First of all, congrats as you have decided for a new bike.
You have two different machines in your view. Lets not forget that these are entirely different bikes from each other as one is a streetfighter & one a cruiser bike.
First lets start with thunderbird 500, well its a Gem. Great bike, good torque, great power delivery & very comfortable both in city & highways. An enlarged fuel tank gives it a massive appeal & as its of 20 litres, no need to visit petrol pumps frequently New features include a projector headlamp, new meters with tachometer & an LCD display, a new Exhaust pipe.
Coming to mileage figures, it returns 27-29 kmpl in heavy traffic and 31-32 on highways. Has goof flickability, handles really well. The 27 Bhp UCE motor does job well. Infact its THRILLING HIGHWAY PERFORMER WHICH NEVER LETS YOU DOWN
The next, KTM DUKE-200. The bike which entirely changed the demand for streetfighters, & infact made it on top.
The bike looks awesome, massive, handles great. Great advanced features technically, 4 valve, liquid cooled, help in thrilling performance. Overall its a POWERHOUSE.
25Hp engine , underbelly exhaust, one thing you will love in the Duke-200 is it begs for power, as you wring the throttle, you can see serious power. 0-100 in below 10 secs.
Upsidedown forks, widest rear tyre of 150mm which provides superb roadgrip. Mileage figures are 32-33 kmpl in city & 35-36 plus on highways.
But Duke's tank is only 10.5 litres. Which might be a hassle for extreme tourers. But duke is better for a single rider, the pillion seat is not at all good.
The choice is your's. But if you not that intrested in to cruising , and you want to be quick, in traffic & free on Highways, its better you go with the Duke. and save those 40k.

Ezil my dad still has the cbr in his mind as there is no better looking 250cc bike than in. Will se if i can get the tricolor version. the waiting period for the cbr has increased a lot now

I'm not sure whether the 390 is going to hit the markets in two weeks. It may take little longer. Also we don't yet know whether the 390 will come with the ABS right away, or whether the ABS will be added later like they did to the 200. Also we don't think the 390 will come at any price lesser than 2.0 lakhs. So you may have to extend your budget. If you can extend your budget to 2 lakhs, I would personally suggest that you pick the CBR 250 R if you are really in a hurry, because its an excellent product from Honda. We don't yet know how the 390 will be. If you are going to get the first batch of the 390s, expect some niggles(similar to those they had on the 200). So you got two choices, if you want the 390, you have to wait for it, atleast until the first batches are out and then buy it or get the CBR. Even though the 390 would give a lot more for a price just a little over the CBR, I would personally pick the CBR.

Beautifully described the characters of the bikes.



CBR250R is a nice product from Honda. Good in city traffic, better on the highways. If you like faired bike, go for it.

Personally, going by your description, I feel you have decided TB in your mind but are afraid of how will you look astride a TB. Don't worry bro, go for what your heart beats for, be it TB. Anyways there will be people asking you why spend 1 lakh for a bike when you can get it for less. So don't think whether the bike will suit you. If at this age you are thinking of TB, this means you got love for it, go for it.

Bought a duke , the black one.:sly: waiting for the delivery now

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So u agreed on MY DECISION
Anyways congrats.
Ride Safe, Endless miles