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**The Monk** · 03-28-2017, 06:47 PM

Re: New 150/200cc Bike advice | First buy | City commutes | Tall rider

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**Vikramaditya** · 03-29-2017, 01:09 PM

Re: New 150/200cc Bike advice | First buy | City commutes | Tall rider

Originally posted by jsanket9578 View Post

Hello everyone. This is my first post, and after being bowled by team-bhp almost an year back, I was bowled by xbhp yet again. Amazing detailing!
So I am landing into my first job, currently 22, and want to purchase my first motorcycle. As far as my experience goes, I'm in the learning process but don't put me down yet! I am riding automatic scooters since 6 years and just love to hustle past the expansive cars! I have been driving cars since 4 years and absolutely love driving and driving fast! Here goes a quote by Autocar:
"If I am not stuck in traffic, I am making the most of not being stuck in traffic, if you know what I mean."
But the traffic these days makes me squeak in annoyance and here I am, ready to purchase my first bike.

My profile:
1. Budget: ~1L - 1.3L
2. Age: 22
3. Height: 6ft 1inch
4. Weight: 75(Lean build)
5. Intended usage: City commutes, tackling bad roads everyday. Occasional short highway commute.
6. Fuel Efficiency requirement (approx., if any) : ~35 in city
8. Approximate Daily / Monthly running: Daily ~20 kms (Sparse usage)
9. City / Town /Village of residence (so we can evaluate road conditions / traffic / terrain / altitude / OTR pricing): City (Gurgaon) Poor roads.
10. Solo/duo: Solo most of the time
11. Shortlisted: NS200, Apache RTR200, Gixxer SF FI (feel free to suggest anything!)
Also, I have time and can wait, so feel free to suggest any upcoming bikes!

Now, with the mandatory part done, here are my requirements:
1. First bike, so should be maneuverable in city. Smooth and precise clutch and gearbox.
2. Want decent low end power and strong mid-range.
3. Decently comfortable seating position, no weight on wrists.
4. Suspension should be good for bad roads. Can trade-in bit of handling.
5. Good after sales service, no rattling sounds, decent switchgear quality.
6. Non-existent vibrations. (permitted around redline)
7. No scraping at speed breakers (I don't think that would be a problem as I ride solo)

Doubts/Clarifications:
1. Coming to my shortlisted bikes, I know there is a lot of difference between Gixxer and the other two. The idea is that I can go for anyone, as long as all my requirements are served.
2. Is the std Gixxer any better than the SF in city maneuvering?
2. When is the NS150 coming? RTR 160/180 facelifts? Std Gixxer FI?
3. Lot of users complain about the gearbox in Gixxer's, whereas every critic finds the gearbox very good, what's going on?
4. Heard suspension of Gixxer is stiff, so I can adjust rear monoshock to 2nd or 3rd setting. Will that make the bike scrape bumps even in solo??
5. In case of RTR, shall I opt for Pirelli or FI? Heard stock TVS remora tyres are sufficiently grippy and offer better longevity! How much difference will FI bring in mileage in city?
6. How much of a difference in Fuel efficiency can I expect between Gixxer and the two 200cc bikes?

Hi Sanket,

Thanks for the detailed post! As per your height and "need for speed" I would without a doubt recommend the NS 200. I can say this as I am 6 Ft myself and this bike suits tall riders from a personal as well as third party point of view. In terms of acceleration, the low end grunt it less than the RTR however the mid and top end is very juicy and in those moments when you escape traffic you will realize in practice that there really is no replacement for displacement. Its also pretty nimble and from an aesthetic point of view when I saw it in the flesh, the red one pretty much blows the competition out of the water. Not being biased because I owned one. When it comes to vibes, forget the redline, in the mid range itself you will start feeling it. Now I have not ridden the new one but with the older one a dose of fully synthetic oil did help in alleviating the rider from a bottom numbing ride. Its got massive ground clearance, I have done a lot of off roading with it and even on the tallest excuses for a speed breaker, the bike never bottomed out even with a pillion. For fuel efficiency, if you ride the way a 200 cc naked should be ridden (within safety parameters of course) you will easily get between 35 to 40 KMPL.

For the other 2 bikes, I am sure other riders can suggest from personal experience. Though I have heard that the Gixxer is extremely smooth. Heck it cant be a bad bike, it literally turned Suzuki into a household name again (flashback to Samurai).

I recently had a chance to witness the RTR and it has massive street presence. Looks quite handsome too, the speedo console is better than most higher end bikes as well. However I cannot comment on the ride. From the reviews its clear that it has a bottom end punch which is better than the NS though.

**jsanket9578** · 03-29-2017, 03:39 PM

Re: New 150/200cc Bike advice | First buy | City commutes | Tall rider

Originally posted by Vikramaditya View Post

Hi Sanket,

Thanks for the detailed post! As per your height and "need for speed" I would without a doubt recommend the NS 200. I can say this as I am 6 Ft myself and this bike suits tall riders from a personal as well as third party point of view. In terms of acceleration, the low end grunt it less than the RTR however the mid and top end is very juicy and in those moments when you escape traffic you will realize in practice that there really is no replacement for displacement. Its also pretty nimble and from an aesthetic point of view when I saw it in the flesh, the red one pretty much blows the competition out of the water. Not being biased because I owned one. When it comes to vibes, forget the redline, in the mid range itself you will start feeling it. Now I have not ridden the new one but with the older one a dose of fully synthetic oil did help in alleviating the rider from a bottom numbing ride. Its got massive ground clearance, I have done a lot of off roading with it and even on the tallest excuses for a speed breaker, the bike never bottomed out even with a pillion. For fuel efficiency, if you ride the way a 200 cc naked should be ridden (within safety parameters of course) you will easily get between 35 to 40 KMPL.

