[Dhruv Shetty]

After a breakfast ride to Igatpuri and not doing chain maintenance for 3 months, did this because i had to replace the chain and sprocket anyways so mostly just sprayed chain lube over the old lube. Booked an appointment at Xshaft in Boravali for 4th of June for a service and chain sprocket replacement.

Reached Xshaft in the morning, after awhile Vignesh went over the bike making a list of stuff to do and then the bike was handed over to Rishi who would work on the bike.

The old chain sprocket, how much ever it is adjusted, only one portion would hold tension and rest of it would be loose. No wonder in these 2 years i used to find false neutrals


Paddock stand mounted and the work begins


Cleaning the front sprocket area
Before


After




After removing the rear wheel and taking apart the rear sprocket and the rest of the parts, Rishi pointed out that my sprocket bearing has worn out and even handed it over to me check for myself, compared it with a new bearing. Got the bearing replaced.


In with the new chain and sprocket


Once the new chain sprocket and bearing were installed, all the nuts and bolts were torqued to spec, i was surprised that the torque spec bolt holding the engine, swingarm and frame is a nice 140 nm, after this i was wondering if KTM SVC does this .

Then the usual service was performed like engine oil and oil filter change, cleaning of oil mesh filters, replacement of air filter. Even the brake calipers piston area was cleaned and the guide pin area's were greased.

Went with Maxima for this oil change


Met up with Bhpian hiren.mistery at Xshaft and had a nice chat with him about his Z900, it is a beauty to look at in person and sounds sweet.


Here's some pics after a service and a wash





Now riding after the chain sprocket change, the gear shifts gave become crisp and no more false neutrals for now, and back to chain maintenance routine

Half way back home, the gear lever bolt fell off somewhere and i am wondering why I am not able to change gears, somehow i reached with the bike in second gear. Went to KTM the next day and got the gear linkage and a new bolt put.

Cheers,
Dhruv Shetty.

[VijayAnand1]

Beautiful, Dhruv, now she looks as new. Polishe er up and she'll shine like a brand new one.

Cheers!
VJ

[Dhruv Shetty]

It's been a while since I updated the thread.

The bike has been running flawlessly since the last service minus a ABS fault which turned out to be a damaged wire. I had done 2 rides this month, first one was Karjat for an overnight trip with the family to a Farmhouse as a anniversary ride as I completed 2 years with it and the other one was Kasara Ghat. The initial plan was to solo it, but the plan changed end moment as my cousin sister joined in with her Avenger.

Ready leave from Home


Pitstop and meet up with the rest of the family




After the rendezvous and getting my sister ready, we left at 9:30 am, till the main highway she lead the way as the place she stays is like a maze. After reaching the main highway I took over. The route taken was the JNPT Uran highway, which then connects the Old Mumbai-Pune highway.
Both I and my sis enjoyed the ride to the farmhouse, while the rest of the family came in the cars. After exiting the old highway and into Karjat there are some scenic and beautiful roads with twisties, plus some craters on the side. My sister's Avenger experienced its first bad pothole, she handled it well. We reached the destination around 11 am while the rest reached 1 hour later.

Parked and resting


The surroundings of the farmhouse








After everyone was settled in, we played some cards, had a nice lunch and played carrom.

Tasty lunch, rice roti, dal rice, chole, and forgot what the green one was




A swimming where everyone enjoyed, even my Nani who is 80+(except me, just recovered from a cold)




Almost night time


Some red lights designed as flowers.


A view of the house and the bikes


Some hanging bulbs on a small tree



Made some barbeque desi corn and played damsharad


And the staircase leading to the top floor

End of the day

The next day, woke up and ogled at my bae


Some pics after having morning coffee and breakfast



Papaya tree I guess

Some flowers and greenery




Nani thinking "which bike shall I take for a spin"


After breakfast and chilling, it was time to leave so all the packing, getting ready, and making sure everything is in place. In all this, I had a scary moment that made everyone go nuts (a bit) I could not find my bike keys, was preparing my head and wallet for an RSA, fortunately, the key was found by my elder brother, turns out it was in the upper room where I was getting changed. Lesson learnt, always carry a spare during long trips. But since I bought the bike it came with one key and used it for 2 years and I had bought a blank key a few days before the trip, made the new key a day after returning from Karjat.

