The more I ride this little beauty the more attached I become and not just me. Natalie cleared off on it for a few days and came back a gibbering jester full of compliments. She adored the lightness, nimbleness and naughtiness the 390 has by the bag load.
I agree with everything she says, for a change. However some KTM dealers say this is the perfect ‘entry-level’ bike into the Duke family but I’m not so sure. Think of it more as a bike you’d keep. You see, around town up here in good ol’ Jo’burg I believe you’ll never need anything bigger. It’s plenty quick enough and with only 700km on the clock I’ve already had it past 180km/h! I certainly agree with Natalie, for a change, on the way it can be thrown around, helped by those brilliant Metzeler tyres. And whilst you’re flying around at silly speeds the one thing that really does stand out (relayed on those ‘best in class’ clocks), is the frugal fuel consumption. I know of no other bike at the moment that gives so much fun for so little petrol.
Anyway, talking of riding around like a ‘teenager’ whose dad paid for the bike, if you know what I mean, let me tell you these tales to put this 45hp, 150kg motorbike into perspective.
I was out on a Sunday morning ‘annoying’ any motorbike that came near when a Harley-Davidson 1200 Sportster came alongside at the lights and scoffed at my 390 badges. Obviously his bike was much louder (my Akrapovic pipe is here as I write and will be fitted by the next report), but his volume was crushed as he tried to drag race my 390 and me and I disappeared into the distance full of glee and merriment. All quite impressive, but
not as impressive as the next robot race with a fairly new Yamaha XT660 though. First gear we’re side-by-side then into second and every subsequent gear change after that the 390 pulled away and even more so at the top end. I’ve never had such a grin since I won the lottery, only to hear my R10,000 win was actually R10. Gloating aside (after a while that is) that’s very impressive for a bike that’s half the capacity of the bigger Yamaha single-cylinder engine?
‘Till next time…
Sir William of Nottingham at your service.
www.ktm.com 
