2017 KTM RC390 Review: Old vs new

Gallery What it was What it is now Do the changes warrant an upgrade?

What it was

It was light, nimble and bloody fast. Those were some of the key attributes that I paid attention to before I put my money down on the KTM RC390. Adding to it were those crazy bits like the ultra-radical styling, very bright projector headlamps, an exhaustive instrument console and some very sticky rubber. What absolutely sealed the deal for me was it put a bloody big smile on my face every time I wrung that throttle after nailing that corner making me feel like I’ve got Rossi-like abilities. And I got all this at a price which was almost 1.5 lakh lesser than its immediate competition.

But all is not happily ever after. The bike had its fair share of grouses. The RC had pretty explosive acceleration; enough for the front wheels to point skywards should you rev the engine and dump the clutch even by mistake. But even with the inclusion of ABS, the brakes felt lacking. I had to go really hard on them to get some serious bite or end up chilling on the bumper of the car in front.

The RC also revs to its redline very quickly, and while that’s ok when you’re going up the gears, when you needed to shed speed quickly and going hard on the brakes, banging down the gears, the rear would get out of shape quite quickly. And this was even more noticeable when I took it to the racetrack.

Then there was the seat, which wasn’t much of a seat but more a plank. Any ride over 200km meant your butt had to be made of steel. There was simply zero cushioning in the seat which made even slightly longish rides a pain in the you-know-where!

Now these are some of the major grouses that I face as an RC owner and apart from these the RC is just as practical or impractical as any other supersports motorcycle in the market.

What it is now

Well, KTM’s been listening. They have just launched the MY17 model with plenty of upgrades. You can read about it here. I just wanted to hop on it and ride to feel the difference. Since we got the bike on Bajaj’s test track at Chakan, it was going to be more of performance test but since it’s more of an upgrade and not an all-new bike we would still manage to get a fair idea of the bike as a whole.

Getting on the motorcycle, the ergo hasn’t changed a bit. It’s still as aggressive as before. The seat finally gets more cushioning and is way better. This will at least add an hour and half of comfortable riding over the previous seat. Thumb the starter and you realise it’s a contactless switch.

So in the earlier bike, during cold starts the engine would die sometimes after the first crank and a lot of owners would keep cranking it thereby ending up abusing the battery. It’s a one-touch-operation now and definitely works a lot better.

The next thing that struck me is the exhaust note. The new side-mounted aluminium exhaust belts out quite a different soundtrack. At idle you’ll pretty much hear the characteristic noise of a small KTM at idle but gas it open and it sounds like a dirt bike on song. You’ll either like it or hate it. Personally I prefer the sound of my older RC with the underbelly exhaust.

On the move, the new RC feels the same as before. It feels quick off the mark, revs to the redline in a blink and just begs you attack the first corner you find, which I did. A few changes that I thought should affect the bike include ride-by-wire throttle, the kerb weight that has increased by almost 7kg, a bigger 320mm (300mm in the earlier bike) brake rotor up front and H-rated Metzeler tyres (against ‘W’ rated ones).

Let’s get the ride-by-wire feature out of the way first. This feature is more for emissions rather than performance, but where it helps most is when you want to make mild throttle corrections in the middle of a corner. There is no ’snatchy-ness’ at all and the power transition is extremely smooth instilling a lot of confidence. As for the weight, the new bike hides its newfound bulk without any issues. Direction changes are just as easy and the RC was in its element as I flicked it between corners.

It’s when you tap on the front brakes where you think the new RC is a totally different animal. The bite is ferocious and its feels more Brembo than Bybre. Braking was the RC390’s biggest drawback and the bigger rotor along with minor changes to the calliper and master cylinder have made that issue redundant and in fact turned it into one of the RC’s biggest strengths.

What helps the braking further is the addition of a slipper clutch. Since I was riding on the track, going down hard on the gears after a straight was no issues at all. No rev matching needed to keep that rear in check, as the slipper clutch covers up for you which again imparts a lot of confidence when you want to go flat out.

We were also told that the RC now comes with H rated tyres which have a speed rating of 210kmph as against the W rated tyres (240kmph limit). While it’s still way above the RC’s top speed limits we are yet to ascertain if there is a change in the tyre compounds. While I did not find grip to be lacking on any front, it did squirm a little under hard acceleration on the exits. The track was quite dusty, so I will reserve comment till we get to test the tyre in real-world conditions.

Do the changes warrant an upgrade?

I would love to have the new features on my 2014 RC390. But are they tempting enough for me to upgrade to the MY17 model? No. The RC390 was already the best affordable sportsbike in India and the updates have made it even better and all this at a marginal price hike of about Rs 12000. But if I do plan to upgrade, I’d be better off waiting for the all-new bike which should be out in the next couple of years.

Until then, I think I’ll upgrade my seat, and those new adjustable levers too, and I just need that new front disc, and…