VOL. 52 ISSUE 18 MAY 5, 2015 P51
claimed 306 pounds so you
really can throw the thing
around like a football in tight
corners. The front inverted
WP suspension is unadjust-
able, which I find a bit disap-
pointing, because if you're
a tad on the heavy side like
me you could find the front
slightly under-damped. If you
could wind the preload up a
bit it would make a big differ-
ence, but the front suspen-
sion works well up to a point,
at which stage you're prob-
ably going a tad faster than
the posted speed limit…
The same can be said of
the front brakes. Made by By-
bre (it's an abbreviation for By
Brembo), a subsidiary com-
pany of Brembo and manufac-
tured in India for sub-600cc
models. Initial bite is pretty
good but prolonged hard use
will induce some fade. ABS is
a great edition and you have
to squeeze the lever pretty
hard for it to work, at which
point you'll get a slight pulse
at the lever. It's pretty unob-
trusive. It'll be interesting to
see how the brakes stand up
to the punishment the kids in
MotoAmerica in the RC390
Cup will dish out, as they will
be giving them more of a flog
than anyone in history.
(Far left) 'What are you lookin'
at?' The KTM looks ready for a
fight even at standstill.
(Left) 371cc – not 390 – but
390 sounds better. There's
power all through the rev range
on the little KTM.
Check out our quick video on the KTM 390 Duke right here.
