[NikhilB]

Ebono,

Could you share details of the jobs carried out during the first service (must be the standard stuff)? But more importantly, the cost.

The biggest pushback for the bike, that I have come across, is that it will be "high maintenance".

[ebonho]

The cost of the service was approximately 700 bucks. The detailed bill is at home but I can get it and share the detailed break-up. Mainly, its the oil (Bajaj's own DTSI "10000 kms" 20W50 was put in after much deliberation and discussion and phone calls on the merits and demerits of various oils, synthetic vs semi-synthetic vs mineral, etc.) and the oil filter I guess. The oil volume is 1.4 liters. Next service will be at 5000 kms. Will put up details and photos as well.

[ebonho]

P.S. Did I mention that the bike pulls to an indicated 120 kmph in 5th?

[mac187]

Originally Posted by ebonho

currently owning 3 BMWs (the 1200GS, the K1300, and the G450X) and a Ducati GT1000 which he is currently restoring.

Thats some garage.

Originally Posted by ebonho

He is not here on Team BHP but I can share with you the feedback from him as well as most of our common observations in some detail.

I think he should join TeamBhp to enrich us with his experience.

Originally Posted by ebonho

he says this Baby Duke is an international quality bike that can hold its own against similar competition (Aprilia, Derby, etc)

Thats is a great feedback coming from a guy with serious biking experience.

[shreeda]

ebonho, congrats on the completion of run-in of your Duke! Could you please throw some light on how you managed to carry luggage? I'm looking forward to spend some time on the highway with mine soon

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by mac187

I think he should join TeamBhp to enrich us with his experience.

We did discuss this. He would love to join and share, but from what I've heard, by the time his application goes through in the current screening scenario, the feedback would be out of date. Otherwise, it would be the simplest thing for me to invite him here as a member.

There is another friend of mine from Bangalore whose younger cousin baby duke (No. 263) has already clocked around 760 kms on tour (Bangalore - Coorg) in just 4 days post delivery. He's an old school biker (RD350, Bullet) also and has a ton of feedback and suggestions as well if only he has someone to speak to.

Phenomenal bike he says - here's what he's been gushing about -
What a bike!!!
"Day 4 of ownership.
'Orangutan' completes 760kms.
How was your ride doc??
Blog coming up soon"


The Dukes are hitting the road and soon we should have good feedback coming in for the community as well as the company, which is keeping close tabs on ownership/feedback threads such as this one. And very pro-actively!

Originally Posted by shreeda

ebonho, congrats on the completion of run-in of your Duke! Could you please throw some light on how you managed to carry luggage? I'm looking forward to spend some time on the highway with mine soon

Thanks bro. All the luggage was in saddlebags on the pillion seat of the accompanying Bullet 500 (ridden by yours truly) - left side was my stuff, right side was Praveen's - so that he could act like a hooligan peacefully.

[ebonho]

The first service was done on the 1st of this month in Goa at Sitara Bajaj on the Navelim Karwar highway off Margao (their GM was excited that their first delivery and the country's first 1st service both were happening under his watch on the same day!). Initially when we left with 250 kms on the clock at the start of our ride, the plan was to get the first service (at least oil + filter change) done at Kolhapur on the way back because around the point we would have been near the 1000 km mark. However, we landed up doing over 400 kms in and around Goa (forts, beaches, old goa, sanctuaries/forests, waterfalls, inland rural goa, etc.) itself, so Goa it was for first service.

Called up the GM Service at Sitara, Mr. Raju Gargatti, to arrange for the service. He was waiting for my call and had everything ready and arranged for us even though their service station was undergoing extensive renovation. He assured me that he and his team would be waiting regardless of what time we landed there (we had a inland Goa + south Goa ride planned for that morning). We took some nice riding, twisties, off roading videos, and soon were there at the service station.

Some cold water and paperwork formalities later, both our bikes (the Bullet as well) were kindly wheeled into the washing section for a nice soapy bath. Bajaj has a neat rubber bung developed for the exhaust opening to prevent water from going in. That done, the Bullet was left to sunbathe and dry off (they even cleaned and lubed the chain - a really nice touch appreciated by any biker!), while the Duke was taken in for the first service. The technician in charge, Mantesh, was quick, neat, well trained, and efficient. The tools were neatly laid out in special KTM drawer racks. On top of that, Mr. Raju was on call and supervising each aspect of the service throughout, constantly in touch with Mr. Rahul Havaldar, Manager, Service (Bajaj) in Pune who was kind enough to give minute by minute instructions and clarifications as well as take extensive feedback and who was overseeing the entire operation closely from Pune.

