2017 KTM RC390 review, test ride

The PASC anti-hopping slipper clutch helps reasonably well for hard downshifting. And it also keeps the lever light and easy to operate. The 6-speed gearbox remains unchanged and the power is delivered smoothly to the redline, although, the RC390 feels a lot better when in the right gear. Holding low speeds in higher gears does make the motorcycle feel a bit out of its element.

Where one major improvement has taken place is with the brakes. The older model did sort of lack in this department, but the new brakes compensate for that brilliantly. Not only does it get a 20mm increase in diameter for the front brake, making it 320mm now, it also gets a 1mm increase in the size of the master-cylinder which is now 13mm. This has resulted in phenomenal stopping power. From the initial bite to eventual hard-braking, the brakes feel strong and confidence-inspiring. This, with the Bosch 9MB twin-channel ABS kicking in cleanly to avoid any untoward drama.

Another small change on the 2017 model is the tyres. Although it retains the grippy Metzeler M5I tyres, the new tyres have a lower speed rating; it has gone down from a 66W to a 66H. What this means is that the new 'H' rated tyres are good for speeds up to 210kph. So the speedo-indicated 168kph that we saw on our track-test is well within the safe limit. And grip levels remain as good as before, so this is not really an area of concern.

The 2017 RC200 is priced at Rs 1.72 lakh and the RC390 comes with a tag of Rs 2.25 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi). For only Rs 12,000 bump in pricing, the 2017 RC390 does get a whole new lot of goodies. Although in the real world, it doesn't translate into too many changes in the dynamics of the motorcycle. So while the 2017 RC390 is priced well and is still a whole lot of fun to ride, we feel KTM could have pushed this bike a little bit further and made it even better. While KTM hasn’t mentioned anything yet, the 2018 model could be just that.