390 Duke ??

stevec10 has one and is very fond of it indeed and done some long runs on it too. they look good value especially the facelift ones
 
My wife has one and loves it but only when commuting or out for a ride on back roads close to home when I’m on my 501. Anything involving motorways with extended periods of 75mph or carrying luggage and the fun stops.

I’ve just asked and she said great second bike, shit primary bike. Maybe a bit strong that :D
 
My wife has one and loves it but only when commuting or out for a ride on back roads close to home when I’m on my 501. Anything involving motorways with extended periods of 75mph or carrying luggage and the fun stops.

I’ve just asked and she said great second bike, shit primary bike. Maybe a bit strong that :D

Had a little search through here after I posted this thread and noticed you said you're wife has one so was hoping you'd see this.

It would be a second bike, have you ridden it ? I'm just a tad concerned about boring of it quickly but reviews on YT pretty much all say it's a hoot.

There is one local with 700 miles on it so going to see it tomorrow.
 
My wife’s got one. It’s brilliant. Small, quick, high tech, cheap.
Cheaper new than an Enfield Bullet, although that’s a different thing altogether.
The headlights are LED and very bright, all,other lights LED TOO. suspension is WP, obviously not high end WP but very competent. Excellent brakes, TFT display is bright, clear and lots of info. Engine is punchy and strong, think it’s 44 hp
The only downside is it’s quite Revvy, 1000 rpm/10 mph in top gear, ie at 70mph it’s doing 7000rpm. We’re just looking at gearing it a bit.
They can be picked up now for around £4K now, with a two year warranty.
 
I remember a couple of years back when on model year change KTM were selling these new for £3000

I had a sniff round a 390 forum and seen that mentioned but wasn't sure if it was the previous generation ?? I assume it was the previous model ?

The guys I'm looking at is advertised at £3100, so guessing £3000 is what he's after, I don't know if that's a good price or can be had cheaper.
 
My wife’s got one. It’s brilliant. Small, quick, high tech, cheap.
Cheaper new than an Enfield Bullet, although that’s a different thing altogether.
The headlights are LED and very bright, all,other lights LED TOO. suspension is WP, obviously not high end WP but very competent. Excellent brakes, TFT display is bright, clear and lots of info. Engine is punchy and strong, think it’s 44 hp
The only downside is it’s quite Revvy, 1000 rpm/10 mph in top gear, ie at 70mph it’s doing 7000rpm. We’re just looking at gearing it a bit.
They can be picked up now for around £4K now, with a two year warranty.

My 660 tenere only had 47 horses and I absolutely loved it, thanks for that reply, very positive.
 
Had a little search through here after I posted this thread and noticed you said you're wife has one so was hoping you'd see this.

It would be a second bike, have you ridden it ? I'm just a tad concerned about boring of it quickly but reviews on YT pretty much all say it's a hoot.

There is one local with 700 miles on it so going to see it tomorrow.

I first rode one as a loan bike when my 1190 was being serviced, it was a wet and miserable day which didn’t help but the bike just left me thinking it was underpowered and dull. Having since ridden my wife’s bike I’d change that to say on the right roads they’re great fun but I wouldn’t want to use it for weekends away from home. The suspension gets overwhelmed very quickly and seems to take a long distance to settle between bumps/ripples on the road but they’re cheap so expecting decent suspension isn’t really being fair to the bike. There’s more than enough power away from dual carriageway or motorway where trying to overtake on a long uphill section leaves it gasping but as a second bike I’d say go for it.
 
I've got a Husqvarna Svartpilen 401 as a fun, second bike. This is the same KTM frame, engine and suspension, different body work and instruments.

I agree with all the comments above. Especially being proper tosser sized, the Svart suspension struggles. I still love it though, it makes me smile when I see it!!
 

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It's suspension couldn't possibly be as bad as the BMW Scrambler surely and is 7 grand cheaper new.

I don’t find the suspension an issue, depends how heavy you are, how hard you ride it etc I guess. At the end of the day it’s a 400cc single not a sports bike or a tourer, maybe super commuter describes it better. Then again people go round the world on Honda 90’s. I think pound for pound there’s not much better out there for your money.
We are hopefully off to Scotland later this year from the Midlands, with the wife on hers, been doing some 100 plus mile trips to get her used to it after many years out of the saddle.
I’ll let you know how it goes!
 
