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A ride to Penukunda fort on my 2025 KTM 390 Adventure

5th May 2025, 19:00 by R Patil

Since I have bought the bike I am having sleepless nights just in excitement to ride it and of course finish the 1st service and see how it is in it un-bridled form

BHPian masterChief007 recently shared this with other enthusiasts:

Since I have bought the bike I am having sleepless nights just in excitement to ride it and of course finish the 1st service and see how it is in it un-bridled form. So trying to rack up the service limit miles, decided to do a Penukonda fort ride. Purpose was pure riding and non-stop riding experience of 300 km. So didn't take any coffee/tea/breakfast breaks in between. Only stop points were to click a few photos and drink some water.

Started off the day at 5 am, previous Trip 1 was reporting 28kmpl with 70/30 highway/city ratio (highway ~300 kms city ~150 kms) at 450 km total odo. This trip 300 km it gave around 30 kmpl with speeds mostly in 85-95 kmph ranges. With occasional 70 kmph sedate riding and a short burst at 110 kmph. I would say these are great numbers.

Also first time felt that the tyre noise is quite a bit at 90+ kmph speeds, as this time around I had my LS2 Storm 2 in place which reduce the noise from the stormy winds outside . The quickshifter works very well when going up or down the hairpins, though I do 90% of my shifts manually, when there is too much going on this is a good option on steep sections, as pulling the clutch and engaging the new gear time difference is reduced down to almost zero. But since I don't want to loose any skill learning, I was shifting manually.

There were 100s of bikes parked and people taking reels etc on the road, I went to the top, and parked it and drank some water and switched the engine off after it ran 150+ kms non-stop. After 5-10 mins started my ride back. 21 inch front I am not used to so held myself back from leaning too much. It is a skill and confidence I will gain more and more I adjust to the bike, but just off the bat, the 19 inch setup in such cases will be more easier to get adjusted too.

Some notes/observations based on this ride:
1. Buzzing noise after fixing the new number plate, I think they will tighten the screw/add some padding if I complain.
2. Tyre noise at 90+ kmph speeds, it is a bit loud but not much of a deal breaker if you ignore - sort of when in childhood bicycle is under inflated you get some noise, that is the nearest I can explain the sound.
3. 21 inches needs getting used to in hairpins during leaning, not worse than himalayan, but definitely 19-17 inch setup will be more intuitive.
4. Some noise from engine (?) - I have to keep my ears open for this. Observed it when bike was idling at top of penukonda fort. Not the valve/tappet clatter but with more bass tok-tok-tok sound, forgot to record this time !!
5. Some sound from the front tyre? - When pulled in my clutch and at slower speed, some sound was coming from front tyre. Ignored after found a stone stuck there. But have to look for this too in my next ride.

Finally some narcissism with my twin (same orange accent on both of us ):