[Shonith]

Originally Posted by ebonho

Is the check because of any symptoms developing or is it something recommended after x kms of running?

Cheers, Doc

My bike has done 14xxx kms now. It developed a faint ticking sound after about 12k kms, when I did some digging into this i found it could be either the timing chain tensioner or due to improper valve clearance. Ktm service center ruled out the chain tensioner as they are very well aware of what sound it makes. That left me with valve clearance being off. Due to some reason my local ktm service center doesn't want to touch the cylinder head he has given me almost all possible reasons to not do it, including "sir, valve clearance will go off after 40k kms". I am not buying this because there is already an abnormal sound in my bike.

Manual states to check the clearance at 15k kms. I am inclined to get it done now attaching the photo of the interval from the owners manual.

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by Shonith

Manual states to check the clearance at 15k kms. I am inclined to get it done now attaching the photo of the interval from the owners manual.

Righto sir. So 15k km it is.

Please take and share photos if possible.

Cheers, Doc

[Dhruv Shetty]

Did a self service of my bike today, I did burn some oil and fun experience.

Around 850 ml of oil came out of the bike


The dirty oil, this is 3500 kms


Cheers,
Dhruv Shetty

[VijayAnand1]

Originally Posted by Dhruv Shetty

Did a self service of my bike today, I did burn some oil and fun experience.

Good one Dhruv! The innards definitely should have seen better times. I see that your bike is a non-slipper clutch model, pre-mid 2015-ish. Try using an engine oil flush with local oil, flush it out and then replace the engine oil with a good quality one, should definitely make a difference.

Also, the old ones had comparatively tiring clutch pull. A slipper clutch unit is a direct swap, and it makes a ton of difference in power delivery and easier clutch operation.

Oil burn considering the color the oil is in, should definitely have occurred without a doubt, when factoring in oil consumption which per KTM is 60 to 70 ml per 1000 kms as acceptable, but yeah, maintenance also matters.

Good luck.

Cheers!
VJ

[Dhruv Shetty]

Originally Posted by VijayAnand1

Good one Dhruv! The innards definitely should have seen better times. I see that your bike is a non-slipper clutch model, pre-mid 2015-ish. Try using an engine oil flush with local oil, flush it out and then replace the engine oil with a good quality one, should definitely

Good luck.

Cheers!
VJ

Mine is a early 2014 model (March registered), I have used engine flush a year ago back then the insides were in much worse condition.

The engine with the standard clutch combo its response is smooth with the aggressive acceleration. In my experience with the clutch it does not bother me much as I ride majority of the time at early morning, midnight or long rides, once awhile it seems traffic. If the clutch is set properly, the gear shifts are effortless, smooth and precise.

In oil burn, if I do a 300 km ride I burn about 200ml oil, this involves some spirited riding , for this I keep a 1litre Motul can handy .

Cheers,
Dhruv Shetty

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by Dhruv Shetty

In oil burn, if I do a 300 km ride I burn about 200ml oil, this involves some spirited riding , for this I keep a 1litre Motul can handy .

Cheers,
Dhruv Shetty

Even my cast iron Bullet 500 from 2002 never drank oil at this rate. More like a 500 ml can every 2-3 days/2000+ km on tour. 90 kmph.

As I recall, the Bullet 500 takes about 200-250 ml from the low to the high mark on the engine oil dipstick. And invariably at the end of a day's running (700-800 km) the oil would be at the Low mark. Or just about showing at the tip of the dipstick. So a can is permanently there in the right hand side tool box. Replaced promptly every 2 days.

Cheers, Doc

P.S. No wonder old 500 guys were so at home with KTMs (tongue firmly in cheek).

P.P.S. Completely in agreement with you on the old clutch. The acceleration snap and direct linear pull is just not there on the slipper version.

[ebonho]

https://youtu.be/jvbfi3jANdA?si=dwwLAUqq-_yW7796

Interesting point on the Voltage. Faulty pump showing 3.2 instead of 2.2V. Pulling more current. Because of which, its heating up. Expanding. And jamming.

