saw ur first two posts about the 650R exhaust...
didn't reply coz i don't have any first hand experience with the N650R.

but it's only logical to assume that if the exhaust is submerged it's gonna be a problem.

So Guru, Aditya, RabidRacoon are you buying the n650?

Has any XBhp member owned this bike before? Obviously not in India, but may be other country. Needed comments from a first hand experience about the exhaust, when taking it off-road.
I know I have asked the same thing earlier as well, but then dint really get a reply.

Does'nt anybody think that the 650 is just a ER-6F repackaged as a Ninja for the Indian market ?

How many you have lived with a ZX6R to know what it is like to ride on a daily basis. I can tell you...
1. Early clutch replacement. The combination of the bikes non-existent bottom-end torque and our stop-go-traffic = Clutch Kebab!
2. Invest in new fairing lowers and exhaust headers everytime you hear that delightful "scrrrruncchch" as you go over a speed-breaker. Or look like a total spanner as you climb off the bike, gingerly roll it over the speed-breaker and clamber back on it while the aunty on her Activa overtakes you...again...for the 15th time that morning!
3. Wear heat-reflective clothing...or re-deploy your mom's oven mitts around your calves and thighs as your legs gradually cook into drumsticks as the heat from the radiators is generously blown onto you!
4. Watch your wallet cringe as the 97 octane bills come tubling down the slopes of sHell!


Among other issues...this applies to most I4 bikes unless you plan to ride only on weekends and early in the morning.

Regular maintenance itself on these machines cost a bomb and if its a crash or a slide then its even more worse. Will cost an arm, a leg, a kidney and a lung too.

The general populace here has a tendency to shutter out any bike that wasn't featured in Dhoom/Dhoom-2/Dhoom-3 and whatever else sort of tinsel rubbish that litters the editing room floor.

They are so blinded that they can't see the bike for what it is! Something that will get them to work and back everyday, take them to ladakh and back without any unwarranted drama and still be around 10 years from now as boring and laid back as it was the day you bought it.

Among other issues...this applies to most I4 bikes unless you plan to ride only on weekends and early in the morning.

A smart individual or a successful investment banker win because they invest in the right resource at the right time and place

I am sticking with the MT01 which runs on almost anything you can fill the tank with. In addition I will invest in a smaller second bike to putter around town and take to far-away destinations. The 650R is the top contender at this point in time.

1. Regular bent steel tube handlebar:

Drop a bike with clip-ons and when they break...pray you have auto-rickshaw fare to take you home and call for the Tata Ace / 407. With a regular handle-bar you can simply whack it back into shape and provided the levers haven't broken - find your way back home. I crashed my Karizma at MMSC at Turn-2 and the handlebar was bent 90 degrees. Rode back to the pits...hammered it back out and I was back out on track 20 minutes later. Repairing the scrape on my ass took longer than that! A friend dropped his R1 and the first thing that broke was the clip-on. Game Over!

On a long ride...(just imagine Ladakh) if this happens to you...which would you prefer?

2. Upright riding ergonomics:

I cannot say this enough - The best riding posture for us non-racers is the upright posture. It gives you the best all-round visibility and you can therefore react to situations much faster. It is easier to get your feet down to the ground when things get slippery for that little bit extra support. You will need this when you suddenly find oil on the road in front of you (Mumbai), Sand on the road in front of you (Chennai), Gravel and rocks on the road in front of you (Bangalore) and Desi Kudis on the road in front of you (Namma Delhi). Wrist pain, lower back pain and neck pain - anyone who rides a superbike longer than 2-3 hours at a time will feel this stiffness.


3. Narrow tires:

They don't look that "Manly"? So what...lets see who is manly when you are ploughing through a 2-3" thick layer of sand on the road on your 300 section rear tire More like sailing in this case. Narrow tires WORK for India. They pick up less rubbish, work better in water and debris on the road, wear more evenly and are cheaper to replace! They also generate less drag and improve fuel efficiency and vehicle performance.

4. The fugly windshield:

Rossiter had an eagle land on him in a real Neil Armstrong moment...at something like 180 Kph on the R1. He is still here with us but I am sure a nice tall windshield might have done a better job of protecting him. On a long ride it is really nice to get out of the way of the wind...the buffeting gets awfully tiring after a while. I know - I ride a naked bike and I am only partially deaf now.

Need more?

Possibly true...but thats all you guys expect out of your rides isn't it?

Look good, sound good, go fast, roll up into Lonavala every Sunday morning and get your jollies off discussing your latest racefit growler and roll back home in a haze of tire smoke and noise.

There is nothing wrong with that...Nothing wrong with being cool and doing 300Km of mileage in a month. You'll save money on fuel, tires, wear and tear and still wear a big smile on your face. What is wrong with that?

The tragedy is that the population starts believing that this is all there is to biking and gets caught up in the rat race to have the biggest, fastest, loudest and the foundation erodes...

The riding stops...and the preening begins...

Now I know liter bike riders who ride like there is no tomorrow and I respect them. They can change a tire on their own, service their bikes on their own and they ride so they don't have time for tomfoolery like swapping exhausts and stickers every two days. I know who these people are and they know who I am so all is good between us despite your interpretation of my posts.

If you think you are an idiot for buying an i4 - nothing I do/say/edit in my posts can change that. I don't think you are an idiot...your view of biking is just transcendentally different from mine. You could call me an idiot for doing 30,000 Kms on the MT-01 in less than 2 years...sure! I'm on my third set of tires, the resale value of my bike is shot to bits, Thor has battle-scars and wears the face of a seasoned warrior...

But I buy a bike so I can ride...not so I can be popular with the rest of the guys...or chicks.