2018 KTM 390 Duke Review | MC Commute

hello everyone and welcome to another episode of MC commute my name's Zack and I'm gonna ride to my office today's show is brought to you in part by Sanna bluetooth makers of the new momentum helmet with integrated Bluetooth technology for an unrivaled audio experience Sena is a supporter of MC commute so to learn more about its products go to Santa comm or click on the link in the description of this video on today's show we've got KTM 390 Duke this is the littlest Duke we get here in the US of A there's a 690 Duke 790 Duke and of course the 1290 Super Duke and this bike kind of looks like it 1290 Super Duke doesn't it that's not an accident of course inside you get a three hundred and seventy three CC single and some pretty cool tech which we'll talk about in addition to its other brethren in the Husqvarna line and so forth so we got a lot to talk about we should really get going okay-dokey 390 Duke what do we got we got a 320 millimeter front brake rotor that's basically the same setup from the RC 390 43 mm meter upside down WP fork also familiar trellis frame progressive rate shock this cool webbed swing arm which ya all sort of rc390 stuff but obviously the 390 Duke you've got a little bit different style about it right one thing I think they did a great job with is this headlight situation the LED headlight it looks a lot like a little tiny 1290 Super Duke doesn't nothing did a pretty good job with that myself and we are ready to race to the office take-it acadec it to getting it again ready to go okay Coolio that's rad so 390 Duke in the end is an evolution kind of of the the original Duke from way back when was like the 90s or something I remember that weird sort of bug I think it was a 6:40 I think was the original Duke and there's a dupe - I don't know that's all sort of reaching back into the cobwebs of my brain but at any rate this little 390 engine came out in 2015 I think I think I might have ridden the RC 390 in 2014 but the 2015 model if memory serves it is a 373 CC single and yeah and pretty a pretty basic architecture nothing too fancy in there and of course it meets with the 690 Duke which is a 693 CC maybe single and then you got your 790 Duke which is basically an 800 parallel twin then you get your 1290 Super Duke which is of course that 75 degree 1301 CC v-twin so it's a pretty nice spread KTM Scot I think and they're all well potent in their own way I think the the 390 Duke really has the biggest shoes to fill in a lot of ways because living up to the Duke team in this day and age means being pretty spunky so I guess we're gonna find out just how spunky it is crap [Music] so structurally the 390 changed a bit in that update that they did recently was I think the wheelbase got shorter and it got a little bit less trail and what was the other thing that happened oh yeah seat height went up the seat height went up from thirty thirty one and a half two thirty two point seven maybe something like that which is pretty significant especially for a bike like this right because you think that they would want to make sure that it's approachable I think it's interesting that the seat height went up and they sort of squeezed the whole chassis a little bit and tried to make it even more pointy and agile which it didn't necessarily need but I have to say this one feels pretty good as far as organ Onix go I think it is a stellar little bike someone on the Instagram one of the many questions I got on social media about this bike was will it fit someone five feet tall I didn't actually wasn't able to find anyone that was 5 feet even but I talked to a girl my office who's 5 foot 3 and she's ridden the previous Duke sorry at the previous 390 Duke as well as throwing a leg over this one and yeah she said that at 5 foot 3 she still feels pretty comfortable with the size of it the weight of it so that's saying a lot and I think what Katie teen was probably trying to do there by changing the ergonomics a little bit raising the seat they put the pegs back a little bit and up a little bit I think just moved like slightly more aggressive is probably to help people not outgrow the bike while they're you know while they're riding it they don't want people to say oh man I really need a 690 after 6 months with the 390 before something like that so props to key TM for having that mind and as far as fitting riders over six feet tall I'm six foot two and I think it fits me really really nicely I like it I'm amazed actually that I don't think that the seats too low or that it feels too small it's actually just really comfortable I like the reach to the bars bar excuse me and I like the the seat to PEG ratio and obviously the seat height is not too tall for me but I think it's saying a lot that it doesn't feel cramped considering it's a small motorcycle there's no time really too soon or too late to talk about the elephant in the room of this KTM 390 S which is reliability and I don't know the engines got a bad reputation for overheating and yeah just being generally a little bit unruly there's yeah RC 390 set shows clutch I haven't actually seen anything that KTM is put out to say that they've addressed these