The 2017 390 Duke has been designed by KTM's in-house firm - KISKA
The 2017 390 Duke LED Headlight comprises of 20 LEDs
Of all that's changed, the new LED headlamp cluster grabs the most attention. It also differentiates the new 390 with the 250 Duke that carries over the styling from its older sibling. The all-LED unit looks fantastic with the boomerang-shaped DRLs while the headlamp cluster is divided into six parts, and can be controlled differently using the instrument console (more on that later). The LED tail light looks equally sharp and is now more in-line with that on the RC models. Other upgrades include the new handguards on the 390 Duke, wider mirrors, and of course, the side mounted exhaust, which comes courtesy of the stringent Euro 4 emission norms.
2017 KTM 390 Duke LCD Instrument Console
2017 KTM 390 Duke Switchgear
The party piece on the 2017 390 Duke is the new instrument console. In a segment first, the bike gets a TFT LCD instrument cluster making it the only motorcycle in the sub-500 cc space to actually feature one. Now, this system has been largely identified with bigger bikes like the new Triumph Street Triple or the Ducati Multistrada. The colour screen is a treat to look at and the interface is fairly simple to use but will need some fidgeting with. The numbers and icons are well placed and the font size even increases when you ride harder. In fact, the backlight goes dark once you are past 8000 rpm and that's interesting to see from the corner of your eye. The console tells you everything including speed, time, distance, real-time fuel efficiency, distance to empty and even the health of your battery. You can switch between DRLs and AHO, where the DRLs are switched off and the headlight permanently runs on low beam; or control ABS settings switching between - Off (Not Recommended and illegal in a few countries), On and Super Motard (Front only). The warning sign also tells you everything that's wrong with your bike. You can even change languages, units, time and date settings among other bits on the instrument console. The console is controlled by the new set of switches on the left handle, in place of the low and high beam options. The backlit switchgear is of impeccable quality and looks very upmarket too.
The new 390 has matured in performance and sounds better too
The top speed is close to 170 kmph
The outlaw-ish performance still remains the 390's forte, and thankfully there are no changes there. Speeds rise at the flick of your wrist and you can see 0-100 kmph coming up in no time, but that's just the third gear and you still have a lot of room to play around with. The motor finds its sweet spot just a shade after 6000 rpm all the way till 9000 rpm, but give it a flat tarmac and the engine will pull well after the 10,000 rpm mark. That's also when the instrument console goes dark and speeds in excess of 150 kmph feel easily attainable.
The 2017 390 Duke benefits from a sophisticated suspension setup
The Metzelers perform well and are now more durable too
The new KTM 390 Duke uses a revised Trellis frame, the unit uses the same geometry as the older one but is now split into two parts. The good thing is the bike's agility remains in familiar territory and you now benefit from an even larger ground clearance of 185 mm up from 170 mm, courtesy of the side mounted exhaust. So, better lean angles without having to worry about scraping the underbelly. The handling is also complemented by the Metzeler Sporter M5 tyres. The tyres are same as the older version, but with a slightly different compound which has brought down the speed rating to H at 210 kmph. But, the new ones will last you longer than the W rated ones with a life span of around 13,500 km.
The 2017 KTM 390 Duke gets a bigger front brake assembly
Another space where KTM has made stark improvement on the 2017 390 Duke is the braking performance. The 300 mm front disc has been swapped for a larger 320 mm disc along with a new front brake assembly. The result is a much sharper bite than the previous generation model while the progression is felt more strongly this time. The 230 mm rear disc brake remains the same and both units do a much better job of bringing the bike to a halt. There is, of course, the new and upgraded Bosch sourced dual-channel ABS system. The system works well and is always reassuring to have it on all motorcycles, irrespective of the displacement.
The 2017 390 Duke is around Rs. 20,000 more expensive than the older version
