[ebonho]

Originally Posted by rakesh_r

err i hope you dont mind me answering,The exhaust sounds like a free flow exhaust not irritatiing one,but you can hear a clatter similar to what you hear in a 2 stroke with an expansion chamber.

Exactly. It sounds like a 4-stroke version of a two stroke with an expansion. And its thankfully not metrosexually muted like 99.9% of bikes in the market today.

The original European official KTM brochure for the KTM Duke 200!

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[jalva]

Went to the MG Road, Gurgaon showroom. Surprisingly, it wore a deserted look and the sales staff was too happy to welcome me.

Took a small TD, the bike ran nice and fine but I couldnt hold 100kmph for more than a second or two. Asked for a longer TD over the highway (NH8) and they obliged. Took the bike to 131kmph. No issues, very stable and fully in control. Raced a little with a beemer which beat me by going 150+

Rode the bike at 120-130 for a while. Dont know why, but I thought that the engine is not meant to do that all day. Could just be psychological given the bike's weight and cubic capacity. Views anyone?

Did a little bit of corner carving and lane changing, the bike showed good manners. I liked the brakes. They were progressive and felt linear. The bike did not wag its tail under heavy braking. Someone who wants amazing, jerky bite maybe disappointed.

Pillion seat is small but adequate. I asked the showroom guy to drive while I sat in the pillion seat. I would need a backrest or top-box to not feel nervous given the twitchy acceleration that wants to throw you back. Or maybe I am just not experienced at sitting pillion. The seat should do fine for my wife. If you remove the seat you see slots for adding a topbox mount - good!

And yes, the big selling point for me is how light the bike feels. Very flickable and super manageable. Feels like a splendor with lots of acceleration - for me that is a good thing.

The suspension is good and quite responsive. With one hand on the pillion seat you can easily press the monoshock a couple of inches. I liked the monoshock, frame and weight so much that I had to rule out the new pulsar.

Negatives:
- Not a torque monster. I did all my riding with a pillion from the showroom. Can not pull away in any gear with pillion and luggage. If you play the gears correctly, it works well. Clear loss of torque for bullet guys. No big deal for me.
- Booking amount not completely refundable. There is a 3K deduction.
- The big one: Vibrations in the foot pegs at speeds above 90. The right foot peg vibrated enough to make me a little uncomfortable. This is coming from a bullet guy No vibes in the unweighted handlebars or anywhere else. The bike had 10kms on the odo so maybe it wasnt meant to go that fast this early and with running in this may be resolved. But this felt odd and could be a deal breaker. Any views?

I hope that this is among the first non-journo riding report of the duke

[ebonho]

Nice one Jalva! So did you book it ?

Was the 131 with the showroom guy as pillion or solo? How quickly did it reach there?

Why do you say 120-130 was not the comfort zone for the machine? Too vibey? Sound harshness? Its a KTM + a small short stroke single. It comes with the territory .... even for a Bulleteer!

The probably reason the way I look at it, Bulleteer to Bulleteer, is that with that much sound/vibes on a Bullet you would be scared of coming to a grinding halt somewhere down the road if you kept that up without backing off.

I've been told the 10-slot rear monoshock comes at setting #3 (from the softest side) from the factory.

Did the bike rear bottom out with both of you on board at any point (the typical "tak" type feel)? What was the total payload in kilos (you + showroom guy)?

Thanks in advance for all the answers!

[jalva]

Please find the answers below:

Originally Posted by ebonho

Nice one Jalva! So did you book it ? No, need to test ride the CBR and see how it behaves at 120-130. Would have booked had the amount been refundable.

Was the 131 with the showroom guy as pillion or solo? With pillion, all the time. How quickly did it reach there? Quite quickly. When I had the space and wanted to go faster it happened. Didnt time it! I think I might even have gone to 132 or 133. But 131 I saw clearly.

Why do you say 120-130 was not the comfort zone for the machine? Too vibey? Sound harshness? Its a KTM + a small short stroke single. It comes with the territory .... even for a Bulleteer! Not sure why. Need expert opinion here.

The probably reason the way I look at it, Bulleteer to Bulleteer, is that with that much sound/vibes on a Bullet you would be scared of coming to a grinding halt somewhere down the road if you kept that up without backing off.

I've been told the 10-slot rear monoshock comes at setting #3 (from the softest side) from the factory.

Did the bike rear bottom out with both of you on board at any point (the typical "tak" type feel)? What was the toal payload (you + showroom guy)? No bottoming, but we didnt face any potholes. I am 70kg, the tiny pillion guy would have been 55-60kg.