issues exactly I kind of can't imagine that internally they wouldn't have tried to address the head gasket issues or clutch issues or just sort of overheating in general but yeah it's a that's one of those tricky consumer things that you know we all have to face when we buy a bike it'll probably in first gear that's pretty good for a small bike like this we'll hopefully get a chance to experiment with some more wheelies later but yeah I think one of the main reasons that it wheelies in first gear is that it's geared super low which we can experiment with hums free shoe away from this light here [Applause] [Music] so I'm going 50 miles an hour and 55 something like that yeah 50 and I've been 6th year and it feels pretty comfortable so I would give this bike up probably geared a little short so that has a little more roll-on power on the freeway and top gear and again probably has something to do with approachability because it's nice and easy to get going super light clutch it's also adjustable levers on this bike which i think is pretty pretty keen so you can adjust the clutch and brake lever to suit your your hand size that's a really nice feature for a bike in this category I find the the collection transmission pretty good on this bike the clutch doesn't have a ton of feel I don't think it just sort of I struggle a little bit with that the transmission is nice and light really easy to change gears and I like that about it it's just again there's not a ton of feel I don't get a lot of no it doesn't feel real positive when it changes sometimes I sometimes I have some questions about whether or not I made it into the next gear but again really not worth making a federal case about considering the price point and home category of the bike in general it feels pretty KTM nice light shifting and a light clutch which is nice I'm struck by how comfortable this bike is ride it for a while now and every now and then I just kind of have this feeling that washes over me like it's a small small bike but just the size the riding position it's so comfortable okay now that we're out on the freeway flat along here at California freeway speeds [Music] I'll say that this fight is forget this guy thing obviously no wind protection so you gotta lean forward into the wind which is yeah you know something you just got to deal with but make the bikes another Instagram question I got was whether or not the bikes buzzy I don't find it to be particularly buzzy I think the the handlebar especially the grip serves but there are pretty smooth at this speed I'm usually impressed with that if you get a little bit of vibes and the pegs I have freeway speed but it's not bad I think especially with a one tooth washer countershaft sprocket you really find yourself with a pretty good little touring bike you know I mean you wouldn't want to ride all day at 80 miles an hour that's not Tork but could you ride you know along the freeway for hours on end and then go through some twisties have some soft luggage on it absolutely another question I got was about the mirrors someone said I think someone commented and said that the mirrors on their bike are really fuzzy and they can't be like you can't see anything which I don't agree with actually I think the mirrors are pretty good especially it yeah 65 70 miles an hour really not bad at all I don't want the policeman if I'm honest just to feel like I had to rock them forward a little bit and we'll see like their to the side of your head but in general pretty good I also don't know why they have this little condom on there it seems like just a piece of metal would be fine that's how the big bikes work right whatever the Queen run at the off-ramp that almost never happens all right baby Duke what you got yeah but it's so stable but it feels so good well it nice what a nice little bike this is man so nice I kind of I kinda can't imagine getting in rc390 instead of this you know one thing we really have not talked about very much at all is this big beautiful TFT screen that the 392 caves which is worth noting I mean there's no other bikes in the category I don't think with I mean it's pretty cool there's little shortcut so you can hit up and down button get your shortcuts you can go you can link it to your phone and play music you can go into the settings whoops was it motorcycle there you go and you can go to supermoto ABS I mean why would you want to do that well health well we'll just put it in supermoto ABS in case we find a reason to use it oh man freaking motorcycle didn't trigger the light I'm stuck here stuck here just making more comments about the - and what else does the - do I kind of like the you know the analog tack thinking a jig that it does I think that's pretty cool um oh my god I'm literally gonna sit this light all day I need someone behind me someone help yeah there we go we got a Kia they're gonna trigger the signal for us then we'll be free but anyway yeah the the dash is pretty impressive I mean it's basically that's the same TFT - from some acute teams big bike so it's pretty impressive yeah a green light but the Thule 390 gets it - it's pretty cool people with good hearing or maybe people that were just