Getting our own RC 390 Cup here in the US...part of the MotoAmerica program. Really looking forward to seeing them at the WSBK weekend at Laguna next July.
I wonder how the purchasing process will be for the RC 390 race bikes. When MotoAmerica announced the inception of the KTM cup class, I couldn't help but be skeptical of their availability. I'm too young to really know, but I'm going to guess it will be a lot like how Yamaha sold the TZ250s (that is, how I have heard the TZs were sold); you gotta have a name and a badass check book to even be considered.
Yeah for me its the kwak 300 all day long.. price, rideability and reliability.. Fare enough the KTM may be a good trackday weapon, but in the real world the ninja is an awesome alrounder for uk younger riders.. I may be a tad biased owning a ninja 250r and 300 I have test rided the ktm rc390 and for me it lacked rev range on the road.. but on the track its good very good, but not much in it. If on a budget go for the ninja300 or a restricted classic 400.. we all have to learn road and trackcraft from somewhere 80)
Really stumped for choice with the A2 now man. Struggling to pick between the zx3r, yzfr3, cbr500r and rc390. D: No idea what to do, how is the ninja insurance wise? Think ill have to ring up and shop around to find the best deal i guess :)
Tzartrex Yes it is confuseing nowadays regarding Which Bike to purchase whilst on an A2 licience.now that there is far more to choose from... For me personally I bought the ninja300 after owning several bigger cc bikes ie Suzuki gsxr600, triumph triple 675, pegaso 650, and my first big bike was a Kawasaki er5 I have also owned for a while a Honda cbf600 but that was too big and heavy for me been a shorty.. As for insurance, I couldn't comment as everyone is different and will get differing quotes from all over the place.. Regarding your choice of bike, I would say, go and test ride the models you are looking into and choose the one that you like the most regarding the insurance and running costs.. if you buy a bike just on the overall cost, you will proberbly soon get fedup with the bike you have chosen, esspecialy if you see the bike you really wanted out and about.. The Yamaha, Kawasaki and Hondas are more likely to be real word more reliable.. The good thing about the Honda cbr500 ( even though the initial cost is more at first ),.. once you have passed your A test you can have the Honda 500 deristricted if you wish, instead of stepping up from a 300 or 390 and buying another bike. The only reason why I stick with a ninja300 is I have had this for nearly 3 years now and it still gives me a big grin factor when out riding covering an average 300 or so miles a day on B roads A roads town and country.. Often riding with mates on much bigger cc bikes. But where as they have too top up there fuel tanks 2-3 times during our days riding I often only have too fill up once from the start and maybe a quick top up at the end of the day depending on how many miles and how hard ive been riding, plus I have more fun in the tight twisties 8)) Theres also a new kid on the block to have a look at, the Mv Augusta 320.. I haven't seen any around at the dealers yet for a test ride, but if its something different you want, the Mv is it.. but reliability is unknown.. If its a sporty ride and looks you want.. Yes go for either the Kawasaki 300 or the Yamaha yzf3 both bikes ride outstanindly well on the road, parts will be cheaper and as I'm shaw the insurance will be as well.. The KTM, Yes it looks the part, has a higher top speed, but for me the gearing and with it been a single and not a double like the Kwak, you will be up and down the gearbox even more than on the other 300s,.. But it would make for a brilliant trackday bike as its designed for racing from the get go.. If you have the funds and is quite tall, go for the Honda 500 as it wont be a slow coach, a good bike to learn on and once you've passed your test you can have it deristricted to gain more bhp and be able to keep up with bigger cc bikes on the open roads.. Like I say, I have had the ninja 300 for a while now, it has almost 50.000 on the clock as I'm never off it, it has done several trackdays also and not once has it let me down, it is that reliable and such fun to own.. Good luck with the bike decision making I urge you to test ride all the ones you mentioned and find the one you really like and suits you best. Ridesafe..
michael upton Fantastic response mate. Ive been on the 125 for a few years now, A2 is booked for late july really excited. The ninja is looking like a really good option. Will deffo go have a test ride on a few bikes before i decide, then itll be a matter of saving up as much as possible :) Thanks again for the help :D
Tzartrex Cool, I was lucky, as I'm an old git lols 46 and was able to do the direct access, which I took over a week to complete ie hazard perception, and theory test on day one.. then out on an ER5 for 3 days training and test day on the ER5 on the Friday which luckily I passed, I then bought the ER5 of my instructor because I couldn't wait to start my biking years 8)) Good Luck with your A2 hope it all goes well and once passed you can book several test rides to find the one, and that's when your biking really starts ie learning and enjoying a bigger cc machine.. Saying that 125s are great fun to ride, but yes they can be frustrating on open A roads if you need to overtake slow traffic quickly and safely.. But on country B roads and in towns they are great... I have seen secondhand Ninja300,s with low milage and full history go for between 2-3.000 still, even 3 year old versions like mine. If you purchase secondhand, make sure its been definatley looked after, has service history and HPI clear.. Mine is regualary serviced by myself or my local Kawasaki dealer and at almost 50.000 miles on the clock, she is still as quick and torquey as when I got it new.. Just keep an eye on the rear swing arm and shock as corrosion is a problem, mine is showing its age now and even though I clean my bike as often as I can, riding it through winter when road salt is on the roads will affect some parts of the Kawasaki.. most kawasakis suffer from this but they are getting better... Not sure on the long term reliablitiy issues with the yam 300 or the ktm.. but Most modern bikes are quite bullet proof nowadays.. It just depends on how well you look after the bike, ie serviveing, cleaning and general maintenance... 8)) Again, good luck with your A2 and hopefully you will be out and about on your new bike before this winter comes along..
