KTM Duke 125 Build Quality....DON'T BUY ONE!!

[Sable]

[hunternunez39]

The worst bike I have ever had watchdog needs to investigate them.
List of faults
Chain x 2 due to them not changing the sprockets
Roller sensor
Fork seals
Front fault brake
Fault brake sensor
New clutch
New throttle cable
Faulty loom ( which they will not replace even after the bike locking up at 70mph
Now the bike won't run and telling me that the valves are bent and the cylinder if damaged even when it started before it went to ktm
Engine leak
Dash flickering
All this at a cost of £3500 what a joke biggest peace of junk on the market DO NOT BUY

[Rogerborg]

Y'all thought of getting in touch with MCN or similar? They do occasionally run hatchet pieces, depending on where their advertising money is coming from.
____________________
Biking is 1/20th as dangerous as horse riding.
GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike

[Az]

My friend rides a duke 125 & he's had a lot of electrical issues but no mechanical issues so far.

I think for there price they're not very good quality.

[TwoWheelsDail...]

I retract my previous post about them not being too bad.... my list of faults so far...

Faulty front brake light switch
Paint cracks
Fuel Leak
Whole bike needed to be rewired due to corroded wires
new dash unit as old one died
new chain/sproket set after 2k miles - i clean and lube every week
radiator pipe split

I have had it since september and have covered 5.5k miles.

Admitidly they have fixed everything apart from the paint under warrenty but its a ball ache!
____________________
Suzuki GSR 750 - 33BHP (Restriction Ends 17/12/2014)
KTM Duke 125 - SOLD
www.facebook.com/TwoWheelsDaily | www.twitter.com/TwoWheelsDaily | www.instagram.com/TwoWheelsDaily

[Rogerborg]

[TwoWheelsDail...]

I have sent 3 letters to KTM, 2 to their customer services department and 1 to the Customer services. I have heard nothing.

I tried calling KTM direct, 1st off WHAT A PAIN IT IS TO FIND THEIR NUMBER!

When i eventually got through to them i was spoken to by a very rude receptionist that refused to put me through to anybody.

I am getting rid of it soon and getting a suzuki so i dont have to deal with there crap anymore. Its a shame as i was very tempted to go on and get a bigger KTM but due to the amount of problems im going to steer well clear for a while!
____________________
Suzuki GSR 750 - 33BHP (Restriction Ends 17/12/2014)
KTM Duke 125 - SOLD
www.facebook.com/TwoWheelsDaily | www.twitter.com/TwoWheelsDaily | www.instagram.com/TwoWheelsDaily

[UnspeedySam]

Sorry to hear about your list of problems. You don't expect a list like that doing 5.5k on a chinese 125 yet alone a brand new major brand european bike!

I have been very tempted by the Duke 390 and now the RC390 but this list of faults puts me off completely! I'll go and buy a GPZ305 and streetfighter it...it'll be more reliable!
____________________
Riding: BMW R1150RT `02 bought mildly crashed
Fixing: Also the BMW as I get less broken bits
Gone: ZZR600 '00, TRX850 '97, RXS100 '93, JS125-6B '07, BMW R1100RS '93, Kawasaki ZX-6R-J2 '01, Honda Bros NT400 NC25 '88

[_Iain_]

[mpf1959]

i spose in one respect its as well to just outright buy an asian made bike knowingly, theyre much cheaper, and at least youre not expecting japanese quality and ending up getting summat else?

a mate of mine was well pissed when he paid extra and got his son a quality "yamaha" 125 thats really a jianshe built machine.

[Rogerborg]

That's my position. If you're going to buy Asian / Oriential, then buy cheap.

For example, the Sinnis Trackstar might be a decent enough bike, but at £1700 OTR, it's pushing twice the price of a Lexmoto Vixen.

So, why not buy two Vixens?

Really, why not?
____________________
Biking is 1/20th as dangerous as horse riding.
GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike

[UnspeedySam]

[mpf1959]

i agree with Rogers post, why not buy 2 vixens, as it goes, i really like the look of that model, and they have a pretty good reputation from what i have learned.

Sam, i would be interested to know a bit more about your experience with the jianshe, and if youve had no trouble, they are a good price so id be really interested to know why would you think the yam badged one worth so much more?

i take your point regarding the jianshe built yam, and maybe there's a special cell at the plant same as the R.E. bullets in india where they make a bit better bike for the west. but its only a little better.

but, do they really even do that? my mate was not impressed with his sons ybr though i did not get the detail.

my wife has very recently passed her cbt, today in fact, on a ybr coincidentally and im seriously considering a chinese bike for her, its her choice but she just maintains she will be satisfied so long as its low enough light enough and cheap.

maintainance would be done by me anyway. i could rebuild any of those chinese bikes easily so mechanicals are not a problem. but at the same time im not keen on having loads of hassle!

[Rogerborg]

My Vixen (HN125-8) was fine. Slow, basic, but trouble free. The bits that I didn't fiddle with just worked, and even when I'd "over optimised it", putting it back to stock sorted it out.

The only things that need sorting are a connector block for the sidestand switch which is placed right under the engine and is guaranteed to corrode unless you do something with it, and possibly a 30 second tweak to the idle mixture which is set lean as stock. It benefits from going +1 or +2 on the front sprocket, which costs all of £5 delivered. There have been a few failures of the RHS exhaust hangar that I know of.

ACF-50 out of the crate, used in all weathers for 3 years, an occasional wash down =
https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kuy3l8b8Lo8/T4BgMxdZlPI/AAAAAAAAAMo/qattQ4l9sFU/s1600/1.jpeg

I could have paid a lot more for less enjoyment.
____________________
Biking is 1/20th as dangerous as horse riding.
GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike

[mpf1959]

good post Roger thanks, its always nice to hear from someone that has actually owned a certain model, and that has run one for a good amount of time too.

[Rogerborg]

There's a decent owners' forum as well.
____________________
Biking is 1/20th as dangerous as horse riding.
GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike

[mpf1959]

[UnspeedySam]

[mpf1959]

the jianshe's did look good Sam, but the wife likes the look of the vixen. luckilly i can fix anything that may be a problem in the future so she's got nowt to worry about.

[UnspeedySam]

[mpf1959]

Roger, how did you find the manlung tyres performed in the wet/damp conditions? they may well be a-ok but they seem pretty hard compound. but, unless theyre downright dangerous though i dont really want to waste money changing em.

[Rogerborg]

I kept them rubber side down, and passed my mod 2 on them in the tail end of a genuine blizzard.

You won't want to try getting a knee down, but then again, it's not the sort of bike to encourage that anyway.
____________________
Biking is 1/20th as dangerous as horse riding.
GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike

[mpf1959]

i think most people rate them as OK Roger, so long as the bikes ridden sensibly. but you do always get a few that put a worm in your head with (possibly bullshit) posts such as ....sliding the back end out but thats the way i like it, ....that probably shouldnt be took seriously, but tyres is one thing i do take seriously!

[bunglebubs]

[UnspeedySam]