Supertramp's First Day Out

The rapacious and feisty KTM Duke 390 was delivered to me on the evening of 26^th of November after a long 3 month wait. Finally it was time for me to hit the roads again and be at one with the tarmac. I didn’t have the opportunity the take the baby out for a spin right away and stretch her long legs. I had done some 200 KM odd in city riding when I had the opportunity to take her out for a weekend ride to Doley’s place in Mumbai. The old Pune Mumbai highway (NH-4) seemed inviting enough and the ghat sections in between and the escape from the monotony of the expressway added to the temptation.  Plus the ride would add to the running in miles that are much needed now.

Since the journey isn’t much of the subject, I will concentrate on the bike itself. I started from my place at around 0945Hrs primarily because I wanted to beat the horrible early morning Mumbai office traffic. I caught the Mumbai highway and kept a lookout for a Shell petrol station since fuel from the Shell petrol stations came highly recommended. After a tank full of regular unleaded I was ready to hit the road again and started towards NH4. Even at the pump station I (or rather the Duke) managed to draw looks from 3 other couples on bikes that had come to fill up. Immediately after catching the old highway that splits from the one that leads to the expressway, I gunned the Duke to 4500 rpm and shifted to 4^th, then 5^th, managing 75 odd kmph within 5000 rpm. The roads didn’t give me a chance to shift to 6^th cog then. The old highway, even though it was two way mostly, had enough traffic to slow one down at busy stretches. Plus at places it has this rumble strips kinda paint strips that literally jerk vehicles. After the traffic thinned out, I could finally shift to the 6^th and kept the rev steady at 4500 rpm. I was doing something like 90 kmph during that time. The Duke 390 really has long legs on the 6^th cog! Doing 100 kmph at an effortless 5000 rpm is really a boon for highway mile munching. During this run I did not encounter any windblast simply because I was not doing very high speeds. Some magazines have pointed out that above 120 kmph one can feel the blast on their face. There’s two ways to go about it – get a wind visor available at KTM outlets or keep speeds limited to 120 kmph. Given that most roads here do not offer the opportunity to do 120 kmph + at a stretch the wind blast issue shouldn’t be much of an issue in my opinion.

Coming to the bike itself, this Duke is not a mad character like the Duke 200. The 200 is completely crazy when it asks for gear shifts. In the bigger sibling the shifts are demanded in a more linear way. While the 200 can cruise at as low as at 2700 rpm, the 390 judders at 3000 rpm. 4^th, 5^th and 6^th are totally unusable at revs below 3000 rpm. I don’t know whether things will change after running in, but even if it does I don’t think the 5^th and 6^th cog would be sitting comfortably at under 3000 rpm. But I don’t mind. They were right when they said that while the 200 is a city traffic devouring ripper, the 390 is more like a highway hog. Not that the 390 doesn’t manage to rip in the city though. I was the fastest off the block at more than a few traffic lights. I will get a chance to test the hooligan in the 390 after a proper running in.

There is a default shift rpm set in for the first 1000 km and then for another 1000 km. The default shift rpm for the first 1k km is 7500 rpm and 9000 rpm for the next 1k km. Suits me just fine. So far I haven’t even crossed 5k rpm let alone 7.5 k rpm. After 3000 rpm the pull is like a turbo charger kicking in. The pull through all gears is effortless as long as the needle stays above that magic rpm. Flickability is just like the 200 with the Duke being able to change directions at whims of the rider. Credit goes to the same frame, the Metzelers and ABS. I don’t know how soft the Metzelers are, but I have no doubt that frequent running on concrete will eat away the rubber way faster than plain old tarmac. The ABS doesn’t kick in in low braking. But I had to brake hard in Mumbai traffic and I could feel the pulses of the Bosch ABS unit kicking in. Another thing about the brakes is that the rear doesn’t give me as much feel as it does on the 200. Maybe the pads aren’t biting yet or maybe the ABS is working, but I don’t feel that sharp bite in the rear disc. But the front one is delicious! Another thing about the rear brake:  under sharp braking if I happen to hit some undulation on the road there’s a clicking/clunking noise from the brake pedal. The same thing that I had come across on the 200. I have checked whether the pedal hits something, but its way clear of anything else. I think its got something to do with the master cylinder that sits right on top of the brake lever.

The highway sprint gave me an idea on how fast the Duke can effortlessly go. In my estimate 120 kmph on the 390 is a snappy affair without the bike having to break into a single drop of sweat. The engine also remains cools and isn’t a niggle at all. But when I entered the mad city traffic of Mumbai I could feel the heat of the engine as I crawled at 4-5 kmph. The engine temperature gauge also reached the upper echelons of the bars. Good thing the Duke has a radiator fan that runs if bike speed is below 7 kmph. But nonetheless the heat can be a bother during peak summers. Highways shouldn’t pose an issue though. Makes it imperative for one to keep a check on the coolant levels.

