Thank you. There will be a more comprehensive and different review in the magazine

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.

^^ +10 to the above post. If only there was a like button here,the above post would have got the most number of likes.

In short... and absolutley positively agreed!

Folks abroad (whom we indians consider very rich BTW) squirm whenever they have to spend on tires & insurance. Forget about service & gas expense.

Most in india buy a 15lacs Motorcycle & don't give a damn as they can afford more expensive Motorcycles, but with the good Motorcycles becoming cheaper & available to the masses (cattle-class) these costs do make an impression on 'ownership' cost if you plan to ride & not pose or show-off.

The part in bold is absolutely true. I am contemplating this bike now..more so because of its evil pricing.
Both of us are wanting to have a spare bike which can be used as a jack of all trades, although our respective primary bikes are worlds apart. While your writing is very hard hitting..it almost always smacks of you justifying the kerosene in the THOR Nevertheless..its your trademark and I wouldnt want it to be any other way either
LOLOLOL. Thank you for my new sig
The population of tourers on xBHP is phenomenally high.
And thats why you have every other rider writing a travel blog (some of them are breathtakingly beautiful indeed, Praveen Selvam, Bluevolt anyone ?) and you have travel contests and blog contests and photo contests and logs and what not from all the leh ladakh, kullu, GQ, kanyakumari, Goa, Punjab, Ooty and even thailand and bangladesh and neighbouring countries

Then we got the saddle sore badasses. And badasses they are. I personally cannot think about riding even 1000kms in one day. Not that I havent done it. But I abhor it. And these titans do it in style. I have read some of their blogs ( KetanR15 from Bombay) and the guy was bleeding through his eyes and stuff but carried on.
The reason however why the argument about superbikes being weekend bikes only arises so often at xBHP is because sport riders are not found on here in plenty.
When you buy a superbike or a supersport you are not neccessarily committing a crime if you aint gonna be tenting at the track all the time. Its for the times when you want to go the track and you have the right tool underneath your ass and can have all the fun on the track. There are riders who save all year long and live and breathe only to be able to ride atleast once a year at the track. To them biking IS track riding. Like riding to destinations(nor not) is biking to a tourer. Black lines and melted tyres is to him what early morning rides and the fresh smell of wet earth is to a tourer.
That you can ride a superbike or a supersport ONLY on weekends is NOT a shortcoming of these class of bikes. Its rather a USP for these bikes that they are made to be ridden on the streets too. A true track bike s un-rideable on the streets and you will be crashing it every other corner. Supersports and superbikes are street bikes that cater to a different audience and are intended for a different purpose. There are some who buy it to just marvel at their performance as these shiny plastic bikes are always piggyback riding on the pinnacle of modern technology and engineering ( I know satya to be one of such guys).

Conclusion : These bikes are meant for weekends..intended for weekends so whats wrong if they are being ridden only on weekends ? Nothing. There is nothing wrong if you are simply in love with extreme performance either. You are fine if you are buying them to ride on the streets as in their stock setups these superbikes are MEANT to be ridden on the streets.

If you are gonna fly with an R1 you are gonnna pay the price of crashing it. If you choose to run with a Karizma you are not choosing a bent handlebar over a broken one..you are simply choosing not to fly.
Rofl
Now to this I agree. I dont believe in biggest, fattest, loudest myself but you gotta agree its a lot of fun to some people out there and there is a huge market for aftermarket parts and performance upgrades and hotroding and stuff. I believe some people buy motorcycles for bling..like some buy it for lifestyle while others to tour, then again there are some who buy it to ride in dirt and then there are some who hate two wheels altogther. Maybe thats the beauty of motorcycles...they can be put to a thousand uses. And if you wanna get some girls at a party..well nothing speaks better than a nice shiny Desmosedici RR. Its the world of motorcycles that YOU are a part of. While you are playing the role of a tourer there are others playing varied different roles. I personally hate the non riding class of riders and I am with you here. At the risk of pissing some ppl off I shall say that the superbike club in pune, C.O.P.S, is a victim of this.

