The snake section of the Mullholland Highway is nothing like the hills we have in India. Plus, the entire 1 lap from the bottom to the top at the snake that the riders and drivers frequent takes about 2 minutes and 15 seconds before they turn back. So, I really dont see any similarity that can be replicated here in India.
OT but I have done the Snake once and was very careful at the Edwards corner. It was thrilling to say the least.

Brother,

Here are my suggestions:

1) Honda CBR650F - First option - Suggesting to buy this ASAP if you like it - because Honda is giving very good deal only till 31-March-2017. After that they may bring updated model to fit BS4 emission norms and that would go costlier. Right now it is coming to below Rs 7.3 L on road Pune.

2) Kawasaki ER6N - Second option - This is right now as low as Rs 4.4 L or they may even go below that...Only big drawback of this is NO ABS (according to me this is a big drawback as a powerful bike must have ABS). But If you are confident of riding sensibly without pushing too hard on brakes, you can go for this

3) Used Triumph Street Triple/Kawasaki Z800 - Both are very good choices. You are unlikely to get first hand though as new Triple and new Z900 will be coming soon and hence existing model bookings are almost closed. But since you plan to have very less usage, why not go for used one? Anyway people who originally bought them would be maintaining these with great care and hence condition would be very good. One more good thing about these bikes is that unless you push them hard, they are quite manageable for general casual riding and both have their own unique looks and sound etc.

4) Used Benelli 600i - This could come cheap as well - but again older version of this has NO ABS - hence it is not up on my suggestion list.

By the way guys, just want to share one experience with all of you - please check my article:



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By the way, one important thing - once you are into Superbike category, After Sales and Service will be a very different experience. You will be treated in nice manner by most service centres on a human level but availability of spares will be time consuming except for running parts. This is true for ALL brands (Honda, Suzuki, Yamaha, Triumph, Kawasaki, Benelli, Ducati etc). E.g. My Triumph Street Triple - it took almost 3 months for replacement front rim to arrive.

I would like to just let you know that the updated cbr 650f is not a BS4 update but just a regular update. The cbr 650f was launched as a BS4 bike. I own one and so I know.

Ok, maybe I got it wrong but they were contacting people at the time of whole BS4 conundrum. Definitely tried to sell out couple of pieces.
Also refer few articles which do state that in May-2018, new CBR650F with BS4 compliant set up was launched.



Anyway, it's not a big deal to think about!

The 2018 update was not for bs4 compliance but for overall bs4 spec compliance. The bike infact received bigger intake and exhaust for more punch along with led headlights which was part of bs4 spec as well. The other changes were done with respect to customer feedback which are non bs4 related. The cbr 650f had AHO, bs4 spec both since 2015. I can say that confidently because I bought my bike and registered in after the bs4 deadline and also received the temp registration after bs4 deadline and my bike is old spec not new spec.

As to articles that state the new model is bs4 and old one wasn't, they are saying so because the product was updated during that window when bs4 compliance became mandatory. I'm part of a cbr 650f group which is pan India and has members with 2015 bikes which are bs4 compliant as per the specs in the service manual and registration certificate.

As to honda calling people and trying to sell the bikes, well it was done to clear the old stock before the new bikes arrived since no one would want the old model after new one is launched which would result in losses. You can say it was a clearance sale.

Hey guys, I am Kailas Mallaiah. Teaching Architecture in Manipal. Recently considered booking a Z 900. Tried to write down a bit about my journey so far in biking. I just had some questions to ask for the fellow superbike owners. So, here I go.


Going to update after tomorrow’s visit, with some more pictures. Help is appreciated.

Bro.. Read your story, It was like watching a flashback. As a fellow Z900 rider,
I upgraded a year ago from Duke 200, Yes, you can handle the power. Please be careful for the first few hundred kms thats when you will get to know the power.
Its a sweet bike, I can ride at 4th gear 60-65kms enjoying the breeze and also at 3rd gear (40-60kmph) 4th (60-90kmph) hunting the twisty roads.. and cruise all day at 120kms at 6th gear. It can do it all.

I still remember the day when I took it from showroom, on the way back home while overtaking a bus and gave a little more throttle as I do always in duke 200, the bike just roared and went to the other lane in a split second. It was scary as hell. Took a while to handle the sensitive throttle.

