I’ve had the KTM RC390 from almost new, and it’s been an outstanding bike even if it has a few quirks…

long term Review of a KTM RC390

The fork seals started leaking about 1000km ago (800 miles), so I replaced them with whatever I could get in the middle of a lockdown. This meant getting some cheap ones online, sight unseen.

It was only when I pulled the bike apart to replace them that I found that the replacement dust seals were the wrong size! This meant reusing the old dust seals again.

I used 425mls of oil (7W) in each fork, instead of the standard 450ml (4W). Less oil gives it less compression damping, and a thicker oil gives more rebound damping.

This improved the handling quite a lot, and made the front end feel really planted.

Alas, those cheap seals didn’t last long, and one of them let go while cranked over in a corner, which means I’ve had to replace them again.

I was intending to sit on this job, and leave it for, if and when I end up self-isolating for Omicron (yes I know that is insane, but I live in NZ, and they took the blue pill).

However, circumstances have changed, and I need the bike available for travelling to Wellington.

(Luckily I already had some replacement SKF brand seals, which I had brought between the lockdowns.)

It took me @ 5 hours hours to take all the fairings off, jack up the bike, remove the front wheel, and remove the forks to get to the seals, and then put it all back together again.

So it’s all back together again for the next adventure…

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It’s winter over here in New Zealand, so the bikes been mostly parked up and given the occassional run to keep it ticking over. I thought it was all good for next season but then a few things happened….

The fork seals gave up, so I replaced those along with the fork oil.

The stator wiring burnt out, it took me several days to find the problem and resolder all the connections.

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The bike failed a warrent of fitness (safety inspection) which meant replacing the steering head bearings (and pulling the front end apart again)

The good news is that I’ve  now built up a spare rear wheel with a road tyre and road gearing. This means I can use this bike for other uses besides following my daughter around an offroad track in the summer time.

This is the heart warming story of how 2 brothers stole their dad’s old motorcycle without his knowledge, had it restored, and gave it back to him for christmas.

This bike was a replacement for a Yamaha SR400, as we needed a bike that could go off road. It is a 1998 model as the Yamaha was, but it gets ridden, rather than cherished.
It was a bit of a mission finding an off-road bike that was also registered for the road,  and had pillion pegs and a large enough fuel tank so I can ride all day.

This bike met all those requirements, but it was in a bit of a state when when I got it, and needed wheel bearings, brake disc’s / pads and lots of TLC in general.
A perceived lack of compression was a concern until I discovered it has an automatic decompressor as well as a lever on the handlebars for a manual one as well.

We use the bike to ferry a passenger to an off-road park, then we hire just one bike bike for the day (instead of two), remove the mirrors, and away we go. it works surprisingly well off-road, because it’s still quite light at @ 130kg.

It has a wide range 6 speed gearbox, which means it’s possible to run gearing which works both on and off road. The bike does 50/50 road/off-road use, and I’m using a 14/44 tooth arrangement, which gives it a cruising speed of @ 80-90kmhr on the road.

The back tyre is a Dunlop D606 which works very well.

The front tyre is a Mitas E07 which is Ok until you find some mud. It just slides everywhere as if I’m riding on glass. I’ll be using a matched set of tyres next season.