[balenopower]

Originally Posted by Xaos636

Excellent buy balenopower. And an equally great review as well. That is one hell of a screamer you got there. I hope the KTM service guys are well equipped with spares for this one, at least the filters, brake pads etc. I have heard great reviews about KTM Andheri East showroom and I am following them on Facebook as well. No nonsense stuff, so I assume your bikes would be serviced by safe hands as well. Anyway as you have owned the Ninja 250R, I expect service costs to be similar or lesser than that
Wishing you 1000's of happy miles on the 790. Ride safe.

Thank you. Yes considering the ridiculous Ninja 250 spare part prices, the 790 prices are more or less similar which ok considering its a much bigger bike.

Originally Posted by 100Rabh

A rare occasion when a mean machine managed to look cute in those colors. Wishing you millions of happy miles.

Thank you

Originally Posted by sandeepmohan

I like KTM's attention to detail (They don't usually have much of this). Even the straps to secure the motorcycle on the crate are orange.

I for one wonder if you ever need to go faster than a Duke 390. I had one for a couple of years. In ~25,000 km that I owned the bike, I could never push it to the limits. It was just too fast for our roads, or, my lack of experience could never push it for what it was designed to do. That said, I was always grinning under the lid. I extended the distance of my daily office commute just so I could ride fast and watch the rev limiter light flash. Even if you did not try hard, you pretty much smoked everyone at the traffic light.

...and here we are with your 790 Duke. I can't imagine what this would be like. I guess I would call it a Scud Missile on two wheels.

Congratulations. Ride safe.

Frankly on its own, I never found the RC390 lacking, but in the company of bigger bikes on the street and on the track, it did lack outright grunt and at least I think I was pushing the bike to its limits. With the 790 I guess it should be more than enough for most occasions. Thanks for the wishes.

Originally Posted by neil.jericho

balenopower, congratulations on your 790 Duke! The prices that you guys were getting it for in Bombay were very tempting indeed, unfortunately the same aggressive prices were not matched by the dealers here in south India. In fact, dealers here were more inclined not to quote any good deals and were trying to get the full prices on the bikes that they had in stock. I had seen a Duke 790 at the local showroom and it looked very compact indeed, its dimensions really do make it look like a Duke 390 to the untrained eye. That is a very good thing if you dont want it to grab too much attention and use if for your regular day to day routine, where it can be parked safely anywhere. There is a 790 Duke owner in Bangalore who has uploaded footage on Youtube from his highway rides, the speeds which the bike does easily, is not, ahem, forum friendly. The way the speedo keeps moving even well beyond the 100 kmph mark is astonishing!

Not to be the bearer of bad news, but as you would probably already know, the Duke 790 is known to have some niggles, in fact most of the international journalists have called out the KTM 790 quality angle at the recent launch of its big brother, the 890 Duke R. What didnt help matters for KTM in India was not very positive feedback on the 790 Duke from some of the early buyers, which put off a lot of prospective owners from the 790 despite the attractive prices when compared to the competition. Of course, there is nothing like a proper long term ownership thread on the forum to showcase the bike's track record in our Indian conditions. Do keep this thread updated with your experiences, both on the road and at the service centers. Wish you a trouble free and exciting ownership experience!

Yes, coming from the 390, the acceleration is relentless. But also after a faired bike like the RC390, i have had to change my riding style to accommodate the windblast, the big increase in power and the vastly different dynamics.

Yes i have heard about the problems and I am already part of a 790 group where we hope to find and discuss the problems. Also i had a detailed talk with the service manger about the nature of those problems and most of them tolerance issues where the bolt or a clamp is torqued too much. Basically lack of skilled labour which is an issue most CBU/CKD bikes are facing. I hope to have a niggle free ownership but for the problems that do crop up, I'm guessing the competent Andheri East people will sort it out.

[Doc_nikhil]

And here it is! The much awaited review. Your review was crisp and to the point. Here is me wishing you loads of happy rides and a million smiles with your machine! And what a machine, it is, I must say! Congrats man, ride safe, ride hard, ATGATT!

[KP56]

First of all,Congratulations on your orange monster!
It was indeed a very well written review. Like you’ve said , seeing your motorcycle arriving in a crate is every biker’s dream.And you’ve accomplished it
And if you’re planning to keep the RE as well.. it would be an incredible 3 bike garage!
Ride hard,ride safe!

[51morris]

Awesome review with brilliant pictures of a completely MAD bike! This is one of the most outrageous naked bikes around today and is a complete hooligan!

Ride safe and stay safe!

[balenopower]

So not a lot of riding has happened but some important additions have. I had been planning to get paint protection film for a while now so decided to go ahead with it. Autocustomz is run by a friend and we decided to apply LLumar self healing PPF. So we applied it to the orange panel on the tank and onto the headlight. Post the PPF installed the traction pads I had ordered.

