KTM 200 Duke (2012+) Simplified Maintenance Schedule
This is the simplified maintenance schedule for the KTM 200 Duke, the venerable compact street / urban warrior that KTM has made since 2012. KTM re-styled the bike a couple of times, most recently in 2020, when they began exporting it to North America, but the basic bike has remained the same.
The KTM 200 Duke is powered by a 200 cc (72 x 49 mm bore x stroke) single cylinder engine with dual overhead cams and four valves.
As a 200-cc bike, it’s modestly powered, with peak output of 19 kW (26 hp). But the 200 Duke has a willing engine that’s rev happy and smooth. The motor can take you to freeway speeds without much fuss… but not any further!
In 2020, KTM restyled the bike significantly, bringing it in line with the other Dukes like the bigger KTM 390 Duke for example. It looks sharp!
This was originally published in Sep 2022, but has since been considerably revised.
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KTM 200 Duke Service Intervals
The KTM 200 Duke is a pocket rocket motorcycle that sips fuel. As a motorcycle oriented more towards low speeds and lots of start stop riding, the KTM 200 Duke has relatively short service intervals of 4650 miles or 7500 km, at which point you should change the oil and filter, change the air filter, and do a whole host of checks.
Every two services (every 9300 miles or 15000 km), change the spark plug and check the valve clearances. Luckily, it’s a naked bike and there’s just one cylinder, so the valve clearance check is not actually too bad.
Finally, the 200 Duke is a liquid-cooled bike, so change the coolant periodically, and keep the brake fluid up to date.
KTM 200 Duke Maintenance Schedule
Like other KTM motorcycles, the 200 Duke’s maintenance schedule in the manual is broken up into “required” and “recommended” work. But many of the items in the “recommended” section are either easy to do or frequently required work in other motorcycle schedules (e.g. to replace the coolant every 4 years). So we’ve included them together.
To simplify this we’ve split it into the standard service and the scheduled maintenance table, so you can easily see what to do every service, and what is only done occasionally.
KTM recommends most of the work be done by mechanics, and users only do the following:
- Check brakes (maybe replace if necessary)
- Check/adjust tyre pressures
- Check/adjust chain tension
- Check coolant and brake fluid levels
And very little else. So KTM doesn’t want you to, for example, change brake pads or brake fluid.
Of course, servicing the 200 Duke isn’t hard as a single-cylinder naked bike, so it’s up to you.
KTM 200 Duke — Standard Inspection Checklist
Below is the inspection checklist for the KTM 200 Duke. Do this according to the schedule below (every service).
| KTM 200 Duke Standard inspection checklist |
|---|
| [Dealer] Read out the fault memory using the KTM diagnostics tool. |
| Check that the electrical system is functioning properly. |
| Check the brake discs (thickness, evenness of wear) |
| Check the front brake linings. |
| Check the rear brake linings. |
| Check the brake lines for damage and leakage. |
| Check the front brake fluid level. (Note: Brake fluid changes with pad wear) |
| Check the rear brake fluid level |
| Check the tire condition |
| Check tire pressure |
| Check the shock absorber and fork for leaks |
| Check the chain tension; adjust as necessary. |
| Check the coolant level |
| Check the antifreeze / antiboil if you have the right equipment |
| Check that the radiator fan is functioning properly (with engine warm) |
| Chek that the throttle cables are undamaged, routed without sharp bends, and set correctly. |
| Check the cables for damage and routing without sharp bends |
| Check the steering head bearing play. |
| Empty the drainage hoses |
| Check all hoses (fuel, coolant, drainage etc.) and sleeves for cracking, leaks, and incorrect routing |
| Grease all moving parts (e.g. side stand, hand lever, chain) and check for smooth operation |
| Check the tightness of the safety-relevant screws and nuts which are easily accessible. |
| Final check: Check the vehicle for safe operation and take a test ride. |
| [Dealer] Read out the error memory after the test ride using the KTM diagnostics tool. |
| [Dealer] Set the service interval display. |
| [Dealer] Make a service entry in KTMDealer.net |
KTM 200 Duke Maintenance Schedule
Below is the scheduled maintenance table for the 200 Duke.
Notes
- Keep following the schedule in the pattern shown.
- Some items have a time-based schedule only (e.g. fluids), some a distance-based schedule only (e.g. valve clearance), but many items have both.
- We’ve rounded some of the interval distances (nobody is going to do a service at exactly 4650 miles, so we put it at 4700 for example)
| mi x 1000 | 0.6 | 4.7 | 9.3 | 14 | 18.6 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| km x 1000 | 1 | 7.5 | 15 | 22.5 | 30 | Every |
| Conduct a standard inspection service (see list above) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Year |
| Change the engine oil (Motorex 15W-50) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Year |
| Change the oil filter | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Year |
| Clean the oil screens | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Year |
| Clean the dust boots of the fork legs | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Change the air filter, clean the air filter box. | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Check the chain, rear sprocket, and engine sprocket | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Year | |
| Check the valve clearances Intake: 0.08-0.12 mm / 0.0031-0.0047 in Exhaust: 0.13-0.17 mm / 0.0051 – 0.0067 in | ✓ | ✓ | ||||
| Change the spark plug (Bosch VR 5 NEU) | ✓ | ✓ | ||||
| Check the frame (rust, cracks) | ✓ | |||||
| Check the link fork | ✓ | |||||
| Check the fork bearing for play | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Check the wheel bearing for play | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Change the front brake fluid. (Castrol DOT 4) | 2 years | |||||
| Change the rear brake fluid. (Castrol DOT 4) | 2 years | |||||
| Change the coolant (Motorex M3.0 Coolant) | 4 years | |||||
| Check the headlight setting | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Maintaining the Chain on the KTM 200 Duke
As a commuter bike, or even as a delivery bike (a common use for the smaller Duke), the 200 Duke needs regular attention to the chain.
