5 reaons why buying a Duke 390 was one of the best decisions of my life

1. Reliable
Whenever someone asks me ‘How’s the bike?’, my first response to them is not the speed or the performance of the bike but one word, that it is fucking reliable. Trust me when I say this, you can take this bike out for a long ride on any given day without having a slightest worry or doubt about its performance on a long ride or whether it leave you stranded in the middle of nowhere. For me, this peace of mind is what matters the most when I ride. So far my longest ride has been a 1700km over 3 days. It had mix of terrain and I never faced a single problem with the bike and its performance, not even a clutch cable breaking. I wasn’t even carrying the basic spares but that’s how much I trust this bike. I am yet to take it to Leh and that will be a different review altogether but so far over the 27000km I have ridden on this over last 1.5 years over all kinds of roads and terrains, this bike has performed way beyond my expectations. 

2. All round performer

If you are riding it in the city, you will love it for the quick acceleration punch it gives required for quick overtakes in the city traffic. Or its ability to maneuver across the traffic because of its light weight and superb handling. The gear-box is six speed but for city riding you will never cross 4^th gear (unless you ride in low rpms like me). Feels good to leave everyone behind at every traffic signal halt :P

Now talking about highway riding and touring on this bike. No doubt the seat is hard and it’s not the ‘most’ comfortable seat for touring, but I have noticed that over these 1.5 years of owing the bike the seat has taken the shape of my but and I feel that too soft a seat is not good for your back and a seat little hard like this one keeps you in alert mode over long rides and doesn’t make you fall asleep. I won’t deny that there were slight cramps in my thighs after the long rides but I guess that’s the case with most of the bikes- please correct me if I am wrong. Talking about the riding position, it is slightly aggressive and your feet rests slightly behind the regular position but over the time I have got comfortable with this riding position and I can’t deny I like it this way. Makes it easier for me to stand on the foot pegs too.

You can easily cruise on this bike throughout the day at the speeds of 110/130kmph which are according to me is a safe range for touring on Indian roads. Although it can still reach a maximum of 170kmph but why push it to the limits when the job is getting done in much less load on the engine. Find a patch of smooth roads and you can easily cover at least 70-80 km in an hour.

Have taken this bike for lot of off-roading as well and it has performed superbly. Durable and rugged performance. It’s not a very heavy bike so you can easily lift it in case you fall.

3. Low maintenance cost

As I mentioned above the bike is very reliable, this means less problems with the bike. This doesn’t mean you don’t pay attention to it and skip the regular services. That will be silly and do not expect any bike to perform if you ignore its regular service visits. But looking at the other general problems which other riders face on their bikes, I can say that I haven’t faced such small problems so far like breaking of clutch/throttle cable, breaking of chain, oil leak, wheel locking etc. and so I never spent money to fix these problems on my bike which are very common otherwise. You will however spend money on changing the tyres very soon because the Metzelers which come as a stock tyres with this bike wear out very soon. They are just wonderful tyres and there is no doubt about it but a new set of Metzelers will cost around 16,000-17,000 Rs. which is very expensive. Many of the Duke 390 riders shift Michelin tyres and they are very close to Metzelers in performance and are much cheaper. Anyways going back to the point, daily riding on Duke 390 is free from majority of common problems.

4. It's a headturner

It’s not a beautiful gorgeous and best looking bike but you will still find people asking about the bike and giving a second look to your bike. May be it’s the looks of the bike (same as Duke 200?) or may be the sound of the bike, I don’t know. I am just happy with the attention I get in the traffic :P

5. Value for money

I was all set to buy Duke 200 when Duke 390 was just about to be launched. I was expecting it to be around Rs. 2.7-2.8 lakh on road price and that was far out of my budget. But I was shocked to see that Bajaj launched the bike at a much lower price and I paid Rs. 2.03 lakh on road in Chennai. You find it expensive ? I will say the for the whole package of features of the bike along with the world class engine performance, this bike is a steal and a GREAT value for money. This bike is a clear winner in terms of value for money when you compare it with other brands in this class. 

