2017 KTM RC 390 Review: A Second-Gen Owner’s 3-Year Verdict

Independent and unpaid. I bought this bike with my own money, rode it for three years, and this review has no affiliate links or sponsorship - just my experience. Get in touch if I’ve missed anything. How I review.

Welcome to my long-term KTM RC 390 review. I owned a used 2017 RC 390 - the second-generation, pre-2022 model - from the end of 2020 until I sold it in November 2023, and I put around 10,000 km on it in that time. Most of that was spirited street riding on my local mountain roads, plus one track day. This is the bike that taught me how to actually ride, so if you’re weighing up a used RC 390, this is the review for you.

I’ll cover what it’s like to live with, whether the reliability horror stories are true, how it went on track, how it stacks up against the R3 and Ninja, and whether it’s worth buying now that KTM has pulled the plug on it. Let’s dive into the review.

For context on where I was coming from: I spent my provisional licence on a Honda CBR300R, then jumped straight to a CBR600RR when I got my open licence. That was a mistake. I upgraded too soon, I had no idea how to position my body through a corner, and on the 600 I was genuinely scared I was going to send it off the side of the mountain. I wanted a forgiving bike I could learn to corner fast on. The RC 390 was it, and buying one was one of the best decisions I’ve made on two wheels.

Key points

• Learns you fast: the aggressive, committed riding position and manageable power almost force you to ride it properly, so your cornering improves quickly.
• Value for money: dirt cheap to buy used and, I’d argue, more performance per dollar than anything else in the LAMS-sportbike class - cheaper to get into than a Yamaha R3 or Kawasaki Ninja.
• Reliable (with one caveat): buy a second- or third-gen bike and it’s dependable. Avoid the first-gen 2014-2016 models with the head-gasket reputation.
• Single-focus, not comfortable: it is brilliant when you are riding it hard. You can commute on it, but that is not what it is for, and it is not a relaxing all-rounder.

Is it a good motorcycle?

For what it is, yes - it’s excellent. I’m blessed to live near some of the best riding roads in Australia, and almost every weekend I was out on the RC 390 practising the craft of cornering on my local mountain road. It is there that my riding truly transformed.

On the 600RR I was scared. On the RC 390 that fear went away, because the power is manageable for the skill level I was at. You can use all of it, learn where the limits are, and build real technique instead of hanging on and hoping.

If you already own a supersport or a superbike, the RC 390 will feel slow, no argument. And I’ll be honest: as a pure learn-to-ride sportbike, the Yamaha R3 and Ninja 400 are arguably the better bikes. Where the RC 390 pulls ahead is out of the box. If you want a stock, turnkey bike for entry-level track days, a third-gen RC 390 is very hard to beat, whereas the R3 and Ninja need work to get there.

Is it reliable?

This is the big one, because the RC 390 has a reputation. A quick search online throws up horror stories of low-kilometre bikes blowing their head gaskets and going kaboom.

Dig a bit deeper and you’ll find that issue mostly affects the first generation, built from 2014 to 2016. For the 2017 model year KTM revised the engine and cylinder head to address it. I want to be honest here rather than parrot the marketing: the 2017 revision reduced the problem, it didn’t universally cure it, and you’ll still find the odd 2017 owner reporting a head-gasket or coolant issue. So it’s not a magic cut-off date. It’s a “the odds got a lot better” date.

Here’s my own experience, which is the reason I score reliability as highly as I do. In three years and 10,000 km I did not have a single issue with the bike. Before I sold it, I had the head gasket and valve clearances checked. The valves had not moved a single millimetre, and the KTM mechanic told me the head looked perfect - no sign of the gasket problem everyone worries about. I was genuinely impressed.

My advice: stick to a second-gen (2017-2021) or third-gen (2022 on) bike, avoid the first-gen 2014-2016 models, and ideally buy from someone who has had the head professionally checked and the valve clearances done, or has had a mechanic open up the head to confirm it is all healthy. That is the scheduled valve-clearance check (around 15,000 km) the service manual calls for anyway. Do that and I think the reliability fear is overblown.

Is it uncomfortable?

Let’s make one thing clear - do not buy the RC 390 if comfort is high on your pecking order. Out of all the modern sub-500cc sportsbikes, it has by far the most aggressive riding position.

The clip-ons are low and the footpegs are high. I could last about an hour before I started to lose feeling in my back and quads. It is not a bike you commute on, and it is not a bike you tour on.

But that committed position is exactly what makes it so much fun to throw around a twisty road, and it’s part of why it teaches you so well. You’re in the right shape to ride it hard whether you like it or not.

