[sandeepmohan]

Originally Posted by ebonho

Couldn't disagree more with you Sandeep.

I don't like to argue on a forum. You have your take and I have mine. However; lets throw some light on this topic.

What do I feel is better about the Duke 200 over the 390? Well, it is nimbler, surely feels lighter and has a more perky engine. Can these factors make the Duke 200 a more FUN motorcycle? I won't rule it out. To each his own. You look at your requirements and buy a motorcycle. I sampled only the Duke 200. The 390 was a blind buy. Any regrets? None.

However; if I want the two stroke experience, even today, I'd still go looking for an old Shogun.

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by sandeepmohan

I don't like to argue on a forum. You have your take and I have mine. However; lets throw some light on this topic.

What do I feel is better about the Duke 200 over the 390? Well, it is nimbler, surely feels lighter and has a more perky engine. Can these factors make the Duke 200 a more FUN motorcycle? I won't rule it out. To each his own. You look at your requirements and buy a motorcycle. I sampled only the Duke 200. The 390 was a blind buy. Any regrets? None.

However; if I want the two stroke experience, even today, I'd still go looking for an old Shogun.

Nobody's arguing. Just telling you I do not agree with you, and why.

I have ridden the Duke 200 for over 7000 kms and the Duke 390 for over 3000, so I guess that allows me to have a pretty good feel for what both bikes have to offer.

On the RX and Shogun, they had their time. Both would be and are blown away in feel as well as numbers (all numbers barring none) by the 200. Again, have ridden both extensively in my college days, though personally I owned a KB.

I sincerely hope and pray that the madness factor returns with the 690. That is the missing element that KTM lost in the 390.

[ashkamath]

Originally Posted by sandeepmohan

I don't like to argue on a forum. You have your take and I have mine. However; lets throw some light on this topic.

What do I feel is better about the Duke 200 over the 390? Well, it is nimbler, surely feels lighter and has a more perky engine. Can these factors make the Duke 200 a more FUN motorcycle? I won't rule it out. To each his own. You look at your requirements and buy a motorcycle. I sampled only the Duke 200. The 390 was a blind buy. Any regrets? None.

However; if I want the two stroke experience, even today, I'd still go looking for an old Shogun.

I have had a short stint on 200 and longish stint on my 390 (over 5000 km as I own it) and I would say 200 is DEFINITELY a more FUN motorcycle over 390 which feels way more sober than it's younger sibling and that is obvious due to its taller gearing.

You sampled a 200 and 390 was a blind buy. that is cool. But I have some friends of mine who did the same and still opted out for 200 as they found that is more FUN than 390 and rightly said, every man to his own. and It was not about the money.

But Sandeepmohan, I don't find the statement 'Once you ride a 390, that 200 will be ejaculated like how a paanwala does when he spits his paan from the side of his mouth' neither amusing nor decent enough. In fact it is way too demeaning to 200 and I believe the 200 is much more and better bike than that warrants that statement. We have to understand that 390 is in a different league compared to 200, so is the price tag. Now if you compare 390 to other biker such as K690 or a Ducati, one would say the same Paanwala stuff to 390. But we all know that it is not a fair comparison. Now alisajid is honest enough to say I don't have budget for 390 and I have budget for 200 and he is looking for FUN element and regular commuting of 35 Km/day. I would have said for the given budget, the 200 is a steal and FUN element ( way much more than the 390) and yes it does not have ABS, the Metzeler and the bells and whistles, but it is a steal for the budget. If one recommends to wait and save for the 390, I could as well ask him to save for the 390 or even higher up the Busa or Kawa or a MV Agusta or a HD. the question is simple I have x amount of money with which I can buy a 200. is it a good buy and I would say it is an hell of a buy. Go ahead and buy it. you will not regret it.

If you want to save and look at future, then starting with RC series, 690, Ninja 650 and the litre bikes it is a never ending quest, and you may really never end up buying a ride.

I purchased 390 as that was my budget and if I had enough dough I would have blindly got myself a Ninja 690 or even a Ducati Monster or much further a Busa. I wouldn't even bother to blink at 390. But that does not make 390 any lesser bike.

The point is 200 is no spit and 390 is no FUN personified. Both bikes deserves respect and both can hold its own and are extremely FUN to ride and more than worth the price they command.

[Added_flavor]

Originally Posted by ashkamath

The point is 200 is no spit and 390 is no FUN personified. Both bikes deserves respect and both can hold its own and are extremely FUN to ride and more than worth the price they command.

That is a very well and aptly written post.

Originally Posted by alisajid

I want to purchase KTM i test rode 390 but honestly its out of budget for me. I was not able to test ride ktm 200 but guys with your experience will 200 have the same fun element you are describing here.I have budget for 200, and will it suit me for regular commuting for about 35 kms. Apologies if its out of topic but please help me.

