Re: Had enought of my Thunderbird ;( Need a new bike.!!

I used to get that feedback a lot about Bajaj too before I purchased the NS about 4 years ago. Most people used to say that Bajaj bikes start losing power within 2 years and the whole engine block needs to be opened up. That was the first time I started doing online research and came upon xbhp . I did read the reviews here and saw that most of the times with Bajaj it comes down to maintenance. At least with the newer batches thats the case. The NS is still strong as ever and hits its top speed like it did after its run in. Acceleration is still crisp.

I have a friend who has an FZ-S. In 3 years and less than 20K on the odo his bike had has more issues than I see with RE. But then I have seen him thrash the bike around without mercy and getting it serviced on his whim. Its more about the attitude and significantly less about the brand.

Simple rule that I follow - "If you respect your bike, any decent person will respect your bike and also respect you".

Id say that if you follow the run in procedure and give the bike for its mandatory services and feed it good quality engine oil and obviously respect it, its not gonna give up on you. I have seen rare exceptions to this.

Re: Had enought of my Thunderbird ;( Need a new bike.!!

Yeah that is what I think as well since I had a Discover for 11 years[emoji51]
Anyways will update here on what happens.

Re: Had enought of my Thunderbird ;( Need a new bike.!!

Bajaj is getting better in quality. Engine wise, the Dominar has a detuned KTM390 engine, so you don't have to worry much.

Take the Himalayan - promoted as a go anywhere bike. One of the owners had a puncture just 2-3 days after buying it. That's got to be a bummer. If a bike doesnt have tubeless tyres, forget offroading, even the normal roads would be dangerous for it. Add to that, the rusting some owners face. And the fact that if the bike tips over, your mirrors are going to get damaged.

If you consider the features, Dominar wins hands-down on Highway cruising and a little offroading. People have done Leh Ladakh on all sorts of bikes, Splendors, Karizmas, Ninja 300, and Honda Navi also. So if you want to test the limits of the Himalayan, you will have to go searching for off road trails.

Re: Had enought of my Thunderbird ;( Need a new bike.!!

Yes I know Bajaj bikes are getting better.
Will go to the showroom for one more test drive and if all goes well, I'll book the D400 today[emoji51]

Re: Had enought of my Thunderbird ;( Need a new bike.!!

So I got a chance to ride the Dominar 400 for a bit longer today. And I'm quite surprised with the quality of build on it[emoji7]

Although it felt weird driving a bike with much sportier stance than my Thunderbird I kinda felt really comfortable managing the bike and flicking it around. But it will take some time for me to get used to the new seating position. And there were no vibrations on my test bike may be coz it had clocked more that 7k kms but the ride was so smooth.

I was previously thinking of buying the Dominar and have my TB with me as well but with this drive my thoughts are on exchanging it for the Dominar.

What do you guys think? Me mostly exchange coz I can save up a good bit as my TB goes for 80k

Re: Had enought of my Thunderbird ;( Need a new bike.!!

No point keeping two bikes if you are the only one riding I guess, the TB will get neglected.

Re: Had enought of my Thunderbird ;( Need a new bike.!!

Happy to hear that Arjun. I remember my first test ride on the Dominar felt the same. No vibes at all. I guess riding position is something we all get used to eventually. Maintaining 2 bikes will be a herculean task and the mentality is generally to ride the new machine more than the older one in which case it is best that the T'bird goes to a new home.

Re: Had enought of my Thunderbird ;( Need a new bike.!!

https://www.youtube.com/shared?ci=VyDwsrKdzms here if you think fz25 is underpowered.

Re: Had enought of my Thunderbird ;( Need a new bike.!!

[MENTION=79821]Deathwing[/MENTION], I never said it is under powered. I like the FZ but if you see it can hit 136kmph but it will be maxed out.
I really like Yamaha as I have had an FZ and also own a 2015 RayZ but TBH it is not VFM since you add in 20k more and get a even better bike the D400 albeit without ABS.

And I am now fixed on it after my test drive today, so I will decide on it and let you guys know.
[MENTION=65319]Vikramaditya[/MENTION] I am selling my TB, sad to do it but with very bad SVCs no other way.

Re: Had enought of my Thunderbird ;( Need a new bike.!!


Its sad. i know how attached RE owners are to their bikes. I am truly surprised how a visionary like Siddharth Lal is turning a deaf ear to so many service related issues which plague countless loyal customers.

Dominar will never be a substitute for the thumper but lets hope it brings more smiles per hour to you Arjun

Re: Had enought of my Thunderbird ;( Need a new bike.!!

Royal Enfield needs a revise of the entire company, I know they aren't known for electronics but atleast adding ABS and sorting out service and part issues will make the company uniform, only bikes worthy from RE in my opinion is Thunderbird and Himalayan.

Re: Had enought of my Thunderbird ;( Need a new bike.!!

Don't be so sure.

I have a Thunderbird with loads of issues and so do all the people who I enquire however there are some people who pay anything to keep the RE bikes good but I cannot do that🙄

Coming to the Himalayan, one advice to RE would be to find a way to add puncture proof tyres coz just a tag line saying made for any road or no road is simply not enough.

I have decided to go ahead with my gut feel and buy the Dominar and aside some minor issues such as vibes and all this bike is super awesome.

Re: Had enought of my Thunderbird ;( Need a new bike.!!

And thanks [MENTION=65319]Vikramaditya[/MENTION] I really love the bike and it's feel.
Hopefully that will last for years to come unlike my TB350

Re: Had enought of my Thunderbird ;( Need a new bike.!!

My opinion was based on a private svc's opinion, ive ridden a Thunderbird once and it was incredibly smooth, was never a big fan of the classic 350, I did ride old 350 which had the gearing on the right side, was an interesting experience.

Re: Had enought of my Thunderbird ;( Need a new bike.!!

So I have a question.

So the booking for Dominar is to be done tomorrow.

And I am going to exchange my Thunderbird for D400 at the dealership

Edit:

Are there any company accessories for this bike? Just curious.

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Cool Bro...