How fast does it go?

For street use it has completely acceptable speed and power. Unless you are doing Autobahn pulls, you can ride as fast as you would ever want on the highway and still have plenty of poke to have fun at street-legal speeds. The thing I loved most is how it makes its power: the torque delivery is quick and stays constant through the range, where the Yamaha R3 and Ninja 400 build more of theirs up top.

The counterbalance is revs. The RC 390 runs out of them early, hitting its limit around 10,000 rpm, where the Ninja 400 spins to about 12,000 and the R3 nudges 12,500 to 13,000. So if you love winding a bike right out to the redline, the RC 390’s lower ceiling and earlier shift points might frustrate you.

That trade really matters on the track. The RC 390’s strong low-down torque lets you pick the bike up and drive harder out of corners than its rivals, but the flip side is you have to shift sooner than the twins because of that lower rev ceiling.

For top speed, I saw an indicated 163 km/h flat out, and KTM claims around 169 km/h. That is plenty for a road bike. Unless you are the sort who wants to do Autobahn pulls north of 300 km/h, you won’t be left wanting, and no small-displacement bike is going to satisfy that itch anyway.

How did it go on the track?

The original version of this review ended with “I’ve yet to take it to the track.” Well, I finally did, so here’s how it went.

In January 2023 I took the RC 390 to a Minimoto ride day on the kart circuit at Queensland Raceway, and spent about three or four hours on track. Two things stood out, and neither of them was the bike’s fault.

First, the pegs. The kart circuit didn’t allow metal footpegs, so I had to pull the entire stock footpeg out of the factory rearset and screw a solid, one-piece plastic footpeg into the factory peg mount. As I leaned the bike over and started dragging a peg on the kart surface, that plastic unit worked loose and I couldn’t get proper footing. Not enough ground clearance, and a bodged fix. I ended up pulling the whole factory rearsets off and fitting Tyga rearsets instead, though I never got back to a track day after that to properly test them.

Second, the brakes. The stock brakes reached their limit fast. Even with Motul RBF 400 race brake fluid and EBC Double-H sintered pads fitted, I was getting brake fade towards the end of a session, and I could trigger the ABS. Bear in mind this was my first track day and I wasn’t going that hard, so if I could engage the ABS at a tight kart circuit, I can only imagine what it would do on a full-size track. If you want to take track work on an RC 390 seriously and you’re riding at that level, you’re probably looking at gutting the brake system, fitting braided lines and deleting the ABS.

The important bit, though: the bike itself held up fantastically. It was friendly, easy to ride, and I never crashed it. I had a genuinely good time. For what you pay, I think it’s one of, if not the, best beginner track bikes you can get - right alongside the Yamaha R3. If I were pointing someone at a cheap first track bike, this is one of the two bikes I’d send them to.

How it has held up

Three years, around 10,000 km, mostly hard mountain-road riding plus a track day, and one owner (me). In that time the RC 390 gave me nothing to complain about mechanically. No breakdowns, no scares, no head-gasket drama - and I confirmed that with a proper check at the end, not just a hopeful “seems fine.”

The only real limits I hit were the ones you’d expect of a cheap sportbike ridden hard: the brakes fade on track, and the ergonomics wear on you over distance. Neither is a durability problem. Both are just the bike being honest about what it is.

One reputation worth addressing here is overheating, because a lot of owners report these bikes running hot. The day I bought mine I fitted Engine Ice coolant, and in three years I never had a single overheating issue. The bigger problem, honestly, is the KTM temperature gauge itself: it is badly designed and misleading. At normal operating temperature the bars sit almost full, about two down from the top, so it looks like the bike is cooking when it is running exactly where it should. It caught out the guy who bought the bike off me. He called a while later convinced something was wrong, and I had to explain that this is just how the gauge reads, and there was nothing wrong with the bike at all. If you don’t know that quirk, you would swear it was overheating when it is well within its normal limits.

On running costs, I never actually recorded the fuel economy, so I won’t invent a figure. But it’s a 373cc single: it sips compared with the inline-four in my R6, even if it’s not quite scooter-frugal. Cheap to run, in other words, which is the whole story with this bike.

How it compares

I test-rode both of the obvious rivals before I bought the KTM, so this is a first-hand comparison, not a spec-sheet guess. The prices below are indicative AUD and move around, so check current pricing before you buy.