For the other 2 bikes, I am sure other riders can suggest from personal experience. Though I have heard that the Gixxer is extremely smooth. Heck it cant be a bad bike, it literally turned Suzuki into a household name again (flashback to Samurai).

I recently had a chance to witness the RTR and it has massive street presence. Looks quite handsome too, the speedo console is better than most higher end bikes as well. However I cannot comment on the ride. From the reviews its clear that it has a bottom end punch which is better than the NS though.

Hi, thanks for the detailed reply. See I am not very interested in top-end power. Also, the new NS is said to have much lower vibrations, so that should be fine. In terms of mileage, how much of a difference can I see according to you, between Gixxer and these two 200cc's(in city conditions)? I doubt if NS can give 35 in city, given that gixxer itself manages 40-42 in city traffic.
Also, did you also saw people whining about the hard gearbox of gixxer? Any idea about the ASS of Suzuki?

**sstherockz** · 03-29-2017, 03:47 PM

Re: New 150/200cc Bike advice | First buy | City commutes | Tall rider

Originally posted by jsanket9578 View Post

Hi, thanks for the detailed reply. See I am not very interested in top-end power. Also, the new NS is said to have much lower vibrations, so that should be fine. In terms of mileage, how much of a difference can I see according to you, between Gixxer and these two 200cc's(in city conditions)? I doubt if NS can give 35 in city, given that gixxer itself manages 40-42 in city traffic.
Also, did you also saw people whining about the hard gearbox of gixxer? Any idea about the ASS of Suzuki?

Well I can rate the Suzuki ASS in chennai on a scale of 10 (where 10 is high and 1 is low) as 3 at the max for their good waterwash and chain lube.

I don't know about other cities but as far as chennai is considered most of the mechanics won't do their work.
Last time when my friend changed oil in one of the Suzuki ASS they didn't tighten the engine drain bolt properly and Oil was leaking from the bolt.
We observed that after 2 days and tightened with the help of near by mechanic and also changed the oil.

At least ASS has all spares available.

**Vikramaditya** · 03-29-2017, 04:12 PM

Re: New 150/200cc Bike advice | First buy | City commutes | Tall rider

Originally posted by jsanket9578 View Post

Hi, thanks for the detailed reply. See I am not very interested in top-end power. Also, the new NS is said to have much lower vibrations, so that should be fine. In terms of mileage, how much of a difference can I see according to you, between Gixxer and these two 200cc's(in city conditions)? I doubt if NS can give 35 in city, given that gixxer itself manages 40-42 in city traffic.
Also, did you also saw people whining about the hard gearbox of gixxer? Any idea about the ASS of Suzuki?

Hi Sanket,

Even with a wider spec tyre I was getting above 35 kmpl. Hence I feel this is easily achievable. No idea about the other bikes' mileage.

**Gowty** · 03-29-2017, 06:39 PM

Re: New 150/200cc Bike advice | First buy | City commutes | Tall rider

Originally posted by jsanket9578 View Post

Hi, thanks for the detailed reply. See I am not very interested in top-end power. Also, the new NS is said to have much lower vibrations, so that should be fine. In terms of mileage, how much of a difference can I see according to you, between Gixxer and these two 200cc's(in city conditions)? I doubt if NS can give 35 in city, given that gixxer itself manages 40-42 in city traffic.
Also, did you also saw people whining about the hard gearbox of gixxer? Any idea about the ASS of Suzuki?

I'm sure NS will easily give you between 36 to 40KmPL in city if you ride sane. I still get around the same in Bangalore traffic after 2 and a half years from the time of Purchase.

As for Gixxer, I felt the gear lever being hard, extremely hard both in a new bike and a old one. May be the discrepancy you said arises because critics find it to be precise. But for me, I couldn't hear a definite click and was harder than my NS's gear lever.

I'm pretty sure NS is just made for tall riders. I myself being averagely tall at 5'11". It's seat height is high at 860mm.

Adding FI will give you 2 to 5Kmpl extra on mileage ( using NS 200 and RS 200 for comparison ).

**KD_19 kb_lover** · 03-29-2017, 08:38 PM

Re: New 150/200cc Bike advice | First buy | City commutes | Tall rider

As for your height, I would recommend the ns200.
Moreover the maintainance of Bajaj bikes are very low and easy.
As for apache, it has only 5 gears and lot of vibes at higher rpms. So it won't help you in the top end.
But for TVS, the after sales service are good. I own an Apache 180 and the service is excellent by the tvs people.
If you like the Apache thump, get it. One great sound it gives out. Not like the ns.
As for gixxer, it has low power than the other two bikes you have mentioned.
You can try the hornet(would suit your height) instead of going for a gixxer.

----consecutive posts auto-merged-----

Originally posted by jsanket9578 View Post

5. In case of RTR, shall I opt for Pirelli or FI? Heard stock TVS remora tyres are sufficiently grippy and offer better longevity! How much difference will FI bring in mileage in city? It costs a whooping 12K!
6. How much of a difference in Fuel efficiency can I expect between Gixxer and the two 200cc bikes? I heard gixxer gives 40-42 in typical city conditions.

The other two will be good you're willing to sacrifice around 7-8 kmpl mileage.
FI works well in Highway usage.
As for mileage, it depends on how much time you take to reach 50-60. And maintain in that speed at around 5 rpm.

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New 150/200cc Bike advice | First buy | City commutes | Tall rider

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