Living With KTM Duke 390 BS-IV (2017)

[sacbiker]

Ride to Dhanushkodi

I went for a long ride after a long time.
It was 764 KM to and fro.
The bike performed flawlessly except for slight pulsating feel during hard breaking. This was later diagnosed as steering bearing play. Initially, I thought it would be loose, so I tightened it, but then the play shifted to sideways and there is a play in the front end while cornering. Anyways it's 30000km in the odo and I have never replaced the steering bearing, so looking forward to get it replaced at the SVC.

The TFT was on its last leg and the direct exposure to sunlight during the ride made it worse, this have to be fixed sooner or later as it's getting close to impossible to read values.
There was no oil consumption during the ride.
The bike returned an average mileage of 29kmpl which is impressive. This included cruising mostly at 90-100kmph in TN roads and 70-80 kmph on KL roads.
Both front and rear tires have pretty much worn out with the rear one needing a replacement soon.

Tires were replaced 9500 km back, the rear would last another 1000 km and the front, maybe another 2500km.
As much as people hate Indian brands, rightfully so in certain cases, Ceat did an impressive job with their Zoom Rad X1 tires. Never once have I felt the tire lacking grip during hard accelerations or cornering. They hold the air pretty well too with minimal loss in pressure over time.

Lean angle achieved on the front tyre.
The oil also needs to be changed in another 600km, but it's performing flawlessly.

 

[sacbiker]

I decided to get the steering bearing replaced today at the KTM service center, Kollam.
It was a 2 hour job.

Invoice

473 for parts and 1065 for labour.
I also bought an oil filter and and an air filter for 343
In total, 260 in GST was paid for all of the above.

The bike feels a lot more controllable now. The front end feels planted as it should which is obvious.

While waiting for the work to be completed, I test drove the new Duke 390 and Adventure 390.
As with the Adv 390, the bike felt so slow, as if I was riding a Duke 250. Their test ride bike was supposedly a lot abused and that's why it was low on power. It had 30000km on the odo. The Duke 390 had just under 5000km and it was a sorted out bike. The moment I got in it, I felt at home, yes I intentionally wrote 'in' instead on 'on', we get a feeling that we are setting inside the bike rather than on top of it. It was just like sitting on my FZ. I could flat foot both my feet. The handle bar was also lower like the FZ. Add to this the new underbelly exhaust and low weight wheels, it felt like a 200cc bike. The engine is a lot more smoother and tractable. The power output was also impressive. I rode it in the Track mode and the bike got instantly familiar and easy to handle. There is also a pleasant whistling air intake sound.

I really wish to get this bike some day. But, it costs 4.06L on road here in Kerala, even if I sell my bike for 2L, I'll have to shell another 2L for it. And it doesn't feel worth doing all that. Plus, im not a fan of the new Duke's design as it feels 'overdesigned', more like how Mahindra designs their cars!

 

[sacbiker]

The TFT speedometer was given for fixing and while fixing it they broke the TFT glass. Right now, only half of the speedometer works.
KTM increased the price of the speedometer from 18000 to 30000. Due to this increase, third-party websites which were selling it for 5500 earlier like mysparemarket also increased their prices to 10000.
It felt like a d**k move from Bajaj/KTM. First of all, it's not even a well-engineered product; it's cheaply made by JNS India with third-quality components. Second, it's not at all repair-friendly, and they expect a part replacement when the display fades.
Then, the part is particular to the 2017 bike, as the ABS is connected to it, and the ABS will not work if the speedometer is not connected.
I am not going to pay 30K for a new crappy display anyhow, It makes more sense to prototype and design a speedometer!

 

[sacbiker]

Oil change disaster.
It's been 3600 km since the last oil change. Since I was free this weekend, I decided to change the oil. While putting the drain bolt back on after draining old oil, the drain bolt cracked in half. It's made using an aluminium alloy unlike the bottom drain bolt which feels like steel.
Thankfully, I was able to drive it loose by using a drift and hammer.
This part costs Rs. 60 and as far as I remember I have never replaced it. I suggest everyone to replace this if it looks bad. Had it not come out, it'd have been a task to get it off.

The condition of the drained oil was not so bad considering it ran 3600km. It was dark brown but it retained its viscosity.

Cracked like a biscuit.

New drain bolt from KTM Kollam. Such a high performance engine can do with a Rs. 48 drain bolt. The drain bolt and washer of a Tata Harrier costs Rs. 1000.

Oil level after riding 10km. Used 1.75L of new oil (Castrol Power 1 Ultimate 10W50 Sports Bike).
The old oil filter was amazingly still in good shape. It could easily last 4000km.

Total cost of service was about 1100.

I was recently talking with my friend about upgrading and prospective big bikes we could get. Nothing under 10L made any sense as an upgrade. If anything, the CBR 650 or a Z900 would be an 'upgrade'. The Z900 again is a naked which is a huge turn off. It's impossible to sit on a naked after 120kmph.
I am looking for used CBR650s if any for under 5L if it's outside KL reg, and under 6L if its KL reg.
TBH, the 390 doesn't feel low on power or anything, it provides more than enough power on twist of the throttle and I mostly ride it in its 50% potential. It's currently daily driven, 34 km a day. It returns about 26kmpl which is satisfactory. Consumable spare parts are cheap including tyres. Insurance is cheap as well.

