PowerPig! KTM Duke 390 - October 2014

deville_56 · Mar 5, 2015

Decal'd

. 3 layer handcut [:D]

Sam Dinkar · Mar 7, 2015

deville_56 said:

Does that means the Dukes are being ridden the way they should be [lol]

deville_56 said:

Ha ha!!

deville_56 said:

It takes care of the grime? I am not sure if it is the correct way. I use a toothbrush dipped in diesel - washes away everything.

deville_56 said:

Lovely ones. Feels like New Zealand. Shall ping you when I'm in for the Dhanushkodi ride - that long promontory , is it still there?

deville_56 said:

Man, I tried the clutch on a showroom 390 and its a real killer. What did they do to reduce the effort?

deville_56 said:

Heard they are advising against using the 300V? True? Why?

deville_56 said:

Spark plug? So early? Why?

deville_56 said:

As Dilip Bam said - you can't buy an Arabian stallion and feed him on a donkey's diet.

[cheers]

Cheers for the miles ahead!

deville_56 · Mar 7, 2015

Sam Dinkar said:

Not the way they are supposed to be. Lots of immature monkeys, mostly underaged, don't even know to ride a splendor, rides most of these. One such monkey hit a friend's Amaze and police men came for FIR said more than 90% of Dukes registered in Trivandrum got accident case registered in City Traffic Station alone. These monkeys shows off, rides reckelessly, many times I felt knocking them off.

This Year eve alone 30 +/- Dukes had accident and the repairable ones are the cause of delaying the service for poor souls like us. SA said 10 chassis came last week, 20 more ordered. Each one will take minimum of 3 days for transplanting parts from old chassis to new one. Almost all parts are out of stock because of the innumerable accidents happening.

Sam Dinkar said:

Bajaj manual says use SAE90 gear oil every 500-600 km and use chain lube for better results [surprise]

Still using chain lube only.

Sam Dinkar said:

Yamaha says no diesel/petrol/whatever, only chain cleaner. Bajaj says wash with pressure water and clean with chain cleaner. I spray little bit of diesel on grim and tar, sometime WD40, wait for a few minutes and then sprays water. Cleans like brand new. Vichu gave idea of spraying diesel. I took to next level with WD40, both not recommended for O-ring chains, but never failed in all these years on FZ.

Sam Dinkar said:

Dhanushkodi is flat beach, never seen any promontory there. Varkala got a cliff. Trip was just for joy of riding and all photos from a rider POV and not an explorer's, so not worth writing a travalogue and most scenic places missed as we didnot stop to click. Moreover, we did not go to real scenic places in Dhanushkodi as it was cloudy and not safe leaving bike in odd place.

Sam Dinkar said:

Many ownership reviews saying clutch eases with km and services. New 2015 model comes with slipper clutch and even lighter.

Sam Dinkar said:

300v is famous for causing header leak in most Indian bikes, don't know the rocket science behind it. One of Duke's major issue was header leak [;)]

Sam Dinkar said:

Book says every 5k km. Following book till warranty expires since it's not bullerproof and known for troubles.

Sam Dinkar said:

Aniruthan · Mar 16, 2015

Hi buddy,
Sorry to join the party a bit late. What a crisp ownership thread with zillions of pics. Hands of for that buddy [clap]

. This is one heck of a buddy. Congrats and choice well made. Well even though I dont own one but saw a few positive and negative reviews buddy. My main enquiry is about the warm start issue. When the bike gets hot and you shut the engine down does it struggle to start back on? Any idea of what is the reason for this buddy. Rest all are small minor issues rectified I guess so but does the starting issue exist. Anyways buddy congrats for your bike and wishing you loads of happy miles in it.

deville_56 · Mar 16, 2015

Aniruthan said:

Hi buddy,
Sorry to join the party a bit late. What a crisp ownership thread with zillions of pics. Hands of for that buddy [clap]

. This is one heck of a buddy. Congrats and choice well made. Well even though I dont own one but saw a few positive and negative reviews buddy. My main enquiry is about the warm start issue. When the bike gets hot and you shut the engine down does it struggle to start back on? Any idea of what is the reason for this buddy. Rest all are small minor issues rectified I guess so but does the starting issue exist. Anyways buddy congrats for your bike and wishing you loads of happy miles in it.

No starting issue till now, both cold and hot. Think it's also sorted out. No idea of reason.

deville_56 · Mar 21, 2015

I was not a great fan of ABS or never thought it was necessary until yesterday. I was doing 70 in an empty straight stretch and a beggar crossed the road out of nowhere in an Activa. Slammed the brakes by reflex. Before I could start thinking, swerve left or swerve right or go save me or where did the idiot came from, it stopped beautifully. 70-0 in less than 50 m and a blink of an eye. ABS+Metzler is fantastic.

allhyundaicars · Mar 21, 2015

I too faced a similar situation and just because of the ABS i can ride it above 100kmph on empty roads [:D]

My friend's bike fell on its own, The side stands nut became loose [confused]

don't know if vibration caused this or what, his side mirror and the guard was broken.

And since the stand was loose he had to tie the stand with a rope so that bike could be started. So just as a precaution , take a look at the stand's nuts and bolts.

Ps : there are lots of vibrating plastics and we exactly don't know which parts(s) are vibrating.

deville_56 · Mar 24, 2015

Random pix.

Search of cost effective chain spray went in vain. TriboCor was the most affordable one, but review was not great. It drips and have to leave overnight to settle down. Price was around 325 for 500 ml, but was not available here. Affordable better options were Yamalube and TVS Truspray, which costed around 400 and 300 respectively, but both Yamaha and TVS dealers didn't have stock. Finally settled for Motul. One of the best, but the cost was more and not VFM. 560 bucks for 400 mL. Yet to try.

allhyundaicars said:

So far no loose bolts, time to see.

Plastic vibration is there at certain rpms, finding which one was big fail. Gotta strip down and see which one.

P3T3R · Mar 24, 2015

I'm hoping to be a proud owner of a Duke 390 in a few days time.

deville_56 · Mar 25, 2015

Fresh nails. Suspect puncturewala's trick. 2 punctures [frustration]

P3T3R said:

Congrats

deville_56 · Mar 26, 2015

Washed and lubed [evil]

deville_56 · Apr 3, 2015

Know your bike. Always curious to dismantle and see stuff inside [evil]

Removed whole tail end to see the scope of fender elimination. No removal process photos as was too busy.

Removing headlight needed to remove 4 plastic rivets and 2 allen bolts, easier compared to FZ when it comes to remove full assembly, but FZ needs this only for changing the headlight assembly and height adjustment and bulb replacements can be done without removing, but Duke necessitates full removal for either of this.

Plastic rivets.

Allen bolts

Opened up.

Sealed headlight bulb.

Park light bulb is even covered and got 4 screws in odd location which can accomodate only short screw driver. Beam adjustment screw by the side, but which can be accessed only with headlight open and have to adjust and set back to see the beam. The whole assembly is pivoted for ease of work.

To my surprise, there was an accessory connector for expansion. Now I can add in a charging port without drawing extra parallel wiring.

It got a separate 10 A fuse also.

It is bypassed from battery saver and works with engine off.

This port connects to security system, which can be plugged in removing the empty plug. It's available in Power Part accessory in UK< not here. Cutting the wire in the empty plug immobilizes the bike, so adding an aftermarket system don't need cutting the OEM wiring. It's hidden behind fuse box.