By the end of 2 years I would have done 30k kms myself. I am at 15k under an year. I dont ride an MT01 and I cant tank it up with any ordinary fuel although sometimes I am left with no options. My bike has no resale value perhaps (i dont know i never cared) as its been crashed multiple number of times so much so that I ride the bike with race fairing even on the streets. I will be on my 5th set of tyres under an year and you shall not find chicken strips on the last 3 pair of tyres.
Why am I mentioning all this ? Not to say look at me I am riding it a lot. To be honest there are riders in pune who ride their superbike waaaayyy lot and Yatin Shirole was one amongst them. He now races in national championships as you know. But the reason why I am saying this is to put it out there that superbikes or supersports are not a wrong choice in this part of the world as is usually being lectured to us all the time. If sportbikes and sport riding is your passion you can manage to ride sportbikes as much as your white brother is riding it elsewhere in a first world country. Gora sahab is also jealous of us for our weather permits us 9 months of riding

There is an increasing trend in hating superbikes in india. I hate the whole dhoom culture myself. I think everyone on xBHP does. But then everyone on xBHP also assumes that every other rider who isnt touring and has chosen to live with a superbike is only into posing, has his foundations wrong, and should instantly sell off his bike and buy a bike he can take to leh ladakh. No thank you..leh ladakh dont interest someone and if you go to a sports riding forum you shall not find anyone talking about anything else but weekend rides on superbikes and canyons and low sidess and high sides and superbikes for wives and girlfriends and christmas gifts for bikes and tracks and racing schools and motogp and wsbk. If you ask some of these guys what they have been riding for the past 20 years they have always had track bikes..sportbikes..and bikes like Ninja650R or an equivalent that is good at everything and can be used for touring with a pillion too. Abolish this concept that sportbikes are being bought because people are making wrong choices everywhere.
People buy sportbikes just they way you will buy one to tour..a bandit or something..and just because 8 roads out of 10 justify a bandit dont mean a guy cant buy a sportbike to ride on those 2 out of 10 roads.
And a bike like the ninja 650R at a price like 5 lacs will be bought by both..a tourer and a sports rider. Whatever bike you buy and which ever art of motorcycling you are into..you can do justice to it..if you just ride it a lot. While biggest, fattest, loudest attitude cannot be helped its not a whole lot annoying or boring either..fun to see drag races just as much as it is to see Rallys and Wsbk.

I hope to see an increase in sport riders with so many performance bikes being launched now. Should do good for the upcoming MotoGP in 2012 too

Ninja 650R vs Hyosung GT650R

Looks: Hyosung GT650R wins hands down

Exhaust note: Again Hyosung

Riding position and sporty feeling: Hyosung again

Performance and power: Both are equally good

Hyosung GT650R with a yoshimura slip-on, sounds awesome! I don't know if the same thing can be fitted to a Ninja 650R

Cost is pretty much same for both bikes.

Do people agree with me on the looks, and exhaust sound that Hyosung is better than Ninja? After all these are one of the main factors why a sports bike is a commerical success anywhere in the world

Then why Ninja? Probably Bajaj and Kawasaki have better brand value than Garware and Hyosung.

Coming to brand value, hyundai is a korean company which used to make
bucket cars in the past. Now they are giving a run to Lexus and Mercs in terms of sales and competition.

So brand value can be misleading. Hyosung is another korean company which is making rapid improvements every year by listening to its customers and makes changes to its bikes.

And a hyosung GT650R's engine is based on the wonderful Suzuki SV650 engine. so you cannot call it crap or unrefined. I am sure Hyosung will be a brand to contend with in the near future.

Now my dilemma, Hyosung 650 or Ninja 650. And i would certainly change the exhaust if i get the Ninja, provided they are available in India. I've got 5 lakhs to splurge and both these bikes fall in my budget range.

I wish xbhp would make a comparision of these both bikes as they are so similar in terms of pricing and performance. I would like to know which one has the better handling, suspension and power. The looks anyway we can make out ourself by looking at them. i hope there is someone on this forum who has ridden both these bikes(2010 models) and would like to hear from them

@Tenhut: On the contrary, the majority @ xBHP or in India in general are the sporty types. By sporty I don’t mean their riding style, but their fetish for bikes.

The problem begins when these people miss the point by a mile! Rather than acknowledging that here is fantastic ‘all round machine’ available as a reality at a super sweet price… the only point every one harps about is its ‘Sports orientation’ and why inline’s are better. That’s where this whole debate came up.
We are FAR from being a matured motorcycling country!

its a very relevant and great real bike for India. Riding my R15 for 400-500 kms a day is a pain inducing exercise. Its priced right, is comfortable for long distances, mid range is great. most of time you can expect to ride in 80-120 kmph and ocassionally rise to higher speeds which she does without breaking a sweat. has enough power most of us will never be able to exploit.

