Re: The KTM Duke 390 Ownership Experience Thread There is no better place to write down my short ownership experience of the magnificent D390.
My writing skills are far from excellent and my below par English is not helping me either. So please forgive my mistakes gentlemen. Following opinions are from the view point of a novice rider.
My whole life is hovering around Auto mobiles. Always believed I was brought to the world of motor driven wonders by the almighty. I used to identify several vehicles by the age of 3 according to my mom. The toys I had were always cars or motorcycles. My love for anything with wheels grew with me. My strong desire resulted in me joining Mechanical stream in Engineering just for that extra bit of knowledge.
But my luck ran out and I had a seizure(fit) at the age of 17. I was instructed by the Doctor to not drive or ride for next 4 years. In those 4 years my Dad picked up a 2008 model HH pleasure for 20k. Being born in a pretty low class family it was a great occasion but I was not able to ride it because I was still taking medicines for fits. And finally when the course of the medicine was over I was ready to take my driving test.
Then disaster struck my family. My father was diagnosed with stage 5 chronic renal failure. Then everything took the back-seat as we were trying to make money for his surgery. I was in last year of my B tech course. 10 painful months passed and we have made some money with the help of his friends. My course was also over by that time. Huge responsibility was on my shoulders. But giving up was not an option for me. I have decide to put my skills as an android hobbyist to good use for Dad's surgery. Released a couple of apps in play store. But the day after i have received my first earning, god has decided to take away everything from us. Dad passed away in the morning of July 28th just days away from his surgery.
Months passed in pain and agony. And then came one of the biggest turning point in my life. Won the international theme contest conducted by Micromax and Cyanogen Inc. App revenues sky rocketed. Saved up my earnings and started dreaming about my first set of wheels once again. Dad's pleasure was an ok commuter. But it was horrible in corners. I was able feel the bike slipping and sliding under my legs even in pretty good roads. It was comfortable sitting at 40-50 in a perfectly paved straight road. I knew i had to fulfil my desire. Started the search for used ceebers but gave up on it soon as I don't like refined and sane machines. D200 was the next option. Decided to go with a brand new one. Going most ownership experiences i have came to know about the usual niggles plaguing katooms and pushed me towards the internationally acclaimed best beginner bike Ninja. But in our state Kerala there were not many ninjas and the number of them on sale was in single digits. Most of them quoting exorbitant price tags ranging between 2.0-2.8l for 4-5 year old examples.
But being a jap i knew it had the substance to command such a sum. Eventually I ruled it out of my options because the closest service centre was 90km away. So I was back to square one but like a true enthusiast I have decided to listen to my heart. KTM, it has to be a KTM. My little brother who is 17 is every bit a petrol head as I'm was the one who gave me the moral support to go with katoom. That was the only thing I needed. After all these are machines and they are bound to go wrong sometimes. Then came the biggest dilemma of choosing between the duke brothers. New D200 or pre-worshipped D390? Found a decent 390 close to my home. It was a 2014 Jan model. Had an inspection and he was as energetic and clean as I expected. So it was him or a new 200. Heart SAID "GO get him you imbecile, opportunities don't come twice" and my head was like "Get the saner 200, 390 will try to kill you, break a wheel, heat up in traffic, return low gas mileage and eventually will get you in to trouble". It was time to shut off my head. Negotiated hard with the owner and brought him down to 1.57 from 1.7 and finally picked him up the last Saturday. Duma was finally mine. Took him to Guruvayoor temple and done the rituals. Came home with the biggest grin I have ever had in my life. My brother was awestruck. Both of us took hours to sink in to the fact that he is really ours. He is like your best mate. You have to respect him and give him the attention he wants and like a true mate he will plaster a big grin on your face and will help you pull out of sticky situations.
Managed to stall the engine few times in second gear. Slipping the clutch helped a lot. Probably my lack of technique to blame here. In a very short period of time I have already developed a strong bond with him. To me a bike/car is not just a machine. I know for many its just a point A to B tool. Not for me. I guess that's why I'm being able to overlook the niggles and the impracticalities of these wonderful piece of machineries. I maybe young but I'm an old school enthusiast at heart. I believe in adjusting to a machine's shortcomings and having fun looking after the it. D390 is exactly my kind of thing. It is rough, jerky, hot, grabs unwanted attention but it all adds to one thing 'SOUL'.
Here he is gleaming in the sun after a complete wash and polish job Note from Support.
Divided the large block of text into paragraphs.
Please take sometime to read this very helpful guide.
Thanks,
Support Team
Last edited by bblost : 21st April 2015 at 23:53.
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