The other thing to feel is the amazing tyres. I hear that it can handle up to 230kmph though the vehicle hardly crosses 150kmph. It has a pretty good grip so you don’t have to be scared of tilting and the ABS is there to make sure your tyres never lock and you don’t fall. I can’t stress this enough, it’s the ABS that gives you assurance when you have a such a monstrous pickup. Also the vehicle doesn’t allow you to use gear break. With the slipper clutch, it disconnects the engine from the tyres when you gear down at high speed. So ABS to rescue (though if you’re a track racer or wanting to drift, you can turn it off). The catch with going fast though, is that the vehicle doesn’t have any aerodynamics, nothing. So at higher speeds you’d find the air resistance to be your biggest hurdle. If it weren’t for that I’m sure it can cross 180kmph, but then that’s why they have a RC version. Until the older version of Duke, you can setup a custom windshield (yamaha fazer), but the 2017 version has only 2 screw points for the nameplate and so far I couldn’t find any that fit.

One of the most unique thing about the 2017 Duke 390 model is the TFT display. It’s like a car display, with a bunch of information about the vehicle and and you can choose what to keep. It also gives you alerts on different things like side stand, engine heat, battery status, date & time etc. There’s a preference on measurement units and abs and lots more. It also let’s you connect your phone via bluetooth and you can see the phone battery level and signal strength. You can also attend/reject calls and control your music from the bike. I mean, WOAH, right? With the controls it has (up, down, enter, back), I hope to someday hack it to display Maps, make call or at least sync date/time with phone.

The other thing you note is that the vehicle has side lock on both sides, depends on your parking style, you can use either. If your keychain has a bunch of other keys, it gets stuck in the gap around it. I recently took a black rubber tape and sealed the gap so the rest of the keys don’t bother me, and the rubber will handle vibrations well.

To finish, I’d like to quote a line I read from a magazine,

The new Duke 390 feels more like a martial artist than a body builder, very sophisticated than raw. If you ride this bike, you’d know that this bike has more to do with a cheetah’s aggression and fleet than a lion’s gaze.

Next week I’m riding solo from Chennai to Kashmir and back. Will be camping at Hillhacks till end of the month, giving a talk on Tracking and Hacking with life. If you’re around himachal, do come say hi 🤗

Happy riding…