looking for it in the first place might have heard the radiator fan kick on with the light there that's a something that people have really clung on to because it's kind of a loud radiator fan even my dad rode this bike you noticed it too he was thought the fan was kind of loud and obviously that the bike have trouble overheating and all those issues we talked about before that's sort of like a a red flag to people know when a radio fan comes on I kind of find I usually think yeah well you know that's the radiator fans do so another question I got was this or a ninja 400 and that's a good question that's a good question I think if memory serves price on the 390 Duke is 50 300 bucks which i think is right around how much it costs to get a ninja 400 with ABS and that's yeah that that would be that would be a real tough call but I want to say is hey you know they're both pretty cheap so just get both but that probably doesn't really make sense yeah I don't know I'm really drawn to naked bikes and I think I could have a ton of fun on a racetrack on this thing yeah I do prefer this to the RC 390 I prefer the Ninja 400 to the RC 390 I don't know I don't know team I just don't know how I'm gonna be able to answer that question I know it's really disappointing but I don't know I don't know what I would do I'm not sure yeah that's so tough well the good news is I don't have to make that decision but if you're out there trying to choose I guess I'm sorry that I couldn't give you better better direction they're both super fun they're both super cool I like the KPM features I like the TFT - I like you can you know manipulate a lot of the settings I don't know link it to your phone and stuff like that I think that's cool I think that's cool stuff that ninja there's no question it's uh it has a longer and better reputation and that's worth a lot so me no no man but really to the really important questions now can you back it in yeah it's got that supermoto supermoto ABS applesauce and it's a wheely monster look at it go Lester then taking lessons from its big brother the 1290 it's not as good at wheelies as as its big brother dukes but it's pretty darn good scrapper that guy sorry friend yeah so let's see we talk to our price we talked about our goes we talked about the engine we talked about lineage we talked about the - we talked about the features this is sometimes where I spool it up I'm not gonna be able to pull it up on this bike not enough HP's so I'm really positive on the 390 Duke in part because it's a small bike and small bikes are super fun I was wide open for a lot of this commute and that just wouldn't have been the same on a bike with a lot of horsepower so I kind of appreciate that about the little Duke it's pretty fun take a listen to the engine it has that same kind of tone in the exhaust but it's like actually wheelies let's slide everywhere let's do stop it sounds like a little uh motocrosser or something right oh yeah the cool bike cool bike I think yeah so they have it 390 Duke on the daily commute I really hope I answered all your questions if not I saved some of them so let's just run through real quick here can you back it in covered it how bad is it on the highway not that bad we talked about that this with the RC 390 covered it how soon won't outgrow it kind of covered that I think you'd have fun with it for a long time how much does it feel like a v-twin it doesn't feel like if you twin I mean yeah you know obviously a little single like this has has torque and it's fun but no it doesn't feel like it between is it vibey not really would you take this or the comparable Husqvarna hmm yep that's good question so I've written a little sparked pill in 401 and it was really fun but I kind of dig the futuristic looks of this thing the dash is way better on this than it is on a smart pill and that's got that chintzy circular - that I don't like at all Plus this is cheaper so oh I get that this part blends hip but I don't know I guess I'm just to sort of make it bike guy and I don't mind I like I like this bike thing it's cool what a sixth-floor rider be too big no I don't think so although you might look a little silly on it so keep that in mind is this table high speed yes is a suspension supple okay that's good question didn't really talk about that I think the suspension is pretty balanced I like it did you find the mirrors too wide for lane splitting nope I didn't you know a little wider than a bike with clip-ons maybe but no no I thought it's okay is that it where else we got Hajis well I probably missed something but anywho fun little bike and a fun little commute I think so I hope I hope you enjoyed it and yeah check back next time for more commutes on more bikes and check out the description of this video for specs on this machine and more information on the sponsors of this show thanks again for watching everybody see

Channel: Motorcyclist Magazine

Views: 363,815

Rating: 4.8749738 out of 5

Keywords: Motorcyclist, motorcycle, commute, commuting, POV, on board, onboard, Zack Courts, KTM, 390 Duke, 390, Duke, naked, sport, wheelie, slide, tft

Id: C29rLm5624o

Length: 19min 51sec (1191 seconds)

Published: Fri May 11 2018