Cheers, Doc

[VijayAnand1]

Originally Posted by ebonho

Interesting point on the Voltage. Faulty pump showing 3.2 instead of 2.2V. Pulling more current. Because of which, its heating up. Expanding. And jamming. Cheers, Doc

A fuel pump would need a minimum of 12V and not 2.2 or 3.2 V for it to operate efficiently or jam itself for that matter. At such low voltage of 2.2 to 3.2V the fuel pump itself wouldn't prime/run for the most part or pressurize the lines. A pump failing due to drawing more power is extremely rare. A pump would only fail mostly due to running low fuel most to all of the time, dirty fuel, parked for a very long time and a combination of both and finally hard luck keeping aside the defective component analogy.

Have you changed yours yet?

Cheers!
VJ

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by VijayAnand1

A fuel pump would need a minimum of 12V and not 2.2 or 3.2 V for it to operate efficiently or jam itself for that matter.

A pump would only fail mostly due to running low fuel most to all of the time, dirty fuel, parked for a very long time and a combination of both and finally hard luck keeping aside the defective component analogy.

Have you changed yours yet?

Cheers!
VJ

Thank you for the clarification Vijay. Evidently seemed like a clueless guy technically but I'm sure he was mouthing whatever was told to him by his trained "Doctor" KTM personnel. So maybe something was lost in the translation. Will follow up with Sachin at my SVC anyways. The first and oldest in the country. The guys who delivered the country's first Duke 200 to me weeks before its formal launch in 2012.

On your tongue in cheek query I perforce re-quote my previous post

"The idea is to ride my bike with higher fuel levels and these additives added to completely immerse the fuel pump so that it does not overheat and give the intermittent fuel starvation symptoms on longer high speed runs when the fuel level in the petrol tank falls, leaving part of the pump and motor exposed.

Hopefully, my mech Sheri as well as the SVC (who only replace and do not repair, as company policy) believe that regular running in this manner should flush and clean out the internals of the resurrected once seized motor internals completely, and free it up so that it does not start overheating and jamming up when the level of petrol falls.

They've advised to observe at around how many bars these symptoms appear (at reserve on the Lonavala run, and at around 3 bars left in mains on the Tamhini run, that was solo saddle but much harder and faster in terms of lower gears and higher revs) and try to refill and top up the fuel levels always before reaching that, for the next month.

Lets see. Worth a shot. I've anyways spent on getting this pump repaired. Buying a new pump immediately will be a double expense. So might as well see for a bit, if this one with use as recommended, and the additives, does free up."

I've been commuting with her regularly and she is running fine. Pulling strong. And hard. Same tankful with the Power additive. Of course my commute os only 10 km each way. So I'm just running the bike as I've been advised to. The flush-out free-up process/hope.

The next tankful, hopefully on a solo ride (so I do not mess up someone else's ride) I'll put in an 80 mL bottle of Liqui Moly 4T shooter additive. And see if/when the symptoms reappear. And try the IOC Adon for commuting next.

Might also replace the spark plug for a cheap rule out of that possibility too.

Will keep you posted. Sorry for disappointing. But my day job is as a doctor and research scientist, and logic and evidence trumps hearsay. Everytime. For a definitive diagnosis. Before your next step in case management.

Cheers, Doc

P.S. Using the same analogy, very reluctant to jump into surgery and remove any part of the patient before exploring all options and ruling out all other palliative measures first to salvage the part.

[VijayAnand1]

Originally Posted by ebonho

Will keep you posted. Sorry for disappointing. But my day job is as a doctor and research scientist, and logic and evidence trumps hearsay. Everytime. For a definitive diagnosis. Before your next step in case management..

P.S. Using the same analogy, very reluctant to jump into surgery and remove any part of the patient before exploring all options and ruling out all other palliative measures first to salvage the part.

There's nothing to be sorry about doc. There's not everything, everyone knows everytime.. We're all just hard-knocks in the university of life.. Good luck and keep your observations jotted.

Cheers!
VJ

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by ebonho

Filled the Power pouch at Nehru Memorial pump. In a tank (7L). Went looking for Iftex. Did not get it at 3 pumps in camp or an oil shop at Dastur Meher Road. The shop recommended strongly the Magsol. Same price (10 bucks a pouch). Got a handful of them. Other options to Iftex being recommended are Liqui Moly, Wurth, Yamalube, and the IOC Adon-P.

