[Urban_Nomad]

Originally Posted by VW2010

luckily had to work out a office 27kms from home. KTM ROCKS

You know you love the bike when commuting long distance makes you feel "lucky"

All the best for your new assignment!

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by Urban_Nomad

You know you love the bike when commuting long distance makes you feel "lucky"

All the best for your new assignment!

I used to love commuting on my bikes man. First the KB then the Pulsar and then the Bullet. Never commuted on my KTM. I would commute on my bike in a flash if I could.

[VedderTheFixer]

So this is how it currently looks after my first 500 km, not bad in my opinion. Those figures kinda surprise me .

One thing which is a bit irritating is the rattles which have already developed, not rattles per se but some noises which can get on your nerve a bit.

[VW2010]

For that Fuel efficiency and average speed, common, you will hear those disturbing rattles. Push that RPM towards 10K and the rattles are history for you are just on the edge enjoying the power

On a serious note the rattles origination are around tank vs coolant container, the lower engine guard, sometimes the fuel tank itself. Just give it a mild wack and see if that helps.

Just give a little more RPM and ride at over 5K around 7-8K and you will feel far smoother.

[VedderTheFixer]

Originally Posted by VW2010

For that Fuel efficiency and average speed, common, you will hear those disturbing rattles. Push that RPM towards 10K and the rattles are history for you are just on the edge enjoying the power

On a serious note the rattles origination are around tank vs coolant container, the lower engine guard, sometimes the fuel tank itself. Just give it a mild wack and see if that helps.

Just give a little more RPM and ride at over 5K around 7-8K and you will feel far smoother.

thank you for the suggestion, i will check out those areas . Thing is its brand new and so i cant rev beyond 5500 rpm. Those figures are a result of real controlled riding, between 4000 & 5000 rpm in city traffic. I manage to hit 70-75 with the restriction on, so not too bad at all.

I guess the real fun will begin once it is unrestricted; cannot wait to get there

[sridhu]

@VeddertheFixer: you can go up to 7500 rpm without harming the engine. 5500 is just the first warning light (RPM1). At 7500, you should be around 120.

Even 7500 is a 'suggestion'. Nothing happens if you cross it. 10500 is the hard limit, when the rev limiter cuts in.

How you stay below 5500 is a wonder to me! Great self control, bro!

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by VedderTheFixer

thank you for the suggestion, i will check out those areas . Thing is its brand new and so i cant rev beyond 5500 rpm. Those figures are a result of real controlled riding, between 4000 & 5000 rpm in city traffic. I manage to hit 70-75 with the restriction on, so not too bad at all.

I guess the real fun will begin once it is unrestricted; cannot wait to get there

Your bike is already as unrestricted as she will ever be in her lifetime. The only restrictions are the neural synapses between the motor cortex in your brain and the dorsiflexors of your right forearm at your wrist.

Even in running in within the limits sugested by the company 100-120 is easily and effortlessly hit.

At 75 kmph in 6th gear, you are dangerously close to knocking and chain snatch actually. Hence the "rough" feelling. Its your bike pleading for you to give it some more gas.

[VedderTheFixer]

Originally Posted by sridhu

@VeddertheFixer: you can go up to 7500 rpm without harming the engine. 5500 is just the first warning light (RPM1). At 7500, you should be around 120.

Even 7500 is a 'suggestion'. Nothing happens if you cross it. 10500 is the hard limit, when the rev limiter cuts in.

How you stay below 5500 is a wonder to me! Great self control, bro!

haha it's a test alright , how i've resisted the temptation to rev!! I leave work at 11 PM so the ride back is usually sweet but 7500 rpm can make it a lot sweeter. Maybe ill explore some of that and see what it's like.

Maybe it's to do with the midnight black bikes, but this one is unbelievably smooth and responsive in the in 4000 - 5000 rpm range. Things should get even better once im done with the first service on Saturday, cannot wait to sit there and see it being done .

[VW2010]

Thing is its brand new and so i cant rev beyond 5500 rpm.

My take on these is that the initial period is given as a warning for users to get used to bike before pushing it hard. Usually by the initial 30 days you understand the bike better and can push later.

Also it does not make sense to say post 30 days or 1000km the engine is set so well that u can rip it open at 1001 kms.

If you are riding inside the city just rip it in everygear.

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by VW2010

If you are riding inside the city just rip it in everygear.

Don't know about Chennai bro, but in Pune if you rip it in every gear, you'll really never get out of 3rd. Even riding normally/conservatively, its difficult to go beyond 4th or maybe 5th if you get a decent open stretch.

[man_of_steel]

Originally Posted by ebonho

Don't know about Chennai bro, but in Pune if you rip it in every gear, you'll really never get out of 3rd. Even riding normally/conservatively, its difficult to go beyond 4th or maybe 5th if you get a decent open stretch.

+1. In BLR traffic, I seldom see 5th gear. And 6th Gear is only applicable for weekends!

[VW2010]

The exact reason i say rip it because you are constantly revving at different speed and different accelearation which sets the engine beautifully.

In fact i will take a 10k city run engine over 10K high way rode bike.

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by VW2010

The exact reason i say rip it because you are constantly revving at different speed and different accelearation which sets the engine beautifully.

In fact i will take a 10k city run engine over 10K high way rode bike.

Agree that a city run in is good for the bike in the early days. I do the same myself (for about the first 250-300 kms for both Dukes). But if you take any performance machine that has run in only in the city for 10K kms straight to the highway and then flog it, in bikes like the KTM tou'll have a second stage of heat cycling and high speed long interval run in. Before the engine now beds in to high speed highway running. Essentially in the last 2 gears.

On a Bullet, you'll be standing on the side of the road, hot under the collar, helmet and jacket on the ground, oil cap off, dipstick bone dry, engine egg poaching bacon frying hot, smoke wafting in lazy indolent tendrils on the breeze, and the prospect of either loading the bike on to a truck (LB and UCE) or limping rat-a-tat-ing back at 60 kmph to the closest city/town (Std) - once she has cooled down for 30 minutes or so and once you start filling in oil at the rate you would fill in petrol (with some 2T or castor oil in the tank/oil tank to keep things lubed and cool for good measure).

[VedderTheFixer]

Originally Posted by VW2010

My take on these is that the initial period is given as a warning for users to get used to bike before pushing it hard. Usually by the initial 30 days you understand the bike better and can push later.

Yes, this could very well be true as this isn't a bike one can rip from day one, needs getting used to. But won't it require a certain amount of 'running in' and considerate revving when the engine's brand new? I've only been used to conventional bikes of the past and am not really familiar with how engines have evolved and can be treated these days.

And i have been using every bit of acceleration on offer under 5000 rpm .. this in itself is so damn sweet, overtaking is effortless even with those short bursts. This bike is unlike anything i have ridden before.

[FlyingSpur]

Originally Posted by VedderTheFixer

So this is how it currently looks after my first 500 km....

When did they launch the Duke 125?