[sriramv.iyer]

Originally Posted by Added_flavor

Thank you Sriram! I plan to keep the thread updated as much as possible. We (and a few more Bangalore 390 owners and fellow members) can plan and ride together on a weekend as soon as they get their bikes and you get the special number. Btw, what's the number?

We should definitely plan a ride sometime! Let's wait for more members to join the 390 gang! All my vehicles (cars and bikes) have the number 810 - Not very sentimental about it - But, it makes it easy to remember

Originally Posted by Added_flavor

As of now, I'm lovin' it!

[hellraizer]

Guys, some of us have been waiting for the bike despite booking on Day 1 and patiently going through every post of both Sriram and Added_Flavor. Please wait for our bikes to arrive before only a handful of you go for rides. Please pray for our strength in being patient lol.
Booking No. 25 at Langford KTM and is now 24. I have been calling up the dealer on a weekly basis and I am losing patience. 90 days over and the wait continues. I get an answer that I will surely get it in this month.

[sriramv.iyer]

@Hellraizer, I see a lot of 390 deliveries nowadays - 3-4 everytime I visit the Mekhri circle KTM. So, I am positive that waitlist 24 should be cleared very soon!

Keep the faith, and you'll sure have your quota of fun very soon!

[VW2010]

Keep the faith, and you'll sure have your quota of fun very soon!

Mostly before October third week we will be seeing a whole lot of 390. Each dealer is getting a bigger number starting this weekend.

I just adjusted the handle bar to suit my height and i am searching for places to buy parts. Any places you camer across. I may be interested in some of them including any specific handle bars for this bike.

The wires are too short to directly fit any custom handle bars but i am thinking of having something that suits my height as well as fits with available length of the wires.

Great thread and please keep posting pictures.

[Added_flavor]

Originally Posted by ebonho

Some help for the Facebook-ly challenged

Doc you still haven't given us a review but still I'm doing this just for you

The day I stumbled upon the magic of metal work. Apply some heat, and the metal bends to your will.
Attachment 1147168

Stage Alpha. Reusing stuff to be environment friendly
Attachment 1147169

A stable as well as more comfortable way to mount a tail bag.
Attachment 1147170

The vertical supports are to prevent the bags from flailing about & coming into contact with the tyre
Attachment 1147171

Testing complete
Attachment 1147172

Photo and caption credits to the owner Niranjan Prasad.

Originally Posted by hellraizer

Guys, some of us have been waiting for the bike despite booking on Day 1 and patiently going through every post of both Sriram and Added_Flavor. Please wait for our bikes to arrive before only a handful of you go for rides. Please pray for our strength in being patient lol.
Booking No. 25 at Langford KTM and is now 24. I have been calling up the dealer on a weekly basis and I am losing patience. 90 days over and the wait continues. I get an answer that I will surely get it in this month.

I was 8 in the same showroom and I remember Roy saying there'll be quite a lot of bikes in the next bunch. I'm quite sure Bajaj/KTM are feeling the heat now and are trying their best to speed things up. Do make sure you pester them regularly and keep track of the deliveries they are giving out.

I was without a bike for 3 months and went through a lot of weak moments when I almost considered the D200. But trust me brother, this machine is in a league of it's own and more than compensates for all the frustration!

[hellraizer]

Fabulous mounts for touring.
Thanks Added_flavor for the support. It's the 2 threads of yours and Sriram that's keeping the wait a little more tolerable. Kudos to both of you for patiently answering everyone's questions and keeping the spirits high. I just love the warmth of this community.

I have not owned a bike in more than 10 years and finally booked the 390 on Day 1. I am so looking forward to riding with all of you. Please wait until enough people get their bikes before you guys plan for group rides.

Thanks

[sudhirbhan]

Originally Posted by VW2010

Mostly before October third week we will be seeing a whole lot of 390. Each dealer is getting a bigger number starting this weekend

Does this hold good only for tier 1 cities? Last week I had an email from probiking informing that deliveries will commence soon. But no updates or calls after that. So was wondering if bikes are being supplied only to the metros and tier 1 cities.

[Added_flavor]

Got the first service done today with 1100 odd km on the Odo. Took a day off and stayed with the bike during service.

Details:

• Engine oil changed to Motul 7100 10W50 Fully Synthetic. Bought 2 cans of a litre each at INR 1650 and 1.4L were used. Rest will be used during next service. The bike had come with Bajaj DTS-i oil from the factory.
  
