Before we proceed with the information shared from our test rider (Rashidi) from the recent orange day by KTM Malaysia CKD at the USJ Speedway circuit. It must be clearly stated here that the bike was not setup for the track and it was a standard looking bike with only the exhaust changed with the reason being to give the bike a little bit of an aggressive sound to it. Our test rider stated that the bike was prepared only for the sake for the consumers and motoring journalist to have a feel of how the bike went on a pretty demanding and highly technical route, not for the sake of the fastest time around the track.
Now let’s get right down to the business, the KTM Duke 390 probably has won a lot of people hearts on the orange day recently. The pricing of the bike (RM27,935) itself was set at a pretty competitive range which is affordable enough to most riders here in Malaysia. Now it’s time for our official test rider direct input from the test session, the bike straight away felt similar to the 200 and it should be since the 390 was built on the same DNA and the changes comes with a few adjustment here and there especially the engine.
The characteristic of the single cylinder really proves to be the key selling point of the bike and with that extra power(hp) of the bike, it really shines for the bike in term of real world usage and it makes more sense to own a small KTM bike. During the test, there are few little things that can be say right away which is the ability of the bike to hold trajectory with confidence and how the bike’s ease of control seems to improved with the increment of weight which may contributes towards the dynamic of the ride.
It’s quite a mixed feelings coming into the test session when you know you will be riding quite hard on the track but at the same time trying to be quite gentle as you already know the bike was not setup for the track. The gearing proves to be a let down on the track as the longer ratio gives the bike less acceleration as needed on this short and twisted circuit. To give a proper opinion of the bike whether it’s a good track bike or not is not possible at the moment as the bike seems to need a lot of adjustment for it to be really a track machine. The engine really proves to be the main section that really gives the bike it’s own definition and that extra oomph given really sums up the bike nicely.
Obviously we can’t really give away all that we wanted to say through here, it all will come and made available in our review film of the the Duke 390 at the track soon. So for that, we encourage to our readers here to SUBSCRIBE to our YOUTUBE CHANNEL and not to forget our FACEBOOK PAGE and LIKE IT. Ultimately, we are totally grateful to KTM MALAYSIA CKD for the opportunity and we shall give our best to you viewers and readers for an honest and as complete information as possible.
Malaysian Riders 