My journey from a Hero Duet to owning a used KTM 200 Duke

After watching tons of videos, I zeroed in on three bikes: the R15 V3, Pulsar RS200, and Duke 200. My budget was 80,000 rupees.

BHPian Hoonigans recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Thank you SVS for the information. After you told me to share my story, I thought about writing it and so here it is.

The Journey of a Boy from 10 HP to 25 HP

Part - 1

It was the third year of my college, and I had been riding a Hero Duet since the first year. Now, the scooter started giving me some problems here and there every other month. Nothing too major, but I was frustrated. A boy can only ride a 100cc 8 HP scooter for so long. On a bright, sunny day, my scooter incurred some major problems, so I sent it to my hometown (I live in Belgaum for college, but my hometown is 70 kms from Belgaum) for repairs, as the service center there knew the history of the vehicle, and we trusted it. After sending the scooter to my hometown for repairs, we thought of selling it as it was getting old, and maintenance costs would only increase over time.

P.S. The service center in my hometown looked at the problem and found there was no major issue. They fixed it for under 1,000 rupees.

And so began a DREAM—a dream to lay my hands on a respectable motorcycle.

But for the time being, my father said to take our Bajaj Discover (we had purchased a second-hand Bajaj Discover a couple of years ago to be used in our office by the employees, but it was barely getting used by anyone) to college temporarily (the Duet was still being repaired) as I had exams coming up, and we could think about what to do later. This temporary solution turned into something not so temporary and lasted for almost a year (one year with that bike is a completely different story).

Neither I nor my father had any intention of purchasing a brand-new vehicle. For a couple of years, we believed in gaining all the financial benefits of a depreciating asset that is maintained well. After Discover was with me for almost eight months, and after constantly trying to show my father good bikes on OLX and trying to convince him for a year, the idea was finally taken almost seriously. Then began the long search for a well-maintained bike that fit our budget. I would constantly search on OLX for good deals, binge-watch old YouTube review videos, and read Team-BHP reviews on bikes that I could fit into my budget. I even found what looked like good deals, but either they would be sold before I could do anything, or my not being there physically was not possible as I was in Belgaum and the bikes were in Pune and Mumbai. We restricted our search to cities like Kolhapur, Belgaum, Pune, and Mumbai, as those were the closest cities to us, though not that close.

While all this was going on, my semester was coming to an end, and I was going to have exams. My father decided that after my exams, we would go to Mumbai for two days with the intention of purchasing a bike and bringing it home.

Part - 2

I had to do an internship after my exams finished, and I was also looking for places where I could do one. I had asked my uncle in Pune if he knew someone for it. After a couple of days, he said he knew someone where I could do my internship, so I packed my bags for Pune to do the internship there for a month during my semester vacations. I was more excited that I could now seriously look for a bike in Pune and be physically present there.

Someone mentioned there was a two-wheeler market in Rasta Peth, so I went there and checked it out, but I could not find anything good. After watching tons of videos, I zeroed in on three bikes: the R15 V3, Pulsar RS200, and Duke 200. My budget was 80,000 rupees.

Reasons for my choices:

I wanted something fun to ride that struck my heart chords but was also practical and easily maintainable.

R15 V3: It is a really good bike. Though it was only 150cc and the sitting position was horrible, it is a quality product from Yamaha. My friend had ridden a couple of R15s, and he absolutely adored them and insisted I consider it seriously. To be honest, the way Shumi from Motorinc talked about it really made me think about one, although I was initially not that interested due to its committed posture and it only having 19 HP.

Duke 200 (BS3 or BS4): One of my friends had a Duke 200 BS6, and after I rode it for the very first time, I instantly fell in love with it (love at the first ride ). The power, feel, and zeal really interested me. But I had serious doubts about its maintenance and its engine overhaul stories. Finding good ones was going to be a task.

Pulsar RS 200: It was a beauty to look at (except for its taillight), although many would disagree. It looked really cool in red, yellow, and grey. It was a Bajaj product and hence had low maintenance compared to other 200cc bikes. It fit my budget and had an okay fuel economy. It had a good engine, the same used in the Duke 200, although tuned by Bajaj standards. But that bike, like many Bajajs, has chain issues, and the fairing vibrates and rattles in almost all of them after a couple of years. But still a good product. The choice between the RS 200 and Duke 200 is like brain vs. heart. The RS would be the logical decision, and the Duke an emotional decision.

