Re: New Bike - moving on from 125cc to 150/160cc

Thread approved.

Re: New Bike - moving on from 125cc to 150/160cc

TVS RTR160 : should be the first choice. A perfectly balanced bike with easy handling to commute in the city and decent highway ride.

Honda Hornet160 : an upgrade to plain and simple looking Unicorn. Looks better than unicorn with all its reliability and Honda smoothness.

Honda Xblade : Looks really good from front. fresh new design, engine is same as hornet, so it will be a decent ride. The fresh new looks will be head turner for sure.

Hero Xtreme200R : a grown up looking commuter from Hero. If you can digest its plain and tasteless looks, it performs well with added advantage of ABS.

Suzuki Gixxer : Now getting a bit old for what it offers, but a decent bike nonetheless. A tried and tested street bike with good highway manners.

Suzuki Gixxer SF : Its the same gixxer with fairing and a single channel ABS. If you like faired bikes, SF is the one to choose.

All of these will give you mileage between 40-50, depending on how you ride. All of them are good bikes, you cannot go wrong with any of them. Take test rides and choose the one that suits you the best.

Re: New Bike - moving on from 125cc to 150/160cc

First ever post: Since my query is almost the same as the thread starters', I thought of adding it here instead of opening up a new thread. Please pour in your suggestions people.

City: Chennai
Height: 165cms
Weight: 70kgs
Intended use: Weekday commutes to office (around 30kms but through the worst ever traffic) weekend meetups with friends
Previous ride: Bajaj Boxer (Dad's) planning for an upgrade since it has started giving me problems not economical to solve

Requirements in the ride:
Decent mileage (anything above 40kmpl would bring a smile)
Pillion comfort (very important - have to drop mom in her office everyday)
Looks (Little sporty)
Speed (not necessarily - Not planning to take it above 100 kmph)
Engine (No good with bike repairs, so anything that won't require a mechanic on highway rides will be fine)

Options considered: (Not limited, you can add any alternative too)
1) Gixxer SF ABS
2) Apache RTR 1604V
3) Fz v2.0
4) R15 -S
5) Pulsar 150 twin disc
6) Pulsar 220F

Test ride experiences:

1) Gixxer SF ABS:
The well built showroom executive accompanied me as the pillion Rider on my test ride. The engine was peppy. Neither a power spitting dragon, nor the slow coach. Tested the ABS too When I asked "is this the ABS version?" The showroom guy held my shirt tight and said "yes". I took that as an approval to test the brakes and revved it max in the third gear and hit the brakes hard on a slippery road. I was in love! It stopped exactly where I wanted to, how I wanted to (i.e.not with any scratches). Almost finalised when I took it to a speed bump and *cruck* Poor ground clearance . It was the center stand that hits the bottom. And the pillion seat is something that looks like a pizza slice

2) Pulsar brothers:
Showroom guy was telling me "Sir, these are bikes that need no test ride!". Enough to irritate me - planning to test ride them in another showroom.

3) Apache RTR 160-4V:
Bike is an eye candy! Love the muscular sculpt tank and graphics. Presence of a kick start is cherry on top. No pillion this time, just me and the machine. First impression is "torquey" (not a word but that is the word that came to my mind). Brute power could be felt there, but brakes could have been better.

Enjoyed the test ride and took a U-turn. Boy is the bike heavy! What I mean is the Gixxer and Apache has around 9kgs weight difference but I couldn't feel the weight in my arms on the Gixxer, but could feel it entirely on my arms with the Apache 160 4V. Is it something I will get used to?

Second thing: pathetic turning radius. Enough said? Maybe not? The turn radius must be around 45 degrees which is very low for city riding. Pillion comfort is okay (I pray).

4) Yamaha :
Went up close to the FZ :2.0. pillion seat is on the first floor. Dropped the FZ from the list then and there.

Whist I was there, the R15-S caught my eye. Ticks all the boxes, the unibody seat could be way better than that of anything in the above list (except pulsars).

Test ride pending because only yesterday I got approval in my home to stretch the budget to an extra 30k for the R15-S.

Other alternatives not considered:
1) Unicorn - Too outdated looks (no offence - just my view)
2) CBR 150R - More expensive, less mileage.
3) Gixxer: I prefer the SF than the naked version.
4) Hornet: Somehow didn't like the engine. Felt underpowered for a bike of that stature.

Thats from my side. Please provide some of your thoughts to help me finalise.

Thanks in advance,
Elfie!

Re: New Bike - moving on from 125cc to 150/160cc

Go for Bajaj pulsar 150 classic/ standard edition.

Re: New Bike - moving on from 125cc to 150/160cc

Go for rtr 160 4v, it has best pillion seat with enough power+ good mileage. It has more positives than negatives. R 15s may be discontinued, same as fz carb variants, R15 v3 will be the main reason for R15s discontinuation.

Re: New Bike - moving on from 125cc to 150/160cc

I moved from a CT100 to an AS200, because I thought that I would not be ready for a 390's power.

Big mistake.


This is not an upgrade. You'll regret it.

Re: New Bike - moving on from 125cc to 150/160cc

Hi,
Thanks for the heads up. But one concern there. R15S was launched after the v2.0 and is still in production. If I buy one now, and it gets discontinued next year (hopefully not), will it be too tough to get spares? :O

Re: New Bike - moving on from 125cc to 150/160cc

Yes, it'll be very difficult to get parts.

Re: New Bike - moving on from 125cc to 150/160cc

Has anyone considered the new KTM Duke 125.
The bike as all the features of its elder sibling.
Great for traffic as its got underbody exhaust.
Does not sound like an auto
has ABS
Has a newer softer seat.
Very lightweight
All premium parts
Good Balance of power and smoothness. No it does not vibrate as much as Duke 390 because of it smaller engine.
14Bhp from a 125cc bike.

Re: New Bike - moving on from 125cc to 150/160cc

Is CBR 150R still available? Even 250R isn't available at showrooms.

Re: New Bike - moving on from 125cc to 150/160cc

Bro, if you want to look out from service point of view, I'd say Bajaj/Hero have the most presence. Another factor is the spares availability, in terms of bigger bikes, Pulsars have the most wide spares availability. Also, Hero/Bajaj spares would be less costly. You can lookout, of the palaces you visit have TVS SVC.

I sometimes faced problems finding spares for my 2008 Honda Shine. So, I'd say get a bike that is withing your service budget too. Personally I would love to own R15V3, but it's spares and service costs would not suit me. I recently bought P220 over NS200 coz it's a simple carb + oil cooled bike, available and cheap spares, it's easy to service and in case any problem arises any roadside mechanic can fix it.

Re: New Bike - moving on from 125cc to 150/160cc


Can we do anything about this gentleman's back to back posts? And its not just this thread, I can literally link a hundred examples.
[MENTION=24386]Samarth[/MENTION]619 [MENTION=7123]sunilg[/MENTION]

Re: New Bike - moving on from 125cc to 150/160cc

It has highest compression ratio of 14. xx , it's reliability will be a concern. Gasket seal leakage, oil leakages will be common, also it'll produce more heat, also it is the heaviest in class ( 148kg wet), gixxer and 160 4v is enough to beat this baby ktm.

Re: New Bike - moving on from 125cc to 150/160cc

[QUOTE=HyperRetard;1361181]Can we do anything about this gentleman's back to back posts? And its not just this thread, I can literally link a hundred examples.
[MENTION=24386]Samarth[/MENTION]619 [MENTION=7123]sunilg[/MENTION][/QUOTE [MENTION=7123]sunilg[/MENTION], i am just expressing my views, it's upto the buyer what he likes , it's a platform for discussion.

Cheers!