Not to mention big boss and veteran Bajaj Sr. GM Service, Mr. P.G. Pingle, who as we were pleasantly surprised to learn later, also had his ears to the ground and his expert fingers on the pulse of our baby throughout. Thank you sir! Mr. Brijesh Pandey, Bajaj, as always was keeping constant tabs on our bike's progress, reporting back to concerned department stakeholders at Bajaj, and overall making sure that everything was organized. Praveen wanted a few adjustments to the handlebar/lever/mirror positions made. The rear suspension that had been tightened to #5 in Pune on the morning of the start of the tour, was now backed off to #4 as Praveen at 75 kilos found #5 a bit on the non-compliant side as well as bumpy in braking and handling. On the ride back he was happy at #4 - wonder if at 95 kilos, I would need to go up to #5 again - lets see.

The chain was cleaned, lubed, adjusted. The battery voltage was tested. The shift light rev settings were customized. The air filter was cleaned. The oil filter was changed. The oil was inspected and measured. There were metallic burrs at the magnetic drain plug filter. The engine foundation bolts needed to be re-torqued. All fluids (brake, coolant) were checked and did not need any topping up. The coolant cap does show a bit of weep and dust-mixed grime after 1500 kms. Nil on the brake fluid reservoir. The chain noise Praveen mentions is much improved. The front fork clunk and rebound "hitting" sensation even he is getting off and on - but since that's a big job, we decide to leave that for Pune. The bend pipe has turned a nice sporty reddish deep orange hue of many varying intensities - we like! The throttle has too much play and a large range of movement from zero to full crack-open. That is adjusted to the limit possible and Praveen is happy with the more urgent results.

We finally put in the new oil and filter, the bike is cranked and warmed up, and its time to pay the bill, take photographs, and head out again. We were both really happy with the service, the cordial and helpful staff and management, and the attention to detail. Praveen joked that we may well decide to ride down to Goa again for the 5000 km service but I am sure the Pune team at Sai Service Shivajinagar / Kothrud (Mr. Sandeep, Mr. Sachin, and co.) will have something to say about that by going even one better! Sachin is the technical boss-man on the service floor there and really knowledgeable and helpful, and the revelation was Satish, the technician who worked on our bike - well trained, a thinker as well as a doer, with a great grasp of complex mechanical and theoretical concepts as well as his practical core competence job. Praveen was really impressed with him. They were equally well organized and helpful with last minute touch ups to our bike on the morning of our tour start, and though we decided against last minute mods to the drive train with the modified chain adaptor swap, we were really happy with the results from chain and suspension adjustments alone, leaving the other stuff if needed for later when were were back in Pune.

I will now let some pictures do the talking -

[rk_sans]

Thanks for the detailed review. How was it handling the wind blast on the highways.

Originally Posted by ebonho

. The engine foundation bolts needed to be re-torqued.

This is very interesting, even CBR bolts needed to be re-torqued but was around 5k kms on the odo.

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by rk_sans

Thanks for the detailed review. How was it handling the wind blast on the highways.

The bike is rock solid till 120-125, and even beyond except that the front end goes "light" and a little twitchy so that one has to lean forward a bit more to weigh the front end at speed (we did explore the possibility for simple after-market steering dampers during the post-ride debrief - lets see).

The chassis inspires serious confidence as do the brakes should you require them in a hurry. The bike was ridden solo by a 70 kilo rider and no luggage - no cross buffeting issues at all.

The peg position was not ideal from a long haul perspective - but at the same time not once did Praveen complain of butt pain or leg cramps.

This is very interesting, even CBR bolts needed to be re-torqued but was around 5k kms on the odo.

We were surprised too. They were pretty loose (i.e. more than just simple tightening torque). We did stress to them the need for loctite on all critical fasteners as well as the oft-loosening ones - probably at differing break strengths depending on application/frequency of service.