Well the fun element is subjective. But what I can tell you after having ridden the 390 on good long rides and also commuting to work in bumper-to-bumper traffic, is that it can be a commuter if you get used to it. There are 2 reasons I say this, one the clutch is quite hard paining your fingers and two the gear ratios are surely designed for touring.

If I were you, my primary requirement for a bike being 80% commute and 20% weekend rides and my budget would buy me a D200, I would go for it hands down. I would not compare it with another bike which is a segment above it.

Picture this, the duke 200 and 390 are compared just because they look the same, they share parts (in fact this is why the prices are comparable) and they have the same name! Otherwise they are different bikes belonging to different segments.

I say, test ride both keeping your (commuting) requirements in mind and then decide.

[sandeepmohan]

Originally Posted by ebonho

I sincerely hope and pray that the madness factor returns with the 690. That is the missing element that KTM lost in the 390.

Originally Posted by ashkamath

neither amusing nor decent enough. In fact it is way too demeaning to 200 and I believe the 200 is much more and better bike than that warrants that statement.

Alright Gentlemen,

Your experience counts more than mine on the Duke 200. My comment towards the Duke 200 was harsh. I may have possibly misguided alisajid too.

alisajid,

If your budget permits only the Duke 200, go for it. As you may have read on my starting thread, the Duke 200 is what re introduced me to fun motorcycling. The 200 qualifies as a crotch rocket too.

ebonho,

I do not know what madness factor is amiss on the 390.

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by sandeepmohan

ebonho,

I do not know what madness factor is amiss on the 390.

The one that the 200 has in spades and the 390 does not.

Poll Duke 200 riders who have ridden the 390 extensively. 9 out of 10 will concur.

[niranjanrvce]

Originally Posted by ebonho

The one that the 200 has in spades and the 390 does not.

Poll Duke 200 riders who have ridden the 390 extensively. 9 out of 10 will concur.

Interesting debate! Well, as someone who owned the D200 for 11000 kms and now the D390 for around 4000kms, couldn't resist a comment

The 200 is more fun hands down - except on the open highway. You are on the limit all the time. The bike doesn't let you ride it any other way. Except for bumper to bumper traffic, you will never see the revvs climb below 4-5k rpm. The 390 loses out simply because you can't push it to its limits 90% of the time. You are hardly taking the bike to 40-50% of what it can do and there in lies the difference. Ofcourse, it is faster than the 200 - even in the city, yes. In fact, it's so fast that it's boring to simply blow past everything like that all the time But you are not pushing the machine and by extension the rider. Everything is soo calm and scalpel-like to the sheer wildness of the 200 with a gearshift every few seconds and constant bumping off the revv limiter.
On the highway though, it's a different story. The 390 is way way more fun because the 200 is too maxed out on open roads. All the calmness and scalpel behavior of the 390 become huge boons that let you ride swiftly yet with reserve power when needed. And you can max out at least the first 5 gears. You can play with the 3rd from 50kmph to 95+kmph on the twisties and have the time of your life or hold 4th on a dual carriageway and wonder why you don't do this more often.
I came from the CBR250r to the Duke200 and it left me with a plastered smile for months. And the D390 has just made the smile a whole meter wider!

[ksandeepk]

One suggestion to Team-BHP editorial team.

Please never display anything which is the violation of road safety rules. What signals you want to send to youths by displaying a photograph of a bike parked on railway track?

I respect photographer's liberty, but we should not forget that we should encourage driving safety first. Team-BHP have thousands of youth followers. So, it would not be wonder, if we see such photographs in future threads. I don't have intention to hurt anybody. But we should take care of such things. That's all.

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by niranjanrvce

Interesting debate! Well, as someone who owned the D200 for 11000 kms and now the D390 for around 4000kms, couldn't resist a comment

The 200 is more fun hands down - except on the open highway. You are on the limit all the time. The bike doesn't let you ride it any other way. Except for bumper to bumper traffic, you will never see the revvs climb below 4-5k rpm. The 390 loses out simply because you can't push it to its limits 90% of the time. You are hardly taking the bike to 40-50% of what it can do and there in lies the difference. Ofcourse, it is faster than the 200 - even in the city, yes. In fact, it's so fast that it's boring to simply blow past everything like that all the time But you are not pushing the machine and by extension the rider. Everything is soo calm and scalpel-like to the sheer wildness of the 200 with a gearshift every few seconds and constant bumping off the revv limiter.
On the highway though, it's a different story. The 390 is way way more fun because the 200 is too maxed out on open roads. All the calmness and scalpel behavior of the 390 become huge boons that let you ride swiftly yet with reserve power when needed. And you can max out at least the first 5 gears. You can play with the 3rd from 50kmph to 95+kmph on the twisties and have the time of your life or hold 4th on a dual carriageway and wonder why you don't do this more often.
I came from the CBR250r to the Duke200 and it left me with a plastered smile for months. And the D390 has just made the smile a whole meter wider!

Perfectly said bro. Couldn't have summed up the two sisters better myself.

