[ebonho]

Originally Posted by Dragonheart22

Anybody facing issues with coolant comsumption yet! Moving from an RE, I am very particular about checking Engine Fluid levels regularly. That is why when I went to the Dealer warehouse to choose my Duke, I had specifically opted for the one with high (max) coolant level. The coolant level was varying throughout the bikes, some even sporting min levels! Some had Coolant Leakage marked on them!!! Now after 200 odd km, the level has come down halfway between max. and min. I am afraid I have to carry with me a Coolant bottle to refill over this weekend's run-in ride But more importantly, IS THIS NORMAL?

Many owners have spoken about coolant levels magically coming down, me being one of them. I gave the bike to the Bajaj R&D guys after our Goa ride, and when I got it back the coolant was a mm below the MIN mark. Before there was a mild grimy weep visible along the white plastic viewing window, and this time there were droplets of coolant against the orange paint alongside as well. No big issue. The reservoir is backup overfill in any case, as the optimal coolant level is what is already circulating in the radiator lines. Got it sent back and topped up to a cm+ below the MAX mark.

Its probably someone taking out coolant for analysis and not topping it back up, as its impossible to explain otherwise. I haven't ridden the bike much since then as I have been out of the country, but I'll keep an eye open for this.

Also I have observed fizzing (bubbles) in the oil through the oil-reservoir window! I dont want to say what I am thinking here :(

Bubbles are totally expected after running man. Your crank dipped in the oil churning up the oil at 10000 rpm is like a juicer mixy making oil shake. You will notice the same on the dipstick of any vehicle if you remove immediately post a run.

[Dragonheart22]

There no leaks of any kind (atleast on the exterior) anywhere on the bike, apart from the muck thrown by the chain. No petrol leaks/smells in mine. The bike is all well, it only gets hot (fan comes on) after standing still in traffic or in the parking (when the engine is on for more than half a minute, after coming in from a ride). So I dont suspect the coolant drop is actually causing any overheating yet. But, the fizzing in the oil reservoir, that is a bit alarming (observed only after bike has been ridden). Since there arent any leaks whatsoever/wheresoever on the outside, I suspect it to be leaking into the engine and hence the caution over the fizzing in the oil. Tomorrow morning I am going to check the fizzing or any green layer in the oil sump window with a cold start idle.

[black12rr]

Originally Posted by Dragonheart22

Now after 200 odd km, the level has come down halfway between max. and min. I am afraid I have to carry with me a Coolant bottle to refill over this weekend's run-in ride But more importantly, IS THIS NORMAL?

While taking delivery ,coolant was between min and max , now after 200 kms of riding its touching the min mark . Need to get this checked . Nothing major ,but no feel good factor .
Probably we need to have separate thread as "Duke 200 issues" .

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by black12rr

Probably we need to have separate thread as "Duke 200 issues" .

No worries on that score bro. The Bajaj guys are monitoring this thread pretty regularly, as they are a couple of others selected on other forums as well.

[Ricci]

Originally Posted by ebonho

Acceleration is a function of Torque, top speed of Power.

So in effect, by surfing the crest of the torque wave, you should be accelerating as fast as possible. Correct?

No, that's not correct. That's exactly why power is the number people interested in performance look for before torque - though it's not that straightforward. Power itself is a way of portraying torque.

[arrpiem]

Got the KTM delivery around last week, had an unfortunate skid in a by-lane (Loose Gravel) now I have a peculiar issue, the rear disk brake lever is jamming...so after ive breaked i have to literally do an upshifting motion to release the break or it stays jammed...Nothing looks visibly damaged...is it a quick fix problem or am i looking at downtime :(

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by arrpiem

Got the KTM delivery around last week, had an unfortunate skid in a by-lane (Loose Gravel) now I have a peculiar issue, the rear disk brake lever is jamming...so after ive breaked i have to literally do an upshifting motion to release the break or it stays jammed...Nothing looks visibly damaged...is it a quick fix problem or am i looking at downtime :(

Its probably your lever/linkage that has taken the brunt of the slide and got bent somewhere preventing it from coming back to neutral position. The return spring is pretty flimsy and would not be able to compensate - or it may have been damaged as well. Get it checked.