Decided to get some customisation too. Wrapped the front fender in CF and the exhaust heat shield too. Not sure if the CF wrap will stay or get burnt from the heat, but thats for later. Also installed some swingarm spools that I had lying around. Here are some pics.

[killjoy]

Doesn't the pdf affect the lighting?

[KarthikK]

A bit late to the party, but congratulations on this exciting beast of a bike, and thanks for penning this wonderful ownership review to detail your experiences with the 790 I guess you landed a really nice deal on this bike. I recollect the KTM dealerships were in a selling frenzy around March when the BS6 deadline was approaching, and there were a lot of juicy deals on this monster. Good time to buy this one!

I like how the bike is every bit a better (performance-wise) and bigger (looks and sound) version of the 390 Duke, yet retains the same DNA in many aspects of the looks and design department and blends with the crowd to pass off as yet another Duke. It really helps with not drawing much of unnecessary attention out on the roads. The seat looks really nice and wide and I am assuming is quite comfortable even for long-ish rides. Quite surprising to see even the pillion seat looks better padded and bigger than it is on the 390 Duke. I have seen a few youtube videos and boy that bassy exhaust note is addictive for spirited riding!

Wish you many years of ownership and mile munching on this beast, and do update this thread and keep us posted on your ownership experiences.

Originally Posted by killjoy

Doesn't the pdf affect the lighting?

Nope. PPF is in fact designed keeping in mind stone chip prevention even on headlamps (in addition to offering protection for the body work). It is 100% transparent and does nothing to block or modify the light throw in any way. Self-healing PPF in fact resolves the swirls and minor scratches on the film material by itself, when exposed to heat. So there are no age-related scratches accumulating either.

[balenopower]

Originally Posted by killjoy

Doesn't the pdf affect the lighting?

Nope, none whatsoever.

Originally Posted by KarthikK

A bit late to the party, but congratulations on this exciting beast of a bike, and thanks for penning this wonderful ownership review to detail your experiences with the 790 I guess you landed a really nice deal on this bike.

Thank you

[balenopower]

So the first service finally happened. Just 500 km on the odo instead of 1k. Reached KTM andheri East service at 11:30. Being a 790, the bike was immediately wheeled inside. Premium bike, premium customer was taken pretty seriously here.

First service includes general check up, replace the oil strainers, 2.8 litres of fresh oil, software update andddd...the most imp, unlock track mode.

The service charges which includes lubing, washing adjust was 2832/- including GST

The oil was 2367/- and the oil strainer kit which is imported from Austria cost a ridiculous 4018/-. Total came up to 9217/-, which barring the oil strainer kit is pretty decent. Next service is 15k km/1 year which is not bad at all.

Overall, job carried out very well but just a lil expensive.

[neil.jericho]

Originally Posted by balenopower

The oil was 2367/- and the oil strainer kit which is imported from Austria cost a ridiculous 4018/-. Total came up to 9217/-, which barring the oil strainer kit is pretty decent. Next service is 15k km/1 year which is not bad at all.

What engine oil was used?

[balenopower]

Originally Posted by neil.jericho

What engine oil was used?

While the manual recommends Motorex, KTM uses Motul because Motorex isnt available in India.

[Red Liner]

Originally Posted by balenopower

While the manual recommends Motorex, KTM uses Motul because Motorex isnt available in India.

Motorex is available in India:https://m.facebook.com/motorexindia/

And i have seen it in shop shelves.

Bajaj india has an overarching agreement with Motul to continue using their products across the entire bike line. Whereas abroad, KTM has signed a fresh agreement with Motorex as the new official oil partner for all their bikes and competition events.

Amsoil still trumps both of them.

[balenopower]

Originally Posted by Red Liner

Motorex is available in India:https://m.facebook.com/motorexindia/

And i have seen it in shop shelves.

Bajaj india has an overarching agreement with Motul to continue using their products across the entire bike line. Whereas abroad, KTM has signed a fresh agreement with Motorex as the new official oil partner for all their bikes and competition events.

Amsoil still trumps both of them.

This is news. I guess ill try Motorex or Amsoil for the next oil change.

[balenopower]

Work takes up so much time that I have had zero time to update this thread. The 790 has gone through a bunch of changes, mostly cosmetics. Time constraints and monsoons meant the 790 wasn’t used at all. But I have managed about 5k on the odo.

The service experience has been good so far. No major problems with the bike whatsoever. The only issue being rusted bolts and certain metal parts. The battery went kaput but thankfully Exide makes a battery that is the same voltage and a direct fit.

Between all of this, even managed to take the bike to last year’s valley run drag racing event and that was a lot of fun too. Now all I need is a track-day to properly experience this machine and hopefully that will be soon. Here's some pics.

[no_fear]

Very nice additions to the KTM. Are those CRG bar end mirrors? And is that a Mivv slip on? I love Mivv as a brand - their exhausts are fantastic and value for money.