BHPian TheStalwart recently shared this with other enthusiasts: Update: It was time for the first free service of the Duke 390. Tried to find a good KTM service centre in Bangalore and was even ready to travel any distance within the city if there was a good service centre. Surprisingly, almost all of the service centres had less positive reviews. It later became a hunt for a service centre that was less bad than the others. After a lot confusion, I decided to give the bike for service at KTM Kengeri. The odometer showed a reading of 902km. I had 4 points to be actioned on: – Clutch lever sound when pressed and the handle is turned to the left – Quickshifter doesn’t engage sometimes – Shifting to Neutral is difficult – Noise while applying front brakes I conveyed this to the service rep and he said he will take a look at it. According to him, the clutch was loose and fixing that would resolve the first 3 issues. The noise from the front brakes might be because of dust accumulation and could be fixed. They said they will return my bike at 5:30 PM but never cared to inform me once done. I had to call them by myself and check whether the bike was serviced or not. By the time I reached the service centre, it was almost closing hours, which meant I didn’t have much time to discuss what was done. The service cost was 2053/-. The very first thing I noticed is that the brake noise was still there. They took it for a test ride, came back, blew pressurized air at the brake pads and said the noise is common for sintered brake pads. One thing was clear though – the service centre is not capable of resolving any issues. They were exactly as the reviews suggested and had no idea about the bike nor how to service it. I was already disappointed and their only intent was to shoo me away instead of answering my queries. Dejected, I just headed home. The bike surely felt a little smoother than before. The clutch lever noise was still there, just that it now became intermittent (I can live with that though). Couldn’t get much room to test the quick shifter. Previously, I had assumed that the launch control and shift light settings will be enabled by the service centre during the first service. When I checked on the way back home, it wasn’t enabled on my bike and showed a message that it will be enabled only after completing 1000km. I still had another 90+km to cover. That left me confused again. Will these get enabled automatically after completing 1000km or should I go to the service centre again and get it enabled. For me the bike is new but the service centre would have seen multiple such cases and must know how things work. Had they given me any information about this, it would have helped a lot. After reaching home, I found out that they hadn’t even topped off the coolant. That made me doubt their quality of service. Occupied with work, I couldn’t immediately go back to the service centre the next day. In a day or two, the front wheel started squeaking. Once I had some spare time, I headed to the service centre. On the way, I finally completed the 1000km milestone. As soon as the bike clocked 1000km, there was a “Service” warning on the screen. At the service centre, there were 3 main issues to be addressed: – Coolant – They topped off the coolant, which they had missed during the service – Squeaking In the front – They sprayed some lubricant to the front wheel and the squeaking stopped – Service reminder – They reset the service reminder and set it to pop-up after 7000km from the current reading When I asked them if they had to do any software update, they said nothing needs to be done. The launch control and shift light settings are automatically enabled after completing 1000km. When I bought the bike, the guy at the showroom had told me that there would be an RPM limiter set to 7000. But that’s not the case. The bike is fully capable right from day 1. It’s just recommended to stay below 7000RPM during the run-in phase and some settings are disabled. For now, the bike is performing well. In case I face any issues, I will definitely not go back to KTM Kengeri. I will search for another service centre, or take the bike to a FNG (if the issue is relatively small). Riding the duke is just becoming too addictive and fun day by day! Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.
