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Old 6th September 2023, 13:45   #1141
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Re: The KTM 390 Adventure Ownership Thread!

Last week I got the first service done of my 390ADV-X, at 830 kms. The bike has become noticeably smooth. I forgot to check out which Motul engine oil the KTM service center used. Can someone tell me if it's Motul 7100 10W-50 or 20W-50?

Also, I am not happy with the braking. The front seems to be spongy and the rear barely has any bite. Not sure if that's the case with all 390As or just mine. I was of the assumption that KTMs had some really sharp brakes.

Next week I will be taking the bike to Zanskar and Ladakh. Will see how it performs. My only benchmark is my ex-Himalayan, which felt very comfortable in that terrain.
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Old 6th September 2023, 14:53   #1142
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Re: The KTM 390 Adventure Ownership Thread!

Quote:
Originally Posted by cataclysm View Post
Last week I got the first service done of my 390ADV-X, at 830 kms. The bike has become noticeably smooth. I forgot to check out which Motul engine oil the KTM service center used. Can someone tell me if it's Motul 7100 10W-50 or 20W-50?

I was of the assumption that KTMs had some really sharp brakes.
Service centres uses 10W-50. It is the recommended spec for 390s. I guess it is no different for ADVs also.

Please check if the front brake pads are sintered. Or you can also switch to EBC.
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Old 6th September 2023, 15:54   #1143
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Re: The KTM 390 Adventure Ownership Thread!

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Originally Posted by Vignesh_N/A View Post
Service centres uses 10W-50. It is the recommended spec for 390s. I guess it is no different for ADVs also.

Please check if the front brake pads are sintered. Or you can also switch to EBC.
Stock pads are always sintered, the ones that come on the bike are from Brembo. But I am unaware of the cheaper models now have gone away from Brembo pads. If so, just replace with Brembo.

Cat, please do a brake bedding run. Find a safe private piece of road, accelerate to the speed limit and then panic brake. Let the brakes cool down and then attempt again. Do this a few times.

If issue still persists you might need to bleed your brakes and refill oil afresh.

The KTM brakes are second to none.
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Old 7th September 2023, 14:46   #1144
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Re: The KTM 390 Adventure Ownership Thread!

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Originally Posted by Vignesh_N/A View Post
Please check if the front brake pads are sintered. Or you can also switch to EBC.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Red Liner View Post
Cat, please do a brake bedding run.

The KTM brakes are second to none.
Thanks for the info guys! Brakes are sorted now.

One thing that I've been wanting to do was change the clutch and the front brake lever to the adjustable ones that come in the Standard and SW variant. I got both of them changed today. The front brake is sorted now. The service center guys fiddled around with the rear one as well. So all is good. Brakes feel as they should on a KTM.

I was pretty surprised that while the adjustable clutch lever costs 360 rupees, the adjustable brake lever is for 1520! The SA says it's because vendors for both are different. No idea why.

Also changed to the Husqvarna round mirrors. They offer great visibility. The bike is all set to be taken to Zanskar next week. Once I am back I will see if the bike needs the upgraded SW suspension or not.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Malliketh View Post
Upgraded to Adjustable Rear Suspension for my 2022 KTM Adventure
Thanks for sharing this mate. I had gone to the service center today to get some stuff sorted and asked the SA about this. I might be getting this once I am back from Zanskar.

Any news about the front suspension upgrade? The SA here is unsure and says he doesn't know of anyone who has done this in India yet. He says to wait a month or two for more clarity on the front suspension.
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Old 7th September 2023, 17:37   #1145
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Re: The KTM 390 Adventure Ownership Thread!

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Originally Posted by Red Liner View Post
But I am unaware of the cheaper models now have gone away from Brembo pads. If so, just replace with Brembo.
I had the same doubt too since the brembo pads costs close to 3000.

When I visited SC few days ago, they gave me two options for 390. The non sintered used to be spongy if I am not wrong.
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Old 7th September 2023, 21:00   #1146
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Re: The KTM 390 Adventure Ownership Thread!

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Originally Posted by aslampr07 View Post
In the Owner's manual KTM advise using 50/50 mixture of 20W50 and kerosene to clean the chain, have anyone tried this method? Seems like this is a cost-effective method to clean the chain.
Many of the old timers and two stroke mechanics still do it this way. They mix petrol and engine oil in an old softdrink bottle, make a small insertion on the center of the cap squeeze it liberally over the chain. The concept here is, the petrol cleans and the oil lubricates the O-rings preventing them from going dry when the chain is brushed to de-grease and get rid of muck.