Other bikes I had considered for some time:

TVS Apache RTR 200 4V, Honda CBR 250, NS200.

I started my internship and scrolled OLX more than Instagram. Now, finding well-maintained bikes, especially the R15 V3, in that budget was an impossible task in itself. I also searched for old Duke 200s, but I could not find any good options at reasonable rates, plus I was afraid of its maintenance. So, if I am searching for it, it needs to be really sorted, as the cheap ones are useless. I focused on finding an RS 200. After almost 20 days of searching, I found two good ones in red. The next day after my internship, I called the one that was near my office, but he did not pick up any calls. He had sent me the location of the bike, so I thought I would go there and call him again to see if he would pick me up. I went there and found the bike sitting in the parking lot. It was in okay condition; it looked as if it had been standing unused for some time and screamed for a bath. I called him again, but he did not pick up, so I left.

The second bike I found was really far from my location, almost 20 kms away in Pune. With the horrible traffic, it would have taken me an hour to get there and an hour to come back. Anyhow, two days later on Monday, I took leave from my office and called the seller to see if I could meet him to see the bike. He gave me the green signal. So, I revved up my RX135 and went to the location. And there it was, a beautiful red RS 200 in fairly good condition for its age, taken care of by the owner and clean, unlike the other one. He showed me the documents, and I took a test ride. Everything seemed okay, no problems so far, and nothing to complain about. So, I started negotiating with him, and he gave me a final price. I said I would think about it and inform him in two days. Honestly, the price was not that bad. But something was missing; I did not connect with that bike at the moment, maybe because I only rode it inside the building premises of the owner, and he did not allow me to take it outside on the road. But the society premises were fairly large, and the bike easily went up to 70-80 there. Still, no highway ride at the moment.

I came home after seeing the bike. My internship and time in Pune were almost coming to an end, and somehow I still had not managed to make a deal even after being in that city for a month. I was thinking about calling the RS owner and making a deal. But that afternoon, I, for some reason, opened OLX again and typed in Duke 200.

And I found an ad: a BS3 Duke 200 for sale, ridden less, looked well-maintained, and in my budget. I called the number given on the page. The owner picked it up. I asked for the details, the reason for him selling it, and whether the documentation was clear. We talked for what I think was 10-15 minutes, and he gave me all the details, talked politely, and seemed genuine. So, I asked him where I could see the bike, and he gave me his location, which was far, even from the location of the RS 200. But I did not care. He said he could meet on Wednesday morning. I got up in the morning and took off at 9:45. I reached there at 11:00; my office would begin at 12:00, and I thought I could reach there by 12:30.

I reached the location and called the seller. He came about 10 minutes later, sporting a jacket, wearing riding gloves, and a helmet. The location was near a highway. He said to me that I could really test the full potential of the bike on the highway. But first, I checked out the bike as thoroughly as I could. I checked whether the alloys had any bends, whether the suspension made any sound, whether the lights worked if the engine revved properly, and whether the chain was tight. After a good five minutes of me checking it, he handed me the keys. It was now time to test-ride it. I took it for a spin and immediately began smiling. I felt the same connection I had felt when I first rode my friend's Duke 200 a year ago. It was a beautiful machine. The bike immediately felt at home in my hands.

I saw a garage while I was on the test ride, so I asked him to inspect the bike to check for any problems. The mechanic then gave me directions to another garage a kilometer away that worked on KTMs, so I went there. He checked the bike and gave me the green signal. The engine was fine, the suspension was fine, and overall it had no problems apart from the handle, which had a slight bend because the bike had fallen once on the right side, misaligning the handle by a couple of millimeters. But honestly, it was not that serious.

At this point, I had taken the bike for almost 15 minutes, and I bet the seller must have become anxious, but he did not call me. I came back after 15 minutes. Then I called my father and told him about the bike and sent him pictures of it. I told him I liked the bike and that we should give the seller an offer. My father said he would call me in 15 minutes and ask a couple of his mechanics for their opinion regarding an appropriate price. It was honestly a really long 15 minutes.

I and the seller chatted during that time, and I asked him for more details about the bike. He said he had purchased it by saving from his salary after working for a year, and it was his first real bike, so he took care of it like his baby.

After 15 minutes, my father called me and gave me the green signal to make the deal if I liked the bike and if the seller agreed to a specific price bracket. Normally, my father would have asked me to wait to make the final offer until someone else apart from me, like my uncle, saw the bike and liked it, but here he somehow approved me to go forward. I guess he knew from my tone on the phone that I wanted it.