Here's me and my Elder sister posing for the camera.


After leaving the farmhouse, had a nice relaxing ride back home by attacking corners, enjoying the nimbleness of the D390, on open roads and twisties and even emptyish city roads it's a very fun and addictive machine.
In total it was a 260 KM ride.

Next post will be about the ride to Kasara Ghat.

Cheers,
Dhruv Shetty.

[Dhruv Shetty]

Contd from previous post.

After a week or two from Karjat, a independence day ride to Kasara had been planned by a fellow friend rider from my society. Plan was to leave by 5:15am in the morning, later got delayed to 5:45am.

Line up consisted of 3 390's, 2 ADV and one Duke.
1 CBR650R
1 Dominar
1 Yamaha Tenere 700

Warming up and getting ready





The route taken was JLVR-eastern highway- Thane. Took a detour from Thane highway as there was a jam, the detour was somewhere in Bhiwandi, never taking that route ever, was filled with craters. The 2 ADVs and the Tenere where enjoying this portion and the rest where having a bad time.

After the deadly Detour





After a chai break and bit of chit chat we were off, got on the Mumbai Nasik highway after some traffic at the start. Got some rain, smooth roads, occasional potholes and slight windy roads. The Duke on the highways feels so nice, smooth gear shifts, responsive chassis and alot of wind.

Another chai break before the Ghat section

Duke chilling with the Tenere


The other's






After the uphill Ghat section and beautiful scenery, rode in some dense fog along with some light and heavy rain, the group reached our final destination food hills.

Tasty Chole Bhature, the bhature was big


Bikes chilling










Some nature pics and bikes while on way back home



















Last break after deadly traffic which was 3kms long just before entering Thane







Nice dirty bike


Ath this point, the guy on Tenere realised he lost his Number plate

Cheers,
Dhruv Shetty

[Dhruv Shetty]

A small update

Not much riding has been happening due to work and all, whenever i get time i take Tali out for a spin around the area or sometimes on the weekends i go for small 60km ride in the city early in the morning or late at night, at times i hoon and sometimes calmly. But it did throw some tantrums recently, so got those tantrums sorted out, first thing was to get the battery changed as it had become 2 years and started showing signs of weakness. Prices of batteries has increased.

Old battery coming out



And before anybody says anything, i got the indicators replaced, i was contemplating whether to get them changed or fiviquik it


Battery out




New one in




A little more expensive now


Secondly it was time to head over to the KTM SVC to get a fresh pair of indicators. I have been pretty careful with the indicators in the 2 years of ownership, but things happen. How the indicators broke with me being very careful, well the right side one broke while getting the bike diesel washed, apparently the guy wasn't careful while washing, till this point i was contemplating whether to replace it or stick it back until the left side one broke by me. This happened while removing the cover and my leg snapped the indicator off, i was a bit zoned out the moment. At this point I'm like let it be, time to get them changed. On the side note, the bike was on its original indicators since it left the showroom and rear ones were anyways developing cracks in them, plus they were almost 9 year old light's. Got the indicators home, freshened up had lunch, rested a bit, got the toolkit out, changed into my work clothes and ready for some wrenching.

Time to get rid of the Dangle of shame




Out with the old


If you look closely, the cracks can be seen


In with the new




Indicators replaced and it was time to do some chain maintenance. Mounted the bike on the paddock.

Dirty chain



Nice clean chain

After some chain cleaner and wiping, chain is ready for some chain lube







Did some throttle adjustments and thread locked the mirrors in place and ready for the next ride, tragedy struck, i tried a different way to dismount Tali from the paddock (instant regret, for this I'll take help next time ), bike slipped side stand wasn't in position and fell on the left side, bent a clutch lever, it was a brand new clutch lever assembly i put in October before my Statue of unity ride and damaged a new leg gaurd.



The leg gaurd didn't break off fully because I am using the ADV 390 foundation bolt as it is compatible with the 1st gen Duke 390, to fit the leg gaurd onto the bolt, is to enlarge the hole from 10 dia to 14 dia, to make it fit.


