madengine

I WISH EVERY ONE A HAPPY FESTIVEL TIME
I have been on an constant search and exprimenting some good bike models that can withstand or take head -on with steep-hill-terrain riding ,i already own two good engines bike of the year 2007 pulsar 220 and also the effecient and energitic apache rtr-160 fuel injected . the latter one belongs to my office and have been provided for me to use only for office purposes and my pulsar is for absolute joy of riding in my home town .
The question here is i need a bike which i will be riding it in my farm house which is situated in kerala->vadagara->kuttiyadi(hill range) as most part of the time in kerala roads tend to be slippery due to unpredictable rainfall pattern and thanks to the most dangerous cures and twists on the hill terrain . now as i cannot bring any one of the two bikes i hav in my home town andwith regard to farm house my need for a permanet and problem free transport gets the answer in the form of bike even though i have a car, bike makes me feel quite comfortable .

constraint :
cubic capacity :150-200
terrain conditions :hilly terain
fuel effecieny : should be medium-high
sticker price :rs60000-1lac
dependability: very very high

suggest me a bike model with high dependability , low cost maitanence,medium-high fuel effeciency,feather light handling and most important of all is " collasal road grip "

Sunny

Topic Approved

I may be tempted a little to suggest you to take the R15 primarily because of its good handling around curves and sticky tyres. But again, good aftermarket tyres can be fixed on any bike and handling is also not such a big issue unless you want to knee scrape. Moreover the lot of plastic and lots of tech means lots of things can go wrong.

I would suggest Apache RTR for its good handling and torque.

need4torque

Get a used Fiero, strip off any excess plastic( read side scoops and front fairing), equip with on/off road tyre( not much options, so you could try the michelin m45, ceat vertigo 100/90,tvs jumbo 100/80), strip the engine at a good mech or send it over to good ol' enginehacker and give it his golden touch! the machine is light and handles decently. Just give it a pair of decent shock absorbers.

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RIDE IT LIKE YOU STOLE IT!
04' PULSAR 180 DTS-i
09 ZMA-R

themadrussian

i think the apache RTR-efi you own will be good for the job !!

the FZ-16 will be great too considering the wider tire(140/70 radial) and monoshock .. may save you a couple of grands instead of going for the R15

cyclone2k

I seriously don't consider R15 a good idea for hill-terrain riding... where there are lots of provisions for a fall-down (even as you explain)... For these occasions, bikes with option to add leg-guard/ already having leg-guard are best, IMO.

I find Unicorn best suited for all purposes..

Had it been city/ track riding, you could go for fancy looking bikes, but here you need something more practical. Even break-down of bikes with lots of technicality, may create troubles for you to get it repaired in weird locations..

Pulsar/ CBZ/ Apache/ Unicorn are the ones that suit your requirements.. Regarding reliability, I don't think anyone can beat Honda, at the moment, rest whatever you find comfortable with..

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madengine

thank u sunny bro for approving my topic for discussion. ur decission is a worthy one ,i'l add this bike to position 1 because i toohav enjoyed much wit this bike .

the thing you suggest is great to hear and practicality also appears decent ,but i cant able to do this .curse me for my impatient mind which wants things without much work. further i think when moving on to search fiero i would end up with some couple of years old machine and for this matter i feel bit hesitant to do this . sorry if i hav spoken anything wrong . great idea from you but not for a person whos is a bit or totally mad like me . hence my name MADENGINE
thank u for some innovative thought dear need4torque

ya i love apache rtr i own, but the main and most worst thing is my employer will kick me out of the job if i take this bike to my farm house .your fz-16 idea seems to be a good idea can you help me with fuel effeciency details and also with price tag .thank you for ur reply dear themadrussian

i'm seriously considering apache and a second thought over hunk and unicorn .with respect to pulsar too many to make me go running for some break , can u throw some light over hunk, unicorn and apache or a bit comparision with FE aand all specs
thank u cyclone2k for ur reply and great idea

prakash_mvpa

In hilly areas of kerala ,pulsar undoubtedly is the best seller.I can find p150 much more in towns like thodupuzha.yes ,I owned a suzuki fiero.but now as it is obsolete ,for hilly terrain pulsars are the way.dont get shocked to find p200s and p220s in hilly areas of kerala .
there is no confusion regarding the choice- it is pulsar and pulsar only for hilly terrains. ZMA's are a rare thing in kerala(atleast in travancore-cochin area) except for some college chaps.and another thing is pulsar can be serviceable and spare parts availability is much better than hero honda or tvs/suzuki /

Personally ,I will recommend getting a pulsar 180 DTS-i(which I owned before having bullet ) which can climb hills better and also almost maintanence free.
many ppl are not so happy to get p200s and p220s -may be due to the complexity and difficulty to get it serviced in rural areas ,although the no. of p200's especially are increasing in rural kerala.so ,grab a p180 ,if it is still available .

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madengine

Thanks to the aggresive maketing of bajaj auto limited ,now rural areas also moving in for some high cc machines .what you say is correct because i hav seen in my area near farm house at kerala 2-3 220's and 200's and with hill riding the bike has enough horses to pull well . as i'm an proud owner of a p220 i never disregard pulsars . but the scene gets worst here as even nook and corner of the town people ride pulsar 150-180 and i'm really getting a thought that r we living in pulsar world .this makes me go in for a model which is not more familiarised like pulsar.
your thought is a perfect one ,thank u for your input prakash_mvpa .

cyclone2k

Well, you have tried Apache, so you should even go for a test-ride of other machines available, which suits your requirements.

Unicorn and Hunk share the same engine, it is just that in Hunk it is tuned more for performance, hence less mileage compared to Uni.

Apache has all the latest goodies and is a good performance bike... But, regarding it's reliability/ durability, I doubt on it.

Pulsars, everyone has it.. also, it has lots of variations of troubles..

Unicorn, you shall barely find any Uni owner dissatisfied with Uni, and I too am a satisfied owner..

Above all, I'd best suggest you to test-rise all the machines in your mind, and/ or ask for ownership experiences if you can get hold of anyone having these machines, in your locality.

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need4torque

No prob bro. I get the point. What prakash has mentioned is right, the rural/hilly areas scene is dominated by the pulsars, but the front heavy nature and the ponderous handling are a big let down, though the easy serviceability is a pro!
The Uni is good as it handles well and has good LET. And the mono shock would make me prefer it over the plasticky Hunk. It has good fuel efficiency too. 55-60kmpl.

__________________
RIDE IT LIKE YOU STOLE IT!
04' PULSAR 180 DTS-i
09 ZMA-R