Re: The Duke of Hyderabad - KTM 390 Duke

I am from Hyderabad too. Lets meet up

Re: The Duke of Hyderabad - KTM 390 Duke

Touseef, kindly initiate the "390 Duke- Muh Dikhayi" g2g. Quick.

Re: The Duke of Hyderabad - KTM 390 Duke

Sure.
In a g2g soon.

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lol.

Re: The Duke of Hyderabad - KTM 390 Duke

Hi

I was riding a 690 Duke for a couple of weeks as a replacement motorcycle, But the 390 Duke construction as as same as the 690 Duke. If you ever have the intention of riding with a pillion rider for long distances, I would suggest to choose a different Bike. Dukes are made for solo.

Re: The Duke of Hyderabad - KTM 390 Duke

Sorry for the delay guys.

I am in process of relocation from Bangalore to back to my home Hyderabad Tied up a bit in that.

Will update the remaining part by Sunday.

Re: The Duke of Hyderabad - KTM 390 Duke

Since there has been lots of demand for observations on pillion comfort (especially ladies). I will complete the trip log and put up the 390 observations in next post by tomorrow. Below are the details.

• Seat is little small when compared to most of the other bikes in India. But when the pillion sits on two sides it is fine. Dont even think of some one expect to sit on one side.

• As I said earlier, grab rails cause the un-comfortableness. No one wants to sit on two solid metal rods. The seat is decent and soft. One can remove the grab rails if they desire to, if the pillion is frequent on your 390.

• After 240 kms of ride, my wife did not complained about any back pain or bone jarring experience. The suspension was in soft mode and bike went like breeze over the odd patches.

• She had hold on to me all the time considering the pull that 390 offers. I had always been attentive when I am in 1st gear and instructed my wife to hold on to me. Its not that you can move the bike with out a jerk, but a not attentive pillion might fall on his/her head first in case of that jerk, as there is nothing at rear after the pillion seat.
• Any after market gel seat or addition of foam might help the pillion.

• If you have a girlfriend then 390 is going to be a good friend to make that bond stronger and tust me seat wont be a problem in that case.

Let me know in case there are any specific questions, will try to get the answers.


One of the last few pics

Re: The Duke of Hyderabad - KTM 390 Duke

After completing the little photo-fun-shoot, we both went towards the banks of the resorcoir only to see loads of crowd over there and we both were not intersted in getting into the water. We ride back 4-5 kms to the other side of the lake and too see more number of tourists there. So we decided to turn back to home. It was around 100-115kms from there to home.

Packed and back journey begins. As I said in my earlier post there is huge S shaped sweeping corner where one can do 100kmph easily. Me went into the corner at around 105kmph and bike effortlessly glides through the curve and wifey was bit thrilled . After this it was pretty much non-stop ride of 90kms back home and we did not stop any where in the middle except to buy some more carrots.

As it was sunday traffic wasnt much of the problem and reached home by 4:30 pm.

It was a pleasant and fun filled ride which came to happy conclusion.

Ride statistics:

Total Distance: 240kms Sangeeth Theatre (Sec-bad) - Mehdipatnam - Vikarabad - Ananthagiri - Kotipally Resorvoir - Vikarabad - Mehdipatnam - Paradise - Komaplly - Home.

Fuel: Before start of the ride, Reserve showed up and and filled with 6 lts of normal petrol. After 194 kms the F showed up again. So going by this the Mileage was 194kms / 6lts = 33kmpl. This is pretty good number for the bike that is under run-in, with a pillion and around 45kms in traffic.


Thats all folks regarding the ride. Coming up is The complete 937kms Ownership report of KTM 390 Duke.

Re: The Duke of Hyderabad - KTM 390 Duke

... and that, I think should do it for me....
Thanks a lot, Riaz

Re: The Duke of Hyderabad - KTM 390 Duke

Hmmm... that makes it a good bike

Re: The Duke of Hyderabad - KTM 390 Duke

Thanks a lot for the detailed ride report - answered a lot of questions for me especially about the pillion
I considering this bike along with the Duke 200. I have read that the tyres will run out in 10k km and spending Rs. 24k per years seems too much. Can some other cheaper and longer lasting tyre be used?

Re: The Duke of Hyderabad - KTM 390 Duke

This is quite a common question. To put things in perspective for everyone:

The Duke390 is no means a cheap bike. The only thing cheap about it is the introductory price. Everything else makes you wonder and scratch your head as to how you can get so much performance, quality(handguards expection), robustness, fun, reliability, handling and value of money all at that introductory price. Sometimes it makes you think if Bajaj will get sued down the line for selling something below cost price

Having said that, this is a proper performance bike. Everything about it oozes performance. The two things that differentiate this bike mostly from the 200 is the Engine, Tyre & ABS. So everything else should be exactly same in terms of maintenance cost compared to the 200.

Now, what people coming to the performance biking segment should understand is that performance comes at a cost. Here the Metzeler tyres are no exception. They are so far ahead than any thing else in it's category in India. The question here is do you really want to compromise the performance for a few thousand bucks every year and put your life in peril? Here I have to remind everyone how @MG has already tried on the MRFs and they just could not handle the power and seemed too unsettling for the bike. Of course you have the discretion of changing to a cheaper brand of tyres but let me make this clear, nothing cheaper than the Metzelers have yet been proven to have the same level of grip and performance. You would possibly be putting your life at the edge if you chose to save a few thousand bucks a year for lesser grip and stability. The 390 is not the 390 without Metzelers. I am not even sure if we all would have been holding this bike in such high regard had KTM put them out with twitchy tyres that struggle to put the power on the ground!

If you do not want to replace the tyres with Metzelers at the end of it's life, then you like any other individual under the sun is free to go with any Brand he/she wishes. But this in no way should be put across as a negative point for the 390 because you are not been forced to pay a premium for the tyres that come with the bike. The choice is of the end user and I would say as of today, it looks senseless to replace them with anything less than the Metzelers because then it seizes to be a Duke 390.

Re: The Duke of Hyderabad - KTM 390 Duke

Wow Riaz bhai - lovely pics and nice write up. Congrats on the new steed and when I visit Hyd would love to catch up. Its been a while and haven't been online here much. Congrats once again and ride safe.

Re: The Duke of Hyderabad - KTM 390 Duke

Cyrus virus, I agree with your point very much. But technically, would not any good brand tyre last long on Duke 390 if one rides around 100-110 kmph (occasionally) !! just technical doubt... n yes, 390 won't be a 390 with Metzelers

Re: The Duke of Hyderabad - KTM 390 Duke

Thanks Yaser bhai.

Sure, its been long time we have met and love the see the old classics that you have Do let us know when you are in Hyderabad.

Re: The Duke of Hyderabad - KTM 390 Duke

Congrats for the 390 dude. It's look awesome......