Re: Looking to buy a bike for long term use

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Along with the FZ, i would suggest you test ride the new CB Unicorn 160 as well as the relatively new Suzuki Gixxer. All three motorcycles have smooth mills.

Re: Looking to buy a bike for long term use

For point 4, sorry brother, even 4 cylinder bikes have engine vibes.

In 85k, you may get a Suzuki GS150R or Gixxer for both highway and city use.

Re: Looking to buy a bike for long term use

CB Trigger or the Newly arrived CB Unicorn 160. Should have good mileage since Uni 160 are having HET engine.

Re: Looking to buy a bike for long term use

0 Vibe engine is like finding a zero transmission loss in ICE

For your budget, and your physique , Gixxer is a good buy. Decent mileage in city with 43kmpl atleast. Good road presence . Looks stylish. Take a TD and see for yourself.

Re: Looking to buy a bike for long term use

Bajaj Avenger is a no-no. Particularly when you are talking about vibrations. And riding it in the city is such a painstaking task. Yamaha FZ-S is definitely a good bike for you. Suits your height, no vibrations, comes with Fuel Injection now, from my experience has decent pillion comfort. However, yamaha has poor reputation for service centres, so do ask around about the ones at your place.

Honda Trigger, being from Honda's stable has a smooth engine, FE is around 50kmpl ballpark, decent handling and ride characteristics, reliable workhorse. Honda spares are always known for their high pricing. However, the parts are well built and reliable. So unless you break anything there shouldn't a problem. The new Honda Unicorn 160 is also a good contender. The added 10cc from other 150cc bikes can give an advantage on the highways. The bike will be more relaxed. The Unicorn 160 and Trigger share a lot of components. So they look very much alike. I have no idea on pillion comfort.

Hero Xtreme can also be considered. Hero always has the pricing advantage over others. Also service centres are very capable and spares are relatively cheaper. The previous Xtreme had some vibrations at higher speeds. I have no idea on the newer ones. Pillion comfort is decent. The engine is basically the same as the Trigger/Unicorn, so it is very reliable. The Xtreme looks a little awkward considering how stylish other premium 150cc bikes are. Hero always gives trouble free ownership experience compared to other manufacturers, so please look into it.

Coming to my vote, Suzuki has made a wonderful bike called Gixxer. Suzuki bikes are extremely well built, reliable and return decent FE. However, suzuki suffers from poor aftersales behaviour. Please ask around about suzuki service centres also. If there is decent one, it is the prime contender in my opinion. Very nicely put together package. Can't comment on pillion comfort.

Please take a Test ride of any vehicle you show interest in. Test rides always give you good idea about the vehicle.

Re: Looking to buy a bike for long term use

Thanks everyone for their inputs.

It seems Suzuki GS150R is pretty popular bike among xbhpians. There is no Suzuki showroom in my locality, but got Bajaj's, Hero's & Honda's. So, I have to look for a Suzuki showroom to test drive GS150R. But I have only seen it in pictures and it looks very dated. However Gixxer looks nice. Need to check that out.

I am more inclined to CB Trigger or FZ-S. But on-road price in here for FZ-S is approx. 83k which I think is bit overpriced for a 150cc bike. Didn't know about CB Unicorn 160 till now, I have googled for it, and it looks pretty stylish.

What about Karizma-R (not ZMR) ?

Re: Looking to buy a bike for long term use

For that you'd have to extend your budget to 100k.

Re: Looking to buy a bike for long term use

FZs and Gixxer checks out most of your requirements.
Go for FZ if you want premium fuel injected motor (hence more will be the cost as compared to gixxer).
Go for Gixxer if you want a normal carb motor and fresh new looks.

Both of these machines are light and nimble to move about in city traffic and have enough grunt to keep you at 70-80kmph range.

you will have to extend your budget quite a bit if you want to check out Karizma R.

Re: Looking to buy a bike for long term use

Close your eyes and get gixxer

Re: Looking to buy a bike for long term use

Don't go for Gixxer....just look at the
Design of the components used in the bike....cost reduction to the max..quality is also not good, ex check the design of the kicker lever & rear brake lever u will come to know

Re: Looking to buy a bike for long term use

I'd suggest you to go with FZ V2.0. Smooth, comfortable and ever reliable. And if you are from north/north-eastern parts, the factory outlet in Kestopur will offer you very good service.
Also, check out the Karizma R. Decent engine and performance.

Re: Looking to buy a bike for long term use

Thanks for all the valuable comments.

I am from Kolkata, resides in Baguihati. I have test drived FZ-S v2.0 from Kestopur showroom and I liked it very much. Engine is butter smooth, handling is superb. I love this bike but it is too pricey for a 150CC motor cycle.

I am not aware of any Suzuki showroom in Kolkata, so can't test drive Gixxer or GS150R. I don't find these two motor cycles in streets anyway in my city. So, Suzuki bikes are out of question.

Also test drived CB Trigger yesterday, it is as good as FZ-S v2.0 and it costs around 6k less than its Yamaha competitor.

What about, Pulsar 180 UG4.5? I will not be driving over 80km/h anyway. Is this bike's engine remains smooth below 80km/h speed?

I own Pulsar 135LS and no parts are replaced in last 3 years even though there is a bad reputation about Bajaj bikes. It is still in very good condition. I get it serviced from my local mechanic(very trustworthy and skilled) once in a month and changes mobil in every 2 months. I replaced stock mobil to Motul 3100 Gold 20W50 after first 2000km and still using it. The problems I am facing with it are: engine smoothness goes away over 60km/h speed & riding posture is very uncomfortable. I can't feel anything below my waist if I drive it for over 40 minutes at a stretch.

Karizma R's sit height is not comfortable for me. I can't place my feet on the ground when sitting on any model of Karizma. Too bad, I like that bike very much.

Re: Looking to buy a bike for long term use

[MENTION=66932]Nir[/MENTION]jhar FZ-S v2.0 is FI or fuel injected and hence the premium . AFAIK Quality wise Yamaha is better than Honda in India .

But New Unicorn 160 should be smoother (I rode the Unicorn 150 and it was too smooth) and have better pillion sitting and may give slightly better mileage as well so the choice is yours.

If I were you I would have gone for FZ-S simply because of the proximity to factory showroom and ASC, better looks and you seem to have nurtured a liking for it as well eeh.

Suzuki has brilliant products but it isn't backed by their ASC and to me ASC is very important .

Re: Looking to buy a bike for long term use

In my experience, no company provides proper ASC. There is a Bajaj showroom in my locality as well. I took my Pulsar 135LS to that service center for first three free services. They are tremendously bad mechanics or probably they are lazy not customer centric. They just wash and lubricate during service. They didn't even care to tighten the screws in the first service. I got all the screws tightened from my local mechanic. There are lots of other horror stories I heard from my friends about ASC, be it Yamaha or Honda or Bajaj. So, I stopped relying on ASC. My local mechanic is very good to resolve any issue I face with my bike and he does it with utmost care.