Issues

[simpletty]

So here we go. I just wonder why we all put up with the issues that this bike has? Are we that weak and in love with the shiny orange wheels that it blinds the fact that this bike is sub par quality, I: have worked at a Yamaha dealer in the past and never have seen as many issues on one bike as this one has. I too fall in the category of a guy with no bike because its at the dealer for repairs. Mine was on the trailer back to the dealer on day one with hoses burning and melted fairings, I let that one slide, it was repaired, returned and well the season was over. I bought it late last year and it sat all winter in my garage waiting. Well luckily our season here began earlier than normal and I was able to get out a few times in April, 4 times to be precise. May began as nice as April so I figured lets get some mods on this thing and see how much more fun I can make it. So that in total was getting out only 5 times to ride btw. Well thats when the trouble reared its head, I installed the power commander and not to its fault, as confirmed by Chad at commonwealth, began having fan/cel issues. So off to the dealer it goes again---lucky strike 2-417 miles on the unit, Dealer conveys the fact of an ecu issue for the fan problem. Also the side stand indicating that it was down all the time in the display has been narrowed down to the switch as of yesterday, so I am told by the ktm dealer. Then on top of that the dealer conveys to me that they suspect there is an issue somewhere on the top end because it is smoking heavy blue smoke at cold warm up. They indicate to me they have submitted the warranty repairs to KTM to do a tear down of the engine to see what the problem is. I am really let down by this machine, it sure looks nice on the trailer heading to the dealer for warranty repairs. (note the sarcasm)/ Also after reading the multiple issues that others have been having with this bike why the hell do we accept that. Does our money not qualify for a product that is built to KTM standards? It seems to be so, and I am not one to lay down and accept this fact. I placed my hard earned money on a product to use and enjoy. Both of these ARE NOT HAPPENING and I am pissed. I realize this is just a forum to discuss the bike, but for those of you who may be considering purchasing this bike, read and beware of the issues you may have. I have a yamaha R3 and it has had zero issues from day one and it has over 7500 km. There are no excuses for this bikes quality issues KTM has dropped the ball and they probably count down days until these bikes run off warranty so they are off the hook for repairs. It has been a bad experience owning this bike from day one, with small bits of joy mixed in. More bad feelings than happiness now, I dont trust the bike and all :I have in my head is what will happen next when I get this back. Oh and the dealer said, "hope you hve another bike to ride". So the warranty repairs look like they might be a while until fixed. So in the mean time I am going out shopping for a better option now, mostly focused on a R6 since :i have owned and raced several in the past and probably combined have nearly 40,000 miles on them with ZERO ISSUES. KTM needs to rethink this bike and bring its standards up, sometimes cheap is not good enough to get by. Thanks for reading

ONE PISSED OFF KTM RC390 OWNER

 

[stevieboy]

I sometimes wonder which is worse. The poor quality of the bikes that are always broken down or the disparity between broken and unbroken bikes? Its almost like waiting for the drawing of the BAD LOTTERY. I enjoy a good rant myself but if you really are going to sell the thing maybe you shouldn't advertise what a POS it is.

 

[simpletty]

Im in Canada and it will go in as a trade in anyway, I wont sell this private to someone, let the dealer deal with the bike, It probably wont even be picked up after its repaired actually, Its gone from fun to have to a bike I really dislike. Such a bad turn of events and never would have suspected KTM to make a piss poor product. Like you said its a hit and miss with these things, poor quality control where they are made is probably the problem, a bike for the masses built with cheap parts. I have a feeling much like the rc8 these will be dropped for sale in \North America. I just want to give a heads up to those considering buying one, roll the dice and take your chances. They may look fun, but trust me there are trouble free options available out there as well.

 

[reenmachine]

Yeah, maybe it's just hit or miss. I've had mine for a year now and flog it pretty hard (always have) and other than the radiator cap haven't had a single issue.

