Tweet
Guys I am looking for a comfortable bike for touring purposes. I am furnishing following detail.
Budget: not hard and fast. If i cant buy on cash, will finance it. Highest is ktm duke 390 or about 2 lacs. Minimum want a 150cc.
Previous bike: Yamaha R15 ver 1. I have used it for last 5 yrs and close to 40k kms. Bought it for touring based on feedback from journalists that it was comfortable for its class. Little did i knew it will be hard to tour on, so have done only 5-6 long 600-800 km trips in 5 yrs. Love it but i think its time to change.
About me: Am almost six feet, not fittest person out there but average. I am not skilled enough to push R15 to its absolute limit on our roads and its chassis is good enough for everything i try on it and then some. So I want something thats comfortable but handles well enough.
Bikes i have test ridden recently: Suzuki gixxer, pulsar 200 as, fazer fi, cbr250r, honda hornet, yamaha r3.
Since test rides were too small and found power between gixxer, r15 and pulsar 200as to be very close. So i decided to rent bikes and see after long rides. I have ridden following bikes for over 100 kms.
Yamaha fz: in test ride i felt fazer to be similarly powered to R15. But on extended ride, got bored on highway. This sort of cancelled gixxer and fazer from my mind.
Pulsar 200ns: great. Loved added power definitely more responsive than r15 though a test ride may not convince you. It had 35k kms on odo and was smooth and refined enough. Have me consider 200as strongly.
Ktm duke 390: just when i thought i had decided, i decided to try out this bike. Only bike i regretted giving back. Even though it gave lot of problems, used to shut down on rolling down gas regardless of speed or gear. Still loved it. Comfort problem with hard seat and wind blast is unbearable near 120 kmph.
So question is should i go for as200, or is it possible to make duke 390 comfortable enough by buying gel seat (saw sofarider gel seat on net) and a windscreen. Or am i crazy and a gixxer is much more powerful than fz.
Lot of new bikes are coming as well, cs400, g310r, tvs akula. Would prefer wind screen or fairing, upright position (so cbr250r is out). Price wise all these are doable. Want a reliable machine. Duke 390 was not free of niggles so there is that.
Also for yamaha r3, if i had budget, i dont think its too overpriced. Its very well built and twin cylinder throbbing exhaust is awesome. Very friendly and great bottom end and mid range power even though its a peaky engine. If RC 390 sells for 2.5 lacs this definitely is 3 lac machine. So overpriced but not by much.
Thanks in advance.
Budget: not hard and fast. If i cant buy on cash, will finance it. Highest is ktm duke 390 or about 2 lacs. Minimum want a 150cc.
Previous bike: Yamaha R15 ver 1. I have used it for last 5 yrs and close to 40k kms. Bought it for touring based on feedback from journalists that it was comfortable for its class. Little did i knew it will be hard to tour on, so have done only 5-6 long 600-800 km trips in 5 yrs. Love it but i think its time to change.
About me: Am almost six feet, not fittest person out there but average. I am not skilled enough to push R15 to its absolute limit on our roads and its chassis is good enough for everything i try on it and then some. So I want something thats comfortable but handles well enough.
Bikes i have test ridden recently: Suzuki gixxer, pulsar 200 as, fazer fi, cbr250r, honda hornet, yamaha r3.
Since test rides were too small and found power between gixxer, r15 and pulsar 200as to be very close. So i decided to rent bikes and see after long rides. I have ridden following bikes for over 100 kms.
Yamaha fz: in test ride i felt fazer to be similarly powered to R15. But on extended ride, got bored on highway. This sort of cancelled gixxer and fazer from my mind.
Pulsar 200ns: great. Loved added power definitely more responsive than r15 though a test ride may not convince you. It had 35k kms on odo and was smooth and refined enough. Have me consider 200as strongly.
Ktm duke 390: just when i thought i had decided, i decided to try out this bike. Only bike i regretted giving back. Even though it gave lot of problems, used to shut down on rolling down gas regardless of speed or gear. Still loved it. Comfort problem with hard seat and wind blast is unbearable near 120 kmph.
So question is should i go for as200, or is it possible to make duke 390 comfortable enough by buying gel seat (saw sofarider gel seat on net) and a windscreen. Or am i crazy and a gixxer is much more powerful than fz.
Lot of new bikes are coming as well, cs400, g310r, tvs akula. Would prefer wind screen or fairing, upright position (so cbr250r is out). Price wise all these are doable. Want a reliable machine. Duke 390 was not free of niggles so there is that.
Also for yamaha r3, if i had budget, i dont think its too overpriced. Its very well built and twin cylinder throbbing exhaust is awesome. Very friendly and great bottom end and mid range power even though its a peaky engine. If RC 390 sells for 2.5 lacs this definitely is 3 lac machine. So overpriced but not by much.
Thanks in advance.
Comment