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Bought a KTM Duke 390!

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PNGMK
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Bought a KTM Duke 390!

Post by PNGMK » Fri, 06 Dec 2013 9:22 am

Looks like an almost perfect bike for Singapore. 43HP, 20 km/L, 139kg and standard ABS!

The level of fitting is pretty good for an out of the box bike - O Ring chains, ABS, Metzeler tyres etc.

$15,000 OTR. The riding position is not perfect for me - I'll need to raise the bars and I wish the foot pegs were adjustable fore/aft.

http://www.ktm.com/naked-bike/390-duke- ... ights.html

Oh - it's a single! (Why is a CB400 inline four the most popular bike in Singapore baffles me - 4 times as many parts to replace/repair and maintain as a single!).

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Re: Bought a KTM Duke 390!

Post by x9200 » Fri, 06 Dec 2013 10:19 am

PNGMK wrote:Looks like an almost perfect bike for Singapore. 43HP, 20 km/L, 139kg and standard ABS!
Not if you use it as an every day vehicle functionally equivalent to a car. The main disadvantage => no storage/loading space. Yet have to see any motorbike that beats Piaggio X9 in that respect.

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Post by Wd40 » Fri, 06 Dec 2013 10:40 am

Awesome made in India bike :)

PNGMK, The CB400 was popular choice until now because there was no other choice. But now there are other bikes in the same category available in Singapore. Honda CB400X and the Ninja300. The CB400X in particular is an equally good choice. Its a parallel twin :)

Just curious, did you consider the CB400X? What made you choose the duke over this Honda?

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Post by bgd » Fri, 06 Dec 2013 12:30 pm

Nice bike. Perfect for Sg. Must say that I do like big singles.

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Post by PNGMK » Fri, 06 Dec 2013 1:36 pm

Wd40 wrote:Awesome made in India bike :)

PNGMK, The CB400 was popular choice until now because there was no other choice. But now there are other bikes in the same category available in Singapore. Honda CB400X and the Ninja300. The CB400X in particular is an equally good choice. Its a parallel twin :)

Just curious, did you consider the CB400X? What made you choose the duke over this Honda?
I'm not fan of parallel twins.... and actually didn't know about the CB400X anyways. As I have a full licence I'd rather a bigger single (500cc to 650cc) but there's nothing out there but the crappy Enfield in this size as a new bike.

Further reading on the CB400X convinces me I'd not like it. It's considerably heavier, taller in the seat and has a lower level of spec for more money and only 3 HP more.

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Post by sundaymorningstaple » Fri, 06 Dec 2013 2:06 pm

Old Norton Manx or BSA Goldstar would do it for me! But the Manx would throw you over the handlebars trying to start it if you weren't careful! :lol:
SOME PEOPLE TRY TO TURN BACK THEIR ODOMETERS. NOT ME. I WANT PEOPLE TO KNOW WHY I LOOK THIS WAY. I'VE TRAVELED A LONG WAY, AND SOME OF THE ROADS WEREN'T PAVED. ~ Will Rogers

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Post by Wd40 » Fri, 06 Dec 2013 2:20 pm

PNGMK wrote:
Wd40 wrote:Awesome made in India bike :)

PNGMK, The CB400 was popular choice until now because there was no other choice. But now there are other bikes in the same category available in Singapore. Honda CB400X and the Ninja300. The CB400X in particular is an equally good choice. Its a parallel twin :)

Just curious, did you consider the CB400X? What made you choose the duke over this Honda?
I'm not fan of parallel twins.... and actually didn't know about the CB400X anyways. As I have a full licence I'd rather a bigger single (500cc to 650cc) but there's nothing out there but the crappy Enfield in this size as a new bike.

Further reading on the CB400X convinces me I'd not like it. It's considerably heavier, taller in the seat and has a lower level of spec for more money and only 3 HP more.
No doubt, Duke390 is terrific value for money because it is made in India. CB400X is made in Thailand.
When I go back to India, Duke 390 is the bike I will be gunning for. Its 50% the price of other similar bikes in India,like the CB400X and Ninja300, reason being the other bikes are imported into India and have close to 100% duty.

http://bikeadvice.in/crisp-reader-revie ... 390-video/

In Singapore, due to 2B license restrictions, I will never ride a bike above 200cc.

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Post by zzm9980 » Fri, 06 Dec 2013 3:56 pm

$15,000? wow. What you could buy in the US for that much... :)

COE is only $1782 this time. What's the ARF % on a bike? Same as a car?

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Post by PNGMK » Fri, 06 Dec 2013 11:35 pm

zzm9980 wrote:$15,000? wow. What you could buy in the US for that much... :)

COE is only $1782 this time. What's the ARF % on a bike? Same as a car?
17%. The dealers are ripping us off badly.

