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-   -   The KTM Duke 390 Ownership Experience Thread (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/motorbikes/138082-ktm-duke-390-ownership-experience-thread-263.html)

I suggest you spend some money to restore the bike to the nearest good condition possible and sell it. Go for a benelli or a ninja. You wont regret it. The KTM service guys are not trained to service this bike. Nor are they adviced to treat it any different from a regular Bajaj.

KTM SVC chaps are misinformed there. Here and at most SVCs it's been officially reported that slipper clutch has been installed and this was confirmed by a very senior mechanic here in Coimbatore, along with a host of other changes. Verified of course.

The clutch is lighter, you are correct.

But the slipper clutch isn't being installed on the RC, at least for the foreseeable future, as reported by the chap, who has good ties to senior KTM folks, and often visits Pune and Chennai.

Cheers!
VJ :cool:

Would be interesting knowing the thinking behind the same.

Since a lot of automotive components are made by ancillary manufacturers, if the slipper clutch is being made in India, I think there is a high chance that it will also appear on other bikes.

Regards
Sutripta

After seeing your ordeal, I feel you have landed with a lemon. Your best bet is to solve the current issues and get rid of the bike.
Possible issues-
1. Badly machined/dirty throttle body.
2. Air in the braking system/bad master cylinder assy/bad calipers
3. Bad Wheel bearings.
4. Multiple punchures on radial tyres even after repair usually leak. The steel belts are pushed apart creating hotspots.
All bolts need to be torqued with loctite.

Punctures are dependent on luck. I had several punchures on my r15 front tyre while my friends Metz have 0 punchures in 12k km and both have done the same road trips.

My bike had the same issue. It vibrated so bad and so loud, that people used to give me curios stares! But I didn't know that it was the belly pan then!
I took the bike to the SVC to get the problem sorted, but the mechanic asked me to leave the bike with him for a couple of days as he needed time to track down the source.
I decided to try and sort out the problem myself.
What followed was the quite ritualistic procedure- headlight loose wires securing, hand guards tightened, belly pan bolts tightened, windscreen bolts tightened, horn clamps tightened, removed and refitted the front mudguard bolts and, in general, tightened most of the visible nuts and bolts!
But, sadly, even after doing all this the noise hadn't reduced one bit.
I then went about tapping all the parts to see if I could narrow down the source. The belly pan underside seemed to be the culprit. I removed the belly pan and, shockingly, the bolts that secure the belly pan clamps to the engine case had come loose! Tightened the bolts, refitted the belly pan, the vibration noises are finally zilch!
Wonder for how many days, though! Sigh! :(

Considering the RC being a track-focused machine, it would've made sense to install the slipper clutch on a machine that is track fit rather than the road going cousin when almost 100% of the engine components are, if not ditto.

The answer from the chap does seem logical from the context that, RC series was launched mid September 2014, the mech reiterated that, Bajaj has no plans on upgrading the RC with any upgrades at least until this September, and only after a year to year-and-a-half is completed perhaps one "can" expect slipper clutch on the RC, but not before that.

And any major upgrades from KTM would be only done on a yearly basis, not on a quarterly basis, considering the bike launch exceeded a year as reiterated above.

Quite a logical explanation from this chap, but let's see how it fares, long term. I'd perhaps wait to get a good (oops), rectified, upgraded, product. Apprehensive spending 2L on a lemon, considering already owned and sold one! Phew! :)

Cheers!
VJ

Dear KTM Owners,
I have purchased recently a Pre worshipped (2013 October) Duke 390 from an acquaintance and got it completely serviced at KTM Service Centre in Banjara Hills, Hyderabad. Today i noticed that oil was leaking from the rear mono shock absorber and promptly took it to the service centre for a check up.
Service personnel inspected the damage and said that oil seal could have been blown but they want to replace the entire mono shock absorber and gave an estimate of 3k+. When i asked them about the Warranty on the past as the bike is still under 2 year Warranty, they are refusing Warranty saying that since Im not the first owner, I cannot claim Warranty. The Bike is transfered on my name immediatly after i bought and Im the legal owner of the bike now. Can i claim this Warranty as a second owner or is KTM right in their argument?
Appreciate your suggestions and advice.

The warranty is on the bike and not the number of owners. So you are in your right to ask them to replace it under warranty if the bike is still in warranty. This was discussed a few pages back as well and it is mentioned somewhere in the manual too. Please check for that and show it in the SVC.

Thanks.
The bike is very much in Warranty till October 2015. I shall check the manual too.

Sadly, KTM/ Bajaj have this printed in the owner's manual.



The KTM website though, is more gracious and says in very clear terms that the warranty is bike specific. I have posted the link and text on the previous pages. But I'm not sure if the same rule applies in India.

In my case, though the SVC in-charge here said that he has clear instructions from KTM not to accept warranty claims arising from second owners, I was adamant that the KTM website mentioned differently. In the end, my friend and I got the speedo console replaced under warranty. I submitted the first owner RC card Xerox.

Though the KTM service centre is fully justified in denying you the warranty claim, I would suggest that its your 'communication' skills that'll have the final say on the matter.

Good luck! :)

Let me follow the rule book and not claim warranty. We need to respect manufacturers T&Cs.

Good to hear that but the original rule book itself is in question. Anyway, you should check in their FB or reach out to their superiors to see if they will do it as part of keeping their customers happy at the end of the day.

The best part about this bike is the cost of the replacement parts. you cannot do this with a Ninja and thats the reason this 390 is unbelievable value for money for many of us.

I too checked with the dealer here, last time, when someone mentioned the warranty policy. They also confirmed that it is owner specific. And that it is the case with all the Bajaj Vehicles. May be it is to avoid the practise of readjusting the odo by used bike dealers as well as local servicing with spurious sparts by used bike dealers. A first owner most probably will not resort to such practices.

Let me be the first (and probably only) D390 owner to change the rear tyres with a reading of 9435 on the odo. :)

Changed to Michelin Pilot Street 150/60. Excellent on corners and gravel. I feel it gave me extra stability on the bike. No Metz on the rear for me from now onwards.

Also attained a new feat of 63.7 on Trip F when my fuel finished in the middle of a jungle with no civilisation or fuel station in sight. Not to forget that I was doing uphill corners all this while, with very frequent down-shifts.

Its funny you say that if these guys assume only the second owner will indulge in such activity.

If this is what Bajaj is thinking, its absolutely stupid of them.

Even german cars allow warranty transfer as far as i know. Thats German cars the most notorious when it comes to warranty and honoring warranty.