Quick Test Ride

MrHix

New Member
Hi,

I got to test ride an RC390 the other day and wanted to provide some input. I put about 25 miles on it on a twisty road and some highway. I have been riding for 45 years and currently have a KTM 350 XCF-W and a 2009 FZ1.

The bike feels very small, mostly due to the thin tank area and low weight/center of gravity. It felt lighter than my KTM 350 due to the COG and was just about as thin in the knee area.

The brakes were almost dangerously soft and required a lot of force to get results.

The bike moved smoothly into turns and felt stable once there. Steering was light with good feedback.

Heat from the exhaust was excessive on the left side on my thigh.

I limited RPM to the recommended range so I can not give input on high RPM power. The midrange (6000 - 7000 RPM) felt a little softer than my 350.

Mirrors are great if you want to see your biceps. Cars, not so much.

For me: Bars were a little low for comfort on the road and might be hard to modify. I was looking at ROX ( 2" Pivoting Bar Risers for 7/8" Handlebar – Rox Speed FX ) Risers to see if they would help.

Minor point: Indicator lights were hard for me to see due to the lack of brightness and angle of the instrument pod.

Very nice bike, but I think it needs some fixes from KTM before I will consider buying one.

Cheers,

MrHix
 

A1VW2NV

Member
Country flag
Thanks for your input. I keep hearing very mixed reviews about the brakes. I wonder if the bikes are shipped with different pads. My personal thoughts are, that the brakes (for spirited street rides) are more than adequate. After reading about several complaints, I went and flogged my bike, testing the brakes to their limits. My personal conclusion? They are good, but can of course be improved. My plan is a simple rotor/pad change. Note that I also rode two up and my brakes were more than adequate. I have not noticed any extra heat venting out from the left side. I also don't have problems with high temps or my fan constantly running.
 

guzz46

New Member
I've thought that even before I brought the bike, I've had the bike on the track braking from 170kmh lap after lap and the brakes are great, more than enough stopping power for the bike, upgrading the brakes won't make my bike stop any quicker, it will just make it easier to lift the back off the ground, they are on par with the brembo's on my husky, and the six pot's on my old 96 gsxr 750.
 

MrHix

New Member
Maybe quality control on the brake pads/rotors is not up to par? I pulled the front brake lever with enough force to flip my FZ1 and the RC390 just slowed gently. It could also be a case of needing to be bedded in for some new bikes.

Cheers,

MrHix
 

guzz46

New Member
Mine weren't like that from the beginning, on the first ride they weren't bad, but they weren't great, but once the pads wore in they were great, my dealer reckoned they need to be heat cycled before they can reach their full potential, eg... get them hot, then let them completely cool down.
 

Fasteddy

Member
Country flag
I wonder if it is not so much an issue with QC of parts as maybe something as simple as they have not been properly power bled through the ABS modulator unit. There seems to be such wild departuers on the brakes being good or bad.
I am with Guzz, no problem, today I rode the RC around for about 45 miles then parked it and immediately got on my YZF600R and rode it for about 70 miles both in town and a ride out through the country. With both bikes I had at least one instance of needing brakes due to other drivers, on both bikes they performed great when called on.
Guess I got one of the good ones?
 

reenmachine

Member
Country flag
I put about 25 miles on one on a test ride and couldn't figure out what the braking fuss was all about. They felt great to me. I'm 165 lb -- maybe that has something to do with it?
 

Rodolfo

New Member
My guess is they come with different pads from The manufacturer

Today i changed lines and pads, but just rode it from The dealer to my house, but they have a much better feel

Tomorrow i will have a trackday and can give a better review
 
When I pulled the stock pads at 250 miles, only a nickel size diameter was making contact in the middle of the pad. Measuring the pad thickness with calipers revealed inconsistent thickness that would have taken for ever to bed flat.

I switched to EBC HH - excellent bedding and flat measured consistency . Just switched to SBS SB pads. Again, flat measured consistency and even better performance.
 

mr-fabricator

New Member
Brembo sintered for me . When on the stock pads and rotor they got better and better , 1000k track riding and they were good enough even stock . As mentioned they need to bed in and be cycled a few times .
 

Rodolfo

New Member
Changed to ss lines and ebc hh pads, and my braking FEEL issues are gone.

Dont know exactly wich of the 2 does the trick, but might as well do both.
 

simpletty

Member
Country flag
I used to race a yamaha tz125, and always was a fan of the small bikes, Suspension leaves something to be desired on these bikes, ive rode worse. The akro pipe and tune woke it up a bunch and it has plenty of power, much more than the tz has. The brakes are as good if not even better than
the tz brakes. With decent suspension and rearsets im sure that this would give the tz a serious run for the money, if not even leave it behind. Ive raced bikes with worse suspensions, beleive it or not. But this winter its time to ditch it for the jri and a good set of forks. All in all I am always left smiling when Im done. Tons of compliments on the looks of the bike and still leaving the 600s trailing in the corners. Its better to ride a slow bike fast, than a fast bike slow
 
Top