KTM 390 Duke 2023 Review: A new Duchess TO adVenture

September 9, 2024 0 By The Editor

I am..

I’m Tehmina Chaudhuri, a Contemporary Artist according to my degree, and an amateur motorcyclist. Both fields allow me to explore my love for the outdoors, and the fascination I have with the natural world. When I’m not creating, I allow my journeys to inspire my practice.

I tour, do trails, track racing, and very recently started learning how to stunt. I’ve always seen biking as a multidisciplinary field, and that each field’s practice should inform the other. I hope to one day be able to teach road safety, drills and first aid to Indian bikers, and make it a norm in the community to have these skills.

My previous rides were -two wheelers prior to the KTM 390 Duke 2023

For the last 4 years of my riding, I found myself in my comfort zone with the Honda Navi 110cc. I could go enough places on it…but never could go quite far enough. And no gears meant no experience, and the dash was so analogue, that I was constantly scared of overheating the engine, or running out of my precious 3.8 litres of fuel with no gauge except a 1 litre reserve.

After my grandad passed away in 2022, I was the sole inheritor of the last bike he ever owned- a janky, barely used Yamaha Crux…the cheapest, nastiest bike you could find in India. This one had gears…and a desire to kill it’s rider. Gramps was a miser, and it shone through blindingly with how badly kept the bike was. Nonetheless, it was the perfect learner machine, with her funky gears, 16 inch spoke tyres, and the same engine size as the Navi.

In 2023, I had just barely started finding riding buddies and a new found passion for covering longer distances to find prettier places when the unimaginable happened- my father, my hero and inspiration for the spirit of adventure, suddenly passed away in April.

The grief was so,so much to bear, but motorcycles were what were helping me process it- when riding was the only time I felt I could clear my mind from all that pain, and after the ride, I could start thinking again. It became my form of self care.

My options were ..other two wheelers you had short-listed, apart from the KTM 390 Duke 2023

I bounced between bikes for MONTHS. It really showed my inexperience, getting obsessed with one bike, finding out it was too tall, or too low to the ground, or too heavy, or just too “meh”, and then ending up back at sqare 1. I test rode:

Tvs Ronin
Honda 200x
Royal Enfield Scram 411
Hunter 350
Husqvarna Svartpilen 250
Honda H’Ness
Hero Xpulse 200
Bajaj Pulsar 250

I chose my current bike because – reasons for choosing the KTM 390 Duke 2023

While dad was still around, he was constantly terrified for my life as a rider to be, and never allowed me (within his knowledge) to ride larger bikes. The last time he rode his scooter was the end of his motorized 2 wheel experience, in a nasty crash wearing no helmet. Even buying the Navi for myself was pushing my luck. He was my teacher from all the way in the UK while figuring out the Yamaha Crux. But in his own terror, he did in his own, caring way, hold me back.

I was driving myself mad trying to pick a bike that he would agree with. Not too powerful, not too big, not too expensive, not easy to break.

Test Ride Time – As husky as it gets

AND THEN I went to a KTM showroom to check out the Husky.

The Husky and I didn’t quite get along… but on display was a bike I had never considered before…unlike the garish orange that I usually associated KTM with, was an Atlantic blue, low slung but aggressive, scary looking bike, in all its glory.

Drawn to it like a moth to a flame, I asked if I could just sit on it. It instead felt like I was sitting IN the bike. The TFT display was so alien to me, and so opposite of the analogue I was used to.

399ccs seemed like to much… but for the first time, I didn’t feel too small, or too out of my element sitting on an actually powerful bike. Perhaps there didn’t need to be anything holding me back. I love my father very much, but he was gone. He wasn’t deciding this, I was.

Test Ride Shy? pre-ownership experience of the KTM 390 Duke 2023

The Kharadi KTM showroom in Pune refused to let me test ride, or even buy the bike from them, seeing as there, and I quote, “were no living men in my family.” So me, and a small army of friends went to the Bund Garden showroom instead, and didn’t even ask for a test ride – I put a deposit down before they could ask what my name was, and within a week, the bike was mine. On November 3rd, she forgave me for being terrified on the ride home, only stalling once, given that this was the largest engine I had ever ridden. She told me to not be afraid, and to just trust how refined her engine actually was.

