2020 390 RR-S Ride Review

[RickH]

I have the 1st real ride this past weekend in the mountains of Tennessee, First a base line of me and the bike:


I'm a senior rider / probably a "B" ability that is a lugger and not a revver (that's why I got the 390 over the 350)


All geared up I'm in the 240 lb. range so I went with heavier springs F&B


I have a Rekluse on the bike and a Seat concepts comfort seat (The stock one is HORRIBLE) at least for a sit down rider like myself


I changed the gearing to a 13/50 ratio





THE MOTOR:


It rained almost all weekend so I started off in rain mode. At first I was really disappointed as it felt like a XR 250 Honda it was so soft but soon found out that it was perfect for the slick conditions and it you rev it out past that soft bottom it has a nice surge. There is a big difference in the rain and sun modes, in the sun mode it rips for sure!! I had a 390 Husaberg and absolutely loved the motor and was hoping this this one would be as good motor wise and I can say it WAY better. With the Rekluse you can clime anything!!!!! I was in 2nd & 3rd all weekend and the trails were tight and hilly. On the short rode section to the trail head it ran like a top at 60MPH and 4,000 rpm


The Suspension:


I was told that the Sachs suspension took a while to break in but I have to say is was pretty dam good right out of the box !!! I set it at recommended settings and never touched a clicker all weekend. If it gets better with more time I'm going to be happy camper for sure.


Handling:


I've been on KTM products for 42 years so I was only going on the BETA PR as to the new frame and suspension for the 2020 models. As mentioned above all of the trails were 2-3 gear tight hilly trails and the bike handled great , even in the "really" tight stuff. On Saturday night it rained for 14 straight hours and on Sunday morning I almost felt like I was cheating it handled and tracked so well compared to the smokers I was riding with.





GAS Mileage!!!!!!


The only bad thing I can say about the bike other that the brick hard seat is that I only got 22-23 MPG, That just SUCKS, I had read that the 19's were getting 50-60 per tank and with the new twin injectors of the new motor and the increased tanks size (2 gal vs. 2.4 gal) I was hoping for at least 70 miles per tank. Looks like I'll have to get a larger 3.4 gal IMS tank.


Overall I am SOOO happy with the new bike, it usually takes me several rides to adapt to a new bike but with this new one I felt right at home within the first few hours. I hope this helps guys that are considering a new 390 BETA RR-S

[RickH]

I forgot to mention that the gas was boiling like a tea pot. It was only in the 50's all weekend but 99% of the ride was in tight trails with no road sections to cool her down. My Berg use to do that. I plan on applying heat tape under the tank

[Deck1]

Excellent review. Something to note, on my '16 500, took a good 25 hours to break-in. During that break-in period, it died unexpectedly a few times, got horrible fuel economy, and ran hot. After break-in, coolant change, all this pretty much went away. I don't get as good of mileage as orange & white bikes, but a lot better than what it started with.

[algs911]

I got the exact same bike (year, make, model) just two months ago. I'm 50, B rider, and about 230 with gear on. Love it as well. Due to SiP I've not been able to take it out much, so we're riding on my friend's property. It's 95% 1st gear, SUPER technical. I've not boiled the gas or coolant.

I did have an issue with stalling. Turned out that when my fuel tank was full some gas would seep out of the breather hose (did I mention we tip over a bit, some of the log crossings and enduro-cross sections we built are hard!) and in to the charcoal can. That would make the bike stall a LOT. I did a can-ectomy and the problem went away.

Even in the 1st gear stuff I have bottomed the fork out a bit. I'm looking forward to riding in more open terrain so I can play with the clickers more and determine if I need to go up in spring rate or not.

At 250 miles my seat is starting to break in a bit. It's not as bad as it was. I raced bicycles a LOT in my youth (road, mountain, cx, etc.), so a hard saddle is something that doesn't bother me.

I'm interested in a further review of your Rekleus clutch. I've been thinking about this for the new sled. Specifically...

