re: My Honda CBR650F. EDIT: Track Day at BIC on PG-53

Thank you so much brother. A lot of credit goes to this forum. I got to meet very nice people which helped me stay in motorcycling.
Also a lot of superbike ownership threads helped the motivation going.

Couldn't have done it without you guys.

Thank you so much. Thank you for noticing.
I always get confused between a full stop or an exclamation. Chose a full stop this time around.

Thank you very much sir. I will try my best to keep it updated.


Thank you very much sir. Headlamps are better than Karizmas. I mean they are okay in my opinion.
I am sure probably not as good as a projector setup.

3M charged me around 450 Rs for wrapping the wind screen.

Thank you very much sir. I also did not find weight that much of an issue and it does have a big bike feel.
I think I am now getting more used to the vibrations as well. I have started noticing them less and they have definitely improved a bit too.

Hopefully, we will reach a state of acceptance soon.

Thank you very much brother.

Thank you very much brother..

Rachit

re: My Honda CBR650F. EDIT: Track Day at BIC on PG-53

my hearty congratulation to u brother,,,,,,,,,it is such a valued possession u have,,,,,, i really congrats u and also envy u... :P

re: My Honda CBR650F. EDIT: Track Day at BIC on PG-53

Congrats mate, even I was waiting for 650f, but the on road price here in south was huge. Hence recently bought Benelli 600i and it is also an In-line 4 I am happy with my bike currently. Enjoy every moment of it and Safe Riding !!

re: My Honda CBR650F. EDIT: Track Day at BIC on PG-53

Some pics would be awesome

re: My Honda CBR650F. EDIT: Track Day at BIC on PG-53

Many congrats on this one, this is a very good choice!

Ride safe and keep us posted of mods you plan. An exhaust update will be ideal

re: My Honda CBR650F. EDIT: Track Day at BIC on PG-53

Thank you very much brother. Keep working slowly slowly towards your dream bike and I am quite confident you will get there soon.

Thank you very much brother. Congratulations on your bike too brother. I am pretty sure you will love every KM on it.

Thank you very much brother. An exhaust is planned but not anytime soon.
2 reasons for it, primarily I am pretty much bankrupt right now and secondly I am somehow liking the smoothness and this new stock bike feel.
I am pretty sure in sometime I will have the itch for an exhaust too, but hopefully not anytime soon.

Rachit

re: My Honda CBR650F. EDIT: Track Day at BIC on PG-53

Always for you brother, just ride hard and ride safe. And remember with bigger cc's bigger responsibility is there, so enjoy it.

re: My Honda CBR650F. EDIT: Track Day at BIC on PG-53

Rachit , congrats. Was Benelli 600i considered before the purchase?

re: My Honda CBR650F. EDIT: Track Day at BIC on PG-53

Congratulations on the Honda !

It's simply awesome to ride the bike. Though the weight difference between Z800 & 650F isn't much on paper, the way bike handles is a delight.

Happy mile munching

re: My Honda CBR650F. EDIT: Track Day at BIC on PG-53

Thanks bro.

Thank you brother. Honestly, I don't have a solid answer for your question.
I liked the Honda more than the Benelli. Is this bike worth nearly 2 lakhs more than the Benelli? I think its more of personal preferences.

Benelli is doing really good in India and I really like them for what they offer at what price. But this is a category which people relate to aspirations, brand image, show off value etc too. I think Benelli would need some more time to reach there.

Google has been one of greatest achievements by man kind. But for people like me it sometimes becomes a problem. It is too easy to find out what is best out there in the world for any category. Then you start lusting after it and probably put a huge hole in your pocket to get it irrespective of whether you need it or not. A lot of the good things that google told me were associated with Honda more than the Benelli.

Thank you very much brother. For the kind of riding that I have been able to do now, weight has not felt like a big issue.
On a race track it might or probably on a tight and twisty section too, but for our average riding it seems good.

Rachit

re: My Honda CBR650F. EDIT: Track Day at BIC on PG-53

Congrats Rachit... A true Honda guy, eh? Enjoy your ride. God bless

re: My Honda CBR650F. EDIT: Track Day at BIC on PG-53

Take your time Rachit, but an Akropovic will make a difference

Keep us posted

re: My Honda CBR650F. EDIT: Track Day at BIC on PG-53

+1 for honda...Many Congratulation to you... Ride safe...