In my opinion, Its for people who doesn't want to show off in streets and still ride a cheetah in sheep's clothing.

PS - It still pulls at 6th Gear 180 kmph like hell.. Puts a smile on your face when you hear the intake howl.

I gave a booking amount of 50 thousand.... .... ... and now I am not able to sleep.

Hey guys, I am Kailas Mallaiah. Teaching Architecture in Manipal. Recently considered booking a Z 900. Tried to write down a bit about my journey so far in biking. I just had some questions to ask for the fellow superbike owners. So, here I go.


January 1^st 2019 :

As I grew up, I always had an immense passion towards bikes. Thanks to my eleven years elder brother, who taught me how to ride a bicycle when I was in 3^rd grade. I learnt how to ride on the day of Shivaratri, morning till evening, no food nothing, fell a hundred times, learnt in a day how to ride. My dad was psyched I still remember, when my brother told him that he has to buy me a new bicycle. I got ma new bicycle the next day, a brand new funky looking BSA Trailblazer. Matt black body and green yellow graphics. (Folks who were young in 90s will remember). It was like I am born with the chemistry for them two wheels. Later I road my dad’s Kinetic Honda to get groceries, or for small distances. Again thanks to my brother. He gave me the lessons there too. I was in 5^th or 6^th grade then. Later in 10^th standard, brother bought a pulsar at home, the first generation. Later which came to me. I used it till 12^th standard till I met with an accident. My dad got so furious, we sold the bike to someone and he told me to buy an Activa, after all the drama I made, they agreed and bought me a Bajaj Discover. Brother had gone to Seoul for an year that time. After he came back, he bought a pulsar 180, Red and Black model. This did not have the sharp edge tail light as the later on models. This was when I was doing my 3^rd year B.Arch. Later this bike came to me, because brother was getting sick of Bangalore traffic and bought the Kinetic Sym (Italian Company) Flyte which was launched in collaboration here in India. He loved riding it but just after six months he realized, the boredom of a gear-less vehicle. I had to give back the bike. I did not want Flyte. Again after a lot of drama, parents and brother bought me an FZ 16. Flaming Orange. This was in my 3^rd year even semester. Roughly around ten years back. I drove more than 65 thousand kilometers on that baby. I was not riding much on my FZ after I came to Manipal for job in 2016. Also, bike used to die on me every once in two weeks. Met a lot of mechanics. No one could find any problem. Still the bike used to die on me every once in two weeks, or three weeks. I bought a Honda Jazz in 2017, got married in 2017, I sold my FZ-16 in 2018 for a charity price to my apartment watchman. He was happy, I could see that on his face. Now I, on the other hand, since that day, am sad! Every time I take a look at the empty two wheeler slot in the parking, my heart pumps two bpms more for at least five minutes. I mean, I have my wife’s aviator for solving the purpose, 'knowamsayin'? No way it was solving MY purpose, my purpose was my passion. As the days passed, I started realizing the emptiness for my passion. A need of a motor cycle. If you see, all my life, I haven’t got a chance to own a motorcycle with full fairing.