The number of kilometres clocked so far on the KTM 390 Duke 2023

7400 (she’s as new as me at this)

My most memorable rides on the KTM 390 Duke 2023

The first, very serious tour across the country we did together was to Ladakh. The Duke 390 2023 being a street fighter naked bike wouldn’t be enough for this kind of tour, so I transformed her into a naked tourer – The Duke-Venture 390 2024, if you will. The only thing we couldn’t find to complete the modification was a bash-plate.

It was only by the time we reached Turtuk that this became my undoing- 30 kilometres into the day’s ride, it happened. I wasn’t able to dodge a grapefruit sized rock in the middle of the tarmac, and I heard gut wrenching clanking sound under the bike, as both wheels went over it. While I ideally should have stopped to check for damage, I instead looked down, saw no oil, shrugged, and kept going.

KTM 390 Duke 2023 Review: “Not all hairpins are a girl’s favorite accessory”

The first sign of trouble was when I found out my backpack had somehow clipped to luggage on my bike – and so badly, that I couldn’t even stand on the footpegs. Worried, I tried to flag down our ride leader (who wasn’t too interested in leading), and sped up as we entered a hairpin turn. And right there, the backwheel tried to slip out from under me. Traction control and track experience got us both upright again, and I suspected a punctured back tyre.

I tried catching up to tell the ride leader again, but the next curve proved to be life threatening- it was purely the bike that kept us from plunging into the valley, as I had to slam my (well protected) knee into the road, just to make sure we didn’t slide out completely.

KTM 390 Duke 2023 Review: “God of small mercies”

This, along with the knowledge of being clipped firmly to my luggage, was recipe for disaster- and was done trying to cook. I finally, pulled over. We later discovered that this high-compression bike engine carried me for 15 KILOMETRES with a hole in the engine, without seizing. If there is a God of small mercies, it is the KTM Duke 390. The bike and I, for the remainder of the trip, enjoyed the crazy views from the truck bed of our backup vehicle.

I would recommend/ Not recommend that girls/ ladies buy the KTM 390 Duke 2023 because

What I love about the KTM 390 Duke 2023:

This bike can take it easy, AND challenge you. It’s up to the rider. 399ccs, and it’s always ready for more. If you’re looking for power, but not too much on Indian roads, I’d say this is all you need.
KTM specifically designed the gen 3 bike taking the Indian population and stature into consideration- if you’re on the smaller size, this opens a huge world of riding to you, without the learning curve of skills to compensate for height.
15 litres is surprisingly enough for the massive engine- I get an average range of 350 kilometres, and is incredibly efficient as a highway tourer, even with heavy, metal modifications- I once had the gauge tell me I had 500 kilometres range on a full tank!
Gosh, it’s a pretty bike.
KTM has ensured that if the ECU fails, it doesn’t stop the bike from functioning – it’s a much safer, more refined BS6 engine.
For its price, the electronics are phenomenal, with different riding modes, trip metres, switchable ABS, traction control- you name it, the bike has it.

What can (should) be better on the KTM 390 Duke 2023:

If you’re looking for a discreet bike, the KTM 390 Duke 2023 isn’t it- the bike looks and sounds like it means business, so you either commit to the head turns and stares, or buy a less bright bike.
Because it’s so new to the market, finding stock parts, as well as good quality aftermarket parts and accessories is incredibly difficult. I still can’t find a bash-plate for her, and replacement parts haven’t even been given MRPs yet…so Try like hell not to break anything for a year or two.
No low revs without lugging the engine or stalling, the bike only wakes up at 5000 rpm. Very tricky on offroad patches to not throw yourself into oblivion.
Not comfy for anyone over 5 feet 8 inches, And has a very aggressive, committed riding position, in spite of the wide handlebars, so it may not suit everyone.

Personally, I quite like the high revving engine and tucking myself into the the KTM 390 Duke 2023, but I am only 5 feet 4 inches, and a bit of a hooligan.

The KTM 390 Duke 2023 isn’t for everyone…but if it is the bike for you, it is everything you need, and much more. The bike adapts to you, and wants to open the entire world of motorcycle riding to you. You just need to let it.

The Upshifters