This bike is certifiably insane
The KTM Duke 390,mad, crazy , fast and ruthless
44 Hp and 38Nm of torque figures aren't that impressive on the paper for an experienced rider, but for someone like me who has never ridden a bike with more than 25 hp suddenly gets to manhandle a maniac with 40+hp, it's fair to say I was like a fish out of water on this bike.
And, I am probably out of my depth to even come close to writing a review on a bike that is twice as more powerful than what I am usually used to in bikes.
So, I won't be comparing it directly to any of its direct competitors, that is because I can't compare it to any of them as I have never ridden any other 300-400cc motorcycles before this. So I would mainly stick to this bike's context alone rather than going around exPloring its segment to compare it with something.
So let's get the usual stuff out of the way
This bike is designed and engineered by an Austrian motorcycle manufacturer and a Moto GP constructor KTM and they sell this bike as DUKE 390 a naked Street version of a Faired sports bike RC390.
This bike is designed and engineered by an Austrian motorcycle manufacturer and a Moto GP constructor KTM and they sell this bike as DUKE 390 a naked Street version of a Faired sports bike RC390.Now that that's out of the way, let's get to the juicy stuff .
FIRST, ENGINE AND GEARBOX
As I have mentioned earlier this bike produces 44hp and 38 Nm of torque but what I haven't mentioned is, that these numbers are produced by a 373 cc (22.77 cu in) single-cylinder DOHC 4 Valve, liquid-cooled engine. Then why is this motorcycle called a '390'? Don't know, don't ask..probably KTM doesn't either.
The job of Transferring the torque and power produced by this engine to the rear wheel is handled by a 6-speed manual gearbox via slip assisted clutch. And the gearbox works really well, although the clutch action is a bit weird to get used to as the clutch has quite a resistance to it, not too bad or unmanageable, but the biggest issue to get around is the clutch biting point as it's far too long and bike refuses to make a move until the clutch is fully released which makes it quite difficult in stop n go traffic. But once you learn how to operate it, it's barely a hindrance to an overall shifting experience of the bike. But the madness begins after the clutch is released, although this bike has a single-cylinder unit but this bike accelerated like a bat out of hell, it touches 60kph(37 mph) in 2.7 seconds and gets to a century (100kph) well under 6 seconds and goes up to its top speed of 170kph that's when it hit its limiter.
The engine is quite sedate before 4,000 pm but after 4,000 rpm engine wakes up violently and there's no drop in power whatsoever until it touches the redline of 11,000 rpm, and post 8,000 rpm the induction sound is just business, very reminiscent of a Porsche Boxter.And in terms of throttle response and throttle control, it gets a throttle by wire system which makes throttle very predictable and manageable despite having a very spiky power delivery, I felt having a wire by throttle made the acceleration more predictable around the corners, there was not a single scenario where I felt nervous on the throttle, it gave me enough engine response as I demanded from it, especially around the corners.
SPEAKING OF CORNERS IF THIS BIKE IS MADE IN A STRAIGHT LINE THEN IT'S MAGICAL AROUND THE CORNERS
On properly paved roads, there isn't a category or any shape of corner that this bike can't tackle, this bike prompts you to brake a little later, turn in while carrying more speed, increase the mid-corner speed and exit with more ferocity than the earlier corner, it just keeps on building the confidence from one corner to another, to an extent where my confidence exceeded my capabilities but at the same time I felt the bike was asking me to carry more speed and go a little deeper into the brakes while entering a corner, and while on the topic of brakes, KTM equipped this bike with 320mm front disc and 230mm rear with dual-channel supermoto ABS, and this has to be one of the finest braking systems out there after torturing those front brakes from corner to corner I didn't felt a hint of brake fade although rear brakes lack sharpness and initiate response but both front and rear provide excellent feedback and works like a charm.
To complement this excellent chassis, KTM Duke 390 with 110/70-17 front and 150/60-17 rear Metzeler tire, and the level of grip offered from these tyres is incredible, I approached a left-hand turn at triple-digit speed and chucked the bike into a turn while under hard braking without washing out the front and accelerated with the full open throttle and the rear never complained.
Despite being pretty much amazing in the handling department, but due to lack of proper damping and the suspension set up being quite stiff this bike still has some drawbacks, as it lacks composure during cornering on a bad surface or an unexpected road obstruction, bump or even a small pebble will through the bike of course and at worse sends the bike into a wobble.
And lack of proper suspension damping also hinder its straight-line stability on a half-decent surface, don't get me wrong on a properly laid surface straight stability is phenomenal on this bike there were few instances on a good where I had to re-check my speedometer to realise I was doing such speeds without breaking a sweat.
I would have ignored it if it was a sports bike for race tracks but being a street fighter it spends more time on public roads and traffic signals than on the pit lane exit of a race track.it has to be more composed on the bad surfaces and more forgiving in the corners.
How is it to ride normally on a normal public road?
Well... Everything that makes this bike special works against it during a normal commute, from having a long clutch bite to stiff suspension to an overly aggressive and peak engine response to an engine that likes to burn your feet to the stake, makes this bike a horrible prospect for a daily commute, especially in traffic.
But, once you learn to work around it and learn to tame that aggressive engine response there isn't a bike that comes even close to what this bike can do while tackling and navigating through traffic, as I've mentioned earlier this bike has an excellent chassis control, so to navigate this around narrow pathways between the traffic is like, second nature to it.
The rear suspension doesn't squat under aggressive direction change and acceleration, and most of the time the bike feel like an extension of your brain. Truly incredible what this bike can do when you learn to tame it.
To sum up this bike, I would say this bike is so good and inspires such confidence that in a hands of an amateur like me, it's just an accident waiting to happen.
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Comments (2)
Good write-up! But wait until you ride the 1290… 🤯
Thank you, means a lot, especially coming from you. Surely would love to get a chance to ride the 1290 but sadly we don't get that here in india.