[sammyboy]

So I finally got back to Gurgaon after having been out for a while and it was time to take the Duke out for a short spin. I just haven't had a chance to ride it since I got it so was really looking forward to it.

Odo reading before today - 14 KMs only.
Current Odo reading - 219 Kms.

Woke up at 6:30 am, was ready by 7am, then the great wallet hunt started.
30 mins looking for my wallet inside the house, then 5 mins in the car, then another 5 mins lookin for the jeans I wore day before, where it was found finally.

Then went to the bike, realised i had forgotten one glove at home, then back home to look for the other glove.

and finally managed to leave home at 8am.

Did a short 205 kms towards Jaipur on the NH8 and was back home by 11:05.

Here are the First impressions - You will find me talking about my 2010 Ninja 250, but that is natural since I have had that for 7 years now and is my reference point.I still love it to bits though.

The sitting posture is very comfortable, you feel like you are almost sitting on the front tyre but the footpegs are slightly rearset, a semi agressive riding position (if there is a word like that) . The knees fit perfectly in the tank recesses so you are able to hold on to the bike well. The bike has only one breakin instruction, not to cross 7500 rpm, which is like 114 kmph or so in 6th gear. It revs through gears quick, so one needs to keep an eye on the rpm meter, did manage to touch 8k a few times.

The gear shifts were a revelation, butter smooth upshifts, and slipper clutch meant banging down the gears without a worry. Loved it. Very flickable, changes direction really quickly. Amazingly , I felt that the engine was smoother at 6k than my ninja (250), and thats saying a LOT. Lower end though sucks till 4k , I always hated the lowend of the ninja but its infinitely better than this 390.

I kept braking hard to bed the brakes in, by the time I was done they were stopping the bike really well. Ninja brakes are a different level of feel, you know what exactly they are upto at any moment of time. But then this is new and ABS means you dont have to worry about it while grabbing them hard. Did the same to the rear so they are gettig better too.

The ride by wire has made the bike really responsive, there is hardly any lag but all that is only after 4k rpm.

Not a fan of the LCD position, one has to look down quite a bit to read the screen. Changing the songs on the sena is fantastic now, thanks to the buttons on the bike. Did use it quite a bit and it was very intuitive to use.

The fan is loud and throws hot air on the left leg, wasn't too much of a hassle for me as i always ride with Jeans/riding pants and riding shoes.

I knowingly tried to not take a break for 150 kms, to see how the seat felt.It was quite comfortable, and has quite a bit of space to move around. The rear seat is just at the right place, and gives good support to your lower back when you move back. Again, for reference, I have done about 730 kms on the Ninja in a day max. (over 500 a few times)and though that seat was hard, It provided excellent support and space to move around in.I think this seat might work okay for long rides, but have to do more rides before I can really comment on this.

I finally understand why there is a perception that most of the KTM riders are rash. This bike makes you feel like you have twice the amount of skills you really have. That can lead to a lot of overconfidence. It just zips through gaps, brakes on a dime, tyres grip really well, even when new. The last time I rode on this road on the ninja, it was floating around in places because of poor road surface, on this one, not a thing.

All in all, brilliant brilliant fun. It didn't scare the wits out of me (7 years with a 250 helped) while keeping me entertained, and there are still 3k rpm more to play with.

[rbp]

Thanks for the writeup.

Originally Posted by sammyboy

Lower end though sucks till 4k , I always hated the lowend of the ninja but its infinitely better than this 390.

Any other bike, even a splendor for that matter is better than the 390 below 4k rpm . But than what helps is the slick gears, I just keep shifting gears to avoid the jerks.

Originally Posted by sammyboy

All in all, brilliant brilliant fun. It didn't scare the wits out of me (7 years with a 250 helped) while keeping me entertained, and there are still 3k rpm more to play with.

Not sure if you talked about the reasons for the 390 purchase inspite of having the N250. Would like to know why you opted for it. So where does that leave the N250, Planning to sell ?

[sammyboy]

Originally Posted by rbp

Any other bike, even a splendor for that matter is better than the 390 below 4k rpm . But than what helps is the slick gears, I just keep shifting gears to avoid the jerks.

Haha Yeah I agree, and even more so to the particular example as I had a Splendor from 1997 to early 2000s. I think I will end up doing the same, rev and quick shift. I have also started using the clutch much more than what I used to, to counter this effect. Might not be a good habit but then it is needed for this one at times.

Originally Posted by rbp

Not sure if you talked about the reasons for the 390 purchase inspite of having the N250. Would like to know why you opted for it. So where does that leave the N250, Planning to sell ?

The Ninja is a fantastic bike, and it has been supremely reliable and fun, never let me down.