I weigh 12 stones so not full blown porker size and I only find the suspension gets a bit overwhelmed on B roads but that type of road is where you’d want to be riding a small capacity bike is it not? It’s only noticeable if you’re on a section of road where bends follow each other in quick succession and the surface is best described as sub optimal but the suspension simply doesn’t settle between bends leaving you in a position where the previous corner is more of a limiting factor than the current one.

For the money they cost they’re very good value and if I was looking at spending that amount of money on a second bike I wouldn’t look any further but I’m biased because I like KTMs.
 
I weigh 12 stones so not full blown porker size and I only find the suspension gets a bit overwhelmed on B roads but that type of road is where you’d want to be riding a small capacity bike is it not? It’s only noticeable if you’re on a section of road where bends follow each other in quick succession and the surface is best described as sub optimal but the suspension simply doesn’t settle between bends leaving you in a position where the previous corner is more of a limiting factor than the current one.

For the money they cost they’re very good value and if I was looking at spending that amount of money on a second bike I wouldn’t look any further but I’m biased because I like KTMs.

Agreed, I wonder what a specialist would charge to sort the suspension out, I doubt it could be revalved but maybe different springs/oil and set up properly would help. Maybe a Hagon on the rear. Another option would be to go for an older 690 for similar money.
I like KTMs too. Just been out on the 1290 Adventure. Never ceases to amaze me how much grunt it’s got.
 
Despite being well advised about the BMW scrambler suspension I went ahead and bought one, it was horrendous and at 11 grand new(not that I bought new) it's outrageous they are so badly suspended for the cost, with a bike only costing just over 4K new I wouldn't be expecting top notch sussies my slight issue is I'm near 16 st.

I get what you're saying about it not reacting quick enough for the next bend and something to consider but as you say, for the price it seems a lot of smiles for the price.
 
Agreed, I wonder what a specialist would charge to sort the suspension out, I doubt it could be revalved but maybe different springs/oil and set up properly would help. Maybe a Hagon on the rear. Another option would be to go for an older 690 for similar money.
I like KTMs too. Just been out on the 1290 Adventure. Never ceases to amaze me how much grunt it’s got.

For the measly sum of £500 you can get new fork cartridges that should transform the forks by improving the compression and more importantly the rebound rates, you’d probably get away with a harder spring in the rear shock and that’s it. There may be cheaper options on the fork conversion but I think it’s damping rather than spring rate it needs and though you can sometimes help things by using different oil, drilling more holes in the cartridges and fitting spacers at the top of the springs it’s much easier to fuck it up than it is to improve it :D

Would I bother? If it was my only bike then yes but as a commuter or a second bike for just messing about at not much above the speed limit probably not.
 
Went and seen the one I was referring to tonight, bike is mint, like brand new, managed to persuade the owner to give me a wee shotty.

Didn't go far but initially it was very weird jumping from an adventure bike but once you get it singing I was pleasantly surprised to see 70+ on the clock though didn't feel that, very quirky little bike, decisions to be made methinks.
 
Cheers, I await his comments.

Yes, I've done 10k miles on mine and love it.

One friend often questioned why whenever we met I turned up on it when I had a garage full of what would be deemed more interesting toys ie 1190 Adventurer, 690 Duke, 790 Duke etc so I suggested he borrow it for a couple of weeks to see for himself.

I'm 5'9 and weigh around 13 stone and it's fine for me but Rob's 6'6" so I didn't know how he would get on with it but he loved it so much he bought one. I then lent it to another of Rob's friends who bought one because he loved it.

When I first rode this 2017 model I thought it was flat and bland so I understand a similar comment made by someone else. However the one I rode was brand new.

If someone told me five years ago I would be riding a 390 Duke to and around the Alps with a friend on a new Multi I would have laughed but that's exactly what I've done out of choice leaving the bigger bikes at home.

I find larger faster bikes little fun unless you're in three figures whereas because the 390's less capable you have to work it harder and it's more fun at lower speeds.

Last year I took it to the IOM TT then to Guernsey, Jersey and France and found it was perfectly suited to the smaller roads.

A couple of other things, it's fantastic fun in and around London, great for going into town, is very cheap to buy and run + easy to maintain.

If it was my only bike I'd feel hard done by but that said it's the one which gets used the most at the moment.

I'm watching the 390 Adventurer with interest!
 
Thanks for that Steve, as I said earlier I went and looked at the one that was for sale, it was mint, I had full intentions of buying it today, got home after ten last night after seeing it and went straight to a mates and talked it up, told him I'm having it, checks out his advert again when I got in and it's gone, someone must've bought it after I was there, which had to have been around 8PM or later, gutted..haha.
 


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