  
  
  
  
• Could notice small metal particles in the oil strainer which has a magnet to collect them.
  
• Oil filter changed at INR 74.
  
  

Spares:

• Bought the official Bike Cover even though it is pricey at INR 800. Tried in a couple of shops only to find that none of the covers covered the bike completely. Did not have the patience to go hunting in JC road.
  
• Bought a packet of rivets (5 pieces) at INR 32 as I have heard the ones on the dome keep falling off.
  
  
  
  
• The extended mudflap was screwed into the existing one free of cost. Saves the radiator from the dirt thrown from the wheel.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Got the handle raised by a couple of degrees (Thanks to VW2010). Now the position is more comfortable.
  

Total Damages:
Service: INR 2075
Accesories: INR 850

The next service is at 5000Km. The same has been set in the console. The gear shift indicator has been changed set to 10500 RPM, which effectively means there is no gearshift indicator. The bike is all set to red line now!

[VW2010]

The extended mudflap was screwed into the existing one free of cost. Saves the radiator from the dirt thrown from the wheel.

Actually radiator is protected. But the lower part of the engine gets too filthy. I have started searching for something i can retro fit to protect the lower part as well. And for some reason they have the engine cover ventilated which basically means cleaning the dirt post rain is a tedious job.

I have few projects that i will do. Create a clear screen protection from the rear suspension and hence continue to use the bike without rear huggers.

Seat to be cushioned and raised.

Handle bar grips to be changed.

An extended mud gaurd at the front.

[Added_flavor]

Originally Posted by VW2010

Create a clear screen protection from the rear suspension and hence continue to use the bike without rear huggers.

Can you elaborate on this?

Handle bar grips to be changed.

I completely agree with this. I just can't ride without gloves.

An extended mud gaurd at the front.

I guess the one provided by KTM should serve the purpose?

[SunnyBoi]

Originally Posted by VW2010

Handle bar grips to be changed.

Do check out the Apache RTR Grips. They currently are the best IMHO and use them on all my bikes.

[Added_flavor]

Ok! Time to update the thread after a lot of laziness to type and a busy schedule at work!

My bike has done close to 2000 Km (1930 to be precise) and it's been sheer bliss! In the past few weeks the riding has been a mixture of in-city commute and a 400 odd km day ride to Shettyhall submerged church near Hassan. Some pics to follow later.

I had my brother on his Ninja 650 and a few friends in an i20 for company on the day ride. So I had a chance to ride the 650 and my Duke back-to-back. Some thoughts on these 2 monsters and a few random thoughts/observations to follow.

• Let me make it very clear. The Ninja is leagues apart when it comes to sheer torque in any gear and absolute effortless acceleration. If you are thinking you can cruise along with the 650 on a highway, I'm sorry mate, there's no chance if the Ninja rider is as aggressive as you are! Ninja can do a constant 160 or even more all day without any stress on itself and the rider where as the Duke and it's rider are comfortable up to 135 perhaps! If the wind blast is taken care of, then 140 maybe. The Duke is relatively slower from 140 all the way upto 170.
• On the curves, the story is different. The Ninja hates to bend down (This may also be because of the 14K old tyres on the Ninja which is waiting for it's new shoes). The Duke has a very good chance of not only keeping up with the Ninja but to even be faster, if the rider is good enough. The Duke is so light and nimble that the moment I sat back on the Duke after the Ninja, I started feeling I was gliding along the road and there's nothing under me!
• The Duke is a brilliant handler. It is absolutely stable even at it's fastest - until there's an undulation on the road. It gets a little scary if you are not used to the light weight. But that awesome feeling when you are taking a long left hander at 140 is heaven!
• Windblast is an issue. Honestly, I don't get the point of a naked 1290 when you struggle to go beyond 140 on a naked 390! I do not believe the KTM power part which is a little bigger than the existing visor will really help. However, I haven't tried it yet.

Some other minor things I have noticed during day to day usage.

