Re: Choosing a Royal Enfield? Ask here...

Well, if you want to go for it, get the C5 Squadron Blue. It's a great colour and you'll get *some* exclusivity. The FI ensures smooth throttle response. Get one man, all the very best.

your requirement screams TB. TB has a tried and tested engine and chassis which is meant to cruise on the Highways. Himalayan is good if you offroad with lots of luggage. It's a classic tourer's bike, but that laid back "cruising" is better on TB, IMHO.

I too am going to get a RE in sometime. Waiting for Himalayan TD. Then I'd finalize b/w Himalayan and the ContiGT.

Re: Choosing a Royal Enfield? Ask here...

Thunderbird 500 or New Himalayan

Folks,

Please advise little confusion there

Requirement
1) Comfortable ride for both.
2) Weekdays city use of 80 KM.
3) Weekend highway use depend but aprox 200-300KM
4) Maintenance and durability.
5) steady ride with some luggage option occasionally.

Thunderbird 500
Almost in love with new Asphalt color

New Himalayan
Not done TD will be doing this weekend but slight demotivate with a fact that there is no kick start. even not sure about riding comfort while cruising on highways.

Please advise.

Thanks

Re: Choosing a Royal Enfield? Ask here...

Thanks for the reply , u sure did add to my dilemma . unfortuantely Conti GT is ruled out for me as its looks small on me im 6 ft , 100kg ...Currently weighing options between the Himalayan and Classic 500 or 350 . ( 500 has no waiting period in bangalore and squadron blue matte color looks cool)....

Re: Choosing a Royal Enfield? Ask here...

Dear Members,

I'm planning for a Royal Enfield "BULLET" 500 in the next few months. I was looking at finance options and IDBI bank has offered me a 2 wheeler loan at 10.1% (fixed).

This is the best deal that I have got from a bank so far as most of the other banks are charging 12% or more for 2 wheeler loans. I would also like to know whether I should go for a 2 wheeler loan or a personal loan?

Your feedback and guidance will be highly appreciated.

Re: Choosing a Royal Enfield? Ask here...

If coming from close to the place you're talking about, it might be the tappet sound. How many KM's have you ridden? If it's less than ~5k-6k, let it be the way it is and don't get it adjusted. The Tappets are hydrolic, like the Harleys. No adjusting is going to fix it. And for the SVC not listening to you, ask for the RE manager's number and call him. It is their duty to satisfy you during your warranty period. and they bloody will.

For cruising, the TB is just good. But of the 3 bikes you mentioned, the C500 good for highways. The Himalayan also looks like a good potent bike to cruise well too because of the upright stance, the wide handlebar and footpegs and the counterbalanced engine, but the bike is new and the engine is yet to prove it's mettle. I'd rather stay away form it for now. Though the 10k service interval sounds enticing.

Of the ContiGT, it's a fun bike and not a "cruiser". You can go the distance on it, but "cruising" ain't what a Conti does.

Now coming to the Engines of the Classic, the 350 is a carbed one while the 500 is an FI. FI gives better throttle response, but since you're talking 'bout cruising, the C 350 is also good enough, provided you cruise in less than 95/100 kmph.
In case of a breakdown, the C350 is "repairable" by a local road side mech. The top end of the C500 is around 10kmph more, so there is that.

If you want a 500cc and the easy repairability of the carb, get the bullet 500
Finally with all this "gyaan", if I were you, I'd just run and pick the conti. It's a hoot to ride. Though long distance rides might get you wrist pains.

sorry to add to your dilemma

Re: Choosing a Royal Enfield? Ask here...

Hi guys , looking to buy my first royal enfield for Weekend rides . I wont be riding it in the city much . Im looking for a cruiser that i take out for a short drive once or twice a week.

Currently looking at the Himalayan , Classic 500 and Continental GT . What do you think will be a good choice for me ?

Whats the difference between the classic 500 and 350 ? is the 500 a better choice ? Also is it a good time to buy the 500 or are there any revisions expected for this model ?

Re: Choosing a Royal Enfield? Ask here...

My Classic 350 has louder sound coming from the engine side went to service center person told me as it is Hydrolohic engine sound comes but never observed the sound before few days back .
take
Now the sound is increasing day by day it is coming from the start of the silencer or some where near engine .Any one can help .went to local mechanic he told we have to open the engine and will it cost you high if the bike is in warranty take it to service center .that service center person is not accepting any issues in the bike .

Re: Choosing a Royal Enfield? Ask here...

Maintenance Cost is high??
I am riding one for around 42k Kms and all I have done is changed the brake pads, brake shoes and the air filter. Have suffered 3 punctures. That's about it. and 14,000? what is that? for any repair? 14,000?? LOL!!!
Classic 350 also is a carbed bike. So is the Bullet 500. Atleast thoda research mangta hai naa yaar... lol

Classic 350 is a good bike. but the bike feels stressed around 90kmph+. Nothing else.

and ohh, lest I forget, I still get 45kmpl on my bike. In bullet 500, You'd get around 24kmpl without much improvement over speed or anything else to show for it.

Think about it.

Re: Choosing a Royal Enfield? Ask here...

Thanks bro for sharing your experience with RE classic 350...... I also have many doubt's about this bike and maintaince cost is high..... 14000 if any repair occurs..... I heard something like that about this bike..........what about BULLET 500 .. As it has carburetor .....its maintainance cost is bit low ..............my friend want to buy RE CLASSIC 350 ... I am going to stop him.....tell me about BULLET 500 props and cons

Re: Choosing a Royal Enfield? Ask here...