Thanks in advance for all the answers!

[ebonho]

Thanks buddy. So 131 quickly with a payload of approx. 130 kilos is not bad at all. The journo reported top speeds of 136-138 kmph were all solo.

Was the 131 with throttle pinned for some time with lots of free road or did you run out of road/space and feel the bike could have gone further?

The bottoming out on soft suspension with load does not need potholes. On NH8 when you have undulations/dips, if the suspension is soft and/or the load too much, the bike will bottom out when you hit the bottom of the dip at speed after the top of the undulation.

[jalva]

Originally Posted by ebonho

Thanks buddy. So 131 quickly with a payload of approx. 130 kilos is not bad at all. The journo reported top speeds of 136-138 kmph were all solo.

Was the 131 with throttle pinned for some time with lots of free road or did you run out of road/space and feel the bike could have gone further?

The bottoming out on soft suspension with load does not need potholes. On NH8 when you have undulations/dips, if the suspension is soft and/or the load too much, the bike will bottom out when you hit the bottom of the dip at speed after the top of the undulation.

Top Speed: I was riding a fairly congested stretch of the road so would not have kept it pinned for long. Cant recall more to give a more precise response. I did pin the throttle a few times otherwise and the bike is rev happy.

Suspension: Undulations did not lead to bottoming. Pot holes or poorly designed speed breakers might still have done that, but that was not tested.

[Kushagra_bhat]

Has anyone here booked it from the MG Road showroom. I had gone before the store opened and they already had 15 bookings.....

[zulfi hansi]

Originally Posted by Shubz

Not sure about the post dated cheque story, but I did visit the showroom today as the bike was on display! Awesome feel. but in some places, quality was left to be desired. Example: The taping of the cables as shown below.

Did you do the booking? Are they giving the bike for TD, and if yes did you do it. How is the booking going on, long line or are they snapping flys. Why I am saying this is because just 1 day before Bajaj actually sabotages Duke by releasing Pulser 200NS (cheap ripoff of Duke IMO), so many may have pulled back.

[Shubz]

I booked the Duke today! Hope the deliveries of the first lot starts soon!!!

[aks_karthik]

I got a call from KTM Bajaj Showroom, Adyar, Chennai. The bike is on display and booking is already started. But there's no TD. We can start the engine and check the bike.
She promised to try to get a TD for me on Saturday.

[black12rr]

Originally Posted by zulfi hansi

Did you do the booking? Are they giving the bike for TD, and if yes did you do it. How is the booking going on, long line or are they snapping flys. Why I am saying this is because just 1 day before Bajaj actually sabotages Duke by releasing Pulser 200NS (cheap ripoff of Duke IMO), so many may have pulled back.

Ppl were waiting from 5am ,so imagine .You can sit on the bike , they revved it few times .No test rides .Test bike is coming in few days.

Today's booking have easily crossed 100 + in Bangalore .By 10 am it was 90 odd , by evening it should be around 200 .

[Wind splitter]

112 bookings have been done so far in Bangalore as per showroom guys.

[ByDesign]

Never was into bikes earlier (I did have the whole bike posters on wall phase when I was little though). Now looking at the Honda 250R, the Duke 200, the Pulsar 200NS, my minds racing at the possibility of owning a bike here. I never was a fan of biking, in fact, I'm the first one to curse at bikers (inside my own head of course) and how they zig zag, and hit my OVRM at red lights etc.

How is the biking scene in India on road? Is it easy to ride a geared bike? I'm a 100% live to drive kind of guy, and I have ridden some of my friends bikes for fun here and there too. Never was brave enough to take a bike onto a traffic heavy road. I have hired a Wego and an Activa on Havelock island, Andamans, when I holidayed there and regularly rode around the island at moderate speeds (50, 60 and sometimes 70 kmph), managed overtaking, avoiding potholes etc.

Would it be relatively easy to get into biking with a Duke 200 or pulsar 200 NS as a first bike? It's just a grey area in my head, but I'm a real engine enthusiast and willing to learn and love different forms of motoring.

[Wind splitter]

Booked my Duke today, I am given the number 130, so i guess I am the 130th customer for Duke in Bangalore.

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by Wind splitter

Booked my Duke today, I am given the number 130, so i guess I am the 130th customer for Duke in Bangalore.

Sorry to disappoint you man but Bangalore did 175 on Day1 (Mumbai was 225, Delhi 120, Pune 80, Hyderabad 35).