I Bought A New Motorcycle: KTM Duke 390 + Her First Long Ride!

The smile on my face tells it all. 23rd October 2019 will be a date that is gonna be engraved in my mind for a lifetime.

On 24th March 2019, I lost my motorcycle Duke 200 to a theft in New Delhi. When I'd gone to watch a night show, two thieves had lifted off my bike from the parking lot. You can see the details and CCTV footages on my Instagram story highlights.

Ever since the incident, I waited for a long time expecting the thieves to be caught and my bike to be returned to me. But that didn't seem to happen for months. Then I lost hope on that and was just expecting the insurance amount.

Three months ago, ever since I moved to Pune, I started looking for bikes on OLX. Initially I was looking for Impulse, even met a few owners, also took test rides. Later checked out Himalayan, Ninja 300, Xpulse 200, Dominar, Duke 390s and so many options. Nothing seemed to work out. Kept a lot of patience and contacted almost 30-40 bike owners I think.

Finally one Sunday, on 6th October, 2019 after test riding 2 bikes I came across a bike that looked well maintained. I immediately contacted the owner and took a proper test ride on the highway. I fell in love and the rest is history.

It was a 2015 KTM Duke 390, the upgraded model that came out in June 2015 and had just 6970 kilometers clocked on it, pretty close to a new bike.
Everything seemed to be falling in place for me.

It took me around 2 weeks to confirm the deal and another week to get all the documentation work completed.

I finally received the keys to my bike on 23rd October, 2019. It was such an exciting day for me.

Big thanks to my good friend Shambhu without whose help the documentation process would have taken forever.

Thanks to my boss Mr. Rajan for the full support he provides me everytime when it comes to following my passion.

Same goes for my parents and brother who have been my pillar of support each and everytime.

And finally thank you so much Prashant (ex-owner) for keeping the bike in pristine condition with love and care. She's butter smooth compared to all other rash driven 390s and she will be taken best care of.

I've named her Dyna. That name just came to me one fine day outta nowhere and stuck in my mind. Dyna = Dynamic + Diana 😜

Here are a few pictures of my new steed from her first long ride which was from Pune to Mangalore:

Dyna's first fuel up the night before the ride day.

The next day early morning, I started the ride.

There was Cyclone in my hometown Mangalore when I did this ride and hence I had asked for weather updates.

Luckily, the weather was pleasant with beautiful views such as this throughout the ride.

The odo. Still a young girl.

She can gobble miles like it's nothing.

Gotta love them highways of Maharashtra, seriously.

Came across some foresty patches too...

With some bridges and sunsets.

The most difficult or boring part of any long ride is the last few kilometers. This was a 760 kms ride in one day.

I was really tired when I reached Udupi and stopped under this bridge for a bit to stretch myself.

And then I reached home around 10:30 pm. Took me almost 15.5 hours to cover 760 kms along with all the food and fuel breaks.

Hope you enjoyed the ride!
#WandererOnWheels