HIMALAYAN

Is anyone here considering the Himalayan?
I am in my 40's and want to learn to ride for leisure and short tours.

options are the Himalayan, or the classic 350/500

I want to buy a RE bike and learn to ride on it and make it a keeper as opposed to learning on a light bike etc.

Looking for your opinions.

Re: Choosing a Royal Enfield? Ask here...

Ditto...same dilemma which I too am going through. Just that it has been going on since nearly an year!

Re: Choosing a Royal Enfield? Ask here...

Thanx Puneet and i like your views but i am just wanted a sound like harley not harley and dont want to modify to much just changing exhaust head light and alloys thats it and i want that bike only for pride not to see its good or bad any way thanx again

Re: Choosing a Royal Enfield? Ask here...

Apologies in advanced Bro- If you think RE Classic 350 is really good bike then why you are thinking for sound like Harley. Be natural buddy . Even you are not alone everybody who buy RE they are just modify the bike and try to make it Harley.

Thanks
puneet

Re: Choosing a Royal Enfield? Ask here...

Hey Guys..

I am not really a fan of RE classic 350 (NO offence meant for RE lovers ). Sorry in advance if u feel ofdended after reading my post.

I just want to post some straight forward opinion about RE classic 350 "Hyped motorcycle" through my personal experiences.

In the past couple of years, I have had a chance to ride RE classic 350 from Mangalore on multiple tours to Panchgani, Bangalore, kodachadri, chikmagalur, kudremukh, Sakleshpur and many more short tours.

I would like to share some of the incidents from a couple of trips:

Bangalore trip - I borrowed this bike from my friend. My Cousin was riding a pillion in this 1k kms up&down trip. We were just carrying a couple of tshirts and jeans in one back pack. I heard him literally begging to stop the bike in the first 100 kms of ride. Reason was - very uncomfortable pillion seating position and the IRON handle bar in the back which was regularly hitting his lower back bone. His reaction in the first stop itself was like " Dude, I have ridden as a pillion on a splendor to MUMBAI (2.5kms round trip) but it was not so painful or tiring or uncomfortable like this bike".
One can imagine how many breaks we had to take beacause of this pillion seating position.

Panchgani trip - we started from Mangalore at 7:00Am. It was almost 2k kms round trip. The owner of the bike himself was my riding partner. He is big RE fan himself for no reason.
This was his first long trip on his RE classic.
This time we had 2 big backpacks.
One was left one the tank to rest and the other one was hanging by pillions back.
Pillion riding experience and complaints were same as above BANGALORE trip.
After dragging ourself out of the crazy traffic/ dust/ diversions till kumta we finally took a right turn and entered the Sakleshpur ghat section.
We had already taken arnd 5 breaks in first 250 kms.. 😠
We finally made it to the expresshighway and forcefully riding with pain in our A$$ to avoid more pit stops and reach panchgani atleast by 9:00pm.
On the express highway we were able to touch 120kmph max speed at times but it takes forever to reach that mark from 80kmph. " Yawn 😥😥😥"
In one of the tea breaks - my friend, big time RE fan himself had to say this "Its comfortable to cruise at 60-80kmph and anything beyond that is like putting ur hands in the electric transformer 😡". His expression was speaking volumes about his wrong decison of buying this bull.

Not one word of appreciation.
Ok now third experience which was the decider for me to select my own bike fter this trip.

Kodachadri trip - This time we took 5 bikes. 2 Fz's, 1 AVY 220, 1 NS 200 and same RE classic 350.
In this trip we were exchanging bikes every 100kms and I got to ride both AVY 220 (2014) and RE Classis 350 ( 2014) back to back. I was never intrested in FZ 'S or NS 200.

I can confidently say RE classic 350 is no where even closer match to Avy 220's pickup, topspeed, comfort -both riding and pillion or even the feel good factor of riding from within.

Apart from these 3 experiences I have couple of points which adds to the negativity of the bike:
- Relatively high breakdowns.
- Jaw dropping maintenace cost.
- very ordinary build quality (Rusting of parts and skinning out of paint job at the brim of the fuel tank)
- Poor pick up and top speed (350 cc, Really? Where has all the power gone!!!)
- Vibrations, similar to the wash machines drier!!

Now the reason why I am posting this.
Am sure many of you have this question on mind.. 😦😨
Ok, let me come to the point here.. My younger brother wants to buy this Machine and I am trying to stop him from taking this above mentioned problem home for a hefty amount of 1.5lkhs.
As if life is without Ups and downs already.

I really need a couple of humble opinions and realistic reasons to buy this bike.
Anybody please?
Please dont reply just for the sake of argument as all the above mentioned things are through my personal experiences.

P.S: Only thing I liked about RE classic 350 was its "headlamp" throw but this is not a good reason enough to buy a bike.


Thanks,
Shariq

Re: Choosing a Royal Enfield? Ask here...

Hello Guys
I find you through Google and read your some thread and you help many people so here i come for take your advice

1st i am going to purchase Royal Enfield Classic 350 just booked now maybe it will be silver or black 2016 addition so i need help in little bit modification

A. Exhaust/Silencer Witch one is better with sound like Harley Davidson
B. Is Alloy Safe For Bullet With Tubeless Tires If Yes Then witch Company And Witch Style or Look
C. Head Lamp Like HID What should i do with it should i really go with HID Or something else but with safety also
D. Any Other Updation you guys like
Please Suggest As Soon As Possible.


Regard's
Nikhil Gogiya