Factor	2017 KTM RC 390 (my pick)	Yamaha R3	Kawasaki Ninja 400
Engine	373cc single	321cc twin	399cc twin
Character	Punchy, torquey, raw	Smooth, revvy	Smooth, flexible
Riding position	Most aggressive of the three	Sportier than it looks, roomier than the KTM	The most relaxed
Power delivery	Quick torque, constant	Builds up top	Strong midrange
Feel	Sits “on” the bike, ready to race	More sports-tourer	More sports-tourer
Price (used, indicative)	~$3,500-$5,500	Higher used	Higher used

Both the R3 and the Ninja felt more like sports-tourers to me - you sit “in” them, whereas on the KTM you sit “on” it, ready to race. That seating position makes a real difference to how you corner. On the KTM, unless you get your body over the front, it feels twitchy and unsettled - it almost forces you to ride it like a Moto3 rider. It holds true to KTM’s “ready to race” tagline.

I was convinced the Ninja was going to be my bike until I actually rode it. I hated how the fuel tank felt against my body, and I was far more comfortable on the KTM. Which is the whole point: spec sheets aside, these three feel completely different in the real world.

One more thing on how it feels. The RC 390 is built in India by Bajaj, which is no bad thing at all: the Indian-built KTMs are arguably more reliable than the Austrian ones. But the bike does feel a bit agricultural, a little tractor-like in its fit and finish, even though it is a sportbike. This is not a reliability knock, mine was faultless. It is purely about finish. The R3 and Ninja 400 are budget, entry-level sportbikes too, so I wouldn’t call them elegant either, but the Japanese bikes carry a noticeably higher level of finish overall than the KTM. If that kind of fit and finish matters to you, you will probably be happier on one of them.

How it has evolved (and why it’s now discontinued)

Quick history, because it matters when you’re buying used:

• Gen 1 (2014-2016): the original. This is the one with the head-gasket reputation - avoid unless it’s cheap and has clearly been sorted.
• Gen 2 (2017-2021): my bike. KTM revised the engine and cylinder head, and added a slipper clutch, ride-by-wire throttle, a bigger 320mm front brake rotor and adjustable levers. It kept the 10-litre tank and 820mm seat of the earlier bike, but the sorted engine makes it the value sweet spot now.
• Gen 3 (2022 on): the big redesign - new frame, adjustable WP Apex suspension, cornering ABS, a full-colour TFT dash and an optional quickshifter. The best RC 390, and pricier used.

Here’s the headline change since I first wrote this review: KTM discontinued the RC 390 globally in December 2025. It’s now built for the Indian market only, with run-out stock selling through elsewhere. KTM pointed to soft demand and the cost of updating the ageing 373cc single to the latest Euro 5+ emissions rules.

What’s replacing it is the interesting part. KTM is reported to be moving the RC to a parallel-twin engine in the sub-500cc class. There’s already a China-market KTM RC 450 running a 449cc twin, and a separate global roughly 490cc twin is said to be in development with Bajaj, with a next-generation RC expected around 2027. Treat all of that as reported rather than confirmed, but if you want a brand-new small KTM sportbike, a twin looks like what’s coming, and it’ll go up against the Aprilia RS 457, the Kawasaki Ninja 500 (which replaced the Ninja 400) and the CFMoto 450SR.

For now, if you want an RC 390, you’re shopping used - which, honestly, is where the value always was anyway.

Who it’s for, and who should NOT buy

Buying an RC 390 makes sense if:

• You want a cheap bike that will teach you to corner properly
• You’re happy to test-ride the aggressive riding position first, especially if you’ve never ridden
• You don’t mind that it’s single-focus rather than a do-it-all everyday bike
• Most of your riding is short, spirited street rides or track days

It’s not the bike for you if you want a refined, comfortable all-rounder you can commute on every day without thinking, if you love revving a bike right out to a high redline, or if fit and finish matter a lot to you. In any of those cases the Ninja 400 or Yamaha R3 will make you happier.

I paid about $4,000 for mine and sold it for around $3,000 three years later, so budget for it holding a fair chunk of its value.

The scorecard

These are my own scores, judged within the LAMS / beginner-sportbike class - I’m rating it against a Yamaha R3 or Ninja 400, not a Yamaha R1. Weighted by the percentages above they come to 4.15 out of 5, which rounds to the 4.2 headline. Handling and reliability are its strengths, value is a straight five, and it loses the most ground on comfort, which is the price of that race-focused riding position.

FAQ

Is the KTM RC 390 reliable?

