- This topic has 25 replies, 17 voices, and was last updated 8 years ago by weeksy.
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New bike thread… Engine again… Orange again !
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weeksyFull Member
Well,
As you may have seen in the other thread, 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 🙂
Matt24kFree MemberEpic Fail. You appear to have applied logic to an irrational purchase.
Should have bought the 690 and proved how manly you are/scared yourself silly 🙂
I do like the idea of the 390 but just wish it was a 2 stroke but that’s the inner 19 year old in me.
Keep us updated on your thoughts during ownership please.robownsFree MemberI like it, much more likely than your Ducati to actually work when you go to take it out of the garage (from much experience).
weeksyFull Memberrobowns – Member
I like it, much more likely than your Ducati to actually work when you go to take it out of the garage (from much experience).
LOL thanks I think… My Ducati is spot on, honestly… works like a dream… Although completely the wrong bike for roads.
weeksyFull MembercokieFull MemberVery nice! I’ve always fancied a go on one of these.
Looks like there will be two mad men riding the country lanes North of Newbury. I’ll keep an eye out for you.jwtFree MemberI would very much like the RC390, you’re not really helping with this thread as my Mrs has made it more than plain I won’t be getting one……………
cyclelifeFree MemberShould be in chat forum
Why we talk about roadies here?
“Bike Forum”deviantFree MemberFun bike no doubt but i find stuff like that frustrating on the road, a 125cc is plenty for off road frollicks, a 250cc is arguably perfect but when i used to ride my CRF250 on road sections to get to greenlanes/byways it was sleep inducing….yes you can rag it senseless and stay within the speed limit but i found the novelty of this wore off after the first few rides….i have ridden the KTM 690 engine and its a peach, if road traffic laws become increasingly draconian then i can see stuff like that being the future of road motorcycling, i also recently rode a mate’s Yamaha XT660x Supermoto thingy that was great fun, not as pokey as the KTM but a reliable and time proven engine known to reach 100k miles and more….that would be my choice.
As for this:
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.
Pull yourself together man!….the 848 is a halfway house, a mere introduction to the full fat 1200cc series of bikes Ducati make….i have a Fireblade that rarely sees the light of day, it stays on paddock stands under a dustsheet and is to all intents and purposes a complete waste of money….but it weighs less than 200kg and has circa 170bhp….thats a power to weight ratio of 850bhp per ton….lol, try fnding a car with those stats that has total Japanese reliability and costs less than 10k….the rare days i do take it out and open the throttle in 2nd and 3rd gears the world goes into reverse and i start shrieking and giggling into my helmet like an 8 yr old child again, in that respect its priceless so thats why i keep it….bugger me life’s too short to be all sensible about things!
cokieFull MemberYou clearing haven’t seen our local roads.. I’ve seen bridges cross smaller rivers than our potholes. It wouldn’t be fun to ride these roads on anything bigger than 700.
weeksyFull MemberDeviant.
I’ve owned 5 XT660s. 🙂 all X models. I know them very well. I’ve had 52bhp out of them with cans, filters, PC3 etc.
I have the 848, it’s tuned and tweaked and gets used regularly on track, just back from 3 days at Portimao, so I don’t need the insane speeds.
I live in rural west Berks… the 848 is garbage here honestly.
grenosteveFree MemberNice bike.
I’m temped by the new 300/400/500 cc bikes. I’ve had 180bhp, 1200cc bikes, and while they’re fun, you cant use them and they’re expensive to run.
Wouldn’t mind a blast on a 390 duke.
benp1Full MemberI have a Fireblade, but its lunacy fast. It does 100mph in 1st gear…
Sometimes I wish I had my Street Triple R on the B roads, its still quick, but the gearing and occasion of the bike combined with the wide bars and riding position actually suit back road blasts a little better
On the fireblade I spend most of the time in 2nd and 3rd gear, I obviously use the other gears but when you’re having fun 4th and above are rarely used
I suspect its similarish for these two bikes
thisisnotaspoonFree Member*bookmarks thread for when Weeksy sells it to pay the divorce settlement*
weeksyFull MemberLOL Mrs Weeksy is cool now, she’s happy with the situation. It’s made better that she’s got the 848 on a trackday in <2 weeks at Rockingham, where she’s going to completely forget all about any issues !
cokieFull MemberOh, that looks lovely. Need some better photos!
I’m in the market for a new bike. I’ve had my heart set on the MT07, but should probably give this and the 690 a test.Premier Bikes in Didcot- are they good to deal with? Easy enough to arrange a test ride?
weeksyFull MemberSorry for the delay Cokie.
Speak to Darren and tell him I sent you over, he’s a top lad and very nice and helpful 🙂 They have a 690 and a 390 Demo bike, along with just about every other one possible in the range, I’ve resisted riding the 1290 Superduke just in case I need to then find £13,000
If you want to meet up when you go over, email is in profile.
I’d forgotten to update the thread, so here’s what happened since.
So today was 110 or so miles with crust on his superduke.
Now it’s run in a bit I’m getting a bit harder on the tyres, along with the throttle too.
This thing is just so light, so flickable and so capable it’s ridiculous.
Ok, so I chose the route with my bike in mind, but I never once felt under biked, not once did I need more grunt than I had and not once was I disappointed with the bike.
I absolutely love the thing, it’s just a cracking piece of fun machine to ride, completely real world speeds and real world performance.
Looks great, goes great, what’s not to like.
My mate also rode it while I rode his Superduke
Bearing in mind that I’m currently riding a very angry Superduke thats a big bike, the 390 was an extremely different ride, probably the polar opposite.
The bike is small in all proportions, you sit almost upright with your bum against the seat back, your arms bent and your feet slightly forward. As I rode it, the seating position reminded me of something, it felt very familiar, very familiar. Then it hit me, my office chair, its exactly the same position as sitting in my office chair with my arms on the rest. In fact as you can’t see anything directly in front of you unless you look down its like being on a quick chair.
There’s no vibration from the engine, the suspension is very compliant, the acceleration is gentle (its running in and not my bike) so its like floating along. You see cars coming up and don’t want to lose momentum so don’t shut off and just do them asap, same with corners, fuggit, I’m not shutting off so scoot round them – I have to say its very competent at them.
Its a fun bike to ride, it comes across as a happy bike, out for a laugh where as my superduke is angry and looking for a fight.
The build quality looks good, with nice touches. You can see where they’ve saved money by using chromed steel instead of the machined ally of the superduke but it certainly doesn’t detract from the bike, its a very impressive machine for the money. I reckon you could mod it to be a cracking looking little machine.
On the roads where Weeksy lives its in its element.
We then removed the rear shock to change the Preload setting from 1-6 which is ‘sport’ setting, but the rain has been here since so I’ve not tested it yet sorry.
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