KTM Duke 390 as upgrade

[abudabi]

Hi guys

First time poster here. Have come hunting for info on my twister before (thanks for the awesome contributions) but now I need to ask a question.

So the subject and 1st paragraph sums up where I come from and where I'm intending to go to

I tried searching but only found info of a few years old. I believe the 1st few generations of the Duke had some issues but they have been sorted... Correct?

Any 2018 or 2017 Duke owners out there that can comment on problems or can give their experience of owning one?


Thanks all!

Ps. It will be used for my daily non highway commute in jhb.

[BloodLeshen]

I don't know much and just bought a Twister for obvious reasons. However I did look at options as well.

It seems like a nice bike. It looks very good but I would almost rather go for a Honda NC700x which should be at the same price range?

It just seems like a better bike over all. better value for money if you compare them head on on paper.

edit: I only looked at the older versions closer to my price range so cannot comment on the latest models at all

Oh and welcome^^ sorry

[abudabi]

Hehh.. no sweat.

Yeah I read your "Lets buy a bike" thread. You won't go wrong with the twister. I've been happily served by mine for a few years now. Congratz!

Yeah was looking at the Honda, but the duke is R75k whilst the NC750x is R101k which takes it out of my budget.

[BloodLeshen]

Hehh.. no sweat.

Yeah I read your "Lets buy a bike" thread. You won't go wrong with the twister. I've been happily served by mine for a few years now. Congratz!

Yeah was looking at the Honda, but the duke is R75k whilst the NC750x is R101k which takes it out of my budget.

Thanks man.. Wow I did not know the new prices were that high. Ok yeah that explains the reason clearly. Good luck. I will see what the experts say here about the 390

[AMZ]

I am reasonably sure KTM will have sorted their teething issues with the 390 by now and I have heard there is a 390 Adventure on the way as well. I am just not sure if a 390 is a big enough upgrade from the Twister.

If you look around, there are quite a few NC700/750's available at R75k. Roughly 3 years old with less than 20k km's. They may be worth a 2nd look.

[abudabi]

Yeah I saw the spy shots of the adventure. The new 790 seems an incredible machine with great tech (bosch's cornering ABS) that will be a worthy upgrade, but alas.. R150k

[KingMikel]

The new 390's seem to be fine, the insufficient waterways in the head were resolved in the new revision.

That being said, I'd honestly go with a BMW 310 for a 1st bike.

If it's your 2nd bike, rather go for a 2nd hand NC or go for a Versys/Vstrom. The latter 2 actually have some kick. The Twister will pretty much outpace the NC (Not really but they're both dogs)

[D3x!]

The new 390's seem to be fine, the insufficient waterways in the head were resolved in the new revision.

That being said, I'd honestly go with a BMW 310 for a 1st bike.

If it's your 2nd bike, rather go for a 2nd hand NC or go for a Versys/Vstrom. The latter 2 actually have some kick. The Twister will pretty much outpace the NC (Not really but they're both dogs)

your face is a dog

the twister will not outpace an nc :/

[KingMikel]

your face is a dog

the twister will not outpace an nc :/

I did say not really, but the kick one gets from riding a 390 is far greater than an NC. The NC is only good as a commuter. All it offers is a really dull and unentertaining ride.

[D3x!]

I did say not really, but the kick one gets from riding a 390 is far greater than an NC. The NC is only good as a commuter. All it offers is a really dull and unentertaining ride.

sjoe the hate is real

[abudabi]

The new 390's seem to be fine, the insufficient waterways in the head were resolved in the new revision.

That being said, I'd honestly go with a BMW 310 for a 1st bike.

If it's your 2nd bike, rather go for a 2nd hand NC or go for a Versys/Vstrom. The latter 2 actually have some kick. The Twister will pretty much outpace the NC (Not really but they're both dogs)

Hmm.. thanks for the suggestions. Busy checking them out. They have smaller engines but seems equally capable and falls within in the budget. Can't say I like the bmw colours though. The VSTROM only has the 250 (lanching soon) and then the jump to the 650 which out of my budget.

[Harvs]

As an upgrade for non-highway use, do you really need to upgrade? The difference between 250cc and 390cc isn't that big, and being non-highway the gains in speed/power might not be a good thing or required.

I've got the older generation 2015 Duke 390 and was plagued by coolant overheating issues, haven't heard of the newer models having this problem, but I think they use the same fan and shroud which i threw out for an aftermarket unit (SPAL fan) on my bike.

[AMZ]

I did say not really, but the kick one gets from riding a 390 is far greater than an NC. The NC is only good as a commuter. All it offers is a really dull and unentertaining ride.

I am not at all sure that this statement is correct, but then, how we like our bikes is a very personal thing.

[abudabi]

Went to go ride the duke over the weekend. Very nice... feels so light and nimble. After that went to BMW to try out the 310 but they didn't have their demo unit available
A friend of mine has semi convinced me to look at low mileage 2nd hand bikes too.... which obviously creates a plethora of new options for me to look at (BMW 650GS or even 700GS / VSTROM / NC750X etc.)

Oh the choices!

[Hitman]

I tried all of the KTM road bikes, including the 790 when it launched. Only the 1290 adventurer stirred some excitement. The 790 felt plasticky and was like going about on a gokart. If I was in your shoes, I would stick with what you got for your type of city commutes for now until you can later afford to spend bobs on a new all rounder bike that you could comfortably use on motorways and fun times over weekends.

Sent from my X9 Mini using Tapatalk

[rnm1]

As an upgrade for non-highway use, do you really need to upgrade? The difference between 250cc and 390cc isn't that big, and being non-highway the gains in speed/power might not be a good thing or required.
...

I think it's still an upgrade. More base models tend to have smaller
engines and often as you go up, they also get better equipment and
then some, it all depends that being loosely put.

It isn't just about displacement right?


The KTMs do seem really great, for myself, it didn't make sense for
me with it being my only bike.

Having looked around a lot myself pretty much at anything the more I
reasoned and researched it:
There's a lot more choices at that price point outside of new. I
think you could do a lot better if you're open to that for your own
reasons.

With my considerations on all this, it didn't quite fit, but it was
close and there's really not a lot of them going around to act as a
tie-breaker with that.

I think there's a lot better value elsewhere, but for your
preferences. If it suited mine just a little bit more, it would have
been no contest in the end.

[abudabi]

I ended up not getting anyting and saving the moolah for a bigger upgrade later next year.

[AMZ]

I ended up not getting anyting and saving the moolah for a bigger upgrade later next year.

[rnm1]

Nice. I was at RAD Moto yesterday looking around. I think the RC 390
is a lot more compelling than the 390 Duke now and that's with me
changing my stance on a sports style bike at the last minute on that.

They had a 390 Duke with about 1500 KM going for about R10K off there
too for what that's worth.

[abudabi]

After suppressing the itch and saving some more, I went to collect my duke 790 on Friday.

The grin hasn't worn off yet. 😁