Old motorcycles, esp bikes of bygone era didn't have O-ring in their chain link plates which made them wear faster due to friction and accumulate rust faster. The probability of them getting rusted and getting stuck was high (one of the reasons why O-ring and other variant ring chains are predominant in today's bikes) and therefore, it's sort of an old wives tale that's been carried forward and one that works well.

What Bajaj has mentioned is perfectly one of the best ways to clean a chain and then the applied lube acts as an even safer lubrication variable.

Quote:
Originally Posted by cataclysm View Post

I was pretty surprised that while the adjustable clutch lever costs 360 rupees, the adjustable brake lever is for 1520! The SA says it's because vendors for both are different. No idea why.
Indeed. The vendor wouldn't be different. The brake lever uses an extension to activate the brake light switch and a different screw compared to clutch lever and perhaps might be comparatively stronger than the clutch lever, unless it's made with Adamantium.

Many folks use the same clutch lever for Dominar and interestingly I've known folks who've used the adjustable clutch and brake lever of KTMs on their BS6 and UG4 Pulsar 150s, 180s which is a plug and play swap with no modifications required.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Vignesh_N/A View Post
I had the same doubt too since the brembo pads costs close to 3000.

When I visited SC few days ago, they gave me two options for 390. The non sintered used to be spongy if I am not wrong.
The old brake pads were organic, they didn't squeak, squeal and were extremely cheap at 320 bucks when I last purchased if my memory serves me right. Though they had decent initial bite, they lacked the progressive bite and feedback esp the breakneck speeds the old machines did. It was S C A R Y to say the least.

The sponginess is still there in today's bikes, but they've been worked upon and coupled with the new sintered pads and adjustable levers (which offers better fulcrum) the bike anchors down in a jiffy. Simply swap the Rs. 320 Bybre brake pads to Rs. 3000 Brembo brake pads on the older bike, the braking is instantly transformed with superb feel, feedback and progressive anchoring which is confidence inspiring. Though the sintered pads can squeal and squeak at times for some, which might be annoying. Case in point, if my memory serves me correct, the last purchase of the Brembo set for my Duke was priced at around 2.2k-ish.

Cheers!
VJ

Last edited by VijayAnand1 : 7th September 2023 at 21:05.
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Old 8th September 2023, 11:26   #1147
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Re: The KTM 390 Adventure Ownership Thread!

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Originally Posted by VijayAnand1 View Post

Case in point, if my memory serves me correct, the last purchase of the Brembo set for my Duke was priced at around 2.2k-ish.

Cheers!
VJ
You are right. I bought a set in 2021 for 1800 ish.
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Old 8th September 2023, 18:46   #1148
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Re: The KTM 390 Adventure Ownership Thread!

Quote:
Originally Posted by aslampr07 View Post
In the Owner's manual KTM advise using 50/50 mixture of 20W50 and kerosene to clean the chain, have anyone tried this method? Seems like this is a cost-effective method to clean
Haven't used the above method but I use diesel mixed with a bit of soap water and it works very well. 400 ml diesel and 100 ml of soap water will last around 5-6 washes atleast.
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Old 10th September 2023, 00:51   #1149
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Re: The KTM 390 Adventure Ownership Thread!

So I am planning to upgrade to the ADV 390 from a Yamaha FZ25. I test rode the STD version twice, once on a straight road and once on ghat roads. It’s a new bike which just had its first service done. I have a few questions about the things that I noticed.

1. Brake bite is spongy on the front, and rear it’s almost non existent and the angle of the brake pedal felt too slanting downwards. Is this normal?

2. I felt the front end becoming dangerously light above 100 and affects some confidence in cornering hard. I was always feeling that I am swerving towards the edges of the road rather than maintain a clean cornering line. Is this normal? Does this affect high speed cruising also in safe highways where we can sit at 130kmph. How does crosswinds play in?

3. I am feeling vibrations at the pegs at 7-8k rpm and below 3k rpm, the bike feels dead. Like a commuter. How does the vibrations add up when you are doing 500km+ days? Do you just get used to it, or they cause fatigue?

4. With the lack of this low end, I think someone shifting to this would have to relearn a lot of stuff to properly use this bike for off roads and city usage. In that way, I felt it’s a very technical bike. Does it have that fun factor or most of the fun comes from the idea that “you have a very capable bike with you that can take you anywhere”. By fun, I mean the “is there a soul in the bike” kinda thing that’s difficult to explain in words.