However, the inherent character of the bike is more towards sport than city. It is made for good roads, loves twisties and curves and manages the heat brilliantly well. At the same time, the riding position is slightly more forward biased making it painful during traffic commutes and potholed roads. A faired bike is also more prone to getting hit from below by our fantastic roads.Low end torque is almost dead till 6k rpm, and city traffic and poor roads mean that by the time you get into the powerband, its time to brake and get back to lower rpms.Also, it is not meant for traffic or road carving.

What I really miss as well is the safety net of ABS. I am not even considering the fact that Kawasaki service has treated 250 owners like dirt ever since they got the other bikes.

Over the years, though I have taken the Ninja everywhere, from Jeep tracks in the Bhadra wildlife sanctury in rains, to the California Superbike School and enjoyed every moment of it; I do realise that there are places its not meant for.

Those gaps are what the Duke is expected to fill.

The Duke has ABS, has decent power low end, is supremely flickable and has low service costs. Its riding posture and ground clearance makes it easy to manage broken roads and potholes.
It has just enough power that I need, fun without scaring me much and its super light.

I wanted a bike I could thrash and enjoy, without worrying about it much.

As of now I plan to keep both bikes, both have a character of their own, which I love.

I did come really really close to getting the Street Triple though, but then I realized its usage would again be limited for me and held myself back.

No other bikes were even considered.
Hope this answers your question.

[rbp]

Mine is a slightly similar story. I have a 2001 Suzuki Fiero and was waiting to replace it with a long distance touring bike for a long time, during this wait I screwed the Fiero with lots of mods, big bore jobs and what not. The worst part is the owner thinks after modding, the bike will behave like a factory bike which isnt the case, the bike becomes fragile after these mods and needs frequent servicing etc, after a few heart breaks, I reverted the bike back to stock, but once a bike is moded [screwed], it is gone, it can never come back to the stock refinement and reliability.

Finally in 2012 after thinking of getting the N250, I dunno what struck me, I decided to go for the Ninja 650, its been 5 years and I still have it, I use the Ninja only for long distance touring, the weight and fairing of the bike doesn't suit City rides.

The Fiero in the mean time was getting old and with lots of niggles, I wanted a naked bike for my office commutes, I waited almost two years for the BMW G310R and was getting frustrated to read the postponement news. When KTM launched the 2017 edition of the 390 I decided to do a test ride, I was blown away by the peppiness of the bike, but I was/am still worried about the KTM reliability. Spoke to a lot of friends and read lots of reviews and finally decided to go for it. So far no regrets on the 390, hope it stays like that. Thats my story

[rbp]

Today had switched off the bike at a signal and got this beautiful colourful message on the Console, it was there for a few seconds and then it vanished, luckily managed to snap it. What should I make out of it? Anything to worry about?

[abhijeet080808]

Originally Posted by rbp

What should I make out of it? Anything to worry about?

I would chalk this up to yet another software glitch. There is a video on youtube where this issue is being reproduced at will. Something to do with the kill switch being used in a particular sequence. However, I have not personally faced this issue yet.

KTM should have issued a new update by now to fix these software niggles.

[sammyboy]

Originally Posted by rbp

Today had switched off the bike at a signal Anything to worry about?

Originally Posted by abhijeet080808

I would chalk this up to yet another software glitch.

KTM should have issued a new update by now to fix these software niggles.

Shouldn't be much to worry about, like abhijeet said.However do let your dealer know about it.
I have also heard that there is another new update on the way, hopefully it sorts this out too unless its a hardware issue.

[sammyboy]

Note: I am going to ramble about for a bit, so if you want to just read about the Duke and the small little things I observed over this 700km ride, please skip to : Now to the Duke.
__________________________________________________ __________
I haven't been able to ride much since my last ride on the 10th of September. Some health issues as well as a very short office commute meant that I was at just over 300 kms on the Odo.Now that I think about it, it was probably higher, but more on that later.

Then a neighbor and a good friend, an out an out solo rider, called me asking me if I wanted to ride down to Kasauli (a hill station in Himachal about 330kms from Gurgaon) on the 23rd for an overnight ride. Now, we have never ridden before and that the fact that he is a solo rider, combined with a bike still being run in, could turn out either way.
But just the fact that I would be riding long was enough, so I happily jumped at the offer.
We did end up like two solo riders though, he would rip, I would catch up at my pace at points he would stop at and call me from. Repeat.Quite nice though, best of both worlds.

We had a nice place booked and I was pumped up, and then on the 22nd, it started raining.Its not really rained much this year in Gurgaon, so I wasn't really worried; I also read the weather report, rain throughout the next day, it said. Bah, what do these Meteorological dept. folks know.I had my reliable rain gear I had picked up from Decathlon earlier and it had kept me dry each time I had used it before.My bag was also relatively water proof, so I was covered. It would stop in a bit anyway.

