Well, Today I bought a KTM 390 Duke. Apparently I had the green light from Mrs Weeksy yesterday, however it now seems she wasn't serious, so I'm properly in the bad books ! Not a lot I can do or say ..but... she ain't happy. Ooops. So I went to Premier Bikes in Didcot to meet up with Crust (more to come on that later) and thought I'd test a Duke 390 and 690. Reasoning was that the 848evo is WAY too much for the roads, too much for the local roads in particular, but IMO, just too much overall. The 390 seems fairly well stuck together, proper KTM graphics, orange frame and proper 'street-boy Gnar' going for it.. .ideal for an 18 year old kid... or indeed a 43 year old kid too. Sitting on it in the car-park I thought "Hmmmm it's a bit small"... But out on the road it's a great fit and you don't notice it's small. You do however notice it's light... very light. At 150kg it's about as light as it gets without getting silly... I'm sure swapping the exhaust and losing things like pillion pegs etc would drop another 5kg. Opening the bike up on the first bit and it's got a kick to it... more of a kick than I expected in all honesty, it has a powerband that comes in just about 6750rpm and gives you a good oomph in all gears. The bike lacks a little noise, but apparently the exhaust options are silly loud, so I think i'll be staying away from them at the moment. But you can certainly hear the single working.. right up to 10,500rpm, from a single ! Yes, that's a lot.. and it pulls nicely through all of the RPM range. 1st gear is a bit whimpy, but you can't have everything. In the corners, it's superb, gets round them really well. Coming out of them, you've got to be up in the 6000 range really, any more below that and it's not quite as responsive as you'd like. I thought things like overtaking cars etc may be a bit hard work, but in 3rd gear there's plenty of pick-up and power to get you past things with ease. I found myself wringing it's neck a little, but in all honesty, that's the whole intention, to get something you grab by the throat and rag.... Whilst I found the throttle stop a few times, I was hitting 80mph at this time and on the roads I was on, that was more than enough.. You simply don't need any more than that unless you're hitting A roads etc. But they're not where I live and not where I want to play. Apparently the fuel economy is up around 65mpg up to even 75mpg for some people at some times.. LOL.. You wouldn't know it by the way it goes. Lots of reports on the WWW are of the front brake being quite weak... Hmm. To be honest it's as good as my XT660's were. They're an Indian Brembo, made under licence. They work well enough for me, although take a few braking efforts for them to come into their own. New pads once someone like SBS make them should finish it off nicely, but in all honesty I don't know what peoples issues are. Gear changes are silky smooth and the slipper clutch on the way down through the box is fun www reports are of some issues overall with build quality, but all sorted quickly by dealers. However, as I've got a great relationship with my local KTM dealer, I'm not worried, they'll look after me. Overall, I got back and they handed me the keys to the 690, I handed them back and said "don't need them, i'll take it" Chose a new number plate, signed the stuff I needed to and away off to Bristol for Italian day I went. Mrs Weeksy is not my friend... if we had a dog, I'd be sleeping with it tonight I think.. the last part of the choice was White or Black.... I chose white. I've spent the last hour or so re-organising the garage, so both bikes have prime locations now... Happy
Interesting you say the 848 is too much for the road.... I thought it was regarded as one of the best road bikes and at 140hp not that powerful and perfect for the "real world"
MAy depend on where you live and where you ride, I live in a small village in crappy roads of West Berks. The 848 is horrific there, if you can get over 80mph then you're a riding God on my commute. The 848 I have has full Ohlins set up for track, the back end jacked up a bit and it's just not a 'nice' or indeed a fun bike. If I were riding it down the A4 to Bristol at 100mph + every ride, then heck yeah, it would be a great bike, but for where I ride and what I ride, the 848 just isn't right. Silverstone GP on the other hand
Had a go on a cb125r recently. Reminded me of my first car and trying to keep momentum up. Had good fun. The 390 looks good and imagine will give you the satisfaction of riding it at the bikes limit if you wish. I get frustrated on the 848 that it's capable of way more than I am. I'm thinking Hypermotard might be the way forward. I don't do 'hooligan' as a rule. Born to be mild. Had a sit on the new one on Friday, didn't dare go for test ride as I knew I'd have made an express reservation in the dog house.
