While it gained some weight and stature over the previous version, the 390 Duke is still a razor-sharp road implement. Photos by Kevin Wing.
Some bikes are made for road trips; others are made for what you like to do in between.
The 390 Duke fits the latter bill in a way that inspires bladed metaphors: shredding through traffic, carving up corners, it slices, it dices?but no, it won’t make julienne fries. It will, however, deliver you to your favorite local burger-n-fries joint with a huge grin plastered to your face.
KTM seems to be taking its “Ready to Race” tagline seriously lately, as its bikes grow harder and edgier with each new generation (see our comparo review featuring the 1290 Super Adventure S here), and despite being the smallest in the U.S. lineup (along with its fully faired RC390 brother) the 390 Duke is no exception. Unmistakable KTM design is angular and aggressive, with all-LED headlight and DRL.
KTM is daring riders to step up to its bikes’ expectations; when it last updated the 390 Duke in 2017, Team Orange upped the claimed peak horsepower and torque by one each, to 44 and 27 respectively, gave it a bigger 3.5-gallon tank, raised the seat height by more than one inch to 32.7 inches, reduced the wheelbase by nearly half an inch and the trail by 0.2-inch for quicker steering on an already nimble machine and raised the curb weight by 19 pounds, from 340 to 359 (about five of those pounds are attributed to the increase in fuel capac...