How bad could it be.

And then, it rained through the night, and at our departure time of 0600 (which became 0615 later thanks to me getting late) it was still raining.

Finally, 0620 we started our ride.

It was a combination of a drizzle and a moderate rain, we were able to get on the highway and then the fun started.
It started pouring, by the bucket loads. And it poured when we took our fuel break, then it continued to pour when we reached the first dhaba for a steaming hot aloo paratha. And it was raining when we took our next food break, and fuel break, and it rained until we reached the Kasauli hill climb. And then it was foggy, so foggy that I couldn't see my fellow rider, though he was not more than 20 feet in front of me at times.

Finally, we reached the destination and it was incredible, 17 degrees and more rain of course.

And I was drenched to the "After Sales Service" :P The rain gear couldn't manage it, the riding gear under that couldn't either. I opened my bag to change to dry clothes, and It was dripping with water. Everything was wet, every possible thing.
LOL. Borrowed an iron from the staff and dried clothes until they were atleast wearable. Fantastic fun though.

Total ride time - about 7.5 hours while going, about 5.5 hours while coming back.
Total distance - approximately 700 kms

Now to the Duke.

So about 700 Kms (a few detours on the way) on the odo over two days, across heavy rain including wide highways and twisties, the bike did not cease to amaze me.

The tyres held up quite well, not that I was leaning much with all that water and mud on the roads, but I didnt really have a scary moment while going.
While coming back, I was much more comfortable and with the sun out, the twisty roads allowed for a bit of leans.
With close to 700 kms on the odo, I was more at home on the bike and did push it a bit. It was brilliant.
The combination of ABS and Slipper clutch meant that I was always in control, didnt have to worry about the rear tyre sliding out while banging a few gears down.

Had to take a few U turns on hilly roads as a couple of roads were closed, and then the seat height of the Duke raised its ugly head. As the seat is high, I am not able to flatfoot with both feet (5'8" for reference).

There was one turn where the bike just stalled in gear 1, in the middle of a slanting road, and then started tilting, with me searching for the ground. Its places and times like this, when you feel happy this wasn't a 200 kg bike . I was able to easily manage the weight of the bike and pull it back up before it touched the ground. No sweat ;-)

I was using a bungee rope for my bag, and the Duke has enough places to hook it on, so that is helpful too.

The duke accumulates mud like no other bike i have had, though all my bikes do, thanks to my habit of not being too bothered about cleaning it every week or two or three.... lol.
And the tough part is, which the service center folks are figuring out as I type, that its not very easy to reach the crevices. A water jet is absolutely recommended for folks who love clean bikes.

It isnt too difficult to clean and lube the chain though. Enough open places to do it, but that would probably mean the chain will get dirtier quickly too. Will need to see how an exposed chain keeps up with the mud and muck.

The ABS got activated a couple of times, it makes a strange sound, like when you open a gate when its not been greased for a while. Is that normal?

Do NOT remove the rear hugger, I know it doesnt look the best, but it does save you (and the person behind you) a little from mud and muck from the rear tyre.

The brakes and clutch levers are adjustable, but you need to push them back to adjust them. The hand guard was proving to be a hindrance for me there as the lever would touch the guard while pushing it back. So do keep that in mind.
Also, the adjustment distance isn't that much, I have small hands so will probably look at better levers.

The riding position needs getting used to, the rear set foot pegs did give me a cramp once, but then I was riding all through in rain and that could be the cold too. Let me ride more and see, Its anyway a new riding position for me.

The seat did prove to be comfortable, I did feel the need to stretch once I crossed 150 kms with no break. But its good to take that break anyways and hydrate yourself.

I had heard of the lights and TFT fogging up after rains, but I didnt find that happening on my bike though it was in the rain for close to 24 hours as there was no covered parking.

The 6th gear does seem to be made strictly for cruising as it lacks power under 6000 rpm.

The handlebar is wide, doesn't help in traffic carving, but it does give you a good position to keep your hands relaxed.

A couple of glitches :

The bike ODO stands at 629 kms, after completing almost 700 kms over the weekend. Go figure. It should have been very close to if not over 1000Kms. So, there is a leak somewhere on the TFT console, I am losing kms LOL.

The bike would automatically keep moving to high beam, a toggle of the switch and it would get back to low. Probably thanks to the water.

I have given the Duke for Servicing today, the estimate is about 1600. I will report once its completed.

Overall, I am a happy camper.There isnt much for me to complain about and a lot to be happy about. That, pretty much sums up the first 1K.