Finally managed to get pouches of Adon-P today. From the IOC Punp at Bhairoba Nala. Too early to tell, but the initial 10 km of the full tank and 2 of these pouches (one pouch of 5 ml for 5 liters of petrol), the pull is not as clean as with the HP Power additive pouch (2 poches in the last tankful). My son did not like the feel of the Magsol either. Returned those. Might return these too, and stick to the Power additive.







For my next high revs highway/twisties blast tankful though, I'll try a bottle of Liqui Moly 4T Shooter.

Cheers, Doc

[ebonho]

Any idea if the rear shocker of the new naked TVS Apache RTR 310 (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/motor...ml#post5662670 (TVS Apache RTR 310 launched at Rs. 2.43 lakh)) is the identical unit as on the fully faired 310RR Akula?

And if so, are these units identical to the one that comes on BMW 310GS?

The BMW one cost 10k while the fully faired 310RR one costs just around 6K. But both are claimed to be the same by someone who claims to have worked in TVS Service. And at 305 mm, a near identical fit to replace the 300 mm stock Duke 390 rear shocker unit.

The above has been claimed by someone who claims to have been working in TVS Service, in the comment section of a video.

Check this video out. Our Urban Nomad shared it with me.

https://youtu.be/IorQTtTlF2I?si=TbnuDMMJUJI0Zd4A

And the pertinent extract from the Comments section by the guy who used to work at TVS Service ...



@Shonith @doga @Dhruv Shetty

Cheers, Doc

P.S. Admins. I'm making these back to back posts separately because one is on Petrol Additives and the other on Rear Shocker and I wanted to keep them separate for ease of finding and referencing at a later date. Hope that is okay.

[PreethamNag]

A search through the specs of rear suspension travel :
BMW G310 R - 131 mm
TVS apache rtr 310 - 130 mm
BMW G310 RR- 119 mm
TVS apache/akula 310 - 131mm
BMW G310 GS - 180 mm

So from this think the shocks are different, there are 3 models of shocks that shared between BMW and TVS. The ones on the new RTR 310 also looks a it differnt im terms of spring thickness and obvious red colour.
(Source for the above data. BMW website and other reputed sites for TVS data)

[b16h22]

Originally Posted by ebonho

Any 90 kilo riders with 2013 Duke 390s still on the original stock rear suspension?

Cheers, Doc

Old NS200/AS200 shock was a direct fit on the dukes. I used to run it purely due to the lower cost compared to the KTM unit. It was under 3K a few years ago. The original shock failed under 20k kms as usual.

Even though the decision was purely driven by the lower price initially, the damping for a heavy rider like me (90+ Kgs) was better with the Bajaj shock compared to 2013 KTM shock. And the spring felt stiffer and the shock never bottomed out over really bad potholes like the OE KTM unit. I used to run a lower preload compared to KTM unit, iirc. And the preload collar was at the bottom so you didn't have to be a gymnast to adjust it like the stock unit. Unfortunately I don't have any data on the spring rate of the the NS/AS shock to compare with the KTM unit. It is an anecdotal observation.

There is a catch as well. The later updates to NS200 rear shocks meant the newer shock's nitrox canister flange will rub on the lower suspension mount on the D390 swingarm. Might need some minor grinding. I was able to get around this by swapping the newly bought NS200 shock to my AS200 and swapping the 2016 AS200 shock to my 390 This was back in 2018 when I used to own both AS200 and D390.

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by b16h22

Old NS200/AS200 shock was a direct fit on the dukes.

There is a catch as well. The later updates to NS200 rear shocks meant the newer shock's nitrox canister flange will rub on the lower suspension mount on the D390 swingarm.

Thank you for the tip! But how do you find out at the spares whether the unit is the old or the new one? Any way to visually make out? Alternatively, a part number or before which year to ask specifically for?

You said you did not need to dial in much pre-load. How many settings does it jave and which position worked best for you? And what is your weight?

Incidentally, I've never bottomed out my shocker. Not on tour with luggage. Not with a 60 kilo pillion. Not off road riding pretty hard. Not on street hitting the HUGE Poona Camp humps (like small hills) at speed with zero slowing down ... this chassis and suspension setup has frankly protected me from this tomfoolery multiple times!

Of course, standing up in anticipation and bracing and flexing at my hips and knees is second nature.

Cheers, Doc