Sent from my LG-D802 using xBhp Connect mobile app

re: My Honda CBR650F. EDIT: Track Day at BIC on PG-53

Thank you very much brother. Yeah becoming one.

Yup, will keep you guys posted. Thanks

Thank you very much brother..

Rachit

re: My Honda CBR650F. EDIT: Track Day at BIC on PG-53

Heartiest Congratulations! Buying any superbike is a very brave decision on all fronts (getting support from spouse, gathering finances and getting ready for ongoing expenses as well as care that such special machines require - and of course controlling one's urges to ride as fast as possible everywhere is a very hard task too!!)

Even I have been hunting for a right choice in entry/mid level superbike category and have been doing test rides of Kawasaki Z800, Triumph Street Triple, Honda CBR 650F and even DSK Benelli 600i.

I had 90% decided on Kawasaki Z800 due to its persona, price as well as power. But a longer ride along with a pillion on Street Triple and CBR 650F changed my mind.

I have gone ahead and booked Triumph Street Triple - financially this felt a foolish decision even to myself but after test rides, I could not convince myself towards other stuff.

Street Triple and CBR 650 are much more comfortable than Z800. Even between these two, I felt that Street Triple is more comfortable overall.

The seat cushion of CBR 650F is the absolute best in all the 4 bikes I considered but overall comfort felt slightly behind Street Triple to me (it is obviously very subjective and I could be wrong). ST has absolutely matching ergonomics for me (I'm about 5 ft 10 inch) and its lightness and real world pick up and braking floored me compared to Honda.

CBR 650 sounded much more sedate, its acceleration was probably as good but it FELT a little less..Its handlebar position was somewhat awkward for me compared to ST and for pillion also foot rest position was good but when actually running around with a pillion, both rider and pillion have to bend a bit more forward compared to ST.

Somehow Triumph felt a little bit rowdy (not as much as Z800 - that is absolute beast despite people saying it is civilized etc) and yet docile and agile enough to easily control - its brakes felt the best in entire category (it braked sharper definitely than CBR, Z800 and also DSK Benelli). You can say that despite being rather close in performance, when you ride KTM Duke 200 and Pulsar NS 200 back to back, KTM Duke really impresses much more. Despite being costlier, less comfortable and having more expensive servicing, KTM Duke is a far superior product which looks AND feels the part. It has got that quality to appeal to your inner instincts.

Similarly Honda and Triumph may actually be similar in performance and due to fairing in fact Honda will have higher speed also. Triumph is costlier. But the FEEL turned the tables for me. Honda may be practical but Triumph really appealed through its performance and yet didn't compromise much on comfort. Even my wife who is not a bike rider - felt this after pillion experience on both bikes.

Why I stopped from going for Kawasaki? It didn't feel comfortable even in 2-3 km ride that I got. Plus they were not flexible enough to provide me longer rides with pillion - this is what every other dealer was willing to provide. But I don't think Pillion can ever be comfortable on Z800 - it is likely to scare away any pillion due to its extreme power coupled with fairly awkward pillion seating position without any grab handles (it has cavities where pillion is supposed to hold but it is impossible on such powerful bike).

Also some of the other feedback I got was that Kawasaki spare parts at times take more time to become available while others were assuring regular supply of majority of spares. Service intervals also are important - TRiumph is once in 10000 km while Kawasaki is in 6000, Honda in 6000 and DSK BEnelli is in 4000 km.

Overall TRiumph sales people (B U Bhandari , Pashan, PUNE) were friendliest and accommodating. DSK Benelli was the second friendliest. Honda was OK while Kawasaki the people were friendly but kept sighting Company regulations about test ride.

Another thing against Kawasaki (SNK Bajaj, Wakdewadi, Pune) was that they have only one Z800 bike shared between Pune and Mumbai. Despite sending them several messages, they never tried to entice me to come and didn't try to sell their bike aggressively to me - was that their over confidence or ignorance? I don't know and now I don't care either.

I would still say - those who want really very powerful bike should go for Kawasaki Z800 - it is more value for money that way - but overall all-rounder is Triumph ST which I am planning to use daily to office as well in nasty Hinjewadi IT Park Traffic.

Regards,
Jeevan