Re: Comfortable bike for 30km daily ride in Bangalore

Approved!

Welcome to xBhp sir! I can understand your pain completely. I use a Karizma to commute for a total of 55+ kms daily (to and fro - office and some household errands).

Re: Comfortable bike for 30km daily ride in Bangalore

If not cl 500 you can look at Electra 350 or cl 350. Royal enfields do come with small niggles in maintain acne but nothing to worry about.

As suggested by divya you can also look at karizma.

Both of the above two will score high at comfort.


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Re: Comfortable bike for 30km daily ride in Bangalore

1. Avenger.
2. Bullet.
Are the only bikes that'll suit your comfort, looks, budget.

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Re: Comfortable bike for 30km daily ride in Bangalore

First of all, welcome to the forum. A nice, detailed query you have put here. Not many do so, hence creating confusions in our mind, what bike to suggest.
As per your situation, 3 bikes comes to my mind.

1. RE 350 - Comes around your budget. Moreover you have a soft corner for bullet. You will love it.
2. Avenger 220 - Perfect combination of Power and comfort(for both riders). Damn Value for money and really easy to maintain.
3. Karizma R - The old Karizma is still the most practical, powerful family bike in India. It only lacks in the looks department(subjective).
Take your better half with you someday, let her sit on all the bikes as your pillion, then decide. Don't forget to take her shopping afterwards as a compensation for wasting her time(women have no interest in bikes you see).

Re: Comfortable bike for 30km daily ride in Bangalore

As per your requirement I will suggest Electra or Classic 350.

Re: Comfortable bike for 30km daily ride in Bangalore

Avy's pillion seat isn't comfy at all! It's too thin and you can hardly rest half of your butt on the seat! After market mods would be needed. Rest all is fine.

Re: Comfortable bike for 30km daily ride in Bangalore

Electra, Classic 350 and ThunderBird 350 would be ideal for you sir,
Karizma R is a worthy opponent in terms of reliability, Cheap to maintain, good fuel efficiency, and fairly good service centers.
Bajaj Avenger, is comfortable, powerful but may not be as reliable.

Re: Comfortable bike for 30km daily ride in Bangalore

DISCLAIMER: I am not saying this because I own Avenger and I am madly in love with it Even I do not call it as baby But love it nonetheless.
Whatever I am going to mention in this post is based on my personal experience and my opinion
Do not hold me responsible if you get a LEMON. One may get a LEMON in any brand.

Fact is, my wife and I commute together, almost everyday, to office and we also have gone on couple of rides on my Avenger. Not once did she complain about any discomfort. We also roamed on a rented Avenger during our recent trip to Pondicherry. I again inquired and response was there was no discomfort to the pillion.

Rewind a bit. I rode to Kudremukh with a pillion about two years ago. There was one more Avenger with us. Pillions never complained and they found the whole ride comfortable.

However, one of my friends who would be my pillion occasionally would complain about butt pain. But, he was the only one who complained.

Now, when I discussed with my wife about getting a new bike, probably in next couple of years, she asked me to get something similar to Avenger which has a comfortable pillion seat and a back rest too.

All in all, Avenger is one of the most understated bikes.

Looks: For me, Yes.
Handling: One more Yes.
Reliability: One more Yes! this is getting better
Pillion comfort: Decide only after test riding with the regular to-be-pillion. My opinion: We love it

You may find it difficult, only in the beginning, while taking U turns. But, once the bond develops, you get the knack of handling U turns and for that matter everything on this brilliant bike

Re: Comfortable bike for 30km daily ride in Bangalore

Thank you guys for your expert advice. I am reading "RE" all over the place (or probably that's what my mind is picking up). But wify likes Avenger. So I'm planning to go for a test ride for these bikes over this weekend. Will report later.

I would have happily picked up Karizma 7-8 years ago but now I think I would give it a pass. Great bike though.

Regarding Avenger, I am still not able to convince myself. I'm sorry but I cannot just explain it. If I think of a chopper, only Aquila Pro (read - my dream bike) comes to my mind but unfortunately I have other priorities now. May be in another year or so.

As aquaticbullet have pointed out and from some googling around, I found myriad of reported issues with RE bikes. So that quizzes me with fresh questions:

• Can I consider RE bikes reliable? I know that the question completely goes against RE's image but I would like to avoid a scenario where I get stuck in middle of nowhere and hate the day when I chose not to become a mechanic.

• How easy is it to manuver RE (Electra or CL350) in bumper to bumper traffic? With the present traffic situation in Bangalore, sometimes you may get a chance to enjoy a full movie over flyover while it is raining.

The last part is quite a dangerous statement out in the open like this. There could be lady riders here .

On a side note, I found that it is a really good investment - no not the bike, but Eicher Motors stocks. 60% up-trend since February this year. If I would have invested last year, would have been rich enough to buy CL500 by now, without the approval from HM. Better late then never - bought some today.

How is Pulsar 200ns? I know that it may not be as comfortable as suggested ones but in general how is the ride quality? It looks nice and sure is quick enough. [Please don't hunt me down for bringing this one in middle of raging battle between the emperors and kings]


Update:
Just as when I was typing above, sensed (could be wrong) that this Friday could easy turn into "Friday the 13th - Freddy vs. Jason" between Avenger and RE lovers.

If you go to a parking lot, you could see everything from TVS XL to Harleys. None of the owners have made the better choice over the other, just the matter of requirements and priorities. As of niggles and issues, I have an understanding that anything mechanical is bound to fail. No matter how much of money and effort spent on maintenance and upkeep.

Alright too much gyan for one day with the rookie badge, I should shut up for good.

Re: Comfortable bike for 30km daily ride in Bangalore

Have you even tried the Suzuki GS 150R
Its very comfortable. And you (no offence) dont seem like a guy who would do serious touring.
And for inter-city travel, it is one of the best.

PS: IF you think its outdated, also look at the new CBZ Xtreme.

Re: Comfortable bike for 30km daily ride in Bangalore

None taken. I envy those who somehow manage to get enough time to spend on great trips. I wish I could do that. But I do occasionally go out of the city on these unplanned drives to nearby places. In fact that was the main reason behind me joining Xbhp is to share such experiences.

I will include CBZ Xtreme to my test ride list. I'm not very positive about GS150R because of its height. Thank you for the suggestion.

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Re: Comfortable bike for 30km daily ride in Bangalore

if you think GS150R is tall, you will not find 200 NS very comfortable.
It is a tall bike and the pillion seat is even higher, which might not be very comfortable, other than that, the 200NS is really good.

Re: Comfortable bike for 30km daily ride in Bangalore

Bold : That completely goes with RE image but with the Cast Iron engine. The new UCE engines are much maintenance free and reliable. And electra and classic engine is same which is tried and tested product. So you can go ahead with them. All they need is regular servicing. chain oiling and adjustments.

Maneuverability is quite good ( I own Cl 500 ), untill you don't want to jump from lanes to lanes unnecessarily. I for my height (6') found electra's set up to be more comfortable.

Re: Comfortable bike for 30km daily ride in Bangalore

Sir, there is Nothing like Unreliable, if-
1. You are responsible.
2. You got hold of a responsible mech.
With this two points, any bike could be ultra reliable....
I have seen Avengers crossing 70K kms with stock engine, and 15K kms old Passion breaking down due to adulterated engine oil. Even my RTR is 57K and still stock, while I have seen people with the same RTR needing piston change within 45K kms.
Get any bike, just take a little care of it. it will never give up on you.