My first RC390 :) Ongoing review..

**Side note I am probably like most of you guys and been riding for 30+ years with far too many bikes come and gone. But this is my smallest bike ever owned and I'm looking forward to it more so than many others that have passed through the shed :)

Took my little beast up my local hills to start the break-in period of 1000lkms and I have to say it is absolutely amazing!

Initial thoughts of the riding was I need to drop the forks 10mm and see if that helps with tipping in a bit better. It has the pirelli's on it but it is too slow to turn in for my liking but when it does lean over its like its on rails and its brilliant. I did try adjusting that joke of a rear (wont even grace it by calling it suspension lol) and turned the pre load up 3 clicks but couldnt get it to move anymore untill I remove it. I'm 110kg suited up 6"2 and I am simply too heavy for what this little shock can handle. I found the front end to be relatively good considering it is what you get and no adjustments.

Temperature was 28'c on the mountain and only when i stopped at the cafe did the fan come on for around 20 seconds...I had a moment of panic thinking "shes gonna blow" but it dropped the temp and fan went off so all was good. I will definitely be buying the 16 psi/bar cap and the fan along with engine ice coolant.

For Aussie roads the gearing is too high and ill go one up on the rear and one down on the front first chance im at the KTM dealership.

I would like to push the bars forward as it feels a bit too swept back. This may be a personal preference but I like the flatter bar direction from the triple clamps vs them close to the tank if that makes sense.

As for cornering it's put the biggest smile on my face for a long time as it just begs to push harder and harder and it feels extremely encouraging mid corner and makes me want to go find the next corner :)

The little 375cc engine was the biggest surprise as it produced so much more power than I was expecting and was an absolute little ripper considering its a single cylinder. Back to back against the 390 Duke its ahead by leaps and bounds in power produced.

Brakes are what you pay for and these will do for street riding but I'll swap rotors and pads when I get her to our local track which is ONLY 3klms from our house :D

I'll be buying most of my upgrades from the Vendors I've seen on here as they present themselves and their products incredibly well so I'm super excited to get this little 390 run-in and then start unleashing her.

Once thats done its track time and its like that itch you cant reach at the moment ;)

** overal first ride 8/10, I loved it!
 

Diploman

New Member
"The little 375cc engine was the biggest surprise as it produced so much more power than I was expecting and was an absolute little ripper considering its a single cylinder. Back to back against the 390 Duke its ahead by leaps and bounds in power produced."

I'm a bit puzzled at your assertion that the RC 's engine is decidedly more powerful than the Duke's. The two 390 variants share the exact same powerplant, ECU mapping, airbox and exhaust. What reason, therefore, would there be to believe that one variant would be "ahead by leaps and bounds in power produced" over the other? With identical power trains, it would follow that both 390 variants would make the exact same power in OEM configuration. The RC and Duke are fundamentally the same bike, differentiated principally by the sport/track configuration of the RC vs the naked standard setup of the Duke. While the two bikes have different rear subframes, their mainframe is nearly identical, with a slight difference in headstock angle. Suspension is nearly the same on both, with spring and spacer differences yielding about 25mm less travel on the RC's front forks compared to the Duke. The most significant difference between the two bikes is weight - The RC's extensive fairing adds about 18 lbs compared to the unfaired Duke.

I have never seen any comparative performance data between the two variants, but I would speculate that - given riders of equal weight and skill - in a drag race from standing start, the Duke would pull ahead early because of its lighter weight, while the RC would take the edge at higher speeds because of better aerodynamics/lower C/D. But as far as I know, there is no basis whatever to assert that, in stock form, either variant produces more power than the other.
 
Ive ridden a friends 390 duke many times yet first ride on this its far ahead of his power delivery wise. Why i have no idea but its not something thats barely noticeable this rc390 is better from the seat of my pants in a big difference. My wife said the exact same thing when she got off it.

Both make us smile for different reasons so in the end we love both bikes.
 

Diploman

New Member
Possibly your friend's Duke may be the restricted-power learner's version (called A2 in EU, and I believe LAMS in Oz). Or else his engine is not producing full designed power for some reason: perhaps needing a tuneup (valve check/adjustment, spark plug, throttle cable adjustment, air filter, etc). Or maybe there is some other issue, such as a defective head gasket or clogged injector. If his bike's engine were running at its designed potential, you should notice no difference in power output between your bike and his.
 
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I'd say you're probably correct Diploman as it is a noticeable difference for what should be the same result.

I raised the fork tubes 7mm this morning and it tips in as I like now.

Dropped the tyre presures to 30/32 as the dealership had 40/42.

Got 200klms on it in 2 days so ill dump out the oil tomorrow morning and put a new filter and fresh oil then continue running her in. Do we really have to do 1000klms to run in an engine in anymore? I'm thinking 700klms and then swap to full synthetic as toddling about is killing me.
 

motoputz

Member
Country flag
you might want to rethink the 7mm drop of the front. I lowered mine 6mm when I had it at Laguna Seca on the recommendation of a suspension tuning guy that has a lot of experience. Turn in was a bit better than the 3mm drop I had been trying for a couple of sessions. But I started to spin/slide the rear on corner exit. Nothing dramatic, just a shuddering as I rolled on the gas leaned over. It could be the stock tires were getting greasy at the end of the day or they did not like the weight transfer to the front. I will be going back to the 3mm lower height and tune from there.
 
Ive read a whole shit tonne of crapping and bagging the poor RC390 since joining this forum but thats what happens on most forums. People with problems ask for help and it just looks like the bike is badly made/designed.