Another thing that I noticed during the run is the chain tension. It’s the same as the 200. The chain needing adjustments every 500 km, otherwise it tends to strike a bit too frequently against the guide and that gives a clanging sound every time one shifts or comes across bumps. I still have to get a Motul chain spray. The adjustment isn’t too hard. The manual gives a nice visual description and the tools required are there in the tool kit.

The digital console is the same as the Duke 200’s, with just an additional ABS kill switch. I am not too sure where I will find use of that switch except maybe when I need to negotiate slush. But even then I would like to have traction without wheel spin than with it given the soft nature of the Metzelers. The plethora of information given is something I still have to figure out. So far I have kept it on the factory default. But I would like to try out one thing though: the speed and tripmeter can be set to read in miles per hour and miles! Lets see how mph and miles on the speedo and odo look like!! And just like in the 200, I would have liked the tacho bars to be a bit more large. I would not mind a separate analog tachometer altogether. But no complaints against the console, it gives all info needed in a compact unit, in tandem with the styling and form of the bike.

There are a lot of safety locks on the Duke. Just to name one of them – the bike would stop if the side stand were down. It would start with the stand down, but the moment you slot into gear with the side stand still down, the engine management system would kill the engine. Pravin had faced this problem on his Duke 200. One of the screws activating the sensor had been loose on his bike. So even if the stand were up, the engine would die when he tried to slot into gear. I tried the same thing on my bike and found my bike also stopped under the same condition.

The bike is loud, much louder than the 200. In fact the manual carries a warning to respect the ambient silence of residential areas while revving the bike. The noise is the usual staccato of the Duke, with some people hating the exhaust note. I agree it’s not desirable as say, the Ninja 300’s, but at 5000 rpm, this noise becomes a throaty growl. The Duke makes no pretensions with a pleasing exhaust note. It’s a monster and that’s what the exhaust note says about it. It’s out and out a growling monster instead of a screaming banshee or a whining speed demon. There are after market Akrapovic exhausts available at KTM itself that costs a whopping 30k, given the exotic materials like titanium and platinum used in those exhausts. But I think I will stick to the stock exhausts. I like the trademark KTM under-slung exhausts too much to give up for even an Akrapovic. No disrespect to Akrapovic (they are fitted in most Dakar spec KTMs). One surprising fact is that idling is at 1500 rpm. I had thought that being a bigger engine than the Duke 200’s the idling would have been at a lower 1000 rpm range. 

When it comes to visual appeal, the Duke 390 is a head turner all right. No two ways about it. It doesn’t fail any time to turn heads at any intersection, at any petrol station, at any overtaking and at any parking. The orange wheels and orange frame add to it. But the rear wheel tends to look a bit dirty, unlike the black alloys of the 200. When parked it looks like a monster ready to spring at the next prey, and at traffic lights it looks like its ready to sling-shoot ahead of the pack. I hope the ‘Supertramp Wanderlust’ sticker at the rear attracts some more stares!!

Most people have asked me the fuel consumption figures, although I fail to see the logic in that when it comes to performance bikes. But I will agree in this case because that figure would give an idea of the range the Duke 390 is capable of given the tiny 11 litre tank. The low fuel level warning came up when I entered Pune on my return journey and at this point the tripmeter reading becomes 0 regardless of the previous reading. One can access the previous reading but after some time it becomes 0 again and starts the count afresh to give an idea on how far the bike would go till empty. There is also a secondary reading below the speed now – distance to empty – that varies according to riding styles. I got a reading of 50 km (DTE) when the fuel low-level warning came up. I filled up another Shell petrol station and by my calculations I managed a 33-34 kmpl on this trip. I am not too sure of this figure but confident that it isn’t below this because the attendant filled up a bit more fuel to make the bill amount even. This is a figure on regular unleaded. Shell premium supposedly gives more mileage, but I’m not going to vouch for that now. Going by conservative figures, if one sticks to sub 100 kmph and even 100 kmph figures on highway runs, a 280-300 km is not impossible. Since the bike is fuel injected, I don’t think aggressive riding would bring down the range by a sizeable margin. My best guess is a 260 km range under very aggressive riding. That makes the carrying of extra fuel in distant hill trips sort of a necessity. Time to get that cramster saddlebag out.

The LS2 helmet that I had got for the Duke is also another great piece of equipment. Fits very snugly and doesn’t give a feel of suffocation. The engine noise is gently perforated into the shell while shutting out much of the ambient noise. A good buy I must say.

Another 350 odd km and it will be time for the first service. Probably after that I will plan a short trip to Alibag or some other beach and will try opening up my baby to around 6500 rpm. When I arrived home, I was fatigued or anything, even after tackling the hilly terrains in the dark where one needs to concentrate more. I was fresh as a pansy at the end of my journey. The riding posture, the wide hydro formed handlebars and the easy handling deserves credit for a comfortable riding experience, even with the hard suspension setup. Be back after the second 1000 k km, for the real growling KTM fun to be unleashed!!

Now then, who’s up for the next west coast ride?