With this background I started looking for a motorcycle. Now that I could afford to buy my own motorcycle along with my car EMI, I started watching videos of Ninja 300, reviews of Yamaha R3, KTM RC 390 and so on. Ninja 650 was also something I could much afford. Well, you all know how it is, when you’re doing a research on buying a gadget and cost comes into a factor, you’ll always tend to look for the best. Somewhere deep down in my heart, I so much wished if I could buy a 4 cylinder, so meanwhile I was researching on 300 cc segment engines. I was also going through reviews of benelli 600i, Honda CBR 650F and Kawasaki Z900. Though I had no plans of buying any of them.
Something about me, I am a person who is a little weird when it comes to superbikes. When I was a kid, I used to watch a lot of videos, collect a lot of stickers, and get my bikes modded with either fat tires or graphics, engine lighting and things like that. If I see a superbike standing in-front of a hotel I’m eating at, I wouldn’t look at it. I used to avoid it, because according to me, I would not give attention to something which is not mine. I always liked to be out of the box.
So, KTM was not in my focus for obvious reasons of too many RCs on road. Yamaha R3’s Inline 2 cylinder engine was something which made me feel that the engine sounds better compared to the Ninja 300’s parallel twin. Also when I went for the test drive, R3’s engine sounded smoother, more refined and had more grunt. Power delivery was more linear compared to Ninja 300’s jumpy engine. I am 5’4” tall. R3 was made for me in this aspect, because of the lowest seat height in the segment at 780mm. There was a big “BUT” though. Very less street presence unless the bike has an aftermarket exhaust, even then only an enthusiast would find the difference between an R3 and an R15. Of course, I understand that they are two entirely different segment. I know R3 is physically bigger than Ninja 300, but the design is so subtle that anyone could be easily brain fooled. So, it was not “Out of the Box” for my mind. Hesitantly I went for a test drive on November 17^th to Kawasaki Mangalore. It was ‘Ayudha Pooja’ festival that day if I remember correct. Now remember, I was going to a superbike showroom for the very first time. I and my wife, we entered the showroom. There was this HUGE looking superbike standing right in the front. I figured it to be a Ninja 1000, in black. Literally blew my skull just by throwing me a look of its size. I felt MY size cannot handle it. To my 3 o clock was a Z 900, model 2018, Black and green. It was standing there to the right of the main door giving a REAL MEAN look. To my 11 o clock was a blue Ninja 300 (I wanted to buy a blue). The damn thing was looking so premium I re confirmed my wife about the color I’m gonna go for even if it was a 650. The rest of the bikes were on display all over the showroom. There was a Vulcan, a Versys and a Ninja 400. To welcome us was a thin tall fellow named Vinay. He warmly welcomed us and I told him that I am interested in Ninja 650 or a 300. I had saved around 1 Lakh at this point of time for the down payment. Vinay said there is no test drive for the 650 but they have a Z-650 instead. He said it’s the same engine just the fairing is absent, in my mind I was like “Duh, I know that sir!” I had no option to choose anyways, so I took the babiest Ninja, 300 first, I rode it for like 2 kilometers and then, I switched to Z 650. This was me riding a motorbike over 220 cc for the first time ever. I had once rode a friend’s Duke 390. That thing was MAD. I didn’t get to ride it for more than 800 meters then. So, this WAS like the first time ever that I was riding a bigger engine. I enjoyed riding both the bikes. I liked the Ninja 300 more for the seating posture and the feel of riding. I liked the non-scary factor of the 650 motor. I thought I can go for a 650. I spent my own sweet time in the showroom, feeling every bike. I took a note of the exhaust sound for all four engines. The 300, 400, 650 and 900. I didn’t bother to turn on the 1000, because, typical me, didn’t bother about what I couldn’t afford. I feel that I need to hear it on my next visit though. So, I was checking out the exhaust notes. Something happened when I turned on the Z-900, not that typical of me. I fell in love with a bike again, for the second time. I remember the first time I had fallen in love was with FZ 16. Oh my! I remember those days were something else. I heard the sweet Zzzzzzzzzzz sound of the Z 900. I felt like when a singer warms up, saying “Saaaaaaaa”. I couldn’t help but give a puppy face look to my wife. My way of telling her that I want it, because she was my “half-life”. She asked me “Kitne mein aati hai? (How much is it)”, I said 10 lakhs. You see, when you are married, you spend all day with her every day (Met in Manipal and Love married ), and you whine about bikes all the time, it becomes unnecessary to explain somethings which you love or desire. My wife knows the difference between a single cylinder, twin cylinder and an inline four, meaning and understanding of the torque, the power, for an obvious reason. Yes, you guessed it right! Indeed it is because of my, ‘putting my mind into her brains’ sessions, forcefully explaining her things. She said “Not a penny more than what our budget is.” I had a budget of 7 lakhs. Turned off the 900 after revving it and taking some shots. After I was done, I spoke to Vinay, got the quote for both 300 and 650. I asked him if there is any second hand Z-800 that he knew. He said he didn’t know any. As expected, as I was not expecting. I asked about the other brand bikes also. Like Honda, for CBR 650F. He said 650F is not available in Mangalore and for service I would have to go to Bangalore. Which is 430KM away. I was ready to go for 650F because of its less maintenance and smaller engine. Yamaha, I was talking to a friend, he was saying, “Yamaha is good for mass bikes in India, premium bikes would not be maintained properly because of lack of technical knowledge” which I felt was sensible though it was purely his opinion. Suzuki GSX 750S was not at all good looking for me. Though the stock exhaust sounds much better than Z 900’s stock.
