Re: Best variant of TBTS?

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Re: Best variant of TBTS?

Bajaj dominar or CBR 250 seems to be around your budget and are very able bikes. I'm not a RE fan and hence no recommendation there. Or maybe start with a Bajaj NS200 and go up the cc chain gradually.

Re: Best variant of TBTS?

I bought my first RE (2004 Thunderbird AVL) in 2018 January.

Used it thoroughly for 1.5 years and sold this June

Reason-- Cold start issues were getting too much to handle and spares I had issues in procuring.

Bought for 51000 sold for 40000 after riding around 20000kms.

Then bought a 2017 Thunderbird 350 for 1.05 ridden for 5700kms and in pristine condition.

Using it from last 2 months only issue is sometimes it stops but after small tinkering starts again.

Heaven to.ride.

Now remember some things if you buying a RE bike ( any model)

1) Never buy RE bike new from showroom.
Look for 1.5-2.5 years old.models which will.be avaialble for a steal.

The main reason for this is --no matter what RE is an hit or miss bike. If you buy new and get issues in bike even due to some quality problems by manufacturer be rest assured you are in a fix and company will seldom be able to fix it.

What happens I have personally seen is people buy RE and at times get an defective product and it causes massive headache to them. RE bikes as it require maintenance (in terms of time) money also. Why make it more difficult by getting a defective product

Also, a new TB 350 costs around 1.80lakhs.

If you get a lemon then be assured you will need to sell it within 4-5 months as you will.be tired of running around service centre guys. In that case your product value falls heavily and you may need to sell at 1.25-1.3 and stand to.lose a lot of money.

Better buy a 1.5_2 year old RE and try it. Worse case scenario even if you get a lemon you can sell it for almost the price you bought it hereby reducing loses.

I love RE bike especially mine but do I trust it as much as I do my 2007 Glamour or 2014 activa. NO.

I know that RE is a machine that can fail anytime without notice but I have accepted it.

Do your research properly and get a second hand RE and see do you really like it?

The guy I bought my current bike from bought it for the hype of RE but later found out he liked fast bikes more, hated the fact that RE bikes were technology outdated and so sold it to me.

All the best.

And remember I too used to be a RE hater until.i rode it one day. Love the long stroke engine and fell in love with it.

Re: Best variant of TBTS?

Extend your budget and get the interceptor or buy the 2019 Dominar, even preowned dominar will be better than brand new thunderbird [emoji23][emoji23]

Re: Best variant of TBTS?

Yes I agree to an extent
.between anything to look for if buying a second hand dominar?
.friend wants to buy one

Re: Best variant of TBTS?

Hello Rishi, you are exactly in the same spot where i was 2 years ago. I too had a 13 year old HH Glamour back then and wanted to upgrade to a touring/city bike. I chose the dominar abs back then and i haven't look back since. The most vfm bike for the money and i felt a connect with it. Few of my friends who bought a re with me or even later are always complaining about something failing or going wrong. Even they have forgotten the number of times there bike have visited the workshop. I own the 2017 dominar and had only minor issue with the bike which was quickly replaced under warranty and i strongly believe that the 2019 dominar is definetly a much more finished and rounded package than before retaining its vfm pricing. Still i suggest you to go and test ride all the bikes in your shortlist and buy the one you feel a connect with.
Ride Hard Ride Safe
Amogh Sharma

Re: Best variant of TBTS?

If you really want to get an Royal Enfield,I'd ask you to wait for the BS6 Models as they are supposedly brand new engines which does away with the historic pushrods and is supposedly an OHC setup,which are being tested and a lot of spyshots are coming,I also think that now RE has formidable competition from the likes of JAWA and YEZDI is gonna return too,So I am pretty sure RE will have done some serious work on getting their motorcycle's quality upto the industry standards,so they will be day & night better than the current 350s and 500s.

If you want to get an RE now,I'd say get something that is the closest to a true 'RE' - The Standard Bullet 500,Convert to Carburettor,Cast Iron Bend Pipe and Cast Iron's Short Bottle and thump all the way to sunset

Practically much better choice - 2019 Bajaj Dominar.Pretty much better than any Royal Enfield (except for the 650 Twins) in almost any factor you take for comparison.Negatives are that the bike is a bit difficult to use in the city due to it's weight and the way power is delivered,also fuel efficiency is poor in city

Another choice would be the JAWA - Very nice motorcycles,The look stunning.Can do both city and highways effortlessly.Negatives includes the long waiting period,seat is like one wooden bench in our schools.Cheaper than both the Dominar and the Bullet 500.So you can use the saved money to get a nice helmet,jacket and boots or something.

Another choice - Suzuki Gixxer 250 - I'd chose this over the SF due to the front end being lighter so will be great for city,The engine felt very potent for highway cruising as well.Priced pretty much the same as the JAWA,abiet slightly cheaper.

Hope this helps