A couple of pics I was able to take to keep the thread more colorful

[abhijeet080808]

Originally Posted by sammyboy

Had to take a few U turns on hilly roads as a couple of roads were closed, and then the seat height of the Duke raised its ugly head. As the seat is high, I am not able to flatfoot with both feet (5'8" for reference).

I am 5"6(1/2)' and I bought a pair of shoes with good amount of sole height. Helps me a lot.

The ABS got activated a couple of times, it makes a strange sound, like when you open a gate when its not been greased for a while. Is that normal?

I do not get a feeling like that. It feels like a soft thud somewhere and then the brake lever pushes back with a pulse or 2 depending on how severely ABS is working!

[sammyboy]

Originally Posted by abhijeet080808

I am 5"6(1/2)' and I bought a pair of shoes with good amount of sole height. Helps me a lot.

I use Alpinestars SMX6 as of now, but yeah I guess a pair of Touring boots might help. Will look at one, thank you.

Originally Posted by abhijeet080808

I do not get a feeling like that. It feels like a soft thud somewhere and then the brake lever pushes back with a pulse or 2 depending on how severely ABS is working!

Strange, then maybe I just thought it was ABS activation when it wasnt. Not being used to ABS, i brake the way I would without it, will try that too on an empty road.

On another note, I got my bike serviced yesterday, paid INR1600.
How much did your service cost you?

I did raise the point about the ODO not being correct, they were in the process of updating the tool with the new SW so will have them check it later in the week.

[abhijeet080808]

Originally Posted by sammyboy

Strange, then maybe I just thought it was ABS activation when it wasnt. Not being used to ABS, i brake the way I would without it, will try that too on an empty road.

Quickest way to activate ABS is to brake a bit hard on gravelly surface (say the side of the road where dust usually accumulates)

On another note, I got my bike serviced yesterday, paid INR1600.
How much did your service cost you?

About the same. Check for the correct oil level - Older Duke 390s take in ~1.5l of oil while the newer ones take in ~1.8l of oil.

I did raise the point about the ODO not being correct, they were in the process of updating the tool with the new SW so will have them check it later in the week.

Hopefully, they get this done sooner than later. I have not personally seen this on my bike though.

[sammyboy]

Originally Posted by abhijeet080808

Quickest way to activate ABS is to brake a bit hard on gravelly surface (say the side of the road where dust usually accumulates)

About the same. Check for the correct oil level - Older Duke 390s take in ~1.5l of oil while the newer ones take in ~1.8l of oil.

Hopefully, they get this done sooner than later. I have not personally seen this on my bike though.

Thank you, will check the oil level today too.
The showroom is closed today but the guys are very responsive plus but its very close to my house, about a km and a bit so will drop in soon and have it fixed.

[sriramv.iyer]

My bike died on me again - Refused to start after I drove to a breakfast place 2 kms away. (I sometimes do 200 kms away breakfast and boy I am glad)

I had mentioned earlier that I had a problem due to battery drain (though the instrumentant console lit up, battery didn't have juice to light up the engine). And the guy had sworn that he had fixed it and jump-started and charged the battery.

I pushed the bike 2 kms back to my home and yet to call Orange Assist. I am having terribly busy days. I have added battery level to the first screen so that I can watch it on a daily basis (eventually after I fix it) - I used to make fun of the Amp meter in bullet and the bad karma is coming back to bite me

I am completely frustrated with the D390 and I think the service guys messed it up at the first service.

I have no confidence to take it anywhere now.

[sammyboy]

Originally Posted by sriramv.iyer

My bike died on me again - Refused to start after I drove to a breakfast place 2 kms away. (I sometimes do 200 kms away breakfast and boy I am glad)

I had mentioned earlier that I had a problem due to battery drain (though the instrumentant console lit up, battery didn't have juice to light up the engine). And the guy had sworn that he had fixed it and jump-started and charged the battery.
I am completely frustrated with the D390 and I think the service guys messed it up at the first service.

I have no confidence to take it anywhere now.

This is very strange. What does the battery voltage on the console show? Mine shows 14.4 V while the bike is on and I have seen 11.4 when the bike was cold and not started.
It could be an ignition switch fault too, have you had that checked? Sorry to hear about the issues man.

[sriramv.iyer]

Originally Posted by sammyboy

This is very strange. What does the battery voltage on the console show? Mine shows 14.4 V while the bike is on and I have seen 11.4 when the bike was cold and not started.
It could be an ignition switch fault too, have you had that checked? Sorry to hear about the issues man.

What is frustrating is the fact that the Orange Assist guys swore that this issue has been fixed.

I would have been happier if it had not started at home. Instead it gave up its dear life 2 kms away and I had to push all the way back.

The battery shows 7.6V - I somehow remembered to note that and take a click as well