Re: Upgrading from P220 to RE..wise choice?

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Re: Upgrading from P220 to RE..wise choice?

"* Love touring, would like a stable, safe and not too high maintenance bike"
RE is the polar opposite of these things. I would advise you to go through the ownership threads and see what all problems the long term owners are facing. If you have been bitten by the RE bug and after going through the ownership threads, if you still think that RE is the one to buy; then an only then go for it.

Other far better options include :

Dominar 400 : A capable and affordable tourer. Being a Bajaj owner, you would know their service centers like back of your hand which is a big positive. Has all the bells and whistles you could think of in a bike at that price point.

CBR250R : The daddy of all the tourers. A well balanced and no nonsense mile munching machine. The new LED headlamps are a boon for night time riding. If you want to tour without a care in the world, a CBR250R is the answer.

Duke390 : If you can stretch your budget a bit, this is one crazy pocket rocket. Goes like a bat out of hell and can be easily modded to suit touring needs.

Re: Upgrading from P220 to RE..wise choice?

Hi, Thanks for replying!

About the Dominar, does the seating and ride position offer a comfortable ride? While touring, I do not want to feel the discomfort I feel riding the P220, as in, I do not want a 'glorified' P220

I'll give the CBR250R a chance. Will go for a test ride, and let you guys know.

Duke 390.. I believe the fuel capacity considering its mileage is pretty less with this one, right?

You were right though, I have been bitten by the RE bug. But the more i read and follow members's comments, I am getting more skeptical. The way I see it though overall is RE has more or less the same specifications as the D400( except the electronic panel and monoshocks) and looks a little more classier.. the age old debate of feel vs specs

Re: Upgrading from P220 to RE..wise choice?

i have owned tb500 for 4 years, worst decision of my life.finally sold it.left me stranded many times.
if the bike doesnt give u problems its one of the best things out there.
its a gamble.choice is yours.

Re: Upgrading from P220 to RE..wise choice?

Cbr is an age old beauty. Dominor is a pretty decent bike as well. KTM a bit on a higher side.
Coming to re, yes it may not match any of the features of above bikes but there is something about them. I own classic 350 and had pulsar 150 as well fz16 in the past. Though not much of rider and a car person, but every now and then I try to snitch out any available opportunity to ride my bike. It’s just that the feel on this bike is different and I am sure same is the case with any other bike as well.
Ultimately you need to make choice whether you accept re with all flaws or choose the logically and practically correct bike. It’s like mind vs heart kind of situation....

Re: Upgrading from P220 to RE..wise choice?

Please don't buy the dominar!!

The coolant issue is it fixed yet and there are lot of quality issues.

220 is an amazing machine by bajaj, but after you ride a dominar, you will feel the lack of quality the first time itself.

I had a very bad experience with the dominar.
Almost 80% of Dominars have this peculiar problem where after the bike has done like 10000 kms, the coolant starts leaking inside the engine and mixes with engine oil.

Even a 3 month old bike is having the problem.

Apart from these quality and coolant issues, it's an amazing bike.

I would suggest you to have a look into the following bikes.

Cbr250: not much of an upgrade if you consider the CC but , this is more powerful than you think it is.
This is a frikkin mile muncher.
The bike just keeps running, that's it no more questions.

Also it has the combi ABS which is a great thing to have!

I've seen many cbr 250 crossing 1 lakh kms without any sort of engine work.
Yes, not even valve adjustment.
(Ahem ahem, all pulsars needs the bore kit to be changed around the 50000 kms mark)

RE Himalayan: this is the only adv spec bike in its class.
Very capable offroader and tourer, now it comes with panniers as an accessory.
Very comfortable to ride, can cruise at 100 to 110 kmph very peacefully.
But RE having reliability issues, it's a ball game

Duke 390 : this is one monster of a machine, be it track or touring.
You can customise it however you want to.
It's not a refined motor by any means, but a very capable And fun machine.
It will not disappoint you if you are looking for power.
It sometimes power wheelies in 2nd and 3rd gear!

One word to describe this bike : Hooligan !

Re: Upgrading from P220 to RE..wise choice?

Comeon, your statement about dominar is misleading, yes it has the coolant issue in some bikes, im sure its not in 80% of them, what do you mean by quality issues! Apart from vibrations in certain rpm(which is bound to be because of the engine capacity and less price), please enlighten me about any other issue, i clocked 10k + so far in 6 months time including a ladakh ride on my dominar. Never felt the way you described about the bike.

It had never let me down in any terrain, speed, luggage carrying capacity(even where a RE classic 350 was struggling to carry the luggage in chang la(ladakh), my dominar was just cruising). The RE broke down twice during the trip, never the dominar, talk about quality, the riding stability the bike gives you is amazing.. Iam bringing up all these points only because of your irrational statement.

Ps: Iam not a bajaj bakt, this is my first bajaj motorcycle after fz-s , just don’t feel dominar is so bad afterall as you decribed.

I have read your another statement also which says —> Apart from these quality and coolant issues, it's an amazing bike.

Re: Upgrading from P220 to RE..wise choice?

Dude, if you want non-sense, well trusted and practical bike - CBR 250.

You get a sports bike + a tourer. So for short rides you have a Honda Sports bike, and for lo g mile munching, it's a well received comfy, durable and reliable bike. My touring cousin had one and I never heard any cons from him.

Also I heard yhat compared with Duke and other Jap/Euro companies, it's relatively easy and cheaper to maintain.

Re: Upgrading from P220 to RE..wise choice?

Bro I am a cbr250 owner. I clocked nearly 17k kilometres in it in less than 1 year. It's a 2011 model , but still works like a charm. Apart from regular maintenance and oil changes i didn't done any major works til now. it's reliable and also super comfortable in long rides. So i strongly recommend this one among others

Re: Upgrading from P220 to RE..wise choice?