Give a choice between the 200 and the 390 personally, I would have bought the 390 myself. But if I were forced to choose only one, I would have forever lost out on the manic balls in mouth frantic nature of the 200.

And I would have been the poorer for it.

Because the 200 more than any other single bike in the past 25-30 years has proclaimed loudly to the world that biking can be unabashedly about fun for fun's sake, without being contaminated by sense and stats and specs and value for money considerations.

The 390 built on it. But the 200 had already set the bar so high, that for many of the 200 riders, it did come as somewhat of an underkill.

[sandeepmohan]

Originally Posted by ksandeepk

Please never display anything which is the violation of road safety rules.But we should take care of such things. That's all.

I do not encourage anything that is dangerous. I was not violating any road safety rules for sure.

To provide some clarity on those pictures I took with the motorcycle across the railway line, the one with the train visible in the back ground, the train was stationary and this was a manned level crossing. The level crossing was open.

The second picture was at an unmanned level crossing, newly commissioned line that serves only two trains a day. The occasional maintenance freight may go through once in a while. I had a good km view of the line in both directions. Very safe.

[alisajid]

Thank you all for your valuable suggestions, Sandeep you did not misguide me in fact made it clear to me.I feel you were honest after all one gets what he pays for.Although the counter arguments from all other experts have cemented my decision. As suggested by all of you I would be buying a different bike. Guys God willing iam going ahead with purchase of duke 200 tomorrow (saturday). 390 is definitely a dream but maybe some other time, but it was awesome never rode anything like it before. Shouldnt have taken that test ride.

[Cyrus_the_virus]

Can we all not turn this into another 200 v/s 390 thread please? pretty please?

[sandeepmohan]

The crotch rocket has not seen much action post those few long rides. I have been using the bike mostly for short little blasts over the weekend and they add no more than 20km. I am getting back to motorcycle commuting from Monday. In all the little running, the crotch rocket blew its parking lamp bulb. As I am getting back on the bike, thought I should get it fixed. I had ignored the blown bulb for a week now. Flipped through the manual to figure out how to access the parking lamp bulb. The illustrations are pathetic. For those not confident with DIY, I would not try it out. Be careful if you do cause there are some flimsy bits you can end up breaking. There is one stage of this process that will be a royal pain as the supplied screw driver from the tool kit is not cut out for the job and I will get to that in a bit. I had the option of going to the service station to sort this out. The two KTM joints are in a range of 6km from home. After thinking about it, I decided that being a weekend, they will be over loaded to attend a little bulb replacement. Went down stairs (live in a apartment), took a look around the head lamp shroud and the first thing that hit me were the allen key bolts. I don't have a single allen key driver in my Enfield tool kit. Then I realized they must have supplied it in the KTM tool kit and they have. There are three allen key drivers of different sizes. The next problem were the plastic snap fit lugs. I knew they were snap fit lugs only later. When you look at them, a screw driver seems to be in order to pry them out but that is not the case, atleast when I attempted this. You have four of these to pull out before you can swing out the head lamp assembly. The assembly has a pivot at the bottom. This pictorial guide should help.

You need to get two of these allen key bolts out first.


Here's what it looks like once you get the bolts out.


The allen key bolt and metal washer, if you can call it that.


I was clueless on how to approach removing these, on the side of the headlamp console. I have not shown how to do it. Tool required is the same allen key used to remove the bolt. Push the inside circle of the plastic plug with one of ends of the allen key. Don't push too far in. After you push in, with the allen key inserted, pull the plastic lug out. Do this for the rest of the plugs. It may take a few attempts to get them out.


Plastic snap fit lug


Once you got all the plastic lugs out, with both hands holding the area right where you removed the allen key bolt, pull the head lamp console towards you. You may need to lift a little around the area where the allen key bolts go in. Be gentle. Here's what should happen.

[sandeepmohan]

After you open the head lamp unit, watch out for these washers falling off.



An over view of the head lamp unit. I found these two wires labeled accessory.


Area circled in blue is what we need to open and requires a star screw driver.


I did manage to open this with the supplied screw driver from the tool kit. It is better to use a smaller star screw driver with a shorter length and something that will fit in that small area.

[sandeepmohan]

After you get the screws out, don't yank hard on the wires. You have to put your hand between the gap of the bulb holder cover and gently pull out the bulb holder that is secured on the reflector.


With the bulb now accessible, you can pull it out from the holder. Do not twist and pull out. It is a straight pull. The bulb holder cover has a rubber (I think) washer inside. It does tend to come off. If it does, make sure you re seat it within the groove. This image should help.


The bulb. Could not make out the brand for the original one. Replacement one is branded Ravi. In comparison to the main headlamp bulb, this is a cheap looking thing.



The bulb holder. I have not seen a design like this before. When I pulled the plug out, I thought I sheared it off the holder.



The reflector port hole.


After replacing the bulb, you need to push the bulb holder in to the reflector slot. This is a tricky one. There is very little gap between the bulb holder cover. You can pull some wire to get some play between the gap.