KTM 390 Duke
£3500 to £4000 for a smart one | 373.2cc single-cylinder | 43bhp | 26lb-ft Tested by: John Milbank | Usually rides a KTM 1050 Adventure
This 2016 model bike really surprised me. My preconception was that, being built by Bajaj – the Indian 49% stakeholder in KTM – it wouldn’t feel like a ‘proper’ Austrian-built bike (the 690s and up). It makes less than half the power of my own 1050, and a third of the torque. I figured it’d feel cheap and be pretty dull to ride.
Yet besides – in my view – being one of the most exciting-looking bikes in this group, it’s also a huge amount of fun. If you’re scaling back because you want something smaller and lighter, this will give you much of the thrill of a bigger machine.
Apart from the CB500, I reckon I could most easily live with this motorcycle day-to-day. On the motorway at 70mph the engine is spinning very comfortably at 7800rpm. It doesn’t feel stressed, and has enough in reserve to easily push the machine up to 90mph and beyond. In a headwind, to get much above 85mph you’ll need to drop down towards the tank, teenager-on-a-Fizzy style, but the very good spread of torque from this refined single makes it get there very quickly. At one point Bruce was leading the pack onto a dual-carriageway up a hill on the Ducati – I passed him with a massive speed advantage (despite my all-too-apparent weight disadvantage). Above 2500rpm, I found the motor very smooth – only under 2000rpm in the wrong gear would it get overly lumpy. The fuelling is typically KTM – very eager, but at the expense of low-speed smoothness. My average economy over the test was a mere 38mpg, which seems to defeat the object of these small engines. But bear in mind that I rode in a very ‘spirited’ fashion for most of my time with it, and that I weigh about 14 stone. I saw 52mpg at one point during the test, and with smooth, easy riding that should be easily bettered.
At 5ft 10in I found the KTM small but not cramped – my knees fit the 11 litre tank well (expect to look for fuel at 100 miles). The clocks are very well spec’d with a gear indicator, two trips, fuel range, fuel gauge, clock, average economy and more. A hidden button allows the ABS to be deactivated before starting and the bar-mounted switchgear is illuminated.
Why don’t I get that on my 1050 Adventure?! I thought the brakes – being the only four-pot fronts on test and made by Bybre, Brembo’s Indian manufacturing plant (an abbreviation of ‘By Brembo’) – would be the best. They weren’t. They were poor. Certainly not plough-through-a-hedge poor, but weak enough to feel the need for four fingers most of the time. This was particularly disappointing on such a light bike – perhaps the master cylinder is too weak, or maybe the pad compound, which smells strongly when braking hard, could be improved.
By the end of the day the saddle was feeling hard, but stints of 50 miles or more are no problem at all. Masochists could tour on this of course, but really, if you’re a mature rider looking to downsize, you’ll probably be seeing this as something of a toy.
New riders certainly wouldn’t complain, and I would recommend a 390 Duke. With the distinctive styling, bold use of quality parts such as LED indicators, good mirrors, aluminium swingarm and premium plastics, this is a great value machine and very exciting way to enjoy the lighter side of motorcycling.