However, I don't even think I have 2000 miles on it yet as now it just gets 100 track miles every month or so. If it starts developing issues down the road I'll dump it but for now I'm thrilled with it.

 

[Willasan]

Yeah, maybe it's just hit or miss. I've had mine for a year now and flog it pretty hard (always have) and other than the radiator cap haven't had a single issue.

However, I don't even think I have 2000 miles on it yet as now it just gets 100 track miles every month or so. If it starts developing issues down the road I'll dump it but for now I'm thrilled with it.

My experience is exact same. Radiator cap, no other issues at all. About 2k miles on it now. All I do is wreck canyons.

 

[=maz=]

Same here...my bike, rather than the other one in the team, has had zero issues.
The other one has had a water pump seal and a head gasket replaced under warranty...other than that, zero problems.

My only gripe is the lack of QA/QC provided by KTM to Bajaj.

 

[reenmachine]

Same here...my bike, rather than the other one in the team, has had zero issues.
The other one has had a water pump seal and a head gasket replaced under warranty...other than that, zero problems.

My only gripe is the lack of QA/QC provided by KTM to Bajaj.

That's interesting. If I were ambitious I'd start collecting everyone's serial numbers & build dates to look for trends.

 

[Fasteddy]

I have had the same thought, Mine is 216611 no issues to date and almost 3500 miles.

 

[simpletty]

I have had the same thought, Mine is 216611 no issues to date and almost 3500 miles.

I'm going to check mine. Probably the ones being built under supervision of Austrian KTM managers probably were a bit more scrutinized. Total speculation on my part.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me.

 

[MrGrody]

I have had the same thought, Mine is 216611 no issues to date and almost 3500 miles.

3500 miles , no issues. These threads slightly scare me but bike so far is behaving well.

 

[Andy]

The bikes that come to UK go through quality control inspection prior to being put into the UK market (that's a pro for voting remain!). That's an EU thing.

Does that happen outside of EU, judging by some of the issues perhaps not?

 

[reenmachine]

The bikes that come to UK go through quality control inspection prior to being put into the UK market (that's a pro for voting remain!). That's an EU thing.

Does that happen outside of EU, judging by some of the issues perhaps not?

I know nothing about this, but I'd bet the farm that you don't get any real value out of a quality inspection like this. It's not like they're going to study engineering approaches or even check fastener torques. I'm sure it's similar to a track day tech inspection where they look for glaring workmanship errors or damage and that's it.

 

[cornerslider]

Maybe I'm too new to the RC390 (just got my 2016) to even have an opinion, but if my bike blew up tomorrow- I'd be very disappointed, but I could deal with it..... You get what you pay for- PERIOD. I could have picked a competitors bike, but I didn't.... I picked the KTM RC390 for one reason- it kicks the crap out of anything in it's class!!!! I bought a CBR250R for my wife last year. What an awesome bike!!!! Best bike I've ever ridden for running around town. It has a much better build quality than the RC, and smoother/easier to ride, and less expensive to buy/operate.... I'm nearly certain it will out last my RC390. But- I wouldn't be even close to as happy with the CBR250R as I am with my RC390. To put it into basic terms- the RC390 is a track bike that happens to qualify for a street tag, and sells for under $6000 USD. If you want "bulletproof" reliability, buy a Honda Goldwing for $25,000+. If you want to have a blast on a track, or destroying a canyon, buy an RC390, and quit bitching about "poor quality", blah-blah-blah-

 

[MrGrody]

Maybe I'm too new to the RC390 (just got my 2016) to even have an opinion, but if my bike blew up tomorrow- I'd be very disappointed, but I could deal with it..... You get what you pay for- PERIOD. I could have picked a competitors bike, but I didn't.... I picked the KTM RC390 for one reason- it kicks the crap out of anything in it's class!!!! I bought a CBR250R for my wife last year. What an awesome bike!!!! Best bike I've ever ridden for running around town. It has a much better build quality than the RC, and smoother/easier to ride, and less expensive to buy/operate.... I'm nearly certain it will out last my RC390. But- I wouldn't be even close to as happy with the CBR250R as I am with my RC390. To put it into basic terms- the RC390 is a track bike that happens to qualify for a street tag, and sells for under $6000 USD. If you want "bulletproof" reliability, buy a Honda Goldwing for $25,000+. If you want to have a blast on a track, or destroying a canyon, buy an RC390, and quit bitching about "poor quality", blah-blah-blah-