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Post by zzm9980 » Sat, 07 Dec 2013 8:17 pm

PNGMK wrote:
zzm9980 wrote:$15,000? wow. What you could buy in the US for that much... :)

COE is only $1782 this time. What's the ARF % on a bike? Same as a car?
17%. The dealers are ripping us off badly.
They are. That sucks.

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Post by curiousgeorge » Sun, 08 Dec 2013 8:16 am

[quote="PNGMK]
... I'd rather a bigger single (500cc to 650cc) but there's nothing out there but the crappy Enfield in this size as a new bike.

[/quote]

Didn't look very far! Always got the BMW 650GS Range...

http://www.bmw-motorrad.com/com/en/inde ... &notrack=1

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Post by PNGMK » Sun, 08 Dec 2013 10:05 am

curiousgeorge wrote:[quote="PNGMK]
... I'd rather a bigger single (500cc to 650cc) but there's nothing out there but the crappy Enfield in this size as a new bike.
Didn't look very far! Always got the BMW 650GS Range...

http://www.bmw-motorrad.com/com/en/inde ... &notrack=1[/quote][/quote]

BMW service and support is pretty sucky here tho but yes I never considered that model.

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Post by zzm9980 » Sun, 08 Dec 2013 11:07 am

So now I wonder, if the dealers rip you off so badly on the cost won't they do the same on the maintenance? Is a single banger really that much cheaper to keep going? Sure it has 2x or 4x less moving parts in the engine, but how often are you pulling that apart (unless it's Italian! har har)? And when you do for normal maintenance, isn't the dealer just going to jack up the cost of your valve adjustments/whatever to a price that's normally acceptable for a bike instead of passing on the savings to you?

My other thought would be that the more cylinders you have, the smoother (and thus less vibrations) everything will run, putting less wear and tear on the whole thing.

fwiw, I've only ever owned a v-twins, and those were back in the US. I had a Suzuki SV650S which was considered a 'small' bike there, but would be huge here. I'd love to have that bike here actually, it was quite sporty, but had a much more comfortable upright position for urban riding. Similar to a Monster, but Japanese 'tamed' and reliable (and half the cost - I paid $6000 US new in '08)

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Post by PNGMK » Sun, 08 Dec 2013 11:25 am

zzm9980 wrote:So now I wonder, if the dealers rip you off so badly on the cost won't they do the same on the maintenance? Is a single banger really that much cheaper to keep going? Sure it has 2x or 4x less moving parts in the engine, but how often are you pulling that apart (unless it's Italian! har har)? And when you do for normal maintenance, isn't the dealer just going to jack up the cost of your valve adjustments/whatever to a price that's normally acceptable for a bike instead of passing on the savings to you?

My other thought would be that the more cylinders you have, the smoother (and thus less vibrations) everything will run, putting less wear and tear on the whole thing.

fwiw, I've only ever owned a v-twins, and those were back in the US. I had a Suzuki SV650S which was considered a 'small' bike there, but would be huge here. I'd love to have that bike here actually, it was quite sporty, but had a much more comfortable upright position for urban riding. Similar to a Monster, but Japanese 'tamed' and reliable (and half the cost - I paid $6000 US new in '08)
Modern bike maintenance is pretty easy (no points, a lot of self adjusting parts, tighter tolerances and better materials than in your era) and I either do it myself or have a friends shop do it. It's not much compared to how we get ripped off here on car maintenance (esp for 'continental' brands).

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Post by zzm9980 » Sun, 08 Dec 2013 11:31 am

PNGMK wrote:
zzm9980 wrote:So now I wonder, if the dealers rip you off so badly on the cost won't they do the same on the maintenance? Is a single banger really that much cheaper to keep going? Sure it has 2x or 4x less moving parts in the engine, but how often are you pulling that apart (unless it's Italian! har har)? And when you do for normal maintenance, isn't the dealer just going to jack up the cost of your valve adjustments/whatever to a price that's normally acceptable for a bike instead of passing on the savings to you?

My other thought would be that the more cylinders you have, the smoother (and thus less vibrations) everything will run, putting less wear and tear on the whole thing.

fwiw, I've only ever owned a v-twins, and those were back in the US. I had a Suzuki SV650S which was considered a 'small' bike there, but would be huge here. I'd love to have that bike here actually, it was quite sporty, but had a much more comfortable upright position for urban riding. Similar to a Monster, but Japanese 'tamed' and reliable (and half the cost - I paid $6000 US new in '08)
Modern bike maintenance is pretty easy (no points, a lot of self adjusting parts, tighter tolerances and better materials than in your era) and I either do it myself or have a friends shop do it. It's not much compared to how we get ripped off here on car maintenance (esp for 'continental' brands).
That's what I assumed, bar the italian brands.

So even then, is the one cylinder that much better than the twin or even four? I'd figure that while statistically they have 2x or 4x the chance of engine failure, in reality most internals would outlive the rest of the bike under normal usage scenarios anyway.

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