5. Can it be used as your daily driver? After jumping back to my FZ25, I realised I am quite used to and do enjoy the very torquey nature of motorcycles. It’s good in the city and in ghats but not very adequate for highways where I love to ride more apart from daily city usage. And hence I am leaning towards the ADV390.

Last edited by Eddy : 10th September 2023 at 02:14. Reason: Spacing for better readability
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Old 13th September 2023, 20:01   #1150
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Re: The KTM 390 Adventure Ownership Thread!

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Originally Posted by SiLxNcE View Post
So I am planning to upgrade to the ADV 390 from a Yamaha FZ25. I test rode the STD version twice, once on a straight road and once on ghat roads. It’s a new bike which just had its first service done. I have a few questions about the things that I noticed.

1. Brake bite is spongy on the front, and rear it’s almost non existent and the angle of the brake pedal felt too slanting downwards. Is this normal?

2. I felt the front end becoming dangerously light above 100 and affects some confidence in cornering hard. I was always feeling that I am swerving towards the edges of the road rather than maintain a clean cornering line. Is this normal? Does this affect high speed cruising also in safe highways where we can sit at 130kmph. How does crosswinds play in?

3. I am feeling vibrations at the pegs at 7-8k rpm and below 3k rpm, the bike feels dead. Like a commuter. How does the vibrations add up when you are doing 500km+ days? Do you just get used to it, or they cause fatigue?

4. With the lack of this low end, I think someone shifting to this would have to relearn a lot of stuff to properly use this bike for off roads and city usage. In that way, I felt it’s a very technical bike. Does it have that fun factor or most of the fun comes from the idea that “you have a very capable bike with you that can take you anywhere”. By fun, I mean the “is there a soul in the bike” kinda thing that’s difficult to explain in words.

5. Can it be used as your daily driver? After jumping back to my FZ25, I realised I am quite used to and do enjoy the very torquey nature of motorcycles. It’s good in the city and in ghats but not very adequate for highways where I love to ride more apart from daily city usage. And hence I am leaning towards the ADV390.
In their chronological order:

1. Brake bite is spongy on the front. The damp squib aspect of almost most of the new bikes. Fortunately, this can be sorted. Front brakes being spongy and rear brake offering wood damping is how most of the bikes roll off from factory. Brakes do need time to bed in, the friction between the rotor and the pads helps remove the surface incongruities and slowly the brakes become progressive and bite better. This isn't a deal-breaker.

2. This is a classic character of the bike. The front end feels lighter and twitchy and reacts to the lightest inputs. You need to get more time to the bike adapting to the riding dynamics, as simple as that.

3. Vibrations at that particular RPM is where there start to creep in. But post that 7.9+ the engine is smooth and that's where it loves to be in. Low down, the bike's mostly dead, but again, once you're used to the bike's intricacies, you brain will automatically adjust your muscle memory.

4. Please refer point point 3

5. Definitely can be used as daily driver, tourer or a weekend warrior. It takes a little getting used to, as you're upgrading from a commuter motorcycle that's mostly tuned to give best torque and mileage figure for intra-city use. Coming from an FZ25, you can pretty much pick the nitties of the Duke 390 in a swift manner. Saddle time will help you know the bike better and adapt even better.

I've tried to keep is as simple and concise I can, hope it helps.

Good luck.

Cheers!
VJ
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Old 15th September 2023, 14:03   #1151
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Re: The KTM 390 Adventure Ownership Thread!

Just finalizing on buying KTM 390 Adventure, After my Ladakh Bike Trip Where we rented KTM 390 Adv for 6 days, was surprised with off-road capability and comfortable ride on Tarmac. RE Himalayans riding with us were getting stuck in jelly roads, but KTMs riders 5 of us were flying.

And Today took the test ride of STD version, Bike is much responsive and smooth compared to the KTMs we rented in Ladakh, I had booked Triumph Speed400x, But after test ride, it looked like small bike and riding posture also did not like. Also have booked Triumph Scrambler X, but after this Test ride, that linear pick-up of Triumph is not for me. Also have booked Harley buy feeling bike is not my type.

So made my mind that KTM is the bike for me, its a Mad crazy Bike and I love it. Having ridden RX100 for 15+ years earlier love the character of this Bike. Currently having FZ-S 2009 which is well maintained so, will keep it in my hometown to ride when i go there.