[samschenker]

Originally Posted by samschenker

Notice something weird in the last couple of days

- Engine gets hot sooner than earlier riding in traffic.
- Once the radiator fan kicks-in (somewhere about a bar or two on the lower temperature gauge) the horn sounds weak, has anyone faced this?

What worries me is not how the horn sound but does the weak sounding horn mean battery is getting drained faster than what it should?

Got this checked during the first service. There was not much of voltage drop when we tried to reproduce this scenario (radiator fan on + head lamp on + horn) but the horn sound did get deteriorated. Seems to be horn problem.

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by samschenker

Got this checked during the first service. There was not much of voltage drop when we tried to reproduce this scenario (radiator fan on + head lamp on + horn) but the horn sound did get deteriorated. Seems to be horn problem.

So how did they solve it? Changed the horn? Any improvement?

I really feel that the Duke needs a decent horn. Better still - a tuned dual tone pair (hi/lo).

The current option/s, whether the sound deteriorates or not, are totally inaudible over highway speed noise.

[ebonho]

Long post alert!

I've been wanting to figure out a way to carry luggage on the Duke for some time now, and the easiest options that did not involve any fabrication/workaround was to bungee a bag to the pillion seat. However, that would work only for short overnight/1-2 day rides and I would need something bigger for a proper tour.

So the other option was to strap on my Bullet-sized saddlebags on to her and see whether I could (1) make them fit and find a way to secure them, and (2) sit comfortably and ride with them over bad roads, potholes, bumps, as well as banking left and right in the twisties, without them moving around.

The advantage of the saddlebags also is that they have bottle holder pockets on either side into which I have fitted two 2.25 L "party pack" Pepsi bottles - which means I can carry around 4.5 L of extra fuel to supplement the meager capacity of the Duke's small 10.5 L tank.

Which means that with a touring mileage of even 30 kmpl (we got 34 on the Goa run), this should stretch the touring range between refuels to approximately 425-450 kms.

To put that further into perspective - possible to ride from Manali to Leh without refueling. I (and most Indian tourers) use this as the benchmark as there is probably no other stretch/circuit where we do not have any fuel pumps for that distance.

So I tried out different combinations – bottle behind and bottles in front, as well as different anchor points for the various straps and snap on buckles. I finally decided to go for the bottles in front position for the first trial run as having the bottles behind was looking like over some distance and with bumping and jostling, they would damage the bike’s cute little indicators (which really could have been positioned more rear-wards somewhere on the fiber mudguard so as to give more space for luggage).

Went for a short and fast 80 km ride to a nearby hillside with lots of rough bumpy approach roads and some really nice twisties and switchbacks, and found the bags shifting and re-positioning themselves very early into the run, sliding forward from the pillion seat to a lot more under my backside. I could feel them shift as well as feel the bottles against the heel of my left (gear) foot especially during shifts.

Took before and after photos to indicate the degree of shift. Nothing too dramatic – but maybe having the bottle behind would be better as they would anyways slide in front and so the indicators should not be in danger. Let’s see next time.

The pillion footrest pillars provide natural supports for the insides of the bags as well as a guard to prevent them from fouling with the wheel. However, as is evident from the photos, with this setup, having a pillion would be impossible as the footpegs are covered by the bags completely. Never ride with a pillion anyways – but just saying.

Besides the forward slide, the bags were nice and secure, and did not flap around or move even during some of the faster more leaned in corners. Even in city traffic, the clearance was ok and I could comfortably move through Pune traffic without snagging the bag on anything/anyone.

I must mention that I had stuffed the bags with tons of stuff, including lots of heavy tools, etc. so the bags were pretty heavy and close to touring weight (approximately 25 odd kilos estimated) and nowhere did the rear suspension bottom out or wallow around.

Another point I wanted to make in this post, though it is not necessarily related to the bags but more to do with long distance touring ergonomics. I did a ride to Panchgani over the Gudi Padwa holiday a couple of days ago, and I found my right leg and thigh getting uncomfortable and cramping up. This is due in part to my height (6’) as well as the funny small brake lever and the necessary and constant foot calisthenics needed to cover it. Nothing that cannot be lived with, but reinforces my earlier point about the levers (size and angle). Although to be fair, the gear lever I have gotten used to now pretty well to the point of instinctual shifts.