Moment before the tragedy


Tali is now at 28500


There are a few small things to take care of next, bike is throwing low oil pressure warning, deal with the broken footpeg spring and leaky left side engine casing plastic bolt. I have the parts with me.

And a Sunday morning ride to Vandri lake

After sitting Tali out, went for a nice morning ride with some Xpulses, one of them being a college friend. Started the journey at 5:00 am in the morning, did the first rendezvous at Kandivali link road, while waiting for my friend, a crow pooped on the front fender of Tali, glady it was fresh and washed it off with some water from the Hydration bag. After meeting with my friend, we both left and made two more stops to meet up with the rest, second stop was at Mira road Daishar till naka and the last one at Hotel fountain where everyone met up and had some chai and bit of chit chat before leaving.

Tali chilling


The line up


The spot, area is beautiful and lovely trails for advs and lovely weather, did some trails with the Duke, despite being on Road's didn't push it though, was inspecting the tyres most of the time.





The point where the Duke and Avenger gave up and the Xpulses went ahead



Spotted these beauties on way back



On the way back had some nice breakfast and opened the taps of the Duke. All in all it was a nice ride.

Until next time.
Cheers,
Dhruv Shetty

[Dhruv Shetty]

Originally Posted by VijayAnand1

Beautiful, Dhruv, now she looks as new. Polishe er up and she'll shine like a brand new one.

Cheers!
VJ

Sorry for the late response , next year i plan to get her detailed and ceramic coated next year on her birthday.

[Dhruv Shetty]

30,000 Km update

Here’s an update in the life of the 390. In December went on two rides, one went nice and smooth without an incident and the other one landed up with a lowside ( more on it later).

First one was to Suryamal sunset point, it is located between Jawhar and Igatpuri and a nice 86 km ride. The initial plan was to head to Kelve beach in Phalghar, go there have hot hot vada pav or missal pav, but on the day of the ride while at rendezvous point at Mira road Daishar toll naka, the friend joining in with his Interceptor 650 suggested Suryamal point as it will be a new place to go.

After catching up we were off, the ride to the destination was nice, pleasant and cold except the area at Hotel fountain owning to the construction over there, after that it was open highways where the 390 shines. Riding till Khaniwade toll plaza was on the conservative side as it was dark, on the way to Khaniwade toll plaza came across Bhpian hiren.mistery, had to squint my eyes a bit to verify the details of the bike and helmet, whatever I could remember and passed him at the toll naka while taking a small break.





Small water, stretching and chit chat break, we were off, now the Sun rising and throwing its rays on us started riding less conservative and sensibly enjoying the Mumbai – Gujurat highway till Manor where we took the exit and joined in on the Wada – Manor road, condition of the surface was mix of good and bad, in the rains it is much worse it contains craters. After a 1 hour of riding, took a breakfeast stop, had a few samosa pav and chai (did not click pictures) and one of the horns broke from my bike. Stomachs happy and satisfied off to Suryamal point, roads towards it was smooth and a little rough compared to Wada, road consisted of villages and nice twisty’s . Took a small photo stop.













Reaching the destination consisted of dirt roads and gravel, here the Inty guy was in off road mode. Upon arriving the spot, parked and paid the parking fees which was 40 bucks. Parked and went off to explore the place.













Return leg was a nice and spirited and one close call, on one of the turns I was in the middle of a turn and suddenly an Innova emerges, I dodge it but the Inty was not able to dodge him completely. The Innova’s front right side bumper had hit the Inty’s exhaust and created a loud sound, bumper got damaged and a scratch on exhaust, stopped on the safe side of the road, had a small understanding talk and left. No one was injured during this mishap. This is the first time I have ever leaned so much.







A quick fuel top up







Phone had flown off the mount



Had a nice refreshment break on the highway and headed home and slept.



End of post

[Dhruv Shetty]

A Quick solo breakfast ride to Pune and back with an incident

After a lot of thinking, decided to do a morning ride to Pimpri-Chinhwad on the 25th of December as it was Christmas and a Sunday. Got all my gear ready, bike tanked up with XP95 on Saturday night, slept off and got up early in the morning by 5:00 am and was off by 5:45am. Reached Kalamboli McDonald’s around 7:00am, took a water break before joining onto the National highway, had a few breaks in between on route to Pune, one being at the first Toll after Panvel, had a cup of chai and had a nice conversation a fellow D390 owner.

