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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-143.html)

Yes, the tires are nearing end of its lifespan but the front suspension travel is way more now when compared to the super stiff initial days, say a bit Honda-ish. Its may be because of the bedding in process. Is yours too the same? The fishtailing may be related with the tiresstupid:

Mine still feels the same. And under hard braking, I use maximum front brake and a light tap on the rear brake. Or if the road is clear of dirt or water I use front brake alone. I usually Keep the bike straight while braking. So haven't experienced any fish tails. But I think slight unsettled feeling of the rear is expected under hard braking on any lightweight performance bikes except cruisers!

My science for fish tail is purely because of uneven braking at front and back. Because the ABS is independent at both wheels there is a huge potential for uneven braking at front and back and this probably creates a fish tail effect. This is quite possible because of uneven distribution between front and back. I may be wrong :)

In a nutshell, you mean that it all depends on how you modulate the front and rear brake. I meant the same. I enjoy doing a rear wheel slide on the soft concrete of my office's parking lot everyday. stupid: And I do this by applying only the rear brake and the ABS ON while taking a slow and tight 90 deg left hander.

What's this bro? Concrete that has not yet set? :uncontrol

How do you manage to get the rear to step out? ABS off? On the 200 its ridiculously easy.

My bike is not yet a partially submerged memento in the parking lot. :D I meant smooth concrete. I have no idea why they have put such a glazing concrete on the parking lot. May be for a little stress busting like this. I am not complaining!

The ABS is always ON on my bike. I stamp down the rear brake pedal aggressively while taking that turn. And with that surface the rear comes off quite a bit before the ABS could catch the slide.

Attended a DIY session for 390 owners at 6KIOM showroom near Marathahalli KTM, BLR. The event was conducted in association with Khivraj motors. The session was more like a vehicle familiarization program and the speaker had authoritative knowledge on the whole of the bike.

Some points I picked up from the session
- The air filter needs to be taken out and the dust needed to be tapped off preferably every 1000Kms. Which I am not doing
- Normal (Human) shampoos are not pH neutral and should not be used on painted surfaces of bikes! Which I was doing. :Frustrati I am stupid!
- When asked about the alloy cracking incidents, his reply was that the alloys have passed all levels of impact testing and the cracking and bending occurs mainly due to low tire pressure. Usually when tire pressure is filled when the tire is hot. He also mentioned that the 200 and 390 alloys are NOT the same
- When asked about the vehicle stalling issue(while coasting as we discussed some pages back), the KTM Service Head for Karnataka said that the issue was caused due to 'some' problem with the wire connected to the battery terminal and said that this wire has been replaced with another robust wiring in the new models. I have absolutely no idea what he meant.
- In the interaction with the KTM India Operations Head, Mr. Amith, He mentioned that there are no plans as of now for local manufacturing of the 690(Sorry Doc :() But a CKD plan seemed to be there. And when asked whether we can expect a bigger fuel tank for the 390/200, the answer was a strict NO!
- Again, the desire for an Adventure 390 was raised by most of the guys present there.

Guys how did you run in your bikes, any suggestions? I have been riding between 4-5k rpm , being real careful ( i even saw 38 kpl on the display)..got a bit carried away and hit 130 once but apart from that quite disciplined.

Is there anything i need to be looking out for, anything specific at all?

4-5k RPM is too conservative in my opinion. I was freely accelerating all the way till 7-8k RPM right from the time i rode off from the showroom. Just make sure you are not sticking to a particular RPM for long periods of time.

What I did was for the first 500 Kms was I rode my bike on back roads with lots of tight turns so I am forced to vary my speeds and exercise the entire rev range up to 8k RPM

And I have redlined the bike a couple of times after 700 Kms or so just to let the engine get a taste of it. Waiting till a figure of 1000Kms and then starting to redline all of a sudden didnt make sense to me!

Correct bro, i have been riding to work and the traffic means i can never keep a steady constant pace..so ive been been working all the way from 2k - 5.5k rpm . the bike has done 650 km and this wednesday ill get the first service done. Will be a bit harder on the throttle once back from the service.

I just hope the service center knows what they are doing, have heard complaints about the service being incompetent, particularly in hyderabad. Let's see how things go!

Happy Riding!

haha you guys are crazy & im a paranoid idiot..was feeling a bit guilty for pushing her to 130 kph after 600 km stupid:

Even I was a bit paranoid about frequently redlining the bike after first service, especially because I was coming from a Royal Enfield. I talked to our Doc(ebonho) regarding my doubts and worries about treating the bike like that and he assured me that KTMs are meant to be revved and ridden hard. :) Life just became better after that! :)

Just in case if you don't know, the speaker was Venkat Shyam, owner of Auto Service, Banshankari which services Bajaj, KTM and Kawasaki bikes.
It was widely regarded as one of the best SVCs in South India . He himself owns a CBR 1000RR & Ninja 650R. Nice chap - know him for some time.
I was the villain there who was asking about all the 390 problems lol:. At one point Chandra (KTM SVC guy) and me were smiling at each other when Amit Nandi was diplomatically defending all the initial 390 issues.

The meet to me looked more like a marketing stunt for 6KIOM for memberships by Anil specially with that video shown thrice in that period.

This was a very vague explanation given by the KTM Service person, Chandrasekhar and then I told him about few more scenarios that caused sudden stalling to which he said he needs to check.

I guess Adventure 390, if released would be much more costlier than Duke and even RC but slower (marginally) because of the additional weight (read bigger tank,heavier tires , different chassis etc. ) and different engine tune.

Hey, thanks a lot. I completely forgot his name that's why I avoided mentioning it! :D He was really a gem of a person and had thorough knowledge on what ever he said. Hats off to him and his knowledge!

IIRC, you wore a Spartan Helios Jacket??

Yea, Amit was defending them nicely, but hey, being the Operations Head that's what he is supposed to do right?? :D But one comment from him which I have to agree to is, no matter how much testing happens, a small degree of problems will always trickle into the final product. Same happened with the CBR250R too during its initial phase! Lets sincerely hope KTM has taken a note of all the customer grievances. And yes, it was a 6KIOM promotional event and membership hunt but I gained some important knowledge bits and tips from it. Thanks to them for that!

Yes, it was a very lame explanation. For me, I still believe it is a fuel map issue.

Yes. All these points are what the adventure will be. It will be heavier, slower and costlier that the Duke or the RC for sure.

He also is an IIMBer :)

Nope I was in Rjays (Black with Red stripes)