And so I started negotiating with the seller. After some back and forth, we came to a price that was acceptable to both of us. Yes, we agreed on a price. This was the first time someone had agreed on a price that was acceptable to me so quickly.

I paid him the token money. The deal was almost done.

I told him I wanted to get it checked at an authorized KTM service center, and if they found no major faults, we would go forward with the agreed-upon deal and price. He agreed. I asked him when he could hand over the bike, and we decided that two days later, he would come to my location, we would go to the service center, and if they gave me a thumbs-up, he would deliver the bike and we would complete all the formalities on that day.

After that, I immediately rushed to my office as it was already 12:15, and it would take me at least half an hour to reach. The next day would be my last day in the office.

WHAT THE HELL... Did this really happen?! The entire ride to the office, I was smiling like a maniac. After I reached the office, I could not believe it.

After a year of searching for bikes, watching and reading countless reviews, my friends screaming "Bhai, bike le," convincing, and almost two days before I would go back to college from Pune, and after thinking that I would come home empty-handed, I guess THE STARS HAD ALIGNED.

And it happened so fast (for my standards).

When I went to check out the bike, I did not go there thinking I was going to make a deal. Hell, I did not even think I would purchase it. I just went there without any expectations.

Two days later, he came to my location. Then, as decided, we took the bike to the KTM service center and got it inspected. The technician pointed out all the small nicks and dings and gave the bike a green signal. I sighed a breath of relief. Then, after finally getting confirmation from the service center guys, I took the seller's signatures on the papers and completed the transfer formalities.

IT WAS DONE. THE BIKE WAS MINE. I was genuinely just laughing the whole day and staring at it.

So let me introduce you guys to Valerie.

(see the pictures at the bottom)

Now the only problem was transporting it back home. That was a huge task in itself. I had no knowledge of that topic.

I wanted to ride it back, but my father initially refused, saying it was too risky.

I thought about sending it by train to Kolhapur, but my uncle refused. He had transported his bike a couple of times through the train and said it was of no use. The bike would most definitely reach scratched and with dents on the other side.

So we thought about sending it through transportation. I found some transporters on "Just Dial." VRL was almost charging me 8000 rupees for transportation, which was outrageous, so I did not opt for it.

After some research, I spoke to one transporter on the phone. He agreed to do it for 2000 rupees. He sent me his GSTIN and business location and asked me for an advance of 800 rupees, which I sent him (Yeah, I know, very dumb of me). Then I got scammed. He blocked my number and never picked up my calls later. I sent him the advance because I was in a hurry; my college had already started, and I needed to sort this out.

Then I thought about sending it by bus in the parcel compartment. My cousin had transported his Activa once from Pune through Nakoda Travels, so I asked him for Nakoda Transport's number. He gave it to me, and I called them up, sent them the bike details, and asked if it would fit in the bus. They said they even transported Royal Enfields through it and assured me it would fit. I sent them a photo of the bike to make sure, and they confirmed it would fit. So I booked my seat on the same bus so that I and the bike would go home together the next day. The next day, I reached there, and we tried to put the bike in the parcel compartment.

It did not fit  It was too big for it. Defeated, I came back.

And so finally, it was decided that the bike would be ridden and sent home as that was the only option.

I serviced the bike, changed the oil, and the filters, topped up the coolant, lubricated the chains, and then the bike was finally sent.

It's been almost two months now since I got Valerie. I still stare at it every day. The difference between the 10 hp of the Discover and the 25 horses of this is really cool. Every time I blip the throttle, it just goes. Living with it is like having a high-maintenance girlfriend. It demands constant care and attention, but if you do that, it treats you well every time you demand it.

From the moment the Duet went to my hometown and we thought of selling it and getting me something new, to the moment I got Valerie, it was really a game of patience. I waited. I waited until I got something good. It took time, but as they say, "Samay se pehle aur kismat se jyada kuch nahi milta," and it was just that—right time and luck, nothing more, nothing less.

I hope Valerie remains trouble-free and gives me no major problems. She is more than 10 years old now. Many of you will think it dumb of me to purchase a 10-year-old bike, especially a KTM. I went with my heart and made the decision. The heart makes many dumb decisions, but it wants what it wants. And so...

Only time will tell.

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