Question 2015 RC390 questions

[Tirefriar]

Just bought a 2015 with 1900 miles. Here is a list of mods it came with:
- Competition Werks exhaust
- Rapid Bike Unit ECU
- Ohlins rear shock
- Front brake upgrade with 320mm rotor and brake pads (not sure which brand)
- Tyga race prep rear sets
- Upgraded air filter (have not seen it as the Tail is a Tyga CF bolted onto the frame)
- New Dunlops Sportmax (had Q3+ on my former R6 track bike, don't know much about the capabilities of Sportmax)

PO did not have the owner manuals or the paperwork for the work done but it was completed at the GP Motorcycles in San Diego. Took the bike through Mulholland yesterday, ran nice and cool.

Bike is intended for canyons and track, no street (i.e. traffic). I am in Southern Cal so bike will see 80-100* F and possibly higher on the track for better part of the year. I was aware of head gasket/cooling issues before I bought the bike. Looking for recommendations on the areas of improvement, especially in the cooling department.

 

[1JZSupra]

Hey bud, I live in San Diego as well... I purchased my bike 2nd hand from a guy that got it from GP motorcycles as well. I daily my duke all year round and I have had zero issues with heat. I average like 85-90 constantly on the freeway for the past 20k miles and she has held up great. Mine is a 2016, I would consider the following:

Spal fan upgrade and dump your coolant and run straight engine ice and you should be good. I have a PCV, K&N drop in, mnnthbx air box lid and a MIVV header back exhaust. I'm down in the East lake.

I would also ask if the PO did the valve checks at 600 miles like he was suppose too.

 

[Tirefriar]

I'm in Woodland Hills, bike was in Escondido area. PO had the oil change done at 1200 miles, which according to him was the recommended interval. I will be dropping the oil anyway. Thanks for the heads up on the Spal fan/Engine Ice.

 

[1JZSupra]

Did he do the valve checks also? The guy that owned mine didn't do them, I did them at 3000 miles and found my exhaust valves to be tight.

 

[Tirefriar]

Just got a confirmation that the valves were checked at the dealer when the oil was changed at 1200 miles. Did you check the valve clearances yourself? If so, how much room is there for access?

Looking further into the cooling system upgrade, it appears that 2019 OEM fan has been redesigned (open shroud) for better flow. The stock radiator looks to be on the thin side, how about this one: https://www.ebay.com/i/113874949172...874949172&pmt=1&noa=1&pg=2386202&algv=Default

Not sure if it will bolt straight in or will require modification of sorts

 

[Tirefriar]

One of the attractions of the Duke 390 was a good selection of crash bars available. I thought I found a set at Rok Bagoros Parts but can't find them on their site. The only crash cage I found is here: https://www.newbreedstuntparts.com/product-page/ktm-duke-rc390-rc200-itx4-crash-cage

A bit pricey but can't find other alternatives. Don't want sliders.

 

[1JZSupra]

I have done all my valve checks by myself, however you should note that I have a Duke which is much easily to access everything. I don't even disconnect the tank, I lift it up (After unbolting it of course) and then pivot it off to the clutch side to rest on a step ladder that I have next to the bike. At this point I undo the radiator mounting bolts and push it forward enough to gain access to check the valves. BE CAREFUL when you go to tighten the cam cradle bolts!!! KTM has a torque spec of like 7 ftlbs for those bolts and they use a crows foot to do it. I had all the right tools to include a torque wrench and pulled the threads out of the head for one of my bolts. Lucky for me the bolt hold did not go all the way through, so I cleaned everything, tapped it and added a helicoil. 17,000 miles later and I have not had an issue with it....

As for the cooling part, I have a duke which means I don't really have a shroud. However, typically speaking running pure engine ice and switching to a spal fan is usually enough. I would recommend that you try those two things first before seeing if you need a large radiator. Even after I hit up Palomar Mountain this last summer I had zero issues with heat the entire time.

Not that I think it helps much, but I wrapped my exhaust header as well... This is mainly just to protect the bike from the heat of the header. From all the datalogging that I have done in the past I have not seen any huge reasons to be concerned with heat at the moment. The next time I do my valve checks I'm going to do a compression test and a leak down test just to see the health of the engine.

 

[Tirefriar]

Looks good, plus you have the crash cages - something else that hard to find for an RC....