All I can say is that I am very happy with this bike. Ofcourse nothing is perfect in this world if you want to know some of the negatives associated with this bike, head to RiderZone by our star moto writer Mr. Akhil Kalsh and click here to read the article. I am just mentioning him just because I love all his articles and I'm a fan :P

Nevertheless, whatever motorcycle YOU buy or are riding, RIDE SAFE! 

LED Spot Light fixture on KTM Duke

So this was pending for lonnng. I had purchased these two LED spot lights, bought it from aliexpress.com as I got a good deal (mind you they take 40-50 days to reach India via free shipping). So I was in procrastinating mode and never got it fixed and just kept asking around friends on the ideas on where should I fit it, the clamps and fixtures and all. I was acting lazy. Now after moving to Gurgaon this was on top of the list and last Sunday I managed to go to Carol Bagh to get it done. This write-up is just to share the pictures of the installation process for other riders to see if they want to do something similar. 

These are the lights and they come with complete set of clamps and allen keys and bolts along with them.

(Metzeler in the pic above got changed to Michelin Pilot Street Radial soon)

I was hesitant in putting these lights on the forks cuz didn't want to mess with the paint and I also didn't want to open the fork clamps. So our guy Mr. Saleem suggested that I can put the lights with the help of a strip on these joints on the headlight casing:

After being satisfied that there will be no problem in turning the handlebar completely and the strip will withstand the load of the lights even on a day long ride I gave a go-ahead to the mechanic. He quoted Rs. 300 to fix the lights which seemed pretty reasonable amount. 

He removed the headlight casing and the panel cover on top. Meanwhile I managed to take a transformer picture of myself:

                              

This is how the metal strips looked after fixing:

The electrical connection given was not direct to the battery but with the enging ignition. I am sorry I missed the wiring part and hence not able to explain it in detail here. He fixed the switch with the joint of the LH mirror and took the wires within the cable locks on the handle bar.

And the switch:

After this when he tried to fit the headlight casing back, it wasn't fitting properly and so he told me that he will need to cut a bit towards the end.

       

Once fitted back, this is how it looked.

                    

This post is incomplete. I will complete it by updating it with the review of the lights itself.

Till then, keep riding!

Part II! (Updated- 1-May-2015)

Today I clicked some pictures with and without these lights on for comparison purpose and you can see the difference below:

1. Headlight low beam, LED  OFF /ON (click the pic to enlarge)

First pic is with LED off and second pic is with LED on. As you can see there is an increased , longer visibility (2nd circle on top) and wider range (1st circle on top, and botton two circles).

2. Headlight high beam, LED  OFF /ON (click the pic to enlarge)

I rarely ride in high beam mode because I hate riding against it myself so I don't want others to suffer because of my high beam. However in high beam mode, there is small difference in range and visibility with these spot lights on. 2nd pic is with LED lights on. 

Now you can decide if this difference and increase in range and visibility is good enough for you to buy these lights or not!

However they look cool too ! 

My next plan is to install two jerry can holders on the bike. If you know any leads do give suggestions by commenting. Thanks!

Ride Safe!

        

Ride Story: Tada falls

3 day long weekend and we have another write-up here. Don’t worry I will keep it short this time. I was clear that I wanted to do a day-ride this time meant I wanted to be back by 5-6pm at my home. This meant that the ride has to be around 100-200km one way but there are not many places around Chennai apart from regular Mahabs and Pondi which I have done several times. However asked some friends around and they suggested Venkatagiri falls, Tada falls etc. I looked up both and finalized Tada falls which is 115km one way from my home. Also did some research and came to know that it has a bit of off-roading and a lot of trekking inside the jungle. Sounds exciting to me! So the route map:

And you see the dotted line there? This means only trekking:

Now I have ridden on this road before so route planning wasn’t a big task. I just wanted to start early and be back early and take rest. But I had no idea of the fun which was in store this time for me. So I started at 7am from my home and doing moderate speeds of 90-100kmph I reached 23km from my destination which was at about 08:25am and I was very hungry by this time and stopped for breakfast. Felt better after satisfying my stomach and I was back on the bike again. This road offered the views of clear blue sky ­­and greenery around.

