Team-BHP - The KTM Duke 390 Ownership Experience Thread

Quote:

Originally Posted by praful (Post 3313377)

but feel the new batches of D200's are a notch above quality wise vs. the ones from the first few months)

How so Praful? Any particular things you have noticed or come to know of? Please share so that old Duke owners like me can try where possible to incorporate such in our bikes as well.

I already have the new foot levers and chain-sprocket kit and the fork seal dust covers. Now a new battery as well. Chose not to go for the ECU remappping and the change in digital display (even though it does fog in the rains at times - experience now fom 2 monsoons).

Quote:

Originally Posted by praful (Post 3313377)

With price changes, come increase in quality. Agree? ;) :D

Have observed this trend after owning a Bajaj for 6+ years. May or may not be true in the context of the Duke, but feel the new batches of D200's are a notch above quality wise vs. the ones from the first few months. Albeit the current D200 is pricier by 14% over the first few lots. IIRC its 1.6L OTR in BLR vs launch price of 1.3xL

You are a senior BHPian than me, so should be knowing :) Innovations / improvements are an ongoing n continuous process in any / automotive industry and this eventually find their way to the respective automobile. I had the P180 naked bike in 2002 and that is a far cry from today's DTSI Pulsars. So I guess some goodies will be thrown on board regularly and new buyers surely can take satisfaction in that if that translates to VFM for them.

But it is imortant to understand that VFM is a perception more than anything else and it keeps altering with the changing market dynamics :cool:

Quote:

Originally Posted by ebonho (Post 3313387)

I take my old hag for a service to PBK's at times and when I talk to the SVC managers he's always shown me some improvement or the other in the Duke. In fact even the internal design of the crank case has some changes. Riding the new batches of D200's, they feel a little more 'sorted' & refined.

I don't have the exact details on what all was changed though.

But this is standard operating procedure for Bajaj. They constantly improve the products (Sometimes they mess up too :p)

Quote:

Originally Posted by ashkamath (Post 3313389)

Agree innovations/improvements are there in all companies. Bajaj just makes way too many iterations if you know what I mean.

You are talking about comparing your 2002 P180 to today's crop, that is change in the generation itself. But Bajaj keeps coming up with smaller iterative changes within the same generation of vehicle itself. Before my P220 'Fi' was phased out, I remember seeing at least 4 major iterations in the 2 years before the Carb'd 220 came.

So what I'm saying is that it may be possible that a increase in price correlates to a slight increase in quality too.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lark63 (Post 3313540)

Report : Faster 390 is under way !
It will be called 390R and not to be confused with RC.
Go to the link below to check out.
http://indianautosblog.com/2013/11/k...e-390-r-106573

Sounds like a fake rumor. Never before has anything like this been declared before.

Moreover if they were to go the 'R' way that trend should have been seen with either of the D125/200 siblings.

Lastly, removing a kg or two of plastic is not going to help much. As far as metals go they are pretty much on a diet on the Duke series.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sutripta (Post 3313523)

^^^
Any difference between the current D200s and the initial batch + ECU remap?

Regards
Sutripta

Don't think so Sutripta. 134 kmph is pretty much it as far as top end goes for the new Dukes (post Setember last year) or the pre September Dukes with remapped ECU. The non-remapped early lot Dukes are still touching 139 kmph on the speedo, and I have not yet tested it properly (hope to next weekend on a ride to Hedvi) but I am pretty sure the first lot non-remapped Dukes should top out over 142-143 kmph with the new 42 teeth rear sprockets.

What's not to love about a piddly 200 cc motor doing what 3 successive generation motors of 500 cc capacity of a certain manufacturer have not been able to get even close to? :D

Here is what the 390 can do....Aks_Karthik had around 700kms completed and was not really sounding great to not complete 1000 before servicing. At 6am we decided to take the bike to 1000 before dropping it off at the service centre.

Ride to Vizhuppuram. A fun ride with lots of learning about the bike. Will update that later. Overall the windshield plays a very important role in the long rides. Above 120 the windshild takes over and tugging in not only gives you the neccessary aero but a more comfortable feeling.

Here is a cropped version from our gopro the only second break we took to enjoy some scene to make some reasoning out of our need to ride today.

Quote:

Originally Posted by VW2010 (Post 3313970)

Kickass photo bro. There is a different sort of charm of living on the sea side, lost to inland dwellers like us. Of course we do not envy you the humidity and sweaty armpits that comes gratis! :D

Did you shut off the ABS on this gravel stretch?

Got up unusually early morning(without alarm) for a Saturday morning, felt restless and took out the 390 for a short solo spin and for putting some more miles before the first service. Kept the engine below 7.5K RPM throughout and was doing some high speec bursts. Had an absolute blast! I just cant wait to rip it past 7K RPM. Apparently on the 390 the fun starts from where my ex-TBTS used to top out. And I am just loving it! For the heck of it checked mileage on today's run. Gave 32kmpl at the speeds mentioned while the FE meter showed 33kmpl. And 21.xx in city!

I had the Fazer's screen installed and it worked well post 80kmph keeping the blast off the torso and mild torso starts hitting from the chin area. Surprisingly I did'nt feel any fatigue at all compared to the early morning runs on my RE.

1 week and 600Kms done. Hope to get the first service done by next week! Seriously loving this sweet machine. A couple of pics from today's ride.

The KTM Duke 390 Ownership Experience Thread-imag1304_2.jpg

The KTM Duke 390 Ownership Experience Thread-imag1303_3.jpg

One query, Has anybody noticed a hard kickback on the brake pedal when pressed aggressively over bad patches? Is it the ABS kicking in?

Quote:

Originally Posted by man_of_steel (Post 3314082)

One query, Has anybody noticed a hard kickback on the brake pedal when pressed aggressively over bad patches? Is it the ABS kicking in?

Yup thats the ABS kicking in. I inquired at the service station and checked with a few owners as well, the behavior is same for sudden braking for rear tyre.
This is supposed to stop the brakes from locking up.

I am told if turn the ABS off and try that there would be no kickback.