Re: Premium Commuter 150CC Required !

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Re: Premium Commuter 150CC Required !

You have pretty much solved your own query. My personal advice would be to go with Gixxer. Yes the pillion seat is high but its not R15 V2.0 high. Its the current trend and you will have to adapt a little bit

As you are more inclined towards the Unicorn, go through this: http://www.xbhp.com/talkies/motorcyc...orn-160-a.html

Re: Premium Commuter 150CC Required !

Gixxer: A very capable highway riding machine, I would really choose it as long as you dont have any pillion rider. Forget the aspect of seating position, when there are two people on, the bike scrapes its bottom at every hump you can spot on Bangalore roads. That aside, the narrow and stiff seat is very uncomfortable for a pillion. This is not just my opinion, its the same for almost every one of my friend who sat on it.
Yamaha FZv2: Given the options right in front of you, although the bike has a little less pulling power compared to Gixxer, its better because it has bigger seats for pillion, a softer overall suspension and a fuel injected bike gives both better city riding and highway comfort.

As for the rest two bikes, although SZR(I own one) and Unicorn are indeed 150cc segment bikes. I wouldn't call them a premium. You could classify them as a higher class commuter bikes, you could test ride all these bikes.

I got to know from a friend that Honda has done away with frequent service, the interval for his new Uni160 is now 6 month or 6000km! I doubt any bike can last that long without a service. Its not just about the oil change. What about adjustment of chain, clutch, brakes & liners, electrical which must be inspected and adjusted periodically like every 2-3 thousand km or 75-90 days.

Therefore, I would incline on a Yamaha FZ any day simply because it has been well tested for Indian roads, all that you expect and better handling and braking stability, which I think is the most important aspect. Its not always about the how fast it goes, or how many km you could cover in a liter of fuel, but its always how stable and safe it is to ride.

Re: Premium Commuter 150CC Required !

Try the SZ-RR. Has just enough power to see you through stop and go traffic and occasional weekend rides. Pillion seat is the most comfortable among your choices.
Uni160 is a good bike but imo it does not offer anything over and above the older Uni150 apart from just a few ccs. A little pricey for what it offers.
The pillion seat is definitely on the higher side in the Gixxer and FZ V2.0. Otherwise, it's a very good choice too.
Take your wife along for a test ride for the last two so that she can judge how comfortable the pillion seat is.

Re: Premium Commuter 150CC Required !

Thanks for the suggestion.
Will test ride both FZS Fi and Unicorn 160 to have a better opinion.

Any cons of Unicorn 160 that I should know about ?

Re: Premium Commuter 150CC Required !

Gixxer, while a great bike doesn't make sense for you. The bike is targeted at College goers. And yeah the pillion seat is OK at best. Has decent torque for carrying two people. And yeah the ground clearance is really bad when two people are seated. Suzuki's after sales care has not been positive. So if you are getting a gixxer make sure you choose the right dealer. GS150R would have been great for you but sadly its no longer in the market.

I would suggest you to look into SZ- RR V2.0 as your first option. One of the underrated bikes in the market. The earlier versions had poor fuel efficiency(40-45kmpl). But the newer ones are much better. Should give you easily around 50kmpl under sane riding. Also the bike looks great. Beware of Yamaha's poor service stations be it for SZ or FZ. Speaking of FZ, I would suggest you not to go for this one. Not really a VFM product for your requirement. The price difference between SZ RR and FZ FI comes close to 15k. That's 12000kms worth the fuel money if you buy the SZ RR. Plus the SZ RR has better pillion seat and also it will cost you less on maintenance (spares price). Only grouse I see on the SZ is the sucky TVS tyres. Otherwise the bike is great.

Honda Unicorn 160 should be your second option. Definitely the one with the best torque here before the gixxer. Also the most powerful. But I doubt it will deliver more than 45kmpl, riding in peak bangalore traffic. Honda also suffers from service issues and also spares issues. So again choose the right dealer. You could also consider CB Trigger. Costs about 3-4k less than the Unicorn. But Unicorn is worth those extra few bucks. And no I would say the CBS is not needed unless you are into some hardcore riding. If you are sane rider you won't need it.

Re: Premium Commuter 150CC Required !

Thanks for the great insight.
However, I am not very keen for SZ RR Version 2 because :
1. No mono suspensions.
2. TVS tyres.
3. Lack of interest from the showroom people to sell (might affect the service too).
4. Resale value.

Also it weighs almost the same as FZS FI and gives similar mileage.
I don't see any reason to buy this in place of FZS FI, unless a flat seat was an absolute requirement or one was one a very tight budget.

