Brian V Paigo

3 hours ago, spitfireorca said:

What a switch! You'll have to come back and give us the 6 month review of your 390 and if you miss the FJ. Cheers! Nice color on the 390!

will do, and thanks!

Yeah it’s enough power for me, I love it. I was thinking about the warranty claims as well, but I’ve heard great things out of the 2nd gen 390 dukes. Sounds like they fixed all the bugs in the 2nd gen. I’ve got 286 miles on mine for now, and soon I’ll be riding it every day, so I’ll be able to tell ya for sure. The KTM dirt bikes are in the shop a lot, but the street bikes are better. However you gotta remember, KTMs are high performance machines. Yamahas are as well, but the R6 and R1 are up there with performance of KTM, but the difference is all KTM bikes are extreme high performance, not just 1 or 2, so it’s expected to run into reliability issues. We have 5 other Honda’s, so I understand reliability. Maintenance is key with those KTM’s, you can’t run them into the ground like a Honda or Yamaha. 

52 minutes ago, stumpy said:

Coming off of the 900, how do you like the power difference moving to the 390?  They do look like a lot of fun

I’ll say this, I never used the power the FJ had 24/7, and I’m used to the 250, 300 and Grom, but I was blown away by the KTM. The KTM is a high performance single cylinder. This bike power delivery wise is very similar to the 09. I call the KTM a baby FJ/FZ09. I have zero regrets on the switch, and I just love the KTM. If you’re all about power power power, than it’s probably not gonna please you, and you’d be better off with the 790, but remember it’s a 320lb bike with 43HP, that’s equivalent to some 700CC bikes. The power band in the 09’s was throughout the rev range, but the KTM comes alive after 7K, redline at 10.5K. KTM has about as much vibration as the FJ, maybe a tad less. Hates anything under 4K RPM, lives in the 5-6K range. I don’t have to full throttle it everywhere I go, I can just ride it. You can’t complain for the price. I picked it up for $3,999 plus TTL here in TX, 2019 brand new.  Definitely worth every penny.  It was cheaper than a Honda CB500F, and has much better specs and performance than the Honda. Hope this helps!  Buy it! 

Good to know. I was thinking it may not last much longer since it’s been the same bike since forever, but I was hopeful. Well that means they will become cheaper soon to pick up used. And there’s enough of them out there for parts. It did have a good run, I’ll agree. 

5 hours ago, donk said:

Funny you should say that as I own a Multistrada and a ‘14  FJR. I don’t think KTM makes anything that is comparable to the FJR.  The GT doesn’t have the same weather protection or shaft drive.  I for one think modern chains are pretty much trouble free. Of course the FJR is heavier and doesn’t have the quality suspension components of the KTM. It’s all becomes a trade off. I think as a daily ride and occasional 3 day tourer the KTM wins it but if you want to go cross country and have a short (or long) time to do it then the FJR rules. 

Oh wow!! Good to know. I don’t think the FJR is that heavy and the lower seat height attracts me more than the FJ did. Plus FJRs are so much cheaper used, but they’ve been out longer too. I do like the shaft drive option vs chain. I bet the next generation FJR will be different and offer closer to the KTM features, but who knows when that will come out. 

2 hours ago, tktplz said:

This is a friends 1290 Super Duke. He is in Arkansas, is an immigrant from Romania and guess what he teaches??? Gymnastics of course. He rides a KTM, a Ducati Dravel and a Gen 2 VMax. He has taken full advantage of the American Dream!!!! AND good for him! Don't have a pic of his VMax. Nice looking 390. What is the weight and RWHP on it? I'm looking for something like that or a Super Motard, 400cc or so. 

That Ducati is beautiful! Weight is 320, and I’ve heard RWHP is about 39/40. The engine itself is 43. Honestly it feels and rides more like a 700 in my opinion. I’ve reached 100mph on it pretty easily. The quality feels like it’s a $7/8000 bike. Overall you get a lot of everything on this bike, and did I mention it is sooooo solid and stable!

On 2/29/2020 at 12:38 PM, tktplz said:

Yes indeed. Have some fun with that Duke!

Nice 1290! I was thinking of an FJR1300 one day, but after this 390, I don’t know if I wanna leave KTM, they are such a good value! 

I want to thank you guys for having me, and it's been fun. I had my FJ for exactly 2 years and 6600 miles. I sold it, and bought a 2019 KTM 390 Duke. Ill have another Yamaha one day, but for now, its KTM time. Yall have a good one and enjoy your bikes! 

Hi y’all! Like the tittle states. I know it’s a motorcycle and it isn’t perfect, but my wife and I noticed that when riding, you can feel road imperfections and bumps in the brake side foot peg. You cannot feel them on the shifter foot peg. It’s the weirdest thing. It feels like something is hitting or banging and movement is felt through that foot peg. I have examined everything around the rear end of the bike and made sure bolts were tight, and even TQ’d some to spec. I’m not sure if the bike has always had this weird quirk and I never noticed it till the wife pointed it out, but I’m hoping someone will know what I’m talking about and can either tell me it’s normal or somethings wrong somewhere. Also you only feel it when the rear tire hits something, not the front tire. I’m not afraid by it, it’s just annoying as crap. The other 5 bikes don’t have this annoyance. I’ve got 6100 miles on the bike, original owner. Thanks for everyone’s help. Brian

On 3/24/2019 at 9:28 PM, olddawg said:

 

I wonder if you got to 200K miles Yamaha would be interested in giving you a new FJ and taking your old one for a wear and tear breakdown. 

So this worked for me, and I cleared my CEL on my 2017. However my OBDII cable colors did not match what was on this page. My colors on the cable were:

4-red/white (black/white on bike)

6-green/white (Blue/blue on bike)

14-light green (Blue/white on bike)

16-purple (red on bike)

My colors were the ones Thunderbird posted.

What about white? I have a white one....

That's a good point, the poll isn't very inclusive outside 2015 colors. I tried to add the extra colors but wasn't able to edit the poll sorry.