Is Triumph-Bajaj Bike Worth Waiting Or Should You Buy KTM 390 Duke

The 390 Duke has been KTM's most fearsome and yet much loved weapon in the sub-400cc sport bike market in India for quite some time now. In fact, it’s been unchallenged since pretty much its inception back in 2013. But now with a manufacturer like Triumph entering this space with the Triumph-Bajaj Roadster, a bike that sounds rather promising, it has the potential to shake things up. 

So that begs the question, should you wait for it or should you just go for the current-gen 390 Duke immediately? To answer that, let’s first dive into all that the Triumph could offer:

First up, is obviously the neo-retro, minimalistic styling with plenty of round elements. The same approach is also seen in the Roadster’s semi-digital console. While it’ll show the basic stuff and could even have turn-by-turn navigation, it won’t be anything we’ve not seen before. All of this is a big departure from the sharp, aggressive and thoroughly modern 390 Duke. Coming to their hearts, the Roadster will feature a modern 350-400cc liquid-cooled engine. We’ve seen the bike to be pretty highway-worthy and definitely not slow, but it’ll be unlike the KTM’s 373cc liquid-cooled one, which just wants to go fast, rev hard and have fun. 

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All of this brings us to the prices, the biggest and most important difference. We think Triumph could price the Roadster at around the Rs 2.25 lakh (ex-showroom) mark. Even if Triumph decides to get a bit greedy, it’ll be a lot less than the 390 Duke, which currently retails for Rs 2,97,475 (Ex-showroom Delhi). 

Additionally, with Bajaj taking over Triumph’s India operations, the former is still aiming to scale it to 120 cities from the current 15. So if you’re living in a relatively remote area, servicing the bike could be an issue for you. KTM, on the other hand, has a lot more service centres. 

Coming back to the original question, which bike should you go for? Well, waiting a bit for the Triumph Bajaj Roadster until its July 5 launch would make sense if you’re looking for a relatively more laidback riding experience, not slow by any means, but easy-going. Even though it will be the most affordable Triumph bike, the badging will certainly give you bragging rights.  

The 390 Duke though, that’s for the nutters. It’s not the most comfortable and demands a lot from you but if brute performance in a light-weight package is what you’re looking for, it doesn’t get any better than this in the sub-400cc streetfighter segment. The 390 Duke is a great city bike, able tourer and fantastic sports machine, and not many have been skilled enough to call it ‘slow’ by any means. And at Rs 2,97,475 (ex-showroom Delhi), this is probably your last chance to purchase it under the Rs 3 lakh mark, because chances are that the prices could go up due to inflation in the near future.