WELL IM HERE TO SAY THIS IS ONE FUCKING SEXY AS SHIT HOT BIKE AND IT GOES LIKE THE DEVIL IS HANGING ONTO YOUR COAT-TAIL ALL THE WHILE SMILING LIKE A DRUG FUCKED MOFO!!!!

This post is is meant to smack all the bad posts in the face and make them sit back and rethink all the negatives and all the shit posts and just think how god damned good this little bike makes you feel mid corner when your knee is on the deck and life is sliding on by as you slow down time itself and you watch the corner markers slip past as you look towards the apex and you hear the peg grinding into the tarmac while your knee grinds against the bitumen and god himself looks down upon you and says "go forth my son and pass the lesser on the infidel bike from the land of the red flag" and you explode into life and rip the shit outta the guy on the honda as you enter the next corner...all the while smiling under your lid, thinking "yeah get a dog up ya on that pos honda" and then the next corner comes into sight.... :D

haha fuck the heat issues, the gasket issues and just suck it up and put it down to owning a KTM and lets go ride!
 

bkruk

New Member
Ive read a whole shit tonne of crapping and bagging the poor RC390 since joining this forum but thats what happens on most forums. People with problems ask for help and it just looks like the bike is badly made/designed.

WELL IM HERE TO SAY THIS IS ONE FUCKING SEXY AS SHIT HOT BIKE AND IT GOES LIKE THE DEVIL IS HANGING ONTO YOUR COAT-TAIL ALL THE WHILE SMILING LIKE A DRUG FUCKED MOFO!!!!




This post is is meant to smack all the bad posts in the face and make them sit back and rethink all the negatives and all the shit posts and just think how god damned good this little bike makes you feel mid corner when your knee is on the deck and life is sliding on by as you slow down time itself and you watch the corner markers slip past as you look towards the apex and you hear the peg grinding into the tarmac while your knee grinds against the bitumen and god himself looks down upon you and says "go forth my son and pass the lesser on the infidel bike from the land of the red flag" and you explode into life and rip the shit outta the guy on the honda as you enter the next corner...all the while smiling under your lid, thinking "yeah get a dog up ya on that pos honda" and then the next corner comes into sight.... :D

haha fuck the heat issues, the gasket issues and just suck it up and put it down to owning a KTM and lets go ride!

AMEN Brother!!!
 

cornerslider

New Member
Ive read a whole shit tonne of crapping and bagging the poor RC390 since joining this forum but thats what happens on most forums. People with problems ask for help and it just looks like the bike is badly made/designed.

WELL IM HERE TO SAY THIS IS ONE FUCKING SEXY AS SHIT HOT BIKE AND IT GOES LIKE THE DEVIL IS HANGING ONTO YOUR COAT-TAIL ALL THE WHILE SMILING LIKE A DRUG FUCKED MOFO!!!!

This post is is meant to smack all the bad posts in the face and make them sit back and rethink all the negatives and all the shit posts and just think how god damned good this little bike makes you feel mid corner when your knee is on the deck and life is sliding on by as you slow down time itself and you watch the corner markers slip past as you look towards the apex and you hear the peg grinding into the tarmac while your knee grinds against the bitumen and god himself looks down upon you and says "go forth my son and pass the lesser on the infidel bike from the land of the red flag" and you explode into life and rip the shit outta the guy on the honda as you enter the next corner...all the while smiling under your lid, thinking "yeah get a dog up ya on that pos honda" and then the next corner comes into sight.... :D

haha fuck the heat issues, the gasket issues and just suck it up and put it down to owning a KTM and lets go ride!

My sentiments EXACTLY!!!!!!!! I love my RC-
 

simpletty

Member
Country flag
I must add to this, I was previously in the group "peice of shit bike mentality", since I had issues out of the gate. Ive had the bike 3 years on this upcoming moday and raced the shit outta it for 2 1/2 years, literally shit bagged it to no end and it hasn't given me any issues other than the stator bolts coming loose. Ive crashed it numerous times in the past, but this year we clicked and have been on the podium 2 times out of 4 races....crashed in the wet hunting down 2nd place....and I am in the running for a third place season finish. I say to hell with the nay sayers and this little bike has given me more fun than I could ever have expected. It has its quirks and we all know that but overall its a fun peice of machinery.
 

John390

New Member
I also love mine. I am at 800km now

question for you. For the front suspension adjustment you are talking about?

in the first post you say you wanted to lower it, but then further down you say you raised it?

I am confused?

BTW I am 5'10" and 170ish Tips on rear spring preload and front strut height greatly appreciated.

Also, what do you use to adjust the rear spring preload? I have a set of coil over wrenches for my JIC stuff in one of my cars and it doesn't fit. I tried a KTM one at the dealer the other day and it didn't fit either. I don't want to take a big screwdriver and hammer on my brand new bike :)
 

Falkon45

Member
Country flag
The KTM one should fit, albeit a pain in the ass to make it work. I'm one step from max on my preload, but I'm also 240 lbs (not in gear) and I just outright exceed what that spring is meant for. The R6 shock a lying in wait right now.

As for the front adjustments, you can slide the tubes in the tripple tree for height adjustment. There's no preload or damping adjustments, but height is just kind of a built-in thing for most bikes with USD forks.
 

John390

New Member
yea, I used a big screw driver and hammer. I need to drop it down a notch I think. Totally noticed it tho, so thats good.

I would like to try 7.5w fork oil up front, but I sure as shit don't want to take the fork off the bike...
 
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