The 390 Legacy - KTM 390 Duke is a Grown-Ups' Motorcycle

The present, third-generation KTM 390 Duke is the most complete version of the 390 Duke, with the most compliant chassis-suspension package, along with a more powerful engine with improved controllability.

This is coming from someone who has always been split between liking the KTM 390 Duke and not liking it at all. My feelings towards this motorcycle have never been indifferent. I have never believed that the bike is “ok” or “alright,” I have either really, really liked it or I haven’t liked it at all. My feelings have never been stuck in-between!

What has changed though, with time, is that while this split-personality persona remains, I have come to permanently admire this motorcycle. And so it is time to finally put my thoughts into this article…

The KTM 390 Duke is a remarkable motorcycle, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it! An electric motorcycle might be remarkable too but I hate those things. I despise them. Anyway…

Pick any generation of this small powerhouse that the 390 Duke is and it would be a fantastic machine. From the first-generation to the present (third-generation), KTM has consistently improved the 390 Duke in one way or the other. Today, it is a more complete motorcycle than ever before. The fuel tank capacity has increased with each new model, the chassis and suspension have become more compliant too, and the latest engine also has a sense of maturity as well. And so the current 390 Duke has naturally turned out to be the most confidence-inspiring version of itself. It is indeed the best 390 Duke that KTM has made till now.

Now, I have owned a first-generation RC 390; kept it for four years. And right now, there’s a second-generation 390 Duke that my brother owns since 2018, which I get to ride regularly. I have also ridden the latest 390 Duke quite a bit. So I am well familiar with all three generations of the 390 platform and the differences between them.

My first-generation KTM RC 390 that I had, based on the first-generation 390 Duke. One of the sharpest handling motorcycles I have ridden.

I think in order to acknowledge the impact of 390 Duke in our market, we cannot do it without talking about KTM first. The Austrian company, with the help of Bajaj, has completely transformed the sub-500cc motorcycle market in India in terms of making performance motorcycles highly accessible. Yes, the 390 Duke has been a global success, but in India, it changed everything.

We had never seen anything like it before - such lively colours, that level of playful persona, that attitude for mischief, and the often misunderstood aggression! The 390 Duke has been quite incomparable in that sense. To us, motorcycles like these were properly exotic and out of reach previously. We never had anything like it before.

KTM first came in with the 200 Duke and bam, it was like an alien had landed among the usual, familiar crowd. But it wasn’t until the 390 Duke that we felt the potential of the intensity that KTM is capable of bringing through its motorcycles. 43 horsepower from a 373cc single-cylinder engine was crazy. And it felt even crazier to ride. It still does, but the 390 Duke has matured quite a bit today - not calmed down but matured. For a beginner sports bike, it is a proper jolt to the senses!

Our second-generation 390 Duke - trellis frame with a bolt-on sub-frame, improved engine cooling system for better reliability. And it looks fantastically proportional.

I think I would use words like “overwhelming” and “extreme” to describe the KTM 390 Duke. That’s not because it makes me sentimental, I wouldn’t say that, but because its performance is overwhelmingly extreme for a single-cylinder motorcycle.

The 390 Duke is a motorcycle that needs to be understood. It deserves that. In fact, it deserves elite treatment from anyone who rides it. In mature motorcycle markets that are built on performance bikes from the beginning, KTM enjoys a reputation of being edgy, sharp, and often extreme with its street/dirt-oriented motorcycles, which is different from its Japanese counterparts. These design and engineering choices are not only restricted to the way their motorcycles look, these are applied to the way the motorcycles behave on the road. This legacy has even separated KTM from other European manufacturers that are Ducati and Aprilia majorly.

KTM has built its reputation through off-roading (by winning numerous Dakar Rally races and consistently remaining around the top) and through street motorcycles in bright orange colour that are characterised as immensely playful. A company that excels in making single-cylinder engines at the extreme edge of performance. A KTM is always on high voltage, full of never-ending energy. That’s how they’re represented.

Make no mistake though, mature markets do not confuse or compare the edgy and loud persona of KTM bikes with rowdiness. Not to my knowledge at least. Instead, there’s acknowledgement and respect towards the KTM-way of building motorcycles.

All small Dukes, especially the 390 Duke, have had a controversial reputation among some riders, as some people like to believe it attracts rowdy behaviour. The truth is it's a world class motorcycle with the capability to expose riders to how a proper naked sports bike behaves.

But this is where the Indian motorcycle market differs a bit. KTM never changed its attitude toward our market, in fact, making bikes here allowed them to not only price them aggressively, but also market them relentlessly. Right from the 125 Duke, each Duke has something to look up to in its segment, with the 390 Duke being literally the best of all small Dukes.

