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-   -   The KTM Duke 390 Ownership Experience Thread (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/motorbikes/138082-ktm-duke-390-ownership-experience-thread-111.html)

Saw these documents on which Loctite product to use for what purpose; thought I will share it.

http://www.henkelna.com/us/content_d...king_Guide.pdf

http://www.loctite.com.au/aue/conten...sers_Guide.pdf

Thanks for the information. The green ones right for our application. This is low strength adhesive which can be released with a bit of persuasion. The blue ones are for medium strength and the red ones are like high strength. So if anyone wants to get this done look out for the colour. Do not go beyond the blue ones.

There are two reasons to it. The boots you wear also plays a critical role. If it has huge sole's expect that to play a part to discomfort your ankle. That again means you can adjust the lever as Doc said but there is only so much you can adjust. Riding boots are perfect and raise your handle bar a bit (rotate out a little bit) and this kind of relaxes the posture and gives some balance. By looks of it the mild movement of handlebar may look ludicrous suggestion to fix leg and ankle pain, but it did give me an overal profile that suits my riding style.

For the legs i do something strange that i picked from riding my bull. I put my foot on the back pegs and get a nice curved position which makes me feel far more comfortable on the bike than anything. This i do only on long stretches where slowing down is with the front brakes and hardly any gear change is required.

In bull its even easier for hardly i change gears once i hit the 4th :)

And there is nothing as comfortable as a bulls seat which is modified and added with manual cushion. All i do is pack the rear seat with bags and make it a good recliner. Have done multiple trips that starts 5am from chennai to Kanyakumari on Saturday and back to chennai on sunday. Sheer bliss those rides were. Trying to find good partner/s here who will be able to just ride for the sake of riding with no agenda.

Thanks VW, I guess that could be a contributing factor. I don't have riding boots yet. But as a safety measure I tend to wear Industrial safety boots and these shoes are extremely heavy and rigid ( with full metal strap at top) and they weigh a ton. I ought to get proper riding boots and hope that should alleviate the problem.

Handle bars, I always like them as much down as possible. Every bike I have ridden have rotated the handle bar down ( I think I like that way). Even I tried to do the same with Duke, but it was not possible as the handle bar would touch the tank. But as I said proper riding boots, sitting posture, a little backwards and stretching the legs regularly should do the trick.

I am talking about the famous all-India Dharwad ride - and the return leg back to Pune was torture personified man. One of the big pleasures changing over to the Bullet 500 was the lovely generous seat. The Duke seat for me is actually better.

Firmer is better over long distances. And as you know, its not just the firmeness of the seat but the shape of the seat that matters, as does the overall ergonomics geometry of the handle, footpegs, abd the seat which decides which part of your butt gets maximum pressure for the maximum time. And yes, regardless of weight and build and adiposal padding, no two butts are the same! :D

Overall, I am more comfortable during the ride, less tired at the end of the ride, and less sore the morning after the ride on the Duke 200 compared to my Bullet 500s (both Doppie, as well as Figgy - my LB500). On the Pulsar, I was in unimaginable pain over the last 100 kms (dark and raining too) of the 500 odd kms.

I do exactly the same, alternating between the back pegs and the front crash guard. Only, I dont put my feet ON the rear pegs, but hook the TOP of my feet OVER the pegs (find that much better, and the feet tend not to slip off by mistake like this).

This was exactly what I meant by saying butt pain depends on the triangle your body makes with the handle, the foot pegs and the seat, that decides which part of your butt is getting compressed (and hence losing blood supply) the most. Shifting the pegs changes one point of that triangle - thus letting blood back into the previously compressed butt area (while briefly compressing another). Ditto for changing your feet to the front crash guard.

Best overall of course is to stand on the pegs - for the butt as well as back and full leg stretch.

Regarding my previous post, now I think I got a bit confused when I saw the stain mark in between the ride. Upon closer inspection today I think it is the coolant that has leaked a bit out and its not the oil. Attaching the pics of the stain.



Earlier there was a stain the the below shown area. But now that seems to have evaporated off and the area is not damp.



Can anyone please confirm if the coolant will evaporate off completely like water when exposed to air? Or will it stay damp and attract dirt as seen in the first pic?

@Ashok OT post for nostalgia sake .... a DECADE after :Cheering: ..... Mods please delete if not ok!



P.S. That's a 10 year younger me with a lot more hair third from right.



That's me leading the Pune pack extreme right. And I think (?) that's Ashok on the extreme left leading the Bangalore pack. Just before we parted ways on the return leg.

As the younger guys here can see, the influx of good riding gear (jackets, pants, gloves, boots) had not yet happened then (2003).

Photos courtesy Vibhu Rishi.

http://www.angelfire.com/linux/vibhu...d/dharwad.html

Wow !! a zillion thanks to you Doc for the snap. Doc. that is Balaji at the extreme left ( check the jacket color on both snaps) and I am not in the scene. Must be taking snaps or already started to ride. Both Balaji and I had similar Blue Pulsars with Eliminator RVMs ( though I had Elim's rear 130/90 profile on my Pulsar). Raj, Vibhu, Shashvat, Sanjay, Rajshekar (Dyumna, Nav) were all there. and Yes. all complete with riding gears. That was a ride in monsoon. Amazing stuff. Thanks again :thumbs up

and Look at that sign board behind us. Bangalore 421 Kms and Pune 424 Kms. Perfect place to Meet.

Yes you are absolutely right. I got confused by the Elim mirrors!

That's you in the brown jacket in the center, and that's me in the denim jacket 3rd from back. There's GR too from Hyderabad.



And this is what riders (Pune gang) look like in the morning when they ride till 4 a.m. through rain and pitch black forests and ghats and the most horrible potholed iron ore dumper truck infested roads through a "scenic route" suggested by a fellow biker who conveniently never came (chotu)!



13 riders - and all on Friday the 13th. :uncontrol

Good days man! :thumbs up

You are right and Sharath ( sitting on the ground at front) is no more with us. He met with a Fatal bike accident a few years back at Bangalore.

and guys this is another pic of the ride. with head lights ON and Zig Zag position and rain and greens. this is 2003 and we had a perfect ride.Just amazing.

Yeah we heard about that and were shocked. Its a sad day for all riders when one of their own goes down. RIP Sharath.

I trawled through the first 25 pages of your "Baby Duke" thread and could not find it. Could you please be a little more precise?please:

I am very keen on getting this done...

Its there right in the begining, before we even left for Goa bro. I remember waxing eloquent about how un-anatomical it was for a rider to be sitting in that position and then simultaneously lifting his foot (dorsiflexion) and twisting it inwards at the ankle (inversion) to actually be able to operate the lever once Bulleters like me could actually find it (used as we are to 3 km long big fat hefty levers ..... :uncontrol)

Anyways, just ask the guys to adjust the foot peg on notch down and try. Then one more if necesary. One notch down was perfect for me. On the 390 it came to me perfect.

I have heard (or read somewhere) that this setting was possible on the 200s but not on the 390, because of the ABS. Maybe you could check/ask and let us know as well.

Umm not quite sure how ABS would affect the adjustment of a lever position.

I have got the brake and shift levers lowered and handle rolled upwards and I've found my sweet riding position.

Not sure, but I if I remember correct, the process of lever adjustment is also described in the manual.

Also, even after it's adjusted, keeping your toe constantly on the brake lever might result in ankle pain. Plus you might unknowingly be braking when you don't intend to. This will wear out pads sooner and bring down efficiency too. Better habit will be to place your toe parallel to the lever and place it on the lever only when you need to brake. Quite similar to what we do in cars.