Following the straight roads after taking a left from the main highway, few kilometers from the TADA falls parking spot the roads will end and the off-roading will start.

It’s not very tough but just kaccha road. Here first stop is for getting the entry ticket which is Rs. 25, they will charge Rs. 50 for a camera but they didn’t understand my action cam and I didn’t have to pay for it.

So the gates were opened and  off-roading started. I always enjoy riding off-road , fun!

More off-roading for 3km and you reach the parking spot and no car or motorcycle can go further. There is a small shop here where you can get tea and stuff. Also remember that this is your last stop to stock water, biscuits and such items because inside you will not get any. DO NOT GO INSIDE WITHOUT CARRYING WATER.

There are lot of monkeys around so be careful of your food and stuff.

As soon as you enter the place you witness this:

And after coming down the bridge, you are given the option of two paths (Sorry I don't have a pic to explain this). One which goes to your left and another towards right. If you choose to walk on the trail on your right, it’s tough but relatively easy. Lots of ups and downs, rocks etc. But if you choose to walk on the trail on your left, you are sure to have a good time and here you can experience proper ‘trekking’ inside a jungle. Lots of rocks, you will walk around/inside the water and this makes the experience the real deal. I chose the left trail.

The natural water is so clear that you do not get it see every day and suddenly realize that you are away from the noisy chaos that city life is. Once inside it’s just you and the sound of birds you get to hear. There are lot of butterflies inside and they will love to fly with you as you walk.

The trek towards the main falls can be divided into ..say 6-7 stages. If you choose the left trail near the stream of water as I did, you will realize that as you progress and walk/climb, the flow of water increases slightly. The trek consists of climbing and crossing several rocks, stream of water, you have to make your way between the trees and plants and be careful here some thorns might rub your skin off so make sure you are covered completely. At some points you will see that you cannot move ahead near the stream of water, here you have to climb your way towards the land if you wish you can come back to the stream of water. I was enjoying the sound of water flowing and it kept me going. The water was so clear.more pics:

 Someone felt the need of changing into new clothes in the mid of the jungle:

After trekking for sometime, you will reach a point where you have no option but to walk along the main trail. Walk on this for sometime again and reach the rocks and the waters. One thing is clear(apart from the water, as you are moving ahead, the curiosity and the excitement to reach to the main source of water also keeps increasing.

It’s just a challenging trek ahead keep going ahead you will not regret till you reach the end. More pics during the trek:

After a tiring walk and trek, I reached the final point. Once you reach here you realize that it was totally worth it. Because I had started to this place early , there was no one, absolutely no one around here and it’s just you and the nature. I decided to take a dip!

The view when you lie down in water and look up. The feeling here cannot be explained in words...this is pure and untouched nature.

The water is cold and there are lot of fishes inside the water but they will not harm you. However be careful of slippery surfaces on the rocks otherwise you can easily fall and break your head lol.

Now if you are expecting a huge water fall here, I would say you will be disappointed. There is just moderate amount of water flowing which the locals started calling as falls. Also this time when I went the water falls magnitude was reduced as told by someone. Personally for me, the whole experience of trekking inside the jungle and climbing up the tough terrain to reach all the way to up this point was what counted. I will never forget this experience.

By the time I finished relaxing in the water, people had started coming in, I asked someone to click a picture of me. Notice the huge rocks!

As I walked back I chose the main trail on the land side which is comparatively flat and easy. This because now I had experienced the trek in the jungle and had to reach back to the bike little faster. 

As promised, I am keeping this travelogue short. This time I realized that the trekking part was more fun than the riding part and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I have lot of footage from the action cam which needs sorting and stuff so I will try to add a video to this post later, till then please manage with the pics!

Update (5th Feb): Here is the video! 

Anyways when I reached back to the bike it I decided to have a tea. While sitting amongst monkeys I relaxed for sometime and started riding back at 12:30 and reached home by 2:15pm. Some pics while riding back:

This place is a trekking paradise and if you love trekking you should definitely visit this place. I can’t deny that the sound of water is still ringing in my head :) 

Once in a while, go to some place which makes you feel one with the nature.

Keep Riding.