man i am not ashamed to call myself a noobie when it comes to mechanicals and build of a machine, but the simple facts of common sense should convince you enough against the royal enfield! after so many years even a brand new bike on long runs(say 100-200kms) leaks oil and has almost no upgrades on improving ride quality or power!

this should be reason enough to choose against it. the avenger220 on the other hand has matured and scores better in all these departments along with lesser thump noise on highways(unless ofcourse you love those thumps), better mileage and lesser maintenance cost(both money and part availability wise~time) and which in my honest opinion lets you enjoy music/hear the traffic better on road should be a more logical and sensible choice.

EDIT: and not to forget imho its over priced for a bike that leaks oil, come on, we are in the 2010 and they still produce motors that cant help themselves from leaking engine oils?????

P.S. no offence meant to the royal enfield lovers, but these are facts one would have to live with no matter what.

@rider50

Well i own a Thunderbird from past 10 months or so, I dont have any problem with the bike. (yes the leakage was an issue but it its was in the older models{2009 & below}). AFAIK the newer models does not have any oil leakage. I personally have done 400kms in a day without any problems. For that kind Price i dont see any other manufacturer providing a 350cc & 28 nm of torque. I can agree on one think though, that the maintenance is on the higher side other than that it is one of the best highway machine available right now.

if your wallet is decently well nourished , and you like doing long rides with a pillion then the Thunderbird or an RE is the bike for you. Maintenance cost will be on the higher side, that is also depends on who is maintaining it and how it is maintained.

Avenger handles very odd, pillion comfort is not great and it seems it was not a priority when they designed the bike. Its basically a pulsar engine in a cruiser sort of chassis. Maintenance should not be an issue though.

Come to think of it, today there is no big bore bike with the big well cushioned flat seat to seat two comfortably for long rides other than Royal Enfield. Pulsar 220 is split seat.

Do not fail to try out the Karizma R . Extremely capable machine and pretty fast too. Have done Bangalore to Goa on it and it is an extremely capable and reliable machine, pillion comfort however will cannot beat older designed flat bed seats like RE.

Why not take your wife with you to test so pillion comfort can be assessed?

Hi ,

As far as I am known, you cant compare between bullet and avenger. Bullet is the beast where as Avenger is just the more stylish bike designed as a tough riding. If you want tough riding, please go for bullet, the beast will never fail you. I heard of oil leak problem in bullet but there is nothing too perfect, when compared to the comfort and the feel given by the bullet, these problems can be easily over come.About Mileage, you will get around 35-40 in city ( bullet). Down the lane, avenger will be smooth and good for 3 years after that the milage, handling and performance will surely drop. But take bullet, it will never fail you. If the maintainence is good, bullet will be always the same for decades.

Happy riding the beast.


Manoj

since you are lookin at cruisers..you might as well stretch a little further and go for a chopper...these guys can make you one

‪Power To The Rider - Teaser#3 (Vardenchi Motorcycles)‬‏ - YouTube

Just saw it on FB. Good show guys!

No doubt these choppers are good but i have just one doubt, are they road legal ? Will there be RTO trouble if we drive them ?


Regarding original question i would suggest Thunderbird TS. New engines are very good and TBTS is among most stable products of Royal Enfield.