Cornerslider for president

 

[micahpearlman]

Maybe I'm too new to the RC390 (just got my 2016) to even have an opinion, but if my bike blew up tomorrow- I'd be very disappointed, but I could deal with it..... You get what you pay for- PERIOD. I could have picked a competitors bike, but I didn't.... I picked the KTM RC390 for one reason- it kicks the crap out of anything in it's class!!!! I bought a CBR250R for my wife last year. What an awesome bike!!!! Best bike I've ever ridden for running around town. It has a much better build quality than the RC, and smoother/easier to ride, and less expensive to buy/operate.... I'm nearly certain it will out last my RC390. But- I wouldn't be even close to as happy with the CBR250R as I am with my RC390. To put it into basic terms- the RC390 is a track bike that happens to qualify for a street tag, and sells for under $6000 USD. If you want "bulletproof" reliability, buy a Honda Goldwing for $25,000+. If you want to have a blast on a track, or destroying a canyon, buy an RC390, and quit bitching about "poor quality", blah-blah-blah-

Nail on the head.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[stevieboy]

Throwaway bikes? I don't have that much disposable income. If I did I would still have the R6 and the Aprilia Rs125 AND the RC.

 

[zaster]

If you want to have a blast on a track, or destroying a canyon, buy an RC390, and quit bitching about "poor quality", blah-blah-blah-

What he/she said.

Took mine for a ride up the twisty roads of Sandia Crest in NM while following my friend who was riding my Ducati 1199R. The RC did struggle a bit keeping up with him uphill since it is still limited rpm wise due to the break in period.
I was amazed that I could hang with him going downhill with my stock bike, he is race certified, I'm not.
Can't wait to see what I can do with this bike once I upgrade the suspension.

 

[Ryanthegreat1]

Maybe I'm too new to the RC390 (just got my 2016) to even have an opinion, but if my bike blew up tomorrow- I'd be very disappointed, but I could deal with it..... You get what you pay for- PERIOD. I could have picked a competitors bike, but I didn't.... I picked the KTM RC390 for one reason- it kicks the crap out of anything in it's class!!!! I bought a CBR250R for my wife last year. What an awesome bike!!!! Best bike I've ever ridden for running around town. It has a much better build quality than the RC, and smoother/easier to ride, and less expensive to buy/operate.... I'm nearly certain it will out last my RC390. But- I wouldn't be even close to as happy with the CBR250R as I am with my RC390. To put it into basic terms- the RC390 is a track bike that happens to qualify for a street tag, and sells for under $6000 USD. If you want "bulletproof" reliability, buy a Honda Goldwing for $25,000+. If you want to have a blast on a track, or destroying a canyon, buy an RC390, and quit bitching about "poor quality", blah-blah-blah-

Yes however we paid a premium for that KTM ready to race mantra and they failed to deliver. The RC390 is by far the most expensive in the class and seemingly the least reliable with some of the worst support.

If the KTM were the cheapest bike in the class I might sing a different tune.

 

[ray]

+100 to cornerslider

Ive owned/ridden most of RC's competition and yes, the RC is inferior in terms of reliability but its a hoot to ride which other dont have. I feel for you guys though since you need to pay quite a bit for the RC. Here in India, its cheap by a huge margin compared to the R3 and N300 and that why I picked the RC inspite of having seen its issues first hand.

That said...Im having issues with downshifts once its running hot ..anyone else facing the same?

 

[Bagwell]

Have you done the first oil change yet? How many miles on it?