Topic Approved

I may be tempted a little to suggest you to take the R15 primarily because of its good handling around curves and sticky tyres. But again, good aftermarket tyres can be fixed on any bike and handling is also not such a big issue unless you want to knee scrape. Moreover the lot of plastic and lots of tech means lots of things can go wrong.

I would suggest Apache RTR for its good handling and torque.

Get a used Fiero, strip off any excess plastic( read side scoops and front fairing), equip with on/off road tyre( not much options, so you could try the michelin m45, ceat vertigo 100/90,tvs jumbo 100/80), strip the engine at a good mech or send it over to good ol' enginehacker and give it his golden touch! the machine is light and handles decently. Just give it a pair of decent shock absorbers.

i think the apache RTR-efi you own will be good for the job !!

the FZ-16 will be great too considering the wider tire(140/70 radial) and monoshock .. may save you a couple of grands instead of going for the R15

I seriously don't consider R15 a good idea for hill-terrain riding... where there are lots of provisions for a fall-down (even as you explain)... For these occasions, bikes with option to add leg-guard/ already having leg-guard are best, IMO.

I find Unicorn best suited for all purposes..

Had it been city/ track riding, you could go for fancy looking bikes, but here you need something more practical. Even break-down of bikes with lots of technicality, may create troubles for you to get it repaired in weird locations..

Pulsar/ CBZ/ Apache/ Unicorn are the ones that suit your requirements.. Regarding reliability, I don't think anyone can beat Honda, at the moment, rest whatever you find comfortable with..

thank u sunny bro for approving my topic for discussion. ur decission is a worthy one ,i'l add this bike to position 1 because i toohav enjoyed much wit this bike .

the thing you suggest is great to hear and practicality also appears decent ,but i cant able to do this .curse me for my impatient mind which wants things without much work. further i think when moving on to search fiero i would end up with some couple of years old machine and for this matter i feel bit hesitant to do this . sorry if i hav spoken anything wrong . great idea from you but not for a person whos is a bit or totally mad like me . hence my name MADENGINE
thank u for some innovative thought dear need4torque

ya i love apache rtr i own, but the main and most worst thing is my employer will kick me out of the job if i take this bike to my farm house .your fz-16 idea seems to be a good idea can you help me with fuel effeciency details and also with price tag .thank you for ur reply dear themadrussian

i'm seriously considering apache and a second thought over hunk and unicorn .with respect to pulsar too many to make me go running for some break , can u throw some light over hunk, unicorn and apache or a bit comparision with FE aand all specs
thank u cyclone2k for ur reply and great idea

In hilly areas of kerala ,pulsar undoubtedly is the best seller.I can find p150 much more in towns like thodupuzha.yes ,I owned a suzuki fiero.but now as it is obsolete ,for hilly terrain pulsars are the way.dont get shocked to find p200s and p220s in hilly areas of kerala .
there is no confusion regarding the choice- it is pulsar and pulsar only for hilly terrains. ZMA's are a rare thing in kerala(atleast in travancore-cochin area) except for some college chaps.and another thing is pulsar can be serviceable and spare parts availability is much better than hero honda or tvs/suzuki /

Personally ,I will recommend getting a pulsar 180 DTS-i(which I owned before having bullet ) which can climb hills better and also almost maintanence free.
many ppl are not so happy to get p200s and p220s -may be due to the complexity and difficulty to get it serviced in rural areas ,although the no. of p200's especially are increasing in rural kerala.so ,grab a p180 ,if it is still available .

Thanks to the aggresive maketing of bajaj auto limited ,now rural areas also moving in for some high cc machines .what you say is correct because i hav seen in my area near farm house at kerala 2-3 220's and 200's and with hill riding the bike has enough horses to pull well . as i'm an proud owner of a p220 i never disregard pulsars . but the scene gets worst here as even nook and corner of the town people ride pulsar 150-180 and i'm really getting a thought that r we living in pulsar world .this makes me go in for a model which is not more familiarised like pulsar.
your thought is a perfect one ,thank u for your input prakash_mvpa .

Well, you have tried Apache, so you should even go for a test-ride of other machines available, which suits your requirements.

Unicorn and Hunk share the same engine, it is just that in Hunk it is tuned more for performance, hence less mileage compared to Uni.

Apache has all the latest goodies and is a good performance bike... But, regarding it's reliability/ durability, I doubt on it.

Pulsars, everyone has it.. also, it has lots of variations of troubles..

Unicorn, you shall barely find any Uni owner dissatisfied with Uni, and I too am a satisfied owner..

Above all, I'd best suggest you to test-rise all the machines in your mind, and/ or ask for ownership experiences if you can get hold of anyone having these machines, in your locality.

No prob bro. I get the point. What prakash has mentioned is right, the rural/hilly areas scene is dominated by the pulsars, but the front heavy nature and the ponderous handling are a big let down, though the easy serviceability is a pro!
The Uni is good as it handles well and has good LET. And the mono shock would make me prefer it over the plasticky Hunk. It has good fuel efficiency too. 55-60kmpl.

uni and others simply lack the much needed punch when touring hills for persons like me (105kg) .thats why pulsar 180 is recommended.
but still ,pulsars are common and you want a difference ,then HH karizma will be the option.but expect a long delay -when it comes to critical spares.sure zma's are so rare ,that it attracts crowd

I have two options for you mate.... FZ16 & ZMA.

dear cyclone2kexact wat u hav thought is what i have done yesterday evening ,at about 6 pm i went in for unicorn test drive at a honda showroom .thanks to honda for its wonderful smooth engine, but i feel some where in higher speed ranges it lacks the kick (correct me if i'm wrong) .
with regard to apache it has a good low and mid range torque and also now in fuel injected apache's have some good high end toruqe . but i still doubt its grip with road thanks to tvs tyres its holds . hope it needs upgrade! and with regarding to petal discs at front makes me mad with punchier braking .brake em with carefullness else will throw u out ,improved rear disc helps reduce this to some extent .
thank u cyclone2k for u kind reply

regarding pulsar one point is for sure , heavly loaded horses and overflowing torque but a huge let down is handling . i cannot understand when it has a good grip and when it looses it .during rainy season handle the brakes carefully else for sure u'll end up crashed .
uni is good wonderful and smooth engine and i have phased out hunk out of my list .
thank u a lot need4torque

zma'a prakash_mvpa do u want me to spend a whole lot of cash for fuel LOL. thats a fuel guzzler and most of the bikes hav a reduced FE when riding on hill due to ENGINE STRAIN , so think about already 30-35km/litre of zma when it starts with hill terrain i hope i may give 30-32 km/litre
thank u prakash_mvpa for ur reply

fz 16 is a good thought ,zma never in my list it is for an highway cruse speed and mild city driving and it has wonderful handling no complain over that
thank u hydbiker for ur reply

Royal Enfield Thunderbird UCE (twin spark)

well, i understand that all you need is a machine with lots of torque .. go for the thunderbird twin spark .. my friend bought it.. till now it is trouble free... and it has loads of torque .. sure it doesnt handle like a sportbike but i consider it a much better choice for the hills .. its way better than a pulsar for riding in the hills ... but other RE machines suck.. dont go for them ...

deepmetal i'm very intrested to give you an a+ grade for your your thought , my mother's long desire is to own an royal enfield machine and i hope it lies within my 1 lac limit if not i can extent my limit to a further 25k will it be possible .
with regard to torque i deeply accept it can take zma's and 220's head-on and slap it left to right with that low and mid range torque .