Chilling somewhere in Airoli



A very interesting ODO reading and a warning which is popping up since statue of unity ride



A streacting break at Kalamboli





Here i realize my indicator broke, which puzzled me on how it broke




Upon nearing Pimpri, Dehu road had one side of the road was closed for some reason I got past somehow. Once reached Chinchwad, headed off to Ajmera colony located in Morwadi, I used to live here when I was doing my apprenticeship in TATA Motors 5 year’s back, had breakfast in a lunch home called Aditya house, used to go here for lunch and Dinner (Depending on the Shift I was in).
They serve healthy home style food, met most of the staff and the owner along with a nice conversation. Having finished my breakfast and a complimentary chai said my goodbye’s and thanks, I departed and fuel up for the return journey.



Excuse the sambar splatter on the table







The ride back included some spirited riding and calm ones, at one point near Lonavala came across a guy on a White 1st gen 2013 Duke 390 who was returning from somewhere, from that point till the toll before Panvel we were together and after that we split up by saying our goodbyes to each other.

A small break where there's a entry and exit for Lonavala. After this point i came across the White D390 guy



A nice charger





The ride back home was ok until Airoli, after that I have no clue what got into me that in started gunning the bike, totally my fault. This the point where the incident happened, once I merged with the Eastern express highway just after the Speed camera I was switching lanes right to left, was to hot, did not give myself to access the road ahead of me, a auto rickshaw suddenly decides to slow down in the middle of the highway, and I had less time to react slammed both brakes geared down as much, but bumped him from behind almost stabilized unfortunately he slows down again, so the right side of the bike hit the auto’s black top portion and loose control and fall down. Bike didn’t slide to far. Another contributor to the fall, there was a section road where they did a repair with paver blocks. Thankfully did not get run over by a truck or any other big vehicle. Got the bike off to the side off the road. After all this made sure I was ok, sat on the safe side of the road, did not remove my helmet immediately, made some calls home to update the parents about the incident, called up the RSA as the gear lever was badly bent and stuck in 4th gear. While waiting on the RSA my Uncle came to the spot with some yummy Dosa and chutney which my Nani made and passed some time till the RSA arrived.









Bike loaded on the Tow truck, off to Zenngine in Mira road, Once reached Mira road, did the formalities with the RSA guys, did the discussion with Vignesh and Hussain about the stuff to do and whether to claim it under insurance or not, went with insurance claim route. Parts which got replaced were clutch lever, fuel tank cover, handle bar, gear lever and the full assembly which holds the footrest and lever. On the side note while nearing the shop RSA guys were getting more eyeballs than the Police towing van in front of us which was towing bikes.









The whole insurance claim route took awhile, number one I had painted the frame as by myself, in that process I painted over the chassis number and the surveyor had refused to do the claim till the chassis number thing was sorted out. Once this was out of the way, number two was that one particular part was taking a lot of time to come and that was the tank side panel, so me and the guys decided to go ahead and ignore that part.

Cheers,
Dhruv Shetty

Contd.

[Dhruv Shetty]

A few city rides

Did a few late night rides and one early morning till the bike went in for a service, as I did not want to stress the cooling system because it was heating up very quickly. So I had booked an appointment with Zenngine for 12th of March as Tali would turn 9 on 13th March, but it got pushed to the 19th as the team had gone for a track day in Chennai. In the meantime I ordered the full hose set, thermostat and the metal coolant pipe more on the service part a bit later.

A bunch of Bachelor’s at Bachelor’s






A Sunday morning ride to Candies and met up with the Zenngine business partner and had a nice chit chat and breakfast, plus got to ride the 790



Two maniacs chilling together





A fine late night spin and some street Chinese.

First stop, some food



The eating place is in the Juhu bus depot. Tali got a some compliments from a man, he was surprised that the machine was 9 year's old



Somewhere in Colaba and the subtle yet gorgeous LS2







A very interesting ODO reading



On the return leg stopped by the restaurant which i was a part of, it shut just a year before the pandemic struck.













