Re: Ktm 390 or TBTS 500 for mostly commuting and occassional short touring ?

Query Approved

Re: Ktm 390 or TBTS 500 for mostly commuting and occassional short touring ?

Thanks for the approval


Now i am more inclined to the KTM 390.
As Im reading a lot of failures and niggles and frustrating experiences from Royal enfield owners.

I am not a guy with a craze for RE bikes. I test rode TBTS 500 and it felt really good, which i have never experienced before in a motorcycle. So i thought i can get a Thunderbird and be happy about it.
TB500 is booked and will delivered by the end of Jan '14.
Your suggestions please.

Thanks in advance.

Re: Ktm 390 or TBTS 500 for mostly commuting and occassional short touring ?

Mainly depends on your personal choice. Sone may like cruisers and some like the naked styling. Both these bikes have different character.
TB is a relaxed and conposed bike, whereas the D390 would make you feel like a teenager whose ready to go.
I would suggest you to go to yhe Help Me section and search for similar threads. Few similar queties were recently posted and members had some good discussion over there.

Re: Ktm 390 or TBTS 500 for mostly commuting and occassional short touring ?

@nadz.. Thanks for your reply mate. I do agree the 2 bikes belong to different category. My problem is not the style. Im fine with a naked bike or a cruiser. All i need is a premium bike. Which i shouldn't regret about buying.

Thunderbird- endless niggles
Ktm 390- whether it is good for daily commuting is what my concern is

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Re: Ktm 390 or TBTS 500 for mostly commuting and occassional short touring ?

You can go through the ownership thread of D390 and TB. You will get a better idea.
Btw, the newer RE's are relatively better that the previous gens, with much less problems like oil leaks etc.
If commuting is your main objective, go for Duke. But wait for a few months and let the initial lots clear.

Re: Ktm 390 or TBTS 500 for mostly commuting and occassional short touring ?

I too thought so, the newer RE engines are more refined and the fit and finish are better and all. But the truth is far from the perceptions.
Lot of threads from the RE owners pertaining break failures, cracks, weak weldings, faulty instruments, oil leakage, noise everywhere, rusting, misalignment of parts, Quality of service and so on. I even saw posts about few TBTS 500 owners sold their new bikes because of the above mentioned bitter truth.
Does KTM 390 has any problems like the above or anything new ?

I will go through all the ownership threads of ktm 390. But i just wanted few headsup here in this thread.

Re: Ktm 390 or TBTS 500 for mostly commuting and occassional short touring ?

well...
if you are a bullet guy, get the bullet and love the niggles.. OTherwise stay away.. thats my theory

390 in ok traffic is good enough once you get used to the torque and keeping in power band and all..
in traffic, i guess both bikes would not be happy

get to ride a 390 on an open road above 7K RPM any gear.. you would forget anything else
and it got ABS+Metzeller

if you face lot of traffic daily, buy a D200 for low end torque.

Re: Ktm 390 or TBTS 500 for mostly commuting and occassional short touring ?

just for 18kms daily and some short trips, a bullet is useless, i guess. from your choices its D390, but have a look at D200 too. D390 also needs big stretches and long rides, but D200 is okay in traffic and good for small rides.
please keep practicality in mind.

Re: Ktm 390 or TBTS 500 for mostly commuting and occassional short touring ?

I totally agree with legend racer.
Duke 390 loves to be revved and mind you 390 has huge power and you have to be more controlled over your wrist even a slight wring is capable of zooming.
If your 9+9 km consists of bumper to bumper traffic do consider duke 200 as it has good low end torque to weave through traffic.
If it is through open road and you might have your average speed of 40kmph then 390 suits best.
Choice is yours

Cheers mate,
Soulwithwheels

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Re: Ktm 390 or TBTS 500 for mostly commuting and occassional short touring ?

+1 to that, I felt the same. Your daily commute in dense traffic would be pleasant with a D200. You sound like not so comfortable with imperfections and niggles, please cancel your TB booking first.

Re: Ktm 390 or TBTS 500 for mostly commuting and occassional short touring ?

Sorry for the delayed reply.
[MENTION=5482]nitin[/MENTION]: thanks for the answer mate. As you and others have suggested Duke 200, I am not against going for duke 200. Since my budget is around 2L, i thought I could get a premium bike, which wont let me down after buying. I have never ridden high bhp motorcycles before, so i thought I could have some fun before getting in to the "car=safety" part of my life

Duke 390 looks great, performs i heard is sooper great, but in a moderate traffic is the ride enjoyable ? Is it too hard to enjoy the ride in low rpm ?
My place to office doesnt have a heavy traffic. I dont exactly know what "bumper to bumper traffic" is (i guess, its riding mostly in 1st or 2nd gear as the traffic is heavy right?)
I already booked thunderbird 350 and cancelled in a week and booked TBTS 500 the same day (i test rode tbts 500 and got blown away by the feel).
After lot of negative reviews from so many RE users, I gave it a second thought. Since I didnt want to deviate from my plan (2L budget, premium bike, never regret after buying)

Once i get to know about the duke 390 performance in low rpm and moderate traffic, i will get the bike blindly.

Thanks for your patience guys.. cheers

Re: Ktm 390 or TBTS 500 for mostly commuting and occassional short touring ?

D390 is a good buy, no doubt about that, but it character will come out only in the open high way . I can't say it will be not suitable for office commute for it will not be fully 'used'. Go for D390, I can surely say it will pull you to highways .