CARL KTM 390 DUKE
THIS MONTH I HAVE MOSTLY BEEN… “Checking out that ass...”
As my time with the KTM comes to an end it makes me enjoy every ride that bit more, while spending extra time making sure she is as meticulous as possible. No matter how disgustingly cold, wet and frankly generally wank the weather has been, I’ve made sure that my little 390 hasn’t gone unloved, as I know I’m going to miss it when she goes. Romeo and Juliet have nothing on me and my KTM.
I’ve not only been showering the mini Duke with pure love and attention though, as I finally got round to plastering on that Evotech tail tidy and ditching the quite frankly awful standard plate holder – a move which was way overdue. It’s mental that government legislation seems to go out of its way to make machines less attractive (think Euro 4 exhausts), but the difference it’s made to the Duke’s appearance is incredible.
With the instructions provided, fitting it was a pretty simple hour-long job, just a case of a few tools and a bit of patience. The end result is worth so much more though; I can imagine it’s a similar feeling going Weight Watchers, as not only are you improving those looks but you’re also shedding about 1.1kg – which is vital on a small bike as every little helps. Oh, and did I mention how good it looks?
Apart from that, being in 2018 race mode means I haven’t even been able to take full advantage of getting the old girl on the dyno and seeing that power curve, which really sucks. I still find that there’s a small patch at about 6000rpm, and after trawling the internet I think it’s a regular occurrence that can be solved with a power commander and remap. That would’ve been my next course of action, which is a real bugger as I can only imagine then that it would’ve been absolutely perfect in almost every sense of the word.
Until then though, all I’m going to do is give it some more life, spank the living daylights out of the old bean and get some smiles going. See you guys later, I’m off out as we speak…