My requirement is mostly riding longrides in Weekends or holidays. With some off-roading of maybe 10% where required, May try more offroading later, my village have plenty of offroading tracks in Coffee estates, which is there is explore.

So was finalizing the Model, and found out that the one with adjustable suspension is in SW model, but it comes with spoke wheels. Adjustable suspension with Alloys would have been good to have feature, which i could use if i do more offroading more later.

Was bit confused on this, Some opinion on this ?

Buy SW 4.7 Lakh in Blr + Change to Alloys 15k = 4.85 Lakh.

Buy STD 4.43 Lakh , Maybe if required change the Shocks for 18k 6 months later, Right now they are not selling adjustable Shocks to customers make sure they sell SW more. Or maybe they will procure also if i bargain with different dealers as condition for me to buy the bike.

Maybe sane thing will be buy STD, buy Accessory worth 30-40k now, and think about Shocks later if required?

Last edited by shamanth : 15th September 2023 at 14:05.
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Old 15th September 2023, 16:18   #1152
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Re: The KTM 390 Adventure Ownership Thread!

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Originally Posted by shamanth View Post

Buy SW 4.7 Lakh in Blr + Change to Alloys 15k = 4.85 Lakh.

Buy STD 4.43 Lakh , Maybe if required change the Shocks for 18k 6 months later, Right now they are not selling adjustable Shocks to customers make sure they sell SW more. Or maybe they will procure also if i bargain with different dealers as condition for me to buy the bike.

Maybe sane thing will be buy STD, buy Accessory worth 30-40k now, and think about Shocks later if required?
I remember off the top of my head that I read/heard somewhere that the SW version has a different front wheel hub thats not a direct fit for swapping to alloys. I cant recall the source of this information, but you might want to check on it more if you think of getting the SW version and get alloys. And of course, alloys with adjustable shocks makes the most sense as these are super sturdy alloys too. Since you are planning to get it soon, let us know if you find any such similar information that I just told.
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Old 15th September 2023, 17:59   #1153
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Re: The KTM 390 Adventure Ownership Thread!

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Originally Posted by SiLxNcE View Post
I remember off the top of my head that I read/heard somewhere that the SW version has a different front wheel hub thats not a direct fit for swapping to alloys. I cant recall the source of this information, but you might want to check on it more if you think of getting the SW version and get alloys. And of course, alloys with adjustable shocks makes the most sense as these are super sturdy alloys too. Since you are planning to get it soon, let us know if you find any such similar information that I just told.
I heard the sales guy say, easiest change he recommend is Alloy + something(Could be wheel hub) will cost you 15k on SW.

Will check again, I will be booking the bike after 25th of this month, once I come back after a vacation. He can delivery bike in 2 days after booking it seems.
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Old 15th September 2023, 20:37   #1154
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Re: The KTM 390 Adventure Ownership Thread!

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Originally Posted by shamanth View Post
I heard the sales guy say, easiest change he recommend is Alloy + something(Could be wheel hub) will cost you 15k on SW.

Will check again, I will be booking the bike after 25th of this month, once I come back after a vacation. He can delivery bike in 2 days after booking it seems.
Buy standard and switch both front and rear suspension and enjoy the ride. Remember the SW version will cost more in road taxes as well!

Both suspension kits are now available with part numbers for order. Bike warranty continues as is.

Last edited by Red Liner : 15th September 2023 at 20:38.
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Old 15th September 2023, 22:20   #1155
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Re: The KTM 390 Adventure Ownership Thread!

I have booked or paid the entire amount today from Khivraj KTM, Marathahalli, and delivery is on 18th Sep (with a temporary number). I have booked the STD variant, hoping to upgrade to an adjustable suspension later. I was planning for "X" but realised that many features are omitted, and I might need that electronics later.

I wanted to buy a bike for a very long time and tried a few in between. I got carried away by the Triumph Speed 400 and booked one on 5th July, but thanks to Keerthi, they made sure that I changed my mind. Keerthi is one committed dealer that made sure that Triumph does not get genuinely concerned customers.

Now, one request: anything specifically I should check while taking the delivery?

I have discussed a lot on the following Speed 400 thread.

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/motor...review-58.html (Triumph Speed 400 Review)

Last edited by shailinder : 15th September 2023 at 22:24. Reason: Missing point.
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