OD garage: KTM 390 Duke after 10,000km and 11 months

Shubhabrata Marmar Updated: February 03, 2015, 05:05 PM IST

About 11 months and 10,000km later, it's time to withdraw Ferocitas, my KTM 390 Duke from OVERDRIVE's long term fleet. It's been a good ride. From the terrifically fast 700km run on day one to Goa to the 22km scream down to the office today, the 390 has proved to be utterly reliable and hasn't had as much as a hiccup.

This doesn't mean it's perfect though. I've come to accept that every 700-odd kilometres, the Sunday clean-up includes a chain tensioning session. I've also replaced the bare-basic quality KTM toolkit with a more comprehensive, better quality tool kit that fits under the pillion seat. But that aside, it's been adrenaline all the way through.

KTM 390 Duke

Of course, now I do think I have expenses coming. I believe a new set of Metzelers will shortly be required and I have a feeling I'm going to have to replace the chain and sprocket set (Rs 2,500 roughly) and perhaps the cush drive rubber bushes as well.

What did I add to the bike along the way? I've spent about Rs 9,000 adding JCMoto's crash protection kit and about $50 on the StompGrips. Both are good investments in my book. One will pay off one day and the other pays me back every single ride.

And with the addition of oil, fuel and the required services, this bike's taken me to Goa, to Coimbatore and god knows how many runs to Pune. All of these saw it sit at high speeds for long durations with no problems to show for it. It's also been to the racetrack and of course, runs Mumbai's fierce gauntlet every day through sun and rain.

What happens next? Now that I've decided not to replace Ferocitas with an RC 390, it will stay in my garage. It's a keeper. But I will be riding something else from our long term fleet more often. Let's see what I can get the boys to let me ride. This has to be the happiest wrap-up I've written because while the KTM is exiting the pages, I still get to keep riding it.

Total mileage: 10,135km, date acquired: Feb'14, this month mileage 2,535km, fuel: 114 litres, efficiency: 22.3kmpl