KTM Duke 390 teaser surfaces; 25th June could be launch date

The launch of the KTM Duke 390 is scheduled in June. This is information straight from a certain Mr Rajiv Bajaj. However, an exact launch date is yet to be announced for the hotly anticipated motorcycle, prompting feverish speculations across the Indian motoring blogosphere. Adding some more fuel to the fire, a teaser image of the Duke 390 has found its way onto the interweb. The teaser shows June's timeline with the 25th day circled and inevitably, this circling has led to a fresh round of speculations suggesting that 25th could be when Bajaj Auto and KTM will launch the Duke 390 in India. 

After India, the Duke 390 heads to Nepal and Europe. The motorcycle will be built by Bajaj Auto, at its Chakan factory of Pune. A heavy amount of localization is expected to result in a competitive price tag for the Duke 390. An ex-showroom price tag close to the 2 lakh rupee mark is what's expected of the Duke 390. The motorcycle, KTM's flagship product for the Indian motorcycle market takes forward the street fighter theme with its naked bike styling. Visually, there's little to differentiate the Duke 390 from the Duke 200 or for that matter the Duke 125, save for orange alloy wheels and different tank stickers. 

The major differences lie under the skin though. The Duke 390 is powered by a 373cc four stroke-single cylinder engine, which is said to be an all new block, quite distinct from the Duke 200's 200cc motor. The Duke 390's liquid cooled engine runs a 4 valve-DOHC layout and comes with an all new gearbox, with the taller 6th gear making for a more relaxed highway demeanour compared to the frenetic acceleration of the Duke 200. The Duke 390's engine outputs 43 Bhp-35 Nm, and these figures coupled to a 139 kilogram dry weight, give the motorcycle a considerable power to weight ratio of close to 300 Bhp/tonne. 

Expectations around the Duke 390 are high and a few positives are already emerging even before the launch, as Bajaj Auto and KTM are offering the India-spec Duke 390 with ABS and sticky Metzeler tyres as standard. The idea is to differentiate the KTM Duke 200 and the Duke 390 to justify the 2 lakh rupees+ price tag of the latter. Dubbed to be the four stroke version of the Yamaha RD350 in an Indian context, motorcyclists across India are impatiently waiting for the launch, arguably the biggest two wheeler launch of the year in terms of anticipation and excitement. Going by the latest teaser,  the Duke 390 doesn't seem to be too far away. 

Teaser courtesy KTMIndia on Facebook