Also, I am a little surprised with you mentioning poor Honda service. I had always thought that Honda provides one of the best service.
Can anyone else (especially from Bangalore area) throw some light on this? And maybe compare the servicing to Yamaha?

Re: Premium Commuter 150CC Required !

Honda gives the worst service. A local mechanic does a far better job for cheaper.

Re: Premium Commuter 150CC Required !

If the OP is considering GS150R and worries about availability - I saw a "for regn" GS150 in Porur, Chennai last week. Spotted it near to SMK SUZUKI, Porur. Not sure if it is a new bike, or from old stock.

Re: Premium Commuter 150CC Required !

I have not seen many local mechanics working on a CBR.

Re: Premium Commuter 150CC Required !

I visited the Yamaha Showroom yesterday - "Panache Enterprise Yamaha" to be precise.
The experience was pathetic to say the least.

First, the showroom guy kept on telling me that SR RR V2 and FZS FI V2 were the exact same bikes, except for the looks. In fact he even kept on insisting that SZ had FI too. Only after repeatedly telling him that SZ did not have a FI engine, he decided to check his facts and accepted his mistake.

Next, when I asked him for a display bike, there were mostly FZ series bikes kept in the showroom for display. As for SZ series, there was only one SZ RR V2 available which was parked outside the showroom(on the road) and it was covered with so much dust that I could not even touch it.

Coming to the test ride part, he said that there was no bike available for test ride and if I wanted to buy then I will have to do it just by taking a look. Again when I pressurized him by saying that how could I shell out almost 1 lakh rupees without even a test ride, he asked me to come on Monday and "check" if a test ride was available then.

Although I have never owned a Yamaha, I always believed that Yamaha showroom and servicing was at least up to good standards. Yesterday's experience changed that certainly.

I still haven't test ridden the Unicorn 160. I hope I get a better experience there.
Meanwhile, I hope the Hornet 160R gets launched (although I doubt it will fit my commuter requirements).

On a side note, I like how the newly launched Honda Livo looks. However I am concerned about it's meagre 110 cc engine.
Can anyone tell me how does one decide what engine capacity suits him best ? My riding requirements would be mostly city riding around 40-60 kmph with me and my wife (60+55 = 115kgs).

Re: Premium Commuter 150CC Required !


-Why not any bike from Hero?
Achiever/Hunk?
They might not have the best resale value but are easy and most hassle free to maintain. Most local mechanics have knowledge of it as they share the same engine as old unicorn.
Most comfortable. Ride quality is awesome and very torquey and refined engines,almost equivalent to old unicorn. You might get huge discounts if you are lucky, due to meagre sales. Spares should not be an issue at least till next 3-4 years. Fuel efficiency will be around 50kmpl.

-Pulsar 150 can also be a good option as it was never dethroned in terms of sales, ever since its launch,despite issues and niggles. Thanks to our Herd mentality that there are so many pulsars here. Each and every screw and nut of pulsar is available at almost all road side mechanics.

- If you want to stick to Honda, then look no further than unicorn 160,as its the jack of all trades. Eventually, local mechanics will get used to the bike.

- I would not suggest a 110cc as it might feel a bit under-powered & uncomfortable(being lighter) compared to 150cc, when you are doing 20% of your daily commute on highway.

- You can consider CBS if you are not used to disc brakes (esp. in incidents of panic braking)/novice rider.
Suggestion from all, is that use both front and rear brakes simultaneously(60%front-40%rear will vary from vehicle to vehicle)at all the times. This will do the same job as CBS. Also, CBS is different from ABS, which in my opinion is a life saver in panic braking situations.

P.S. I own an extreme since past 8 years(32000km), no major problems except the bike vibrates like hell on highway runs beyond 60kmph and no GRS suspension. AFAIK new Hunk,achiever are refined compared to 1st gen cbz xtreme.

Re: Premium Commuter 150CC Required !

Best buy for you is unicorn 160, monoshox is a boon in terms of handling, quality is top notch compared to other 150 cc . mileage is above 40. :-)

Re: Premium Commuter 150CC Required !

I did go through the Hero options. I myself have been riding Super Splendor for 9 straight years and no problems at all except for those rare tyre punctures.
However, I couldn't really convince myself to buy anything from hero at the moment.
I like the Xtreme and Hunk both but they weight too much (almost 10kgs more than the competition). And since I am neither too tall or heavy, I'd prefer riding a lighter bike.
Same applies for Pulsars too.