In my three years and 10,000 km, completely, not a single issue, and the head and valves checked out perfect when I sold it. The important caveat is generation: the 2014-2016 first-gen bikes are the ones with the head-gasket reputation. KTM revised the engine for 2017, which reduced the problem without completely eliminating it, so buy a 2017-or-later bike that has had its head and valve clearances professionally checked and the odds are strongly in your favour.

Is the 2017 KTM RC 390 a good first or beginner bike?

It can absolutely work as a first bike. The one caveat is the aggressive riding position, so if you have never ridden, test-ride one before you buy, because some people prefer the friendlier seating of a Ninja 400 or Yamaha R3. But there is nothing stopping it being a first bike, and it will teach you to corner properly fast.

How fast is the KTM RC 390?

I saw an indicated 163 km/h; magazines quote around 169 km/h tested. It makes 44 hp (32 kW) from its 373cc single, and the standout is how quick and constant the torque feels compared with the Yamaha R3 and Ninja 400. The trade-off is a lower rev ceiling: it runs out of revs around 10,000 rpm where the twins spin past 12,000, so you shift sooner.

Is the KTM RC 390 good for track days?

Yes, it’s one of the best cheap beginner track bikes going, alongside the Yamaha R3. I did a Minimoto day on it and had a ball. Just know the stock brakes fade under sustained track use (I got fade even with race fluid and sintered pads, and could trigger the ABS at a kart circuit), so brakes are the first upgrade for serious track work.

Is the KTM RC 390 comfortable?

No. It has the most aggressive riding position in its class, low clip-ons and high pegs, and I could manage about an hour before my back and quads complained. That’s the trade-off for how well it corners.

Does the KTM RC 390 overheat?

Mine never did in three years. A lot of owners worry about it, and I fitted Engine Ice coolant the day I bought it, but the bigger issue is the KTM temperature gauge itself. It reads almost full at normal operating temperature, about two bars from the top, so it looks like the bike is overheating when it is running exactly where it should. It is just a poorly designed gauge, not a fault.

Why was the KTM RC 390 discontinued, and what’s replacing it?

KTM discontinued it globally in December 2025 (India-only production continues), reportedly due to soft demand and the cost of updating the older single-cylinder engine to newer emissions rules. It’s reported to be moving to a parallel-twin: a China-market RC 450 already exists, and a global roughly 490cc twin is said to be coming around 2027.

How much is a used KTM RC 390 in Australia?

A tidy second-gen (2017-2021) is roughly AUD $3,500-$5,500 depending on kilometres and condition, which makes it one of the best-value sportbikes on the used market.

The bottom line

So there you have it, my long-term review of the 2017 KTM RC 390, the second-generation model I owned for three years and 10,000 km. It’s not the most comfortable, it’s single-focus rather than an everyday bike, and it’s now discontinued. But it taught me to ride, it never gave me a moment’s trouble, and I don’t think there’s a cheaper way to buy that much cornering fun and that much learning.

Top pick: a second-gen (2017-2021) RC 390, for the value and the sorted engine. Best alternative: the Yamaha R3, if you want something friendlier, more comfortable and more refined you can also commute on. The honest cons stand: the ergonomics, the agricultural finish, the fading stock brakes, and the modest resale.

If you want a cheap sportbike that will genuinely make you a better rider, and you don’t mind that it’s single-focus rather than a comfy all-rounder, consider a used RC 390.

Did you own an RC 390? What did you make of it? Let me know in the comments below.

Updated 3 July 2026: reframed the first-bike and commuter verdicts (it can be a first bike, and it can commute, it is just single-focus); reworded the learn-on verdict (the R3 and Ninja are arguably better learners, the RC wins as a stock, turnkey track bike); added the rev-ceiling trade-off against the R3 and Ninja 400, the overheating reputation and the misleading KTM temperature gauge, and the agricultural India-built fit and finish; corrected the track detail (a solid one-piece plastic peg screwed into the factory mount, Tyga rearsets, and the ABS engaging at the kart circuit); added external sources for the discontinuation and the reported twin-cylinder replacement; corrected the used and personal buy/sell pricing. Built on the new review template with the retrospective reframe and factory-spec figures (373cc, 44 hp, 147 kg dry, 820 mm seat, 10 L tank). Comments kept open.

Related reviews

• Kawasaki Ninja 400 Review - Gold Coast street + Broadford hire
• Kawasaki ZX-25R Review - Bali day-trip take on the little inline-four Ninja
• Alpinestars SMX 6 V2 Review - the boots I bought to take this bike on track
• Quad Lock Review - the phone mount I ran on the RC 390
• More motorcycle reviews