Contd…

[Dhruv Shetty]

30k service with a cooling system overhaul

As the bike was nearing 30k, I had placed an order for the hoses, thermostat and other related parts more than a week before the appointment, knowing that it is a 2014 Duke 390 and some parts aren’t readily available. Once all the parts were received from KTM Goregaon, on Sunday I was off to Mira-Road for the service, left home at around 10:20 and reached Zenngine at 11:05 am, by the time in arrived they had just opened up and were doing some cleaning and the usual set up and in the meantime, hung my helmet in a safe place, let my bike cool off, had a chit chat with the guys and admiring all the interesting bikes. At 11:20 Tali is rolled in for a long day of service, reconfirmed on what needs to be done and VIgnesh co-ordinated with another guy on what to do, handed over the parts which I purchased. At one point during the service i decided to sit with the bike while it was getting worked on, floor is pretty clean, after awhile Hussain bhai comes back from some errand and see’s four people sitting around the bike and goes “Kitne log ek bike pe kam karenge” (How many people will sit and work on one bike). There were four of us including me and a new joinee.


Bike rolled in




Oil is pretty dark, been ripping a lot when I see a clear road


Old coolant out (Engine ice)


More dismantling, every service both the front and rear brake calliper’s get thoroughly cleaned and the pins get greased, Plus Floor is so clean that you can sit down and watch your bike being worked on





Time for the old coolant pipes to come out, getting these hoses out was a pain, even the exhaust pipe had to be unbolted.



Old unit out



All the old hoses out and check how bad they were, turns out one hoses was ready to burst anytime.

Can notice the damage in the hose



Fresh hoses assembled, there is a design change in the metal t pipe. One of the hose I got from the SVC was the wrong one, so it was sourced and got it on time. There has been a design change in the metal pipe.

Can see the design change


New unit assembled


Meet ricky, the most senior technician doesn’t bother to move even if a bike is being rolled in or if he is in someone’s way


Zain (the owner) personal bike a sweet Triumph Daytona which is used only for the track.




Water pump cover has been opened for the first time in 9 year’s, all the necessary seals and o-rings were changed






Even this water pump fin (fan) had been changed.


Looking at the Duke without it’s radiator looks weird. Radiator was thoroughly cleaned.




During the assembly, one of the grommets holding the radiator broke off, so a new one was ordered and luckily it was available.

Can see Vignesh grinding off the old grommet off as it was seized.




Everything bolted back together, all the fluids were filled including flushing out the old coolant from the engine, once this was done fresh coolant was poured in. Went with Maxima coolant this time.





And a new radiator cap has been installed.(forgot to click a picture of the new cap)


After all the PDI was performed, reset the service interval, bike was hooked to the Texa diagnostic tool to scan for any faults and cleared them.





Everything got wrapped at 8 pm, so basically it was a date with my bike and emptying my wallet. The business partner had come to check up on stuff and was shocked and reconfirmed If just did a service or something else, he also has a 1st gen D390 and a 790. His D390 and my D390 are of the same registration series.

Post service and a stress testing for a week taking it to work in JVLR peak hour traffic, now it was holding up pretty well, matter of fact even the fan was working better compared to before. Rode it in bumper to bumper traffic for about 45 mins and it held up well. So as usual I am impressed with guys from Zenngine.

Final bill =10k

An update for any 2013/2014 390 owner’s who want to get their wiring harness changed, now KTM has stopped the production of 2013 and 2014 390 wiring harness production. Now only post 2015 manufactured bikes wiring harness will available, on top of that even the ECU will have to be changed along with the harness.

1km before 30k


And here is 30k


Until next time

Cheers,
Dhruv Shetty

[VijayAnand1]

Dhruv, a stitch in time saves nine, is the quote that I am reminded of. Timely maintenance is very key and this falls doubly true for the 390. I have a question to you, Engine Ice vs Maxima, how well do think the Engine Ice fared when compared to your old coolant before swapping to Engine Ice and now to Maxima.

As always, a great byte from you.

Cheers!
VJ

[Dhruv Shetty]

Originally Posted by VijayAnand1

Dhruv, a stitch in time saves nine, is the quote that I am reminded of. Timely maintenance is very key and this falls doubly true for the 390. I have a question to you, Engine Ice vs Maxima, how well do think the Engine Ice fared when compared to your old coolant before swapping to Engine Ice and now to Maxima.

