Re: TB 500 vs Karizma ZMR vs CBR 250r:Which is a better tourer? [A dispassionate take]

Never faced these things in my 13 k km/2 year-old Thunderbird 500.

Only one puncture so far. Yes, I agree. I would have liked alloy with tubeless.

I disagree. I enjoy riding 1,000+km in ~24 hours without any overnight stay.

I agree. One man's meat is another's poison!

Re: TB 500 vs Karizma ZMR vs CBR 250r:Which is a better tourer? [A dispassionate take]

+1 for CBR with ABS. A perfect machine for touring. I have met people who took their CBR to Leh and back along with REs and guess what, the fuel injected, liquid cooled engine showed the RE what a capable tourer should behave like. Go for it eves closed, you'll never regret the decision. Moreover it is going out of production soon, so you may get a sweet deal out of it. The company is liable to provide spare parts even for discontinued bikes, so no worries. If you fancy the new version, wait for a few months... but it might cost a bit more.

Coming down to Karizma... THe new engines that Hero motocorp is developing without the help of Japanese (Honda) are not so great. They have vibrations and other issues.. If it would have been the older one, it was a gem. cheapest and very very good value for money. But no for the new version.

RE. well, one of my co workers have bought one last month and its clutch cable snapped a few days ago while coming to office.. your call..

choose wisely...

Re: TB 500 vs Karizma ZMR vs CBR 250r:Which is a better tourer? [A dispassionate take]

All three are not good with pillion rider. For city and touring you can go with zmr. Cause of it's good low end torque. CBR is no fun or good in city traffic. I own one. But when it comes to highway and tour nothing beats CBR250 in the price range. Good engine with super stability and can do 120+kmph whole day. Now I guess you wont get CBR250, have to wait for new model.

ZMR is also good. But no ABS.

TB500 is also not.for city either.

So INMO, if City then ZMR, if touring then CBR.

If pillion is very imp then STD500 with mod seats for better pillon seats. For lights there are plenty options out there

Re: TB 500 vs Karizma ZMR vs CBR 250r:Which is a better tourer? [A dispassionate take]

One thing I can vouch for is the unreliability of RE's. My fellow colleague in ofc owns a Classic 350 (2012) model. Goes to a mechanic once-a-week. After seeing his troubles, I've made up my mind never to go for an RE in my entire life. Though a more modern RE Himalayan is coming if you can wait for it.

ZMR is an excellent bike if only Hero gave fat rear tyres with it. Everything about the bike is amazing except cornering stability.! It's a beast on the highways. & even in city it's awesome. Trust me.

However, the best selling bike in Guwahati nowadays seems to be the Bullet. You can see them in hordes on guwahati's roads. Brilliant reincarnation by RE considering the fact that it was thinking of closing its shutters just 10 yrs ago.

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Re: TB 500 vs Karizma ZMR vs CBR 250r:Which is a better tourer? [A dispassionate take]

Sorry guys but I am also presently touring(on Indian Railways that is) so on poor netwotk- unable to tag/quote.
I would say that this is the exact discussion I was hoping for and now the picture is more clear.

1. For REs there seems to be a Hobsons choice with it. But what I can judge is that since I am a beginner and poor in DIY, I must not tread RE line. Sad, TB was my first choice but it will need more maturity and guts on my part to be able to own it.
2. CBR have gained almost unanimous applauds. But there is availability/delay issue with it. So I will enquire about it.
3. ZMR was my second choice. I really like its looks(2014 one). Wish it had one projector assembly. I have also read about the tappet issue and I just hope that when I am going to ride one I don't need to re read it.

Thanks again all specially J ravi sir for the wonderful travel blog, harishkumarko and divya for their indepth analysis and keeping the thread alive. Thanks sparky, nightfurry ankey and others too.
Thread may be closed.

Re: TB 500 vs Karizma ZMR vs CBR 250r:Which is a better tourer? [A dispassionate take]

Thread closed on request!