Un boxing the race dynamic PowerTRONIC and install Australia.
Mostly, my duke is a city commuter with occasional weekend rides but wanted a bike that wasn’t a handful on the on the bends and friendly enough in the city. The Duke easily made the fit.
I found threads on piggy back ECU's PowerTRONIC as well as PCV, Bazzaz, and Rapid Bike EVO, though liked the feedback on the Powertronic, so I decided to contact the team at RD. They were informative and emails returned swiftly, with all my queries addressed.
I made the purchase, possibly for the sole reason of smoothing out the lower rev range and making the bike friendlier in the city. City riding is easy enough to do with a stock bike, though I was finding I was working the clutch quite a bit when lane splitting. If I was going to get some more HP out of it, that would be great, but wasn’t chasing power.
So my expectations from the PowerTRONIC were as follows:
1. Smoothing out the lower rev range for ease of slow speeds city riding.
2. Smoothing out the mid-range
3. Increasing HP (If possible)
4. Reducing engine running temp
Delivery time of the product was outstanding and even though you pay for the premium service with DHL, it is just that. In total from order date to picking it up in Sydney, it was 4-5 days.
The packaging the PowerTRONIC arrived in exudes quality and kudos to the RD team for this. When you’re paying USD$280 you want to feel like you have bought a quality product and the presentation assists this.
The instruction booklet seemed pretty straight forward with direction to youtube videos. Watching the videos through a couple times and following the instructions means you really you can’t go wrong.
INSTALLATION.
So now came the time to get tools out and bike ready.
I disconnected the earth on the battery, even though instructions don’t say to do this, it made sense to me in case I shorted something un-willingly.
Start by removing both seats, and loosening all screws for the right hand side panelling. Un-clip the side panel, but no need to remove completely. Removing all the screws does give easier access for running the wiring loom though.
Run the wiring loom as described in the video and get ready for connecting.
NOTE – I played around a bit here as I wanted to get the best route possible and in the end I was happy. I found that I connected and disconnected a couple times to get the best route, keeping the cables away from the engine and finding good anchor points to the frame and retaining a clean look.
That said, I believe the videos are still from the previous version of the Powertronic and required some thinking and common sense with finding all the right connections. I think RD has a little bit of work too do here to make things easier for first time installers.
I combated this by looking at the connectors and counting the wires to be connected to be sure I had the right connector. This seemed to the best way as I was unsure if I could connect to incorrect plugs. Yes the booklet shows the location of all the connectors as well, but in some instances there was more than one plug in that particular area. The TPS connector on the throttle body for example as 3 different plugs in the same area, though identified it was the plug on the most outside (right side) closest to the frame.
Connected the battery, connected the unit and boom, she started with no problem what so ever.
TPS calibrated and first run…
Running map 1 - (street) – (map 2 is race), I went for a test run. I rode for about 20km through town and immediately noticed how smooth and liner the engine had become. Already a pleasure to ride at slow speeds in the traffic. So the first expectation was met.
Powering on up to 8k and the engine feels smooth through the rev range… and behaved so much better than before. I did start to miss the little kick at 6500k however. The bike, even though more enjoyable to control in the traffic, had lost some of its character.
Update..
Ive been riding around with the Powertronic for a while now and completing 100km or more on each map provided by RD.
For a complete stock bike, I found Map 1 better to use for an overall better bike. And like others have mentioned, KTM should have set the Duke 390 like this right out of the box. Maybe they have their reasons? Map 2 on stock is ok, though still carries some of that slow speed jerkiness and demands for some more clutch time.
Adding the K&N filter.
After confirming with the RD Team that a high flow filter could be paired with both maps, I installed the new filter.
Map 1 lost its smoothness but still remained good throughout the rev range. Though Map 2 is great! Smoothing out the slow speed revs and pulls smooth all the way to 9.5k This is now my daily setup and very happy with it.
Only one thing to mention here is that when it is cold on first start up, it does take 1-2 seconds longer to fire.
I would say that with a stock filter and the Powertronic on Map 1 the bike is at its smoothest and if used as mostly a commuter, like puttering around the streets of India or any CBD, this is the config to stay with and is a pleasure to ride. Though, it doesn’t quite have the same feeling when opening the throttle compared to using Map 2. It could well be that the bike just feels/sounds slightly better because of the low intake growl and when the bike starts to pull it doesn’t sound like a little toy anymore.
As far as the extended rev limiter goes.... pfffttt, yes you don’t hit it as often, though quite honestly there’s nothing after 9750rpm anyway and the bike starts to die off if you ring its neck. Best is to find that sweet spot, listen to the engine and change when you hear/feel it. Stay away from the limiter and the bike will thank you for it.
Ant increase in HP?…. Probably not and I doubt I would notice a small gain from the seat, though it does make a big difference to how the bike acts when you open it up on map 2 and with a K&N filter.
At the start, I did miss the little kicks in the rev range because the bike had become so smooth it felt bland and a little boring. Though now, I wouldn’t want to go back. It really did change the bike that much.
Lastly, I had read reports that the Powertronic may reduce engine temp. I don’t think RD advertised this though I did read it somewhere where people noticed a difference of one bar. Personally, I have not seen this and hasn’t changed in any way in any of the above configurations.
Conclusion...
All done, would I recommend the Powertronic and more importantly is it worth the money? YES.
It’s is needed. NO
But would I do it again and before any other mods? YES!
In my opinion, it only made sense to do this first. Any other mods after this can now be accepted and will be safe to run without fear of running too lean. It doesnt have to be a Powertronic, but any unit to ensure the air/fuel ratio is right. As we all know, this particlar bike runs quite lean straight from factory.
If you’re looking to smooth out the rev range and make the bike a much more enjoyable commuter, as well as making a difference when opening it up, its great.
I may go as far as opening up the air box, though would be interested to hear if anyone has done this to their daily without adustment of the closed loop. It would good to know how it’s been running, how long for and whether there is much torque gain over just the K&N filter. It would make sense that with more air volume you could achieve a little more torque.
If you’re looking for another 10HP, buy a 690, or better yet wait for 790 to be released!! Looks like an animal! Otherwise youll be chasing your tail for more HP and spending quite a bit in the process.
All said and done, Im super happy with the bike now and if I dont do anything else to it ever, Im still very very happy!