• I might have got used to the bike and/or the bike indeed does not get as hot as it was before first service even in bad traffic.
• The bike cranks but engine doesn't turn on with the ignition on and kill switch off - something I noticed accidentally.
• Press the starter button when the engine is running and you hear a sound like the 'tring' of good old Kinetic Honda. Come on! Can't you cut off the current to starter when the engine is running? Such a basic miss!
• The clutch play and chain need adjustment frequently. Gears get clunky if clutch isn't adjusted.
• During cold starts the fan comes on exactly when the first bar appears in the temperature gauge and stays on for about 20 seconds. This, I confirmed with service engineer, is some sort of a check by the ECU during fuel pump priming. The advantage is - If your fan is conked you don't have to wait till the engine is hot to realize it!
• The underbelly exhaust can scrape a big road hump if you have a soft suspension setting and a pillion!

Some pics from the ride as promised!

Note: At the end of the day ride, a friend who was driving the i20 said "There was a time when we said we are riding as fast as cars and matching up with them! Now we need to drive the car as fast as the bikes to catch up with them!" - That summarized it all!

First Top-speed run after run-in!




ATGATT!








The Advantage of having a car for company!

[black12rr]

Added_flavour , the engine oil is 1.5 Liter for 390 , it is 1.4L for 200 . Did they fill 1.4 or 1.5 ? . Man 2 superbikes in the house , how much better it can get . Also comparing 650 ,twin cylinders with 390 single is not fair .

[Added_flavor]

Originally Posted by black12rr

Added_flavour , the engine oil is 1.5 Liter for 390 , it is 1.4L for 200 . Did they fill 1.4 or 1.5 ? . Man 2 superbikes in the house , how much better it can get . Also comparing 650 ,twin cylinders with 390 single is not fair .

It is 1.5L. I've 0.5L remaining.

And no I'm not comparing at all! I just read somewhere that D390 can keep up with the 650's while touring. I realized and wrote it can't!

[hellraizer]

Guys, finally got mine yesterday. It was a sad experience getting the bike delivered at Langford. My bike was registered a week before but I was not in town to pick up. I had called them several times and told them that I will pick up the bike on 30-Oct at 1030. I had called them the day before as well. I arrived at the showroom at around 1100. They had no idea about the delivery. They managed to trace the bike with the registered Chassis number and showed me. The bike was dirty. It was not even washed. The numbers had come but they had not even put the numbers. They asked me to put it myself. I was so frustrated about the entire experience. After booking on Day-1 and waiting for 4 full months, I am treated this way. I was really sad. I had taken off from office to go and make this moment memorable, but the dealer had other ideas.

They finally did a quick wash and wiped all the muddy droplets and gave the keys to me. They told me that they have set the gear shift indicator to 5000 and 7500 respectively. Obviously, this was not done. I managed to do it on my own once I reached home referring to the manual.

Somehow managed a smile


To add salt to the wound, the dealer wrote the number using permanent marker. I had difficulty removing it from the number plate. I then got a white sticker on which the number is pasted.

My impressions on the ride so far:
The bike's heating is perhaps not felt as the air gushes out from the front. This is discussed to death, but indeed the air is blown to the front of the bike when IDLE or at very low speeds. I went on a short drive to Kanakapura road and today in painfully slow moving traffic. I am so afraid to switch off the bike at traffic signals. It refuses to start at green. I have to thumb the starter frantically like 4-5 times before it fires up again. This is a massive problem and feels terrible for a 2L plus bike. This is just bad design and KTM better find a solution to this. I am not impressed at all.

The bike just lugs in 1st and 2nd gear. In Bangalore traffic, the bike will need only 2 gears and at lower engine revs, it behaves like a retard. This is definitely not a good city bike. It's far from one. I struggled to maintain the revs above 4-5k RPM which is where the bike seems to be happy.
The bike cannot be driven in a relaxed manner at all. So, all you confused Bullet-or-KTM guys, please test drive it enough before you put your money down. According to me, a bullet can be driven much more peacefully and at ease. Performance be damned, but you have Peace.

The cruisability and in-city drive-ability of the bike is just pathetic. If there is no throttle input, it decelerates tremendously and if you open the throttle, it accelerates like mad. The bike is always on steroids and believe me, this is not a good thing always.

I have done about 100km so far; I have noise from the chain (Already lose?) and some other areas as well.

I have a mixed feeling about the bike and I may not keep the bike beyond a year. No doubt, this is a VFM bike that ticks a lot of checkboxes, but is simply not the type of bike I would love to have.
Now the waiting for the British bike to launch. Hopefully, I can afford one soon. My eyes set on the Bonnie.