 

[sacbiker]

It's been 3 months without any troubles and I was bracing for something to go bad eventually. As expected the bike was shutting off randomly at low RPM and the RPM used to go high for few seconds during cold start. Initially, I thought it was normal warm up procedure of the ECU.
But, I decided to do the ECU reset by disconnecting the battery. The idle learn procedure was done by disconnecting the FuelX.
After connecting the fuel X back, the bike had a check engine light. On scanning the ECU, following codes were obtained.

I tried clearing them only to find them coming back in a few km. I disconnected the FuelX and let the bike run for a week, it ran perfectly fine without any issues or check engine light.
Therefore, it was obvious that the fuelx is acting up, I contacted Powertronic support since it had a 2 year warranty. Straightaway they told me that it's most probably the O2 sensor which had gone bad. As per them it can die in 7 years /30000 km.
Yet, they asked me to send the FuelX module to their office in Bangalore to check it. As of now, they are testing it.
I asked them how it can be narrowed down to an O2 sensor issue when the bike is running fine all by itself and the error pops ups only when the FuelX module is connected.
Their reply.

I still don't understand what they meant by this.
Following are the graphs of O2 sensor outputs with and without FuelX connected.

As you can notice here when the Fuel X is connected, it's modifying the STFT (Short term fuel trim) outputs in an erratic manner that it climbs all the way to +25.
Higher STFT means the ecu is sensing a lean mixture and trying to compensate it with more fuel.

I'm keeping the fingers crossed on FuelX as they said it would take another 3 days for them to test it.

If they conclude that the FuelX is alright, I am looking at an O2 sensor replacement. It's not the cost of if, but it's really a pain to pull it out as the radiator needs to be removed in order to access it.

Current graph without FuelX

The decrease in the low end performance can really be felt without FuelX.
I have also bought a 3M 4 stroke motorcycle engine oil additive for the bike as I felt the gear shift smoothness have gone down a bit after completing 1500km with Castrol Power1 Ultimate.

3M™ Oil Additive has proven performance in Fleet and American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) tests. Our oil additive's friction-modifying technology reduces valve train wear more than oil alone. It also reduces wear and tear on critical engine components.

Meanwhile, I had also bought a pair of HJG fog lights and fork clamp from an online store sarkkart based in Karol Bagh, Delhi online. It was a crappy experience since one of the light's fan was not working. I had to manually send it back to them via post for a replacement, which took a long time. The replacement was also not perfect as the clamp was not the original one and size was too big for the light. For anyone looking to buy accessories, stay away from sarkkart. They have so many fake reviews in Google and insta.

I have to get the wiring down manually and get this fitted next week hopefully.
I am also planning to give the bike out for a timing chain, tensioner and valve stem seals along with clutch plates replacement during the next service. The tensioner is a ticking bomb in this engine and it can fail anytime.

 

[sacbiker]

So much happened with the bike last month.
After removing the FuelX the bike was running fine without any check engine light. A week goes by and the check engine light comes back.
I then removed the 02 sensor and cleaned it.

I had to loosen the radiator screws and let the radiator hang on the coolant piping to remove the O2 sensor. It was
stuck and required a few strikes from a hammer on the spanner to loosen it.

The O2 sensor also had the same whitish compound seen on the park plug last time.
Had it been oil-burning, this would have been black and wet.
Last year, when I cleaned the O2 sensor of my car randomly, it was also the same white color, Check here.

Spark plug after cleaning.
This did not help, and the check engine light kept coming back. At this point, I was sure the O2 sensor needed replacing.
Around the same time, I got a message from Powertronic that they had tested my FuelX module, which I had sent them for warranty. They found out that it was also not working as expected, so they are sending me a replacement part. They told me that the FuelX was not sending the right signals and that my bike could have been running richer than ideal AFR.
I am clueless now! Was it the faulty FuelX that killed my O2 sensor?
Anyhow I am looking forward to get it changed as soon as I can buy the part. Meanwhile, I had retired the 390 and I am using my FZ. I need to detox the power craving for a while and ride a slow bike to appreciate the power of 390 again.

At about the same time, I also got the second replacement of HJG mini fog lights from Sarkkart. This time, they did not ask for a replacement and sent me a new single-piece fog light. Since today was the Christmas Holiday, I spent the whole day getting it fitted on the bike. I got some custom wiring done instead of purchasing a wiring kit since I wanted to get the power switch from the bike's accessory port, which powered on only when the key was on.
Here are some photos of the bike with fog lights installed using the fork clamps from HJG LEU.

My primary goal was to somehow incorporate the fog light with the design of the bike so that it doesn't look odd or stand out.
The final alignment is not yet done.
I will write a separate post on the light upgrade and you can read it here.