BORDERLINE BAD BOY

All the upgrades have added a tinge of savagery to the good child of the family

- Manaal Mahatme

The notorious children from Mattighofen have been causing a ruckus in India for a decade now. But five years ago, the KTM 200 Duke and the 390 Duke were joined by the 250 Duke - the good boy of the lot. It had more performance than the 200, yet felt inclusive and friendly to play with - does the new generation of the 250 Duke feel the same, or has the middle child finally given in and become a hooligan, too?

Doesn't look civilised 

To my eyes, the flat, halogen headlight with those DRL fangs of the older model looked like the good child was doing its best to imitate its badass elder sibling... but its personality said otherwise, of course. The new one, though, has certainly been taking notes or attending classes to look the part. This time, the LED headlight is the same as the 390 Duke, but this one skips the flared-out DRLs... and that's a good thing in my books.

But that's not the only difference between the 390 and the 250 Dukes. The latter flaunts a different design for those ridiculously long tank shrouds. They are sleeker, and don't have the cuts that the elder brother sports. Plus, the header pipe and the mid-pipe don't get the protective shield that the 390's wields.

Yes, it doesn't get the TFT console like its elder sibling, but gets a 5-inch LCD display that does its job just fine. From the switchgear that's borrowed from the 390, you can toggle through different settings, including navigation and music control. Plus you can also choose to disengage the ABS at the rear wheel or the bike's quickshifter. Yes, the new-gen 250 Duke comes with a quickshifter.