As always, a great byte from you.

Cheers!
VJ

Yes I agree with you, timely maintenance is the key for the Duke, plus mine is a 9 year old neglected piece (by first owner), keeping the age of the bike in mind, made a list of possible future part failures, so the these parts are on priority for change example the wiring harnesses, it is showing signs of failure.Engine Ice compared to stock Motul coolant, it keeps the bike cool in heavy traffic, once it touches 9 thousand kilometres it's effectiveness starts dropping. All in all i would pick engine ice and maxima over the stock coolant provided by KTM.

Cheers,
Dhruv Shetty

[Dhruv Shetty]

Update, ODO reading : 31,472

Here’s an update on the bike Time just flies, did not realise that 3 year’s has passed since buying and owning this wonderful machine, which is a love/hate relationship (emoji). I have learnt a lot about biking after Tali came into my life, the bike has completed 9 year’s on 13th March 2023 and now it’s
On it’s 10th year and few problems have cropped up recently, got them fixed and did some preventive maintenance along the way.

The two problems taken care of
After the recent expensive service and a detailed wash the bike started stalling, running very rough and barely staying on did some diagnosis, first rode a bit thought some water seeped in the throttle body and will solve the problem, did not solve anything. Next up had a chat with the guys at Zenngine about it and it came down to the spark plug. So ordered anew spark plug after going through the official part catalogue and asking ordered the part through Amazon. Before the spark plug arrived I borrowed the spark plug tool from a buddy of mine who has a 390. Once the part arrived I quickly changed into my work clothes and got down removing the required body panels and fuel tank. Once these were out of the way got the tool ready and out with the old, in with the new spark plug, put everything back together, fired right up without any problems went out for test ride, for the first 3 kms there wasn’t any issues but on way back home voila problem was back. One mistake I did was, I did not disconnect the battery. Decided to tackle the problem and think over it for the week and deal with it on a Saturday or Sunday, in this timeframe gathered all the necessary equipment and other miscellaneous items to check & clean the tank and throttle body. Once the weekend arrived and free from office duties, couldn’t wait to fix the fix Tali up and get her running again. Morning arrived, into work clothes and filled up stomach, tools out, mounted bike on paddock and got down disassembly, I have dismantled and assembled the duke so much that all the panel were off in 15 – 20 minutes including the main fuel tank. Then got down to remove the battery, air box and the hoses and connector’s which connect the engine and throttle body in very careful and calm manner, to my surprise I found the root cause to the problem a very dirty throttle body and I did the throttle body cleaning myself just 13k kilometres back.

Panels off and spark plug removal in process


Old and new spark plug



Assembled, after a failed test run



Everything out of the way





A very filthy throttle body and glimpse of the insides





State of the petrol after a thorough cleaning



Clean throttle body and panels chilling at home





Throttle body cleaned, buttoned up and assembled everything back together, freshened up a bit drank water, wore my helmet, shoes and off for a test run. Everything went well bike running smoothly and no stalling.

Ending with a succesfull test run with a view.



The second problem was taken care of when the bike was in for its brake fluid refresh, that was the bike would not hold charge when ridden at slow speeds and lower R.P.M’s and stood at one place for more than a minute. Somewhere in the 3rd week of May I was returning from work, stuck in bumper to bumper traffic, the low battery warning appears and after awhile the instrument cluster becomes a Christmas tree and dies 10 mins away from home, atleast is died front of Café coffee day. Call up the insurance guys to send a guy to jump the battery, while waiting for the RSA I was going through the thoughts of selling the bike by doing calculations and all. The guy arrives after 45 minutes on a Ather 450x jumps the bike and zoom back home. The next day, the battery is dead, did some thinking and decided to remove the aftermarket horn and put back the stock horn, gave the battery for charging to the battery nearby. Got the battery back from charging in the evening and kept it safely at home. The next day, booked an appointment with Zenngine for a brake fluid refresh and check the charging system.

Contd.

