Summing it up
KTM RC 390
At the price for which it is being offered, nothing, and absolutely nothing comes close to the RC 390. It offers an eclectic mix of electrifying performance, international styling and modern equipment. It will provide you an experience, which if you have to match with anything else will require spending quite a few more lakhs. This motorcycle isn’t a pretentious machine, which just looks fast, it seriously is. It managed to leave such a mark on us, that by the time we got back for lunch, which was right next to the KTM showroom, we wanted to go back, pose as potential customers and try taking the RC out for a spin.
This isn’t a motorcycle you should be buying for everyday riding, although you can do it, it isn’t meant for that. What it is meant for is elevating that experience of riding a motorcycle, it makes the whole occasion special, where even before you thumb the starter. You probably might pop something sweet to celebrate the ride. If you intend to involve yourself in some serious motorcycling, do some justice to your life, get one of these, we are sure it will introduce you to a few verses of the motorcycling bible, which will add up as you start climbing the CC ladder on your way to become a litre class priest.
Kawasaki Ninja 300
First things first, the Ninja 300 is priced at Rs 3,94,193 (On Road, Mumbai). For that price you can buy an RC 390 and a Duke 200 and still be left with spare cash for some riding gear. For its price, the Kawasaki Ninja is an expensive piece of machinery to own. You do get a product which reeks of quality, has a butter smooth parallel twin engine, purposeful looks, characteristic handling, a deep exhaust growl and technology like the slipper clutch, which filters down from higher specced motorcycles. Speaking rationally, if you have the money, you sure can buy one, but do take a test ride of the RC 390 before you part ways with your money. It will help you decide what kind of motorcycling appeals to you. An RC that requires all of you, or the Ninja which only needs you on the saddle.
KTM Duke 390
If extracting the most amount of function while following minimalism is your thing, the KTM Duke 390 is what you should be looking at. It isn’t boring as the architectural sentence we just used, it doesn’t even know what that word means. The Duke 390 should be the top most contender for your parking slot, if all you intend to do is indulge in casual motorcycling, go out riding over the weekends and the bike will be bound within city limits for most of its life. It is the closest thing to the RC 390 on sale right now and also cheaper.
Similarly equipped, both the KTM’s make a strong case for themselves here. If you are about to buy a motorcycle amongst these, buy one which appeals to you the most. For us, the RC390 by far is the best thing that has happened to motorcycling in India. Go get one for yourself if motorcycles have appealed to you even once in your life. If the two wheeled species ever could make your heart flutter, the RC 390 will make your bpm go ballistic, don’t take our word for it. Go take a test ride.
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I agree that the Duke has the initial pull, or its atleast equal from what I could make out at the BIC trackday, Noida.
However, I did ride the Duke 390 (road+track, I own one) and Ninja 250 (on the road), and I believe that an important point is that the Ninja has a wider powerband.
That means if you get distracted or have a corner ahead, and over rev the Ninja beyond its max power point, there’s still a long way before rev limiter…. So, no problems here.
But should the Duke miss the Max power gearshift, its rev limiter right away. And you go back by 3-4 bike lengths normally….
For racing, more cylinders are always better. On road, I believe its Vice Versa, seeing the SuperDuke 1290 and the Duke 390 too.