will reduce as carbon gets deposited on the engine but still it is going to be a "Hot" bike to handle specially in the city (One more reason why my RTR stays)

To summarize this is the first bike which has given me the "real" thrill (If you know what I mean :P) after my RD 350HT days that too with tall gear ratios which is something that I've been looking for in my next bike so that I can tour all day long without any hint of strain from the engine (which is a real worry on my RTR)

Given the fact that lot of accessories like the windshield and saddle bags are to come soon I feel this would make an awesome tourer if used properly and of course at the same time it can be used for some real fun as well .

Keeping my booking amount on hold for a few days since the engine stalling and heating up issues are something which has to be clarified by either Bajaj or the reviews which are yet to come before I put my full trust on this product. Nevertheless this has got all it takes for me to happily munch miles without any problem and at the same time give me the 'Big grin' every time I want to !!!

As for the deliveries he was saying the ones who booked first will get the bikes in the first week of Aug and If I book it now I will be getting it sometime around mid - september. He said the strike was really an issue but once the regular production starts there is going to be no more delays.

I had a rather different experience, the 5th and 6th gear are absolutely not usable for city rides, that is below 60-70kmph forget slotting to the 5th otherwise the bikes act as if lugging, gets really jerky. You would have to adjust yourself to riding in the first four gears within city limits which won't be much of an issue as the gears are very tall and at no point you would feel that the bike needs an upshift (I am talking about city speeds)

Riding within city would be better on the duke 200 but that does not mean its not possible on 390, one would get used to it.

While I took it for a long td, the meter was showing 24kmpl. This was under varying conditions. I checked everything from acceleration to rollons or in gear acceleration, city behaviour and everything else to understand the bike. So if you ride as one should within the city 28-30kmpl should be manageable.

Sent from my GT-I9100