Anyways, I started reading reviews watching videos on Ninja 650. While I was doing this, I came across a video where an English girl makes a mockery of the 650 engine, where she says, “While fueling the bike if a kid comes and asks you to rev your engine, and you do, it actually sounds like a wet fart. Hahahaha”. These were her exact words, more or less. I felt nothing wrong in her words and it triggered a ‘choke start’ to my dilemma of whether to go for a 650 or a 300 being both sound almost similar except for the power and a bit more grunt on the 650. I dug the entire internet as well as the deep web and devotedly watched every single video on 300 and 650. Then I started to consider the ninja 400 which was one lakh rupees lesser than 650 but the newer H2 design linage and LED head lamps, better tires and lower seat height again made me feel the bike is actually worth. Again digging the internet to feel the bike. Exhaust is a typical parallel twin, still sounded well. In fact, better than both 300 and 650. Also on 400 I get to rev the engine because of lesser power. My wife told me while I was discussing with her, better to go for a bigger bike if it is available for a reachable price. I felt it convincing. I decided to go for Ninja 650.
It slowly started getting on to me, what the English girl said, it was something valid on that video what she had posted. I woke up from a bike nightmare one day too. I don’t want a wet farting bike which costs 7.3 lakhs on road in Mangalore. I told my wife the next morning. I want to buy a Z-900. After promising her a platinum chain and a locket as a gift deal, I was successful to convince her. The next big task. It was time for me to convince my mom and dad. Which was really a hard task which I couldn’t do till the morning of December 30^th. The previous night, around at 1’ o clock, I read somewhere, why were there no offers showing on Kawasaki website like on the Triumph’s. I wanted to check what offer was it on Triumph. I hesitantly typed the address of Kawasaki on my browser. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I felt like God heard me. God heard my cry. It’s like this dialogue in the movie Om Shanti Om, if you wish for something and your wish is powerful enough, then the whole world tries to get it to you. I saw the Ad which was on the slide show which said, “Zero Interest on Z-900, Vulcan. Versys and Ninja 1000”. I rubbed my eyes to see it again. There was this big green button which said “LEARN MORE” on the Ad. With no hesitation I clicked on it. Next screen I was like “Oh wait what?” the page it took me to was where you type your email ID and telephone number and write your message. I was disappointed, but I was so damn happy that there would be no interest for the loan and this would make it easy for me to convince my parents to say yes. I couldn’t sleep that day. I slept at around 4:30 and woke up at 8 again. Told my mom about the good news. She asked “how much is the bike for real?”. I said 7 lakhs for which she replied saying I could buy a car. I said this bike is better than a car. My dad also somehow said yes after I promised him that I’d quit smoking. I already have anyways. Hehehe. So this is it guys. I am going to book the bike on 5^th or 6^th. Of this month. I have thought of booking white color MY 19.

Some of the photographs I am posting here.


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January 2^nd 2019:

More excited as the day comes near. I am going to the showroom tomorrow. To speak and get proper details of finance. I want to ask something to the fellow members of this community, how it really feels when you are riding a bike above 600cc for the first time. As I watch these on board videos of super bikes, I am feeling more and more concerned about myself whether I will be able to handle the power. For your information, I didn’t take test drive of Z-900. They don’t give test drive of Z-900 here if I do not have a credit card. Again, typical me, I don’t want to ask someone for a credit card to take a test drive. I have a history of ripping two wheelers since my childhood, I am confident that I can handle it, still want to know if there are any things which I should remember. I mean, I am upgrading from the Yamaha FZ 16 to a Kawasaki Z-900. I know it’s high on power. I also know that I’ll be spider-man. With great power comes great responsibility.
So the questions are:

1. Should I really take a test drive if I have already decided on the bike?
2. What does it feel like when you ride a 600cc or above for the first time?

Going to update after tomorrow’s visit, with some more pictures. Help is appreciated.