I renovated an aprilia rs125 one winter and when finished I sold it before I killed myself,frigging mental,flat out everywhere.
I jump off the commute and on the evo and appreciate the difference. As much as I enjoy the commute, the evo is a lovely lovely thing. I can't say I will ever ride it hard, ability is long gone. However, the commute is at times a struggle. Power isn't there when at times it would be helpful.
Each to their own. Nice write up. Hope you enjoy the bike. The only drawback as far as I can see is that now you've bought the 390, you cannot ride the 690. Don't go near it. Don't even think about it. You're in enough trouble already.
I've ridden a 690 duke4, 690smr, 690sm Hence why it was an easy decision to not bother riding one yesterday, the 390 is THAT good!
Collected this morning Funny how you ride bikes a bit differently when they're not the Demo bike Bike IMO just looks brilliant... Lovley looking little thing. I absolutely love the wheels... All the bolts are not cheap Indian rubbish, basically they're all KTM bolts but sent to India to build. Tyres I wasn't expecting, they're Pirelli Diablo Rosso II, which are better than the Metzelers I thought they came with, happy with that. Brakes are fine and dandy. I'm running it in as per the book which means changing at 7500 as per the shift light on the dash. The good thing is that the bike has quite a long top gear so 7500rpm in 6th is over 80mph clock speed. due to the new rubber and the fact I had to get back to the laptop, I've not explored any of the handling yet as such, but i'll work on that over the weekend when the opportunity arises. The bike comes with 2 years warranty and also 2 years breakdown cover, which again, was a small bonus. The seat is a bit slippery... but I get the new seat later today as the delivery only arrived as I was leaving
I'm a big fan of the looks of the KTM 390. a mate of mine bought the 125cc version in India, caned it for a year with zero issues, liked it so much he has bought the 200cc now. I can totally relate to why you have bought it, I bet you have loads of fun on it. I find it so much fun to really have to work at maintaining momentum on smaller bikes, planning cornering and overtaking stratergies to minimise braking, you lose some of that fun on a big bike as it's so effortless to just wind on a bit of thottle. I had so much fun at the TT a few years ago on a borrowed Yamaha 125, keeping the thing wound up to try to stay up with everyone through the villages, didn't want to give it back when I left.
Looks awesome. Ive never been a fan of these style of bikes, having always had supersport bikes myself, but im getting more & more drawn to them these days! I wouldnt worry about the missus. When I bought my 996 I asked the missus if she fancied a ride out to Oxford. She thought we were going shopping. It wasnt until we got there I told her I wanted to have a "quick look" at this motorbike whilst we were there. Ended up spending a good 2 or 3 hours chatting to the seller, test riding the bike, then rode it home whilst she had to drive the car home. Never went anywhere near any shops! She wasnt best pleased....
I've never had the chance to ride a 400 sized bike, need to tick that box sometime as it looks like a right laugh. Lightweight is definately where it's at, 1199 is just right
Put some more miles in on it as I had to shoot back to the shop to take in a piece of paperwork. Also to pick up the new seat, which I have to say is just LOVELY ! bike is still spot on... Gear changes are silky smooth, very slick. Sadly due to changing up just as it's hitting the power kick, you really miss out on the first running in period on the power... But to be honest, it's not a major problem on the roads I've been riding. I'm bloody rubbish at cornering at the moment ... but again, part of that is the roads, part the fact I've not ridden on the road in about 8 months.. Certainly not the bikes fault. It's very quick to change direction due to the weight, or lack of it It's also great for manouvering in the garage because if you want to turn it round you simply lift the back end off the floor and move it hahhahaa.
Love ktm's (i have 525 that im supermoto'ing at the moment and had a 660 a few years back)...love the dukes....although i think id go for the 690 as i like the grunt!
