Re: Buying my second bike, help me?

Cruise at 130+ !!!. Did you mean has a top speed of 130+?

@threadstarter

Continental GT is purely for weekend rides which last for 150-200kms. Anything more you are gonna have back and wrist pain. Not exactly a touring machine.

TBTS500: Performance is great, vibes are ok like you said. I believe it cruises well upto 100kmph as per owners but not sure. The seats are well cushioned. However, get the TBTS only if you are hardcore RE fan. Entering RE world without knowing the pros and cons will affect you badly. Financially and mentally. If you are aware of usual RE problems and can handle them go ahead.

D390: Go for it if your rides are 10% city and 90% highway. Like ArnabC mentioned, it heats up badly in standstill or crawling traffic. But it is a VFM product, crusies well till 140kmph (good to have extended visor) and has ABS. Service is decent if not great. However if your rides are limited to speeds about 100-110kmph mostly, then D200 or 200NS would do better justice.

CBR250R: Easily the ideal tourer for India now. Very reliable, decent looks, decent FE, nil vibrations, good build and cruises well upto 130-140kmph. Honda is probably bringing in the new 250R and not the 300R. However, the mechanicals would be more or less the same. Make sure you have a decent Honda service centre and do not crash your bike even in the smallest way as CBR spares cost a bomb. Get the ABS version if CBR.

Test ride the CBR and D390 if possible.

Re: Buying my second bike, help me?

Yes, cruise. If not at 130+ then 120+ for sure. Last time, I saw a TB500 doing 120+ and the engine sounded relaxing. I know that because I was able to match the speed and saw those guys, there were 2 TB500s, doing 120+ easily on there TBs.

As for D390, it has a very narrow rider seat which can be uncomfortable for a well built person, specially if the rider is planning for a long ride. I still believe that in India D200 is a more practical bike than D390 as D200 has a good tank range and can also cruise at 110+.

200NS is not recommended that much as it has reports of cold start sometimes. But anyways, that's not a major setback for the otherwise brilliant 200NS.

Re: Buying my second bike, help me?

Took a test ride of CBR today, in good amount of traffic. Great performance i must say. I have almost finalized it. Final bikes are:
1. Duke 390- only problem being its cost, dont know if parents would consider it.
2. CBR250 std- great bike.
3. RS200- only and a big problem being no test rides available.

Sent from my GT-N7100 using xBhp Connect mobile app

Re: Buying my second bike, help me?

If going for CBR, do stretch your budget a bit and buy ABS.
A little goes a long way. Initial cost should not deter from what would be a lasting benefit.

Re: Buying my second bike, help me?

I don't know if I ll be able to afford abs, as its price is almost same as 390.

Sent from my GT-N7100 using xBhp Connect mobile app

Re: Buying my second bike, help me?

If it helps, divide the extra cost of ABS by the number of days you intend to keep the bike for.

And check how much extra you're paying for added safety/day[emoji3]

Re: Buying my second bike, help me?

D390 comes with ABS as a standard. If I'm to choose between CBR250R and D390, as I love touring and mostly long ones, I would always prefer the CBR over the D390.

Things I like about CBR over the D390:

1. Smoother engine.
2. Better aerodynamics over almost none, thus providing a better ride for long tours by cutting out wind blasts.
3. Better tank range.
4. Honda's reliability.
5. Much better seats, both rider and pillion, D390 falls much behind in this section.
6. Better driveability in traffic, due to short gearing D390 is not a very wilful supporter of bumper-to-bumper traffic.
7. Better engine heat dissipation, as I said earlier, D390 gets really heated in heavy traffic and then it's a pain to ride as there's no fairing to dissipate the heat.

Things I like about D390 over the CBR:

1. Superb torque and power.
2. Fantastic Metzeler tires.
3. Can easily cruise at 130+ kmph speeds, but you need to install a good wind screen to continue that.

Above all are completely my personal observation and I'm not at all a Honda fanboy, actually I'm a Yamaha fanboy.

Re: Buying my second bike, help me?

Agree with everything you said except this point. CBR does extremely well even at 140+

Re: Buying my second bike, help me?

Completely agree with your point. CBR does very well at 140+ kmph and my point was not comparing the cruise speeds, but then D390 does more than that as cruise speeds. I was talking about the comfort level of the bikes.

Actually this point should go for CBR250 as both can cruise very well at 140+ kmph speeds and with C-ABS, CBR braking will be as effective as D390, as both are almost of the same weight. But then, 140+ kmph cruise speed is something that can't be maintained all along the ride cause the wind blast at that speed makes you tired and then the awesome Indian traffic. That's why maybe any litre class bike also takes around 10 hrs to do B'lore-Pune, averaging at 90 kmph, almost the same done by my R15 or any other bikes above R15. Just a reference and not an argument.

Re: Buying my second bike, help me?

What about RS200? Showrooms are not offering test rides though.
And for CBR, one showroom says, its available, other says it's out of production? Wouldn't it be a bit risky, buying an out of production bike?

Sent from my GT-N7100 using xBhp Connect mobile app

Re: Buying my second bike, help me?

Almost everything is covered in this post. Should do everything to clear your doubts.

Sent from my Xperia L.

Re: Buying my second bike, help me?

Saw RS200 in flesh today. Looked pretty good. Will finalize between CBR and RS.

Sent from my GT-N7100 using xBhp Connect mobile app

Re: Buying my second bike, help me?

Not to rain on your parade but its advisable to wait for at least 6 months before buying any newly launched product, especially vehicles.

Even first lot CBR 250s and Dukes had niggles and teething issues which were resolved over time.

Re: Buying my second bike, help me?

That is the only thing holding me back from booking RS. Its new, and not niggle free.

Sent from my GT-N7100 using xBhp Connect mobile app

Re: Buying my second bike, help me?

I would say Thunderbird 500 or a Bullet 500.D390 is not that comfy and CBR 250 is gonna get Discontinued soon.