2025 KTM 390 Duke Now Comes With Apollo H1 Tyres

KTM recently revised the asking price of the 390 Duke making it just a bit more expensive by ₹1,000 at ₹2.96 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi). While this negligible hike did not come with any substantial changes, a few friends of ours who have purchased the new bike report that the company has changed the rubber on offer. Unlike earlier when the tyre import restriction norms forced KTM to give sub-par MRF tyres, the 390 Duke will now come with Apollo H1 tyres as stock. These W-rated soft compound tyres have been the choice of rubber for many bikers and for the right reasons. The Apollos are known to offer better grip than the Metzeler Sportec M5 H-rated tyres that used to come before. 

These new tyres should give more confidence in pushing the Duke to its limits. The ride quality had already improved by leaps and bounds, wherein the 390 Duke didn’t feel stiff at all. So much so that Arun found the 390 Duke to “glide over bad surfaced and broken roads.” All in all, we already regard the 390 Duke as a great sub-500 cc naked and with the new Apollo H1 “W” rated tyres it should now ride like a proper naked sport bike, the one that it actually is. The 2025 KTM 390 Duke was also updated earlier this year to include cruise control, a reduced seat height and a new all-black colour option. 

As for the tyre upgrade, this was primarily due to the Government of India tightening the tyre import laws. Premium tyre manufacturers like Pirelli, Michelin, Continental, etc, are “restricted” to import a certain limit. Due to this, a lot of OEMs have begun opting for good Indian rubber like the Apollo H1 tyres. Bajaj Auto recently updated the stock tyres on the Pulsar NS400Z to these very same rubbers, alongside other hardware updates.