1) Does it freewheel at ANY point while going down hill? I've heard that, when you approach idle speed going down hill the bike will freewheel all of a sudden. Yes?

2) Do you think the Rekleus adds more heat over the stock clutch?

3) Can you retain your normal clutch actuation, etc. with your setup?

4) Are there any disadvantages you can think of?

Thanks man! Congrats on the new rocket!

Al

[mtdirtbag]

I don't ride a 4 stroke so take this with a grain of salt. I noticed your other post on the map switch so I'll also give comment on that: my bike did not come with the map switch so I added it to my 2014 300 RR, while not very noticeable I do think it makes the bike much more controllable when in a long steep climb once you start to lose momentum. My switch is on the right side of the bar incorporated with the start button so I can switch on the run. As far as the Rekluse I'm one of those idiots that have run them since my wife bought it for a 40th wedding anniversary (it will be 55 yrs the 22nd of this month). Anyway I've been through 3 iterations of Rekluse so I have some knowledge of them. The current one on my Beta is the newest, the CX and the best to date that they have produced. I installed it after riding the Beta for five years without it, not that it or I needed it but I feel they bring some advantages that I like. I don't think the auto creates any more heat as it engages very firmly, you still have your normal actuation via the lever and as to the clutch disengaging and freewheeling all of a sudden is incorrect. It will disengage if you slam on the rear brake and yes there is a learning curve to using it downhill or when you do hit the brake - just blip the throttle and it will re-engage and you have engine braking. On this bike I also added a LHRB, it's a manual one but works well after making sure it's set-up correctly.

[RickH]

I wanted to post an update now that I have about 30 hours/ 1400 miles on the new 390. I have read several tings about the blinkers melting off and other problems with the "road" legal stuff but I use mine as a dirt bike. I removed the turn singles and replaced the rear fender off a race model. To give you an idea my average speed is 16 MPH in the 1400 miles.

Motor:The motor has really loosened up in the 30 hours. The rain map went from being pretty soft to my preferred map now. I just got back from a 3 day ride in Michigan and thought that the dry map would be my "to go" one but it just had to much hit in the 2nd gear tight woods. The rain map was just right

Suspension:It went from pretty dam good right out of the box to the best suspension I have ever had on a bike (stock or modified). I moved the clickers a bit for the sand woops but that was it.

Gas Mileage:

Its still not great but is up to 25-26 MPG. Again all of my riding has been on single track in 2nd & 3rd gear probably 90% of the time. I'm sure if you had some gravel roads in there and you were tooling in 6th gear it would be higher. I've just ordered the 3.3 IMS tank as I need at least a 65-70 range for the dual sport rides that I do

Best Additions:

Seat concepts "comfort" seat, the 1st ride was on the stock seat and I thought it caused permeate damage to my ass

Rekluse clutch, I've had auto clutches on EVERY bike I've had for the past 20 years and it fits the 390 power just right

[RickH]

I did my first real dual sport this past weekend. The bike continues to inspire me with great handling/suspension and motor. With more dirt and pavement the gas mileage was 32MPG. I just installed the 3.5gallon IMS tank. I also notices that the gas wasn't boiling anymore so I suspect that might have something to do with the stock gas cap??

[fenderworks]

nice review!

[Holeshot]

RickH- I’m curious how your 390’s gas mileage and range has been running? I’m closing in on 30 hours on my ‘21 390RE, about half on single track 2nd-3rd gear work, and half doing 90/10 dual sport rides. Last weekend was a 100 mile ride that averaged 32mph on gravel roads, pretty hilly 3000-4000 foot elevation in the Oregon Cascades. I got 58mpg…could hardly believe it.

I’m running a 14T CS sprocket, the only change from stock set up. Using the dry map. With mileage over 50mpg, the stock tank would get me like 120 mile range—seems too good to be true. Just wondering what other 4T RR riders are seeing.