Generally speaking, clean your chain every 1000 km or 600 miles, or more often if you’ve been riding in the wet or in dirty conditions. Use a good quality chain lube. KTM recommends Motorex Chain Lubricant and Motorex Chain Cleaner, but most other similar products should suffice.
At every service, check the chain tension. Put it up on a stand, find the spot on the chain right behind the chain sliding guard, and push it up. The distance should be 5-7mm (0.2-0.28 in) from the swinging arm. If it’s not, then adjust the chain tension.
Adjust the chain tension on a rear stand. Follow this process
- Loosen the rear nuts
- Use the chain adjuster bolts on either side to change the chain tension.
- Tighten the rear axle nut to 98 Nm / 72.3 lb-ft (which is quite a lot)
Make sure your rear wheel is aligned at the end, too — it should move back the same amount on either side.
KTM 200 Duke Valve clearances Inspection
To check and adjust the valves, you need
- Wrenches and torque wrenches
- Feeler gauges
- Valve shims
The general procedure is below. This is an overview —
- Clean the bike, and remove all the debris around the cylinder head. You don’t want any falling into the engine!
- Elevate the rear wheel onto a paddock stand to keep the motorcycle upright.
- Remove the seat and tank to get access to the cylinder head.
- Remove the cylinder head
- Put the motorcycle into the top gear and use the rear tire to spin the motor and find top dead center, looking into the piston to watch it move.
- Slide in the feeler gauges from thick to thin, then thin to thick, to find the valve clearance.
- Check them against the table below (two intake, two exhaust). Record all the figures.
| Valve | metric | imperial |
|---|---|---|
| Intake (cold) valves | 0.08-0.12 mm | 0.0031 – 0.0047 mm |
| Exhaust valves | 0.13-0.17 mm | 0.0051 – 0.0067 mm |
At this point, if your clearances are in spec, you’re good to go. You might find that as time goes on, there is less and less chance that the valves are out of spec.
If you find that a clearance is out of spec, then you have to get further into the engine to change the shims. For detail on this, it’s best to consult a mechanic or a shop manual, as there’s risk of damaging the engine.
Wheels, Tires and Tire Pressures for the KTM 200 Duke
The 200 Duke ships with MRF REVZ tires, but any street/sport tires in the below sizes should suit.
| Wheel | Tire size | Tire pressure (cold) |
|---|---|---|
| Front | 110/70 R 17 M/C 54S TL | 2 bar / 29 psi |
| Rear | 150/60 R 17 M/C 66S TL | 2-2.2 bar / 29-32 psi (Depending on load / passenger) |
About the KTM 200 Duke
The KTM 200 Duke is a compact sport standard motorcycle that KTM has been making since 2012.
It has a lot of high-quality components despite the smaller engine. In fact, there’s not that much that’s different between it and the KTM 390 Duke — at least not in previous years. For example, it has basically the same WP Apex suspension setup, including an inverted fork at the front. And the brakes are the same ByBre components, with a 300 mm disc, two-piston caliper, and two-channel ABS.
And unlike the 390 Duke, the KTM 200 Duke is the only 200-class bike. There’s no RC 200, and no 200 Adventure. Though some people have suggested that KTM release one!
KTM made some exterior changes to the 200 since launch in 2012, but the engine stayed fundamentally the same — same bore / stroke, same aggressive tuning for maximum power from a diminutive single. Even the brakes and suspension remained fundamentally the same, though KTM moved from a wave rotor to a traditional round disc, and the newer 200s have WP APEX suspension, whereas the previous is just described as “WP”. (It might be the same…)
The 2020 model is the one that KTM began importing into the US. But Australia and the Asia-Pacific region and some European countries had seen it earlier than that.
Riding the KTM 200 Duke is quite rewarding as long as you’re staying in its natural habitat, the urban jungle. The power and torque may not seem like much, but the engine is revvy and not “buzzy” like you might expect from a little single. The result is that it’s quite fun to grab throttle and make the engine sing in a way that would send you straight to jail on its much bigger brother, the KTM 1290 Super Duke.
Maintaining the 200 Duke is much like maintaining other small-capacity singles from KTM. Oil changes are a bit more regular, as are valve services, but it’s easy work as it’s all on a naked bike.
Reference — Maintenance schedule screenshots from the KTM 200 Duke Manual
The above information came from the manual for the KTM 200 Duke, looking at various years for comparison.
Some screenshots for the manual for reference are below.
You can download manuals for KTM motorcycles from ktmshop.se.