I think they do come with that factory assembled - but the issues will occur when they are cracked open for the first time. Either you need treatment and curing again (which takes time) or you need different bolts like nylok for example (but these cannot be universally used).

Bottom line is that bikes like the KTM should not need constant checking and re-torquing of fasteners. Especially if them loosening or falling off en-route could lead to issues.

I am sure the guys at Bajaj will look into this, and in fact already are.

[Rash]

Originally Posted by ebonho

I think they do come with that factory assembled - but the issues will occur when they are cracked open for the first time. Either you need treatment and curing again (which takes time) or you need different bolts like nylok for example (but these cannot be universally used).

Bottom line is that bikes like the KTM should not need constant checking and re-torquing of fasteners. Especially if them loosening or falling off en-route could lead to issues.

I am sure the guys at Bajaj will look into this, and in fact already are.

I use to own a KTM 690 SMC here in the US, It comes with a detailed service manual and a parts book! Almost every bolt need to get loctited with Blue (medium strength) where as some have to be loctited red.

So you need to make sure they loctite any bolt they break loose! Then no re-torquing is necessary. KTM's are high strung singles and are know to shake their bolts off all over the world

[Shubz]

Sir one question - Did you notice any noise near the wheels? Like something rubbing against the discs? One of the Duke owners in Bangalore has run about 290+ kms on his bike and is noticing some noise near his wheels. He notices it when it is dragged forward or reverse without starting the engine.

I asked him to check if he is noticing the chain being engaged in the sprocket or distinctively near the discs.

Thanks
Shubz

[Rash]

Hi Shubhz,

The pads are always in contact with the disc and will sometimes make noise when the bike is moved back on forth without the engine starting. This is true of ALL vehicles with disc brakes, Noise will reduce once the pads are properly bedded in.

This is most likely what he is hearing! Its quite normal and no cause of concern IMHO.

[ebonho]

Hi Shubz, am no "sir" bro (at 40, we are the same age btw) - Doc will do just fine! Read about you getting your bike too - Congrats!

Rash is completely correct - that is the pad friction noise. The front pads have bedded in nicely and the braking is much more modulated than before. It is still not fully possible to use them leaned into corners in the ghats with complete confidence though.

The rear brake is still a cause for some all-or-none lockups though. The lever is not adjustable and some more travel play would have helped on what is a really short effort arm. Again, as could be imagined, this makes trail braking pretty dicey. Feedback has been conveyed to Bajaj on this - not just by us but by some of the senior dealer technicians too.

Originally Posted by Rash

I use to own a KTM 690 SMC here in the US, It comes with a detailed service manual and a parts book! Almost every bolt need to get loctited with Blue (medium strength) where as some have to be loctited red.

So you need to make sure they loctite any bolt they break loose! Then no re-torquing is necessary. KTM's are high strung singles and are know to shake their bolts off all over the world

Hmmmmm ... that is great feedback Rash, and that is exactly what we were wondering in Pune as well as Goa when some fasteners were cracked open and re-torqued without loctiting them.

For example, the 4 Allen bolts holding the handle clamp were cracked open to adjust the handle position, the mirror/lever brackets were cracked open to adjust the mirror/lever position. The engine foundation bolts were simply re-torqued. These are few I can remember.

My bike is with the Bajaj team right now as I type this. They wanted to go over it thoroughly post the ride and feedback de-brief, run diagnostics, etc. I am sure they are listening and will look into this.

Note from the Team-BHP Support Team: Please use the "edit" button if posting within 30 minutes of the first post, instead of creating another back-to-back post.

Also use "Multi Quote" option for quoting Multiple posts.

[nav75]

A few pending pictures from my side.


Doc with his bike, outside the showroom.


Doc with his bike, outside the showroom, with the team of personal who helped him during the delivery of his bike.


Late night at Lonavala, during a small ride during running in.

[sammyboy]

Lovely thread Doc, congratulations on the Duke. Really enjoyed reading about your trip to Goa and the excellent information you have shared. Bajaj seems to have really spent some serious time planning their customer service strategy and we all can see the benefits. I have also had a wonderful experience dealing with them for my Ninja 250R.

Ride safe and have fun