While the 200 Duke (as the first KTM Duke in India) made performance-oriented componentry mainstream in India, such as the upside-down front forks, trellis frame, radially-mounted brake caliper, etc., the 390 Duke added more to it and brought never-seen-before performance as a 4-stroke single-cylinder engine below 400cc.

The 390 Duke not only performed the best for a single-cylinder, it was sort of a volcanic energy we had never experienced before out of a small capacity 4-stroke motorcycle. We never knew how it would feel until we rode one!

For the majority of the Indian riders, the 390 Duke should have launched with a statutory warning describing how its performance could overwhelm riders, especially the amateurs and the inexperienced, and the ones who simply were unaware of KTM’s reputation worldwide.

The 390 Duke didn’t just set new standard for performance, it did it in a way that shocked everyone. It pulled performance into the sub-500cc class at a price point (originally below INR 2 lakhs) that turned the bike into a mass-market favourite. The price was as unusual as the bike itself.

The craziest single-cylinder motorcycle up to 400cc, the KTM 390 Duke. Now with fully adjustable suspension, it is one of the readiest motorcycles for on-track action right out of the showroom.

I don’t think everyone realised at that time what they were being offered suddenly. The price-performance factor of the 390 Duke made consumers react in a way that was hysterical. The fact that our market was performance-deprived came under even more light. And the KTM 390 Duke was making more Indian riders overflowing with emotions than it needed to. It also included people who were experienced riders (with big bikes too) because for the first time high-performance was accessible at such a low price point.

But the Indian market is crazy. We have all sorts of riders in huge numbers. There are good and bad riders everywhere, but here we have more of all of them, obviously! It didn’t take too long for KTM to develop a certain reputation among the Indian crowd, a reputation of being rowdy. More precisely, motorcycles that attract rowdy behaviour.

I am sorry, but that is a load of bull! Criticising a motorcycle for a rider’s menacing behaviour on the road is like blaming a knife for cutting your finger off! It is ridiculous. You cannot blame a motorcycle for all the nonsense a rider pulls on it!

There’s clearly a section of motorcycle riders in our country who misunderstand KTM and its philosophy. I think that’s due to the way KTM made its entry into our market, with an explosion of performance motorcycles that redefined various sub-500cc segments. Right from the 200 Duke, everything about KTM is hyper - hyper performance, hyper looks, and hyper personality.

The 390 Duke, like all other KTMs, is a fine example of KTM philosophy of building motorcycles.

KTM is also philosophically different from the Japanese. The fact that the Austrian company hardly caters to the masses the way the Japanese do says everything about their intent. So people clearly see KTM differently, but often with a mistaken perspective.

The Austrian company has its own way of emphasising on the pure joy of riding, which is by highlighting the preciseness, fun factor, and the unique riding experience that is delivered through its motorcycles. The recognisable design-language associated with KTM also adds to that experience. Motorcycles are inherently fun, and KTM adds its own flavour to it.

But good riders have a tendency to learn something new from such motorcycles, and a motorcycle like the 390 Duke is a massive opportunity to understand how a proper sports bike can behave, without destroying your pocket.

When I had the RC 390, I hated lots of things about it but its chassis and performance were enough to teach me how a compact, sharp, and precise frame makes the whole motorcycle behaves. Its handling was one of its finest traits.

The 390 Duke would be the same. Ideally, riders should consider themselves lucky to have such a motorcycle so accessible to them. Everything about the 390 Duke is about performance, everything else is secondary. The latest 390 Duke is the most complete version of itself with fully adjustable suspension, wheels and brakes engineered for weight-savings, chassis engineered for more intuitive handling, and the engine redesigned for more power and tractability than its previous versions.

This motorcycle is an opportunity for casual and young riders to learn and understand how a proper naked sports bike behaves, but in a much smaller package. It is still very fast - the quickest and the fastest road-going single up to 400cc actually and it shall not be taken lightly just because it’s a small bike.

Its world class suspension offers adjustability at both ends offering especially the inexperienced riders a way to learn something which is traditionally available in much more expensive motorcycles. Same goes for all the electronic features the motorcycle has. Now whether or not I find these features meaningful on such a small motorcycle is a completely different matter. But they are there for you to experience.

Whether or not you like it, there's never a dull moment on a KTM 390 Duke...

But forget everything else, the 390 Duke is worthy of being treated sensibly purely because of its performance capability. And the fact that many consider it a toy is something that is ideally connected with KTM’s playful, loud, and aggressive image. It being a toy is not meant for it to be considered as such literally or in a derogatory manner.

I would say that all small Dukes qualify to be seen with this perspective but the 390 Duke deserves it most. And it will always be like that. I think for a single-cylinder, only the next 390 Duke can outshine the present one, as it has always been the case. And this is how you build a legacy.