[Dhruv Shetty]

(Went in for a brake fluid refresh came back with extra work done)

Reached there at around 3:45 pm, bike wheeled in, job card opened and discussion on which brake oil to go for, chose Maxima 600 plus racing series (DOT 4) as my riding style is more on the hooligan side and do not want brake fade out of nowhere. After all the formalities dealt with, the brake bleeding machine was hooked on to the bike, this ensures that all the old oil is out of the system properly, it was beneficial in this case as I was switching from DOT 5.1 to DOT 4. Once the lines were clear, new oil was poured and system bled properly

Machine hooked up



Next up was to tackle the charging system issue, while the brake fluid refresh was going on we let the bike cool, so that to check the stator coil condition it’s temperature needs to be at 20 degrees
to check the resistance, the same was done for the rectifier unit just to be safe. After diagnosing the issue and came root cause of the discharge turns out it was the stator was toast, was going to postpone this job for the service as the left side engine casing would have to come out, but had talk with Zain and Vighnesh and decided to go ahead and replace the stator. The oil would be drained in a clean pan and reused, plus I was confident about as the working environment is clean and the oil would not get contaminated by foreign particles.

Oil drained out



Left side casing removed after some persuation with a mallet



Toasty stator coil





Insides of the casing was nicely cleaned up



New unit in and torqued



Oil being strained out and ready to go back in



390 scheming a plan with the 790 , later realized that this 790 belongs to Bhpian @Balenopower



Fresh stator in, torqued casing back on with a fresh gasket, the oil was transferred to a 2L jug by straining it to remove any foreign particles and poured back in the engine. Everything buttoned up, did a final check up with a volt meter and Texa diagnostic tool for any hidden errors.
Before going I was expecting a bill of 2k, but my wallet came back lighter by 5 thousand.

(Post brake fluid and stator coil replacement observation).
After the oil and stator coil replacement, the responsiveness and feel of the brakes has changed, once the oil and pads are up to temperature, the moment I tap the brake lever’s there is a instant feedback that the bike is slowing down without any drama, now the brakes don’t like a 2014 Duke, infact I feels like a 2016 Duke. Next brake pad change im going to experiment with Galfer’s, suggested by Zain.
One noticeable difference after the stator coil replacement is that the radiator fan which was barely working, now has started working properly as should.

Contd..

[Dhruv Shetty]

(Suspension overhaul and cone set)

Almost 1 month post brake job tackled the suspension and cone set part which was postponed by 2 months, booked an appointment 2 weeks prior and placed an order for the rear shock. I was given a choice of two rear shocks, one was the 1st gen or 2nd gen duke rear suspension, chose the later and paid the advance for the shock and surprisingly the part arrived on time. We were considering the suspension of the BS6 duke but had no luck procuring it.

Bike wheeled in to dry a bit and loaded on the ramp





Two 790’s chilling as a raincoat hanger and ZX-10R getting a WSBK replica kit




Front end dismantled and ready for the operation



Front forks fully stripped and letting out the old dirty oil. If a person wants their front suspension to work at its best and prolong its service, a good interval needs to be followed. I follow the 2years's or every 11 to 20 thousand kilometer interval, whichever comes first.



The fork components were inspected thoroughly for any damage and there was a slight ding in the left fork, it happened last year while returning from Gujurat, somewhere in Borivali I hit a crater which the left fork took majority of the brunt and one of the seals came undone.

After the forks the triple clamps were taken off, surprise surprise the main nut was not tightened properly and came off by hand, apparently it was worked on before so whoever worked on it did a ok job. Basically riding with a loose cone set all these three year’s.
Next was to remove the cone bearings, this took a lot of hammering and heat, a minimum of one hour was spent. Once it was out we inspected the bearings, the cone set was on it’s way out. Assembling it back took the same amount of effort except the heat gun.



Forks getting fresh seals, oil and dust caps. The orange seals are made by SKF which are used in the newer duke’s and are of better quality. They cost more than the standard ones around 1000 rupees for four.

Fresh oil, used Putoline HPX R this time.


All the seals and grease ready. A heat gun was used, so that the seals can be assembled with less effort and save time.