Agreed riding position and sound may not be exciting (not seen it in flesh, also the reason why I chose R15 over CBR, my budget was 1.5 lac max.) but this is more practical bike and definitely has a purpose. Knowing that I am riding a 650 cc bike will make for uninspiring exhaust and seating.

Also no matter what Kawi do they will never be able to make bikes that lack in character as Honda (Honda has other benefits and I love them as well)...

Guess its time to start saving up...

With the 650 cc sport tourers being launched right now for the first time ever it is not difficult to see why we are FAR from being a matured motorcycling country. And then we got movies like Dhoom who ruined it all to begin with. Half of the ones with the fetish perhaps think superbikes come fitted with NOS or something. That class isnt even the ones we are talking about. We are talking about us riders..the ones at xBHP..those who gear up before they go on rides. Wouldnt you say that touring is the backbone here at xBHP while sport riding is to be seen nowhere ? Sportbike fetish exists all over the world..not just in India..that has little to do with the fact that india is in its infancy...it can simply be attributed to the fact that Sportbikes are identified with performance, speed, agility, space age materials and thats mighty appealing to the young.

Now you cant deny the fact that the 650R aint a Ninja. The only country to have the 650R in kawasaki lime green colour is India. You dont find lime green elsewhere ( u may find metallic green but thats no lime green). They did this to sell the Ninja tag. To some thats diluting the Ninja brand while to others who are buying it it ends up being pleasure of possesion. To bajaj and kawasaki its marketing. I personally feel that the 650R is more than worth the bike at 5 lacs whether its an R or not. But you cant deny the fact that some who had been wanting a more sporty bike, now feel compelled to settle with some dust in their eyes and ride a parallel twin that lays claims to being an R. But then again Honda did the same with the CBR250R and every other manufacturer is doing this not just in india but all over the world. I guess the crowd never is too mature anywhere in the world and the sportbike fetish not only is rampant but it also sells. But it is important to separate the wheat from the chaff.
Nevertheless..the ER6F has won every battle in my eyes. To most of the guys buying a big bike for the first time the six hundred and fifty cubic centimeters alone should be "R" enough. And that at 5 lacs
It really doesn't get better than this.

My point is you that riding a sportbike isnt as cumbersome as its made out to be. The roads arent really an issue and the fuel isnt really a problem either..as long as you dont subject a sportbike to touring duties. And why should you ? For that we have the 650R

My dear friend ,you saved me a whole paragraph of writing here --

Though I belong to the tourer & the endurance class I couldn't agree more to what your school of thoughts says cent per cent

A practical example is such:
i ride an average of 30-35 K Kms in a year.so what I do when I look for bigger displacement bike--I make a practical decision of going for N650 r (for ex. only)
with an FE of 20 kmpl & no. of service intervals in a total run of 30 k kms --does it not defeat the purpose of making it practical now ?

So I am happy for my long tours on my 250 -- no worries I can climb rajmachi as easily as I can traverse NH4 as well as ladakh & arunachal too--

So what now thrills me or rather will thrill me is that few moments of adrenaline rush where actually you do feel as it you are orbitting the earth--

Do that at regular intervals if not every weekend ,spare the pocket too & than you get the best of both worlds as people demand

+1 Satyen.

What i intended to say is some people (posers) who are gung ho about big bikes are mostly concerned about how fat the rear tire is and how much bhp or cc the engine vomits. Where would they ride such bikes? To a coffee shop to flaunt it, mostly. And when a practical one is launched, they claim the company guys were thinking from their ass and it would have been more sense to launch a track spec machine.

So like Tenhut (or rabid racoon) said, its not a crime to want such bikes or even own them. Its your dough, do with it what you please. I'm only saying just stop flaming the manufacturers or companies who are making a difference to the biking scene. Even 2 years back we had no such bikes. The best bet was a liter class if you could afford one (financially, legally or illegally, etc.) or nothing. So now that we are getting some action, let it go on and we'll see the markets continue to evolve and bigger better bikes being launched. Live and let live !!!

Here is one such bike i spotted. Check out the condition of the tire. I wouldn't want a bike so bad that i couldn't maintain and run the risk of killing myself and others on the road. And this was spotted at a coffee shop.



Hope i am making some sense now.

That tyre has had a burnout.

LOL. Yeah. Best part of the 650R launch is that YOU are back Nice to see your posts.

dude i was reacting to your post about i4's high maintance cost bomb cribing by owners and etc... i dont think u where talkin about 5lac bike there check ur own post