I second this. I have owned a RE TB350 for the last 15 years.
- In the initial half of it's life it devoured 6 chain-sprocket sets - the worst part being that the teeth used to break off, rather than getting gradually grinded away. Of course, I took all care to make sure that the set was aligned properly, chain was properly tightened and what not. Eventually realised that this is most likely a metallurgical issue.
- Front fork seals got replaced at least 3 times in those days
- Rear shockers thrice
- Head Gasket work four times now
- Crank related work twice
- No electrical accessories but main cable harness replaced twice
- Countless A-B-C cable breakages while riding
- Kick starter grooving wearing out too quickly - replaced twice
- Multiple rusting issues despite always being parked under a protected shade and cleaned regularly
- Center stand mount always used to sink
- plus many many more...
You get the drift? When it ran, it was fun but mostly it used to be at the service centre, and later my local mechanic.
So, I eventually gave up on the bike, and also on riding, and the bike was relegated to occasional gym runs or groceries. I am now about to get it scrapped.

I am in the market now to get a new bike, and FOR A BRIEF MOMENT, I was enticed by the new Continental twins. Then remembered my entire ownership saga, and realised that I simply cannot trust my life and my money to Royal Enfield again.

CBR250 is indeed the default choice for your stated use case. Reliable, looks good, reasonably quick. I know people who have now ridden it over 60-70k kms, and they still have the confidence of just picking up the bike and embark on a 1000 km trip with no preparation.

Duke390 is another great option, but you'll need to do something about the wind blast. For touring it is quite nice with a bit of customisation. However, the stance is "On the bike" rather than "In the bike". I happen to prefer the latter, but to each his own.
You also have the Duke250, which might actually fit you better. The engine, I found, more tameable, especially for city riding than the 390, with not much heating issue. similar ergos as the bigger duke, with similar customisation needs. Great power delivery (w.r.t the 250 segment) and within your price point.

Now - Dominar.... It's a great package on paper, and there are reasonably good long term stories of it's touring prowess as well. But, there have been issues as well, and the looks! Another pulsar.
If a Dominar entices you, do wait for the new version to launch, and then take a call. I am doing the same, although my use case is different than yours


In summary -
Upgrading from P220 to RE ...
Wise - No
Choice - Yes

Re: Upgrading from P220 to RE..wise choice?

I agree to all your points, I've been on a 30 day ride to the spiti valley and ladakh this year may 22 to June 20.

It's an amazing bike, handling department and power department.

But the materials used in the engine, the mounting rubbers, the nuts and bolts, the plastics is really bad.
Forget the other parts.

The heart of any motorcycle is the engine.

The coolant mixing with engine oil is disastrous.

Me being unlucky, while riding back to Bangalore, the connecting rod seized and all gears broken, I mean shattered into pieces.
I had to pay 20k to get it fixed(warranty also claimed after a long discussion with bajaj team)

Others who have coolant issue have spent more time in bajaj service than their lives.
Bajaj has replaced the entire engine casing, bore kit , pistols and what not.
And not getting fixed.

Now some dominar owners claim it to be fixed.(hopefully it stays fixed!)

But what after warranty? What if the issue arises again?
Would one be willing to spend more than 30k to get it fixed?

In my opinion, it is better to stay away from the bike.

Touchwood! You will understand when you see someone having the issue.

Bajaj engineers have done an amazing job, it's Bajaj quality department who have messed up.

Re: Upgrading from P220 to RE..wise choice?


Its really horrible what you experienced, really horrible, agree with you regarding lacking quality in fit and finish.

Regrading engine seizing, bro one of my friend had this problem, he noticed a sudden drop in coolant level in the indicator one day and got it checked up in service centre, found pump seal damaged, got it replaced and the bike is fine after that. I think one simple solution for prior indication for this issue would be checking coolant level once in the morning before riding the bike.

I agree with you quality can be better even with a bit increase in price.

If engine coolant level goes down, engine temeprature increases and would limit the engine rpm to 4500 and high temperature indication will light up in the secondary display. Didn’t this happen in your case before seizure?

Re: Upgrading from P220 to RE..wise choice?

Practically, I was getting a better fuel mileage than coolant mileage.

Yes that sounds funny but true.

I had all the water pump seals, gaskets and all repaired before the ride started.

But after about 1000 kms, coolant level kept dropping.

Later, the whole coolant reservoir was getting empty within 200 to 289 kms.

I used up like 3 or 4 liters of ready to use coolant [emoji23].

After the incident, and issues my fellow d400 buddies are facing, I decided never to recommend a dominar to anyone.
Maybe all Dominars might not have the issue, but what if your dominar has the problem.

I had high hopes on bajaj when getting dominar because 220f was such a gem of a machine.

I've abused it so much , run the engune dry, used engine oils as good as coconut oil but still, it never left me stranded.
On the other side, after taking so much care of dominar, it let me stranded on some highway.

So I've lost trust my friend.

These words are coming out of my pure experience.

Re: Upgrading from P220 to RE..wise choice?

Well one thing is certain.. not a lot of dominar good reviews, and surprisingly good reviews for the CBR, which I feel I should get a TD of this weekend most definitely.
I was hopeful of making a decision to book the bike this weekend, so that I could get the delivery on or before my birthday in mid november ..but I reckon I should calm down and wait for a while and make an informed decision (hopefully)

Is the CBR due a 2019 version as well, in India? any news on that? Or is the one available, a newer version?

EDIT:Any off chance CBR 250RR would be launched in India soon? But i think the price tag is high on that one though right?

Thanks!