Seal in


Head bearings and triple clamp getting prepped and greased








Everything buttoned up, assembled and getting torqued to spec





If you look closer, one can spot a R1 front headlight on top, looks like toothless from the movie "How to train your Dragon"



After the front end was reassembled, the guys and me had our lunch break, had a nice chat about bikes while. The hot topic was about how tame and difficult it is to work on the KTM’s. One of them pointed out that in the BS3 bikes there is ample of space to work on, but down the line everything has become very congested and tough, example to do a valve clearance on the older guys the engine need not be dropped out from the frame. On the newer boys especially the ADV 390 (personal experience) a few panels, mount has to come off to change a clutch cable. Last point the power delivery, BS3 you feel the power, BS4 its there but not as wild and on the BS6 where is the power.

Front suspension height set for agility


Sweet looking fork legs, ceramic coated them and the rest of the plastic panels myself a month prior.





Time to move to the last item on the list the rear shock. Bike was strapped from the swingarm and the frame to do a safe replacement, while loosening the bolt it came off by hand, no power tool used, this is the same bolt I got tightened by KTM SVC the goregaon one, thankfully the 790’s don’t go here.

Getting prepped







Out with the old suspension



In with the new suspension



Comparison between the two. Chose to replace it because the spring and internals of the suspension had become weak. Few months back I had a discussion with Zain and Vignesh about this and suggested to replace it, because even if they set the preload, it would not make any difference.



Rear suspension getting torqued to spec



All assembled and off for a test run





After a test run, had a bit of chit chat with the guys got ready and accidently mixed up with my rain pant, apparently there were 2 more identical ones hanging on the 790, paid the bill, bid my short goodbye which was short lived just 200 meters, the engine light an d some weird noise from the front, turned back to the shop hooked it on to the diagnostic tool checked for codes cleared them checked it again, the rollover sensor error was popping back. Vignesh and I decided that the bike was rideable, so decided to head back home with the bike as it was close to closing time. I was assured that he and Zain will look into it over the week, as for the weird noise just observe it, the weird groaning noise was coming from the top left triple clamp area, the noise was there only for a week max after that it disappeared, the only thing which came up in my mind was, that it could be the cone set which was setting in.

The following week, I just put an appointment with KTM Goregaon for starter motor cable and rear shock flap protector, I even mentioned the part number for it, they accepted the appointment without even checking if they have the part. Reached in the morning, waited for awhile for the service advisor to accept the bike, after opening the job card he later tells me that they don’t have the parts in stock (faceplam moment),didn’t push any further. I just told him to diagnose the engine light and change the side stand, the stand had rotted badly and could break any day. They took the bike in scanned the system and found out it was a faulty roll over sensor, which I gave the go ahead to replace. After this the technician got down to replace the side stand, the side stand could not be separated from the bracket as one of the bolts was just spinning and refused to come out, all in all the stand, the bracket and sensor got replaced. The technician had asked me if I had changed the chain sprocket set from a local garage, because the main swingarm bolt holding everything in place was torqued to a 130NM, in told him yes with OEM parts. Little does he know that the Shop I give it to, they do a far better job than them, but the guys at KTM don’t get paid well for it, so can’t blame them. Being used to Zenngine environment where I am with my bike while it gets worked on, here at the service centre I was shooed away to the customer lounge. After all the work got done and bill paid went home and knowing that the bolts they loosened and tightened, they weren’t done properly, decided to go to Zenngine the next week to get all the bolts torqued to spec, but due to some work and family commitments it got delayed to the last week of July.


Riding observation after the suspension refresh

Compared to the old suspension and old oil, the ride feels more planted, the joint areas on the western express highway which I could feel in my back, now with the new suspension it does pretty good job by absorbing all the those ruts, uneven patches and the joint areas and make it little more comfortable and less stressful to ride above a certain speed and way of riding. Before while braking I could feel the rear of the bike lift and front diving, now both the rear and front suspension work in sync and harmony. But since this setup Is more towards the stiff side, on slower speeds I can feel the undulations and bad patches much more and the badly made concrete roads texture is more prominent compared to the old setup, it’s a trade I have deal with for better handling. Im yet to test it out on the open roads, on the beautiful old Mumbai – Pune highway, will post the observations in the coming days.

This is all for now,Until next time

Cheers,
Dhruv Shetty