Re: Looking for comfortable bike under a lakh.

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Re: Looking for comfortable bike under a lakh.

Strike out the karizma and the Unicorn. Karizma seems dead as nobody is buying it anymore. and Unicorn 160 is a commuter, a power commuter if you will.
Gixxer and Hornet are good choices but the comfortable sweet spot for these is about 80-90 Kmph anything more than that and the engine makes its disagreement felt. Its no use thinking about triple digits speeds. These 2 are city street bikes at best.
That leaves you with RTR200 and NS 200. RTR seems to have good reviews by the users and we will hear about the NS soon enough.

My advise would be to keep an eye out for these 2 and focus your research about the ownership of these and then choose the one that suits your needs the best.

Re: Looking for comfortable bike under a lakh.

+1 to what Ankey has said. Among the bikes you've mentioned, I think buying RTR200 or NS200 makes sense. Correct me if I'm wrong, I think RTR200 crosses 1 lakh OTR, so if your budget is something strictly under a lakh then it should further narrow the choice down to NS200.

Cheers!

Re: Looking for comfortable bike under a lakh.

I just cant believe Bajaj. No matter what they say about their engine refinement, it complete bul****.

What about FZ25? It costs about 1.4lakh OTR. I can increase the budget if I can get substantial upgrade.

EDITED THE OP. INCREASED THE BUDGET AND CHANGED MY OPTIONS.

Re: Looking for comfortable bike to replace my P220

Consider CBR 250. Smooth af engine. Long service interval of 6000 kms. Can use mineral oil too. Comes with radiator and 1L of coolant. Made for sporty touring, it can tour at 120-140 at 6th gear for 7-8 hours without breaking a sweat (my personal experience. It can probably do 140 all day, but I have not tested that yet.)

Re: Looking for comfortable bike under a lakh.

Though I have no personal experience, I've seen people saying the newer engines from Bajaj's stable are better in terms of refinement. So I'll let the fellow owners/experts to throw more light here. So lets keep Dominar, Avenger 220, and NS200 aside for now.

Absolutely, FZ25 checks all your requirement. People bash its power figures but I completely find it sufficient for both city and those highway runs. That coupled with Yammy's reliability and the engine refinement you crave for, you just can't go wrong with this.

Also as Leech said, you can take a look at the CBR250R but then you'll be increasing your budget again by 40k.

If you want to keep the budget minimal you can stick to RTR200. Unlike the other RTRs, the RTR200 is vibe free and is capable of running at 90-110kmph for long times. So you can narrow down to one of the above three bikes, if you're hell bent on not choosing a Bajaj.

Cheers!

Re: Looking for comfortable bike to replace my P220

FZ25 has a wide saddle and I being 5'11" still couldn't manage to keep both my legs on ground. It comes at 1.4L OTR. As an NS owner for 2 and a Half year, I haven't faced any major issues so far. It does has it's vibes between 4.5K to 5K RPM but after that it's quite smooth.

RTR 200 is also a good choice since both of these are VFM bikes. And RTR is quite vibe free. The pillion seat is not so great though.

My personal opinion will be to choose an ABS equipped bike irrespective of the brand. As with the current bikes it seems both Bajaj and TVS has upped their qualities and they offer VFM product.

TD before choosing one.

Re: Looking for comfortable bike under a lakh.

Since I don't own a new Bajaj, it would not be wise to comment on its engine. Having owned an old one few years ago, I agree on the shitty quality of engines.
New owners can help you out with the new bikes. Check out the ownership threads and ask questions directly tot he owners. Go for it only if you are satisfied with their answers and the test rides prove their answers on the road.

The FZ25 is also an able tourer, add the Japanese engine, reliability and build quality - It makes a worthy contender. Being an owner of a 3 year old R15 V2 which is used to commute and tour extensively. I can vouch for the Yammy. No problems at all.
Choose wisely.

Re: Looking for comfortable bike under a lakh.

[UPDATE] A recent mishap led to the chamber and gear/shaft assembly replacement with just 30k on the odo. I was returning home at night and all of a sudden rear wheels of my bike locks up. Fortunately there were no vehicles behind or ahead of me, so I was safe. With much effort I dragged my bike out of the busy road and inspected the vehicle. At first I thought my disc jammed leading to the wheel lockup. But the disc was fine and the gear assembly along with the chain were stuck. I somehow managed to get my bike home and next day I removed the chain and towed my bike to showroom, on inspection of the mechanic there, he showed my the cracked right chamber and said shaft may be damaged. That was 15 days ago, since then they have dismantled the bike and ordered the parts from Pune factory which is still not shipped as on 25 April making it full 15 days that my bike is at showroom dismantled and gathering dust with no concrete dates on which my parts could arrive.

I have lost all the confidence to take this bike anywhere out of the city. Mind you the bike has just 30k on the odo and I was about to leave for a 300kms ride next morning. Thank god I was safe. I asked the service manager how this can happen especially of a bike with 30k on the odo, to which he replied "I dont know". Crappy quality with no accountability. Im never buying a Bajaj again.

Re: Looking for comfortable bike under a lakh.

Rekindling this old thread. Need your help. So few months have been passed since the heavy repair of transmission took place in April and my 220 is running okay but not stellar. Recently chain has begun making noise upon releasing the accelerator. Showed it to the Bajaj Service Manager, he straight away recommended for chain sprocket change, which will cost Rs.1700/- and plus handle cone and other consumable. Both the tyres need change too. Looking into the ever increasing cost of maintenance, ive been rethinking to replace it. Ive been putting off my urge to replace my P220 because of the financial loss. The only bike in the market which I feel has good balance of power/quality/cost is Yamaha FZ25. What do you suggest should I repair my P220 or buy FZ25?

Re: Looking for comfortable bike under a lakh.

A bit confused as you have listed bikes close to 1.5k mark while your thread name says "under a lakh". Anyway, listening to your ordeals I guess your P220 is unfortunately not going to keep you happy for long (if it still is?).

I feel FZ25 would be your best bet here.

Re: Looking for comfortable bike under a lakh.

Temptations..I tell you can make a person do anything

Im shocked to see 160CC bikes costing a lakh, with absolutely no features over my P220, yes in these years Refinement has increased but not so much in safety dept. like ABS, which I feel must be available as an option. But then India has seen a car manufacturer selling one variant of a car with seatbelts and another variant without seatbelts.

Coming to FZ25 what bothers me is the riding posture especially the handles, considering they are tall and wide. A test ride is dificult considering they are quick sell and dealer at my place doesn't have any dedicated test drive vehicle of the same.

Re: Looking for comfortable bike under a lakh.

Hi Insomnia,

You will get used to the riding position of the bike in a week. You could go to a different Yamaha dealer in your city. If they still don't provide a test ride contact Yamaha India at this link:

India Yamaha Motor - Contact Us

Let them know you can't put down ~1.5 lakhs on a bike without a proper test ride. I'm sure they will take care of it. In the meantime have a look at the FZ25 ownership thread, for more information about the bike.

Hope this helps.

Re: Looking for comfortable bike under a lakh.


That's a news to me. Which car comes without a seatbelt?