You mentioned "If on a budget" but here in India the Kawi is expensive by INR. 126000 than the KTM. That is almost 1900 USD. Would you still pick the Ninja if it was that much more expensive?
According to KTM's own tech sheet, the rc390 is 43hp. Apart from that great review. EDIT: this may be a 2015 upgrade, the 2015 also has upside down forks which suggests there's been a few changes...
1:25 what did they do to the ninja to make it look sportier? The stock bike is like the same as a naked but just with fairings which doesn't look as sporty as the rc390 but this one looks very sporty
it really depends on the track you are riding in...if its more of a spread out- long straight circuit then ninja will certainly won because of its 2cylinder and taller gearing ratios...but when its a more technical circuit with short fast corners ktm will take the leads because of greater pickup and shorter ratios of gears..
I would like to see some old Kawasaki Ninja ZX-4R or Suzuki Bandit 400 VS KTM 390. Because for these years price is getting higher only,not the performance IMO.
Here in the states, the majority rules, majority of new riders are middle age men, going through midlife crisis. If they had to start off with anything smaller than a 1200 CC Harley, they'd probly park their over price SUV on a set of railway tracks and wait for the next train. That is just my opinion. I think starting out on a learner bike is a great idea.
Here in Canada licensing for a liter bike(or 600 sportbike) is 1200$/year and you can only ride from May to October. If you are under 25 insurance is going to be another 1200$ or more. Makes it almost impossible for a 18-20year old to spend over 200$/month on licensing+insurance. So if you want to start racing, these small bikes are very nice because owning a ''regular'' bike for the street and a small track bike for the track can end up cheaper than a single R6 or R1...
Yeah...But if you get caught you loose your motorcycle license AND your car license. When I was 20 I was quoted 2200$/year to ensure a used Yamaha R1...I guess the prices are similar in the UK, France, etc. In usa owning a bike is insanely cheap, especially if you live in the south where you use it year long...
I have to give this video a thumbs down for three reasons: A- never record a video without proper noise cancelation. The motorcycles in the background made it very annoying and difficult to hear what they were saying. B- They could have made this video in 4 minutes instead of 10. I lost interest at some point. C You guys didn't talk about how these bikes would perform off the track. Aftrer all these bikes are geared for beginners. How would they perform on city streets?
Hi, I think you missed the point. The feature was about getting into racing and these bikes could be a good budget option. We will be doing full road reviews of both bikes very soon. Sorry about the sound, it's not easy to find somewhere suitable at a track like Brands Hatch...
+Bike World I really liked the video, but in that case you should perhaps rewrite the title as it is rather misleading. I clicked this video expecting an actual Ninja 300 vs KTM RC390 review with all that includes. I didn't expect track modified CUP versions to be raced, and the vid being about entry level racing. All in all great vid and concept, but you are leading on an unintended audience :)
KTM is great but I think its front head light would create a lot of drag and that's why it losses on drag race with duke 390 coz it has same engine and more weight
The G5 is a great bike! If you want to get more performance out of that thing, it is ridiculously easy to see some pretty insane power from the little rotary-valve Kawasakis. The G31M "Baby Green Streak" had an engine very similar to yours and made 18.5 horespower, at a time when no one in the world knew a damn thing about two-stroke porting. Get a shop to massage the transfer ports, make some calculated cuts to the rotary disc, maybe add a rear boost port, and compliment it with a custom expansion chamber, and you'd have a G5 that would shit all over a modern YZF-R125. I'd love to give that kind of treatment to my '67 Kawasaki C2 someday. As it is, it's got a really basic expansion chamber that was made about the time when Rome defeated Carthage, but it still transformed the bike into an aggressive and peppy little ass-kicker. Stock piston and rings, too! The small-bore rotary-valve Kawasakis are bullet-proof!
Stuart Hardy Cull im cool because i ride a bigger bike. fucking stop it..... i dont see how i was bragging either.... you even put bragging into quotes yourself...i was making a comment on how all this "amazing modern technology" hasnt done much besides marketing.... must have went over your head. how is bragging about what ever bike you ride any different? i bet theirs a bigger bike than yours..... i know theirs cars which have more displacement and power... and are quicker... and not sure how my dick plays into this....even if i was bragging... how does having a small bike equal a small dick? a better thing to say would be that its small, but acts bigger than it is. i guess.... IDK i stopped making dick and fart jokes a few years ago.... im 20 years old and 180 pounds... 6 foot 5. the bike is too small for me I KNOW....but that doesnt change the fact that im getting more power per unit of displacement than modern day bikes. (that concept might be to complex for your dense skull) and.... guess what. another rider who thinks he is hot shit because he rides the bigger bike.... i bet you also pick up girls with low self esteem? do you also cock off a lot? oh wiat... nvm.... ya you do.
***** Woah! Sorry mate, just joking! we don't know each other so please don't take it personally. Genuinely sorry to have upset you but I thought it was funny at the time! Just YT comment humour.
***** new bikes gets great milage though :) when 1L costs around 1.6 Euro , every ml of gas counts :p well for me anyways. old school still got its charm and noice/sound but the handling etc is often improved on newer bikes. still love all sorts though :)