Over The Edge

India’s Hottest Real-world Motorcycle Just Got a Whole Lot Racier!
 

- Ruman Devmane

I’ll admit, I got a bit worried when the pre-ride briefing at Bajaj’s Chakan testing facility got split into two halves — one for the motorcycle itself and the other, for the new TFT LCD interface. ‘Oh, not one more motorcycle lost to the geeks!’ I thought to myself, a full fifteen minutes into understanding how 390 Duke’s cool new interface worked. KTM’s biggest Duke for India has always been about its performance and I was nervous within reason at the sight of this new age gadgetry taking centre stage at the first-ride event. ‘Is this a clever overlap to camouflage a drop in performance, perhaps?’ In my last four outings at this track, I cannot recollect being as impatient as I was now, to just leather up and ride hard.

Before I get to that, let’s go over what really is new about the 2017 KTM 390 Duke. Now, KTM had already worked overtime by 2013, when the 390 Duke was first launched in India and that meant it didn’t have to make (too many, if at all) developmental strides in terms of its engine. As any of its competitors will tell you, the 390’s specifications have turned the world of entry-level performance motorcycles upside down, throwing almost every erstwhile motorcycle manufacturer off balance and back to the drawing board. It’s been four years since the 390 was launched and there hasn’t been one entry, anywhere in the world, which claims outright superiority over it in terms of sheer numbers. Fully aware of this pleasantly monopolistic reality, KTM decided to push the 390’s performance envelope in a more first-worldly manner. That is, by diving into the depths of chassis engineering, suspension and electronics. At this point, I’d like to take a breather and remind you that we are still speaking about a ₹ 2 lakh (or thereabouts) motorcycle and not a competition machine.