Bag position on bike with bottles behind



Bag position (before ride) on bike with bottles in front



Bag position (after ride - shift/slide forward) on bike with bottles in front



Top view of bags and seat (bottles behind) - less overflow of central flap on to rider seat





Bottles behind - rear view



Bottles behind - left view



Top view comparison of bottles behind and bottles in front





Top view comparison of bottles behind (first two) and bottles in front







Straps securing (to grab rails) - rear.

Note: These straps slid all the way forward along the length of the grab rail to come to rest at the point where the grab rails are bolted to the chassis. And along with the straps, the bags slid forward too. Need some way of anchoring the straps/bag there.



Straps securing (to trellis frame) - side

Note: These straps keep the bags tucked into the bike and prevent the bags from sliding backwards off the bike (as there is no backrest stopping that). But as it turns out (above), that is not the concern.



Forward shift of bags after ride - central flap mostly on to rider seat, and bags sloping downwards towards rider foot pegs.

Note how the straps anchored to the grab rails have slid unimpeded forward.

[samschenker]

Originally Posted by ebonho

So how did they solve it? Changed the horn? Any improvement?

I really feel that the Duke needs a decent horn. Better still - a tuned dual tone pair (hi/lo).

The current option/s, whether the sound deteriorates or not, are totally inaudible over highway speed noise.

No the issue of horn sounding feeble was not solved. My concern was if the battery is getting overloaded when the radiator fan comes up which resulted in sound sounding like a dying tweety but that was not the case.

We monitored the battery voltage when the fan kicked on, switched on the head lamp & used the horn the battery voltage was pretty stable so my concern about battery getting overloaded was closed, agree with you on the horn not loud as one would like.

Nice post there w.r.t to saddle bag mounting, don't you think it will be better to carry the extra fuel in some metal bottles than using plastic soft drink bottles?

[NikhilB]

Originally Posted by arrpiem

Got the KTM delivery around last week, had an unfortunate skid in a by-lane (Loose Gravel) now I have a peculiar issue, the rear disk brake lever is jamming...so after ive breaked i have to literally do an upshifting motion to release the break or it stays jammed...Nothing looks visibly damaged...is it a quick fix problem or am i looking at downtime :(

Had faced that on the front brakes of my previous bike.
On it, there was a small cylinder at the base of the front brake lever that pushed it back. The cylinder was busted.
Since it wasn't a common replacement part, took some time to procure.
Might be something similar in your case.

@ebono
I got the gear lever adjusted lower by a cm during the first service.
Makes a dramatic difference to quick downshifts during hard braking.

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by samschenker

agree with you on the horn not loud as one would like.

"Not as loud as one would like" being the understatement of the century!

Nice post there w.r.t to saddle bag mounting, don't you think it will be better to carry the extra fuel in some metal bottles than using plastic soft drink bottles?

Yeah it would be better. Any bottle shaped alternatives you could suggest? I have 5 L jerry cans made of really hard plastic used to carry industrial chemicals - but you need a proper braced frame to carry those (like Ladakh carriers) - or an external reinforced pocket of that shape stitched to the back of the saddlebags.

[samschenker]

Originally Posted by ebonho

Yeah it would be better. Any bottle shaped alternatives you could suggest? I have 5 L jerry cans made of really hard plastic used to carry industrial chemicals - but you need a proper braced frame to carry those (like Ladakh carriers) - or an external reinforced pocket of that shape stitched to the back of the saddlebags.

These are the type of bottles I had in mind,


Like Nikhil suggested, have you tried getting the gear lever adjusted to your liking? That was something i missed out during the first service :(

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by NikhilB

@ebono
I got the gear lever adjusted lower by a cm during the first service.
Makes a dramatic difference to quick downshifts during hard braking.

Thanks man. The gear lever is fine. Its the brake lever that needs adjusting.

Noticed something new yesterday while checking my engine oil level. The oil window has a slightly grimy oil weep that has developed - and on closer inspection there is a mark of an oil trail that is going downwards from the window. Seems there is a small leak there.

Also, has anyone figured out how to open the fuse box under the pillion seat? Tried unsuccessfully but did not force the issue for fear of breaking something on the plastic box.