Consider Honda Hiness 350.
Originally posted by A5H15H
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Hello all my fellow XBHPians,
I need your help in deciding a steed for my daily use and following is the info:
1) Budget: Cannot go too north of 2 Lacs
2) Daily commute (once lockdown is lifted): 40Kms total (bottleneck traffic "TO" and no traffic "FRO") over the potholed Mumbai roads.
3) Riding Style: Sedate (cant do much in bottleneck Mumbai traffic)
4) Road trips: Approx. 4 in a year (not too far out...about 200 Kms one way)
5) Requirements from the bike: Easy handling, comfortable ergos (relaxed rider triangle preferred due to age being on the wrong side of thirties and weight being on the wrong side of nineties)
, not too tall (I am 5'8 but with shorter in-seams), ability to cruise "relatively" stress free on highway speeds hovering around 90's.
6) Pillion comfort is also a deciding factor.
7) Current ride: BSIII Bajaj Avenger 220 Street
I am leaning towards the Xpulse 200 BSVI but a couple of doubts need to be cleared and that is why I reach out to thee:
a) As far as performance (BHP. Torque and Top Speed) go, it wont be much of an upgrade from my Avy. The Avy is quite reluctant at speeds north of 80-85K and from what I've learnt this is where the Xpulse is also comfortable at, post which vibes and reluctance creep in.
b) There is a lot of disparity between people saying the suspension is too stiff to people saying the suspension is plush. I am not a test ride person as Test Bikes often cannot be taken as yardsticks due to the fact that they are thrashed and mishandled. I would prefer the suspension to be medium sprung. Something that would take the broken Mumbai roads with aplomb and not break my back in the process.
c) A couple of known issues like tappet noise, the glaring "jugaad" notch on the chassis to accommodate the engine outlet and ABS locking up may be deterrents and it would be awesome if an owner can shed light on whether these niggles have been taken care of.
d) The other bikes I have shortlisted (I do not want anything below 200cc) are Yamaha FZ25 and Suzuki Gixxer 250 (i know they belong to different segments but I prefer function over form)
e) I do not like the following bikes for the following reasons:
• Duke 200 - Too expensive, stiffly sprung (awesome handling though), a little tall for my liking (though the Xpulse seat height is no shorter)
• Bajaj NS200 - Owned it back in 2012 but faced quite a few issues as the bike became older. Suspension became non existent after a few years.
• Apache RTR 200 4V - Vibes
• Dominar 250 - Too heavy for a 250 CC, translates to cumbersome crawling performance in the city.
• Husqvarna Smartpilen / Vitpilen twins - Small fuel tank, expensive, lack of pillion comfort, too tall for an otherwise tiny package.
Anyone suggest I wait for the Suzuki Intruder 250 (the patent images leaked online today)?
All opinions and suggestions will be appreciated.
Cheers!!
I need your help in deciding a steed for my daily use and following is the info:
1) Budget: Cannot go too north of 2 Lacs
2) Daily commute (once lockdown is lifted): 40Kms total (bottleneck traffic "TO" and no traffic "FRO") over the potholed Mumbai roads.
3) Riding Style: Sedate (cant do much in bottleneck Mumbai traffic)
4) Road trips: Approx. 4 in a year (not too far out...about 200 Kms one way)
5) Requirements from the bike: Easy handling, comfortable ergos (relaxed rider triangle preferred due to age being on the wrong side of thirties and weight being on the wrong side of nineties)
, not too tall (I am 5'8 but with shorter in-seams), ability to cruise "relatively" stress free on highway speeds hovering around 90's. 6) Pillion comfort is also a deciding factor.
7) Current ride: BSIII Bajaj Avenger 220 Street
I am leaning towards the Xpulse 200 BSVI but a couple of doubts need to be cleared and that is why I reach out to thee:
a) As far as performance (BHP. Torque and Top Speed) go, it wont be much of an upgrade from my Avy. The Avy is quite reluctant at speeds north of 80-85K and from what I've learnt this is where the Xpulse is also comfortable at, post which vibes and reluctance creep in.
b) There is a lot of disparity between people saying the suspension is too stiff to people saying the suspension is plush. I am not a test ride person as Test Bikes often cannot be taken as yardsticks due to the fact that they are thrashed and mishandled. I would prefer the suspension to be medium sprung. Something that would take the broken Mumbai roads with aplomb and not break my back in the process.
c) A couple of known issues like tappet noise, the glaring "jugaad" notch on the chassis to accommodate the engine outlet and ABS locking up may be deterrents and it would be awesome if an owner can shed light on whether these niggles have been taken care of.
d) The other bikes I have shortlisted (I do not want anything below 200cc) are Yamaha FZ25 and Suzuki Gixxer 250 (i know they belong to different segments but I prefer function over form)
e) I do not like the following bikes for the following reasons:
• Duke 200 - Too expensive, stiffly sprung (awesome handling though), a little tall for my liking (though the Xpulse seat height is no shorter)
• Bajaj NS200 - Owned it back in 2012 but faced quite a few issues as the bike became older. Suspension became non existent after a few years.
• Apache RTR 200 4V - Vibes
• Dominar 250 - Too heavy for a 250 CC, translates to cumbersome crawling performance in the city.
• Husqvarna Smartpilen / Vitpilen twins - Small fuel tank, expensive, lack of pillion comfort, too tall for an otherwise tiny package.
Anyone suggest I wait for the Suzuki Intruder 250 (the patent images leaked online today)?
All opinions and suggestions will be appreciated.
Cheers!!
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