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Hi there xBhpians !
I'm Swapnil, an electronics engineer and a businessman by profession. It's been so long since I've joined xbhp but could never ever write something of my own. Reason... I had stopped riding and started driving. But now I have decided I'll get back to riding as that has been my passion all my life.
My first ever ride on a two wheeler happened when i was just 13 ( I know it's not legal but it's a fact and can't help it now). But I actually started riding when I was 18. My dad used to ride his Lamby polo 150 scooter and I just loved riding it. He used to spend a lot of time cleaning and maintaining it and I used to always assist him. He sold it after 10yrs of ownership as spares were rarely available . As I grew up and took up a job, I thought of buying myself a bike. And then, one day at my workplace, I saw an ad in midday about hero Honda CBZ . It was the most stunning design I had ever seen on any Indian bike back then. With disc brakes, upswept exhaust, front fairing, tank cowls, fatter rear tyre, sporty look and a big bike feel, I immediately thought to myself, if I ever want to buy me a bike, this was it. I visited the nearest hero Honda showroom and boy I was possessed by this beauty. My salary was a mere 2000 pm and the emi was 1200. With such kind of figures, no bank would want to lend a loan to me, so i turned to Dad. The bike was bought and I soon turned into some kind of a celebrity. Wherever I used to go, people used to stop me to ask questions. Such was the charm of the cbz. I rode the cbz for 12 years clocking around 90k kms. I used to spend my Sunday mornings washing and polishing it. All services were done at the authorised service centres using original parts. But things changed after marriage, and I started to use my car more often than my bike and I became so used to my car that my bike was left neglected for almost 3 yrs. But the biker in me never ceased to exist. Sitting in my car, I used to always think just how much fun I had riding a bike. And one day I decided I'll start it all over again. And that's when I started searching for a bike suitable for me. This time though, I want something bigger and better.
The R1 has been my dream bike since ages and will always be. Maybe one day I will own it. I had read in many articles that starting with litre class superbikes is not advisable and hence started searching for 600 cc bikes. The R6 is what I thought would be great to start with but it's not available in India freely and it would anyway cost a bomb(at least for me). Hence after narrowing down my options i was left with the ninja 650, duke 390 and the recently launched benelli tnt600i. (Budget in mind was 6lacs)
I visited the dsk benelli showroom and checked out the bike. The tnt 600i is amazing and the moment you crank it up, the sweet exhaust note is orgasmic. But myself being on a lighter side and a height of 5'4", I was not quite confident of being able to handle it well. I dropped it from my list because if I'm not comfortable with its weight and height I might end up just buying it and then not using it.
Next, I visited the KTM showroom in bhandup and checked out the ninja and the duke 390. I had read a lot about the Duke and was very eager to try it out. But test ride wasn't available. I found the seat to be very stiff and the saddle height a bit on higher side. So that was ruled out as well.
My choice -The Ninja 650: Strangely, although it has been launched since 2011, I had never seen one on road. Infact I didn't know it existed till I started searching for 600cc bikes. When i first looked at the ninja 650, i got a feeling which was quite similar to the one I had when I first saw the cbz. Test ride wasn't available. I was allowed to sit and check out the bike (which was brought to showroom for delivery to some lucky fellow) and just loved the ergonomics of the bike. Quality, fit and finish was excellent. Inspite of its 210kgs dry weight, i still could not feel it. Another plus point was that both my feet would touch ground. After a brief talk with the sales guy I walked out with one thing in mind, if I was ever going to buy one, it has to be the ninja 650.
That's it for now guys. It's already a very lengthy intro. So I'll just stop here. Next part of the story..... Coming soon
Till then.... Ride safe
I'm Swapnil, an electronics engineer and a businessman by profession. It's been so long since I've joined xbhp but could never ever write something of my own. Reason... I had stopped riding and started driving. But now I have decided I'll get back to riding as that has been my passion all my life.
My first ever ride on a two wheeler happened when i was just 13 ( I know it's not legal but it's a fact and can't help it now). But I actually started riding when I was 18. My dad used to ride his Lamby polo 150 scooter and I just loved riding it. He used to spend a lot of time cleaning and maintaining it and I used to always assist him. He sold it after 10yrs of ownership as spares were rarely available . As I grew up and took up a job, I thought of buying myself a bike. And then, one day at my workplace, I saw an ad in midday about hero Honda CBZ . It was the most stunning design I had ever seen on any Indian bike back then. With disc brakes, upswept exhaust, front fairing, tank cowls, fatter rear tyre, sporty look and a big bike feel, I immediately thought to myself, if I ever want to buy me a bike, this was it. I visited the nearest hero Honda showroom and boy I was possessed by this beauty. My salary was a mere 2000 pm and the emi was 1200. With such kind of figures, no bank would want to lend a loan to me, so i turned to Dad. The bike was bought and I soon turned into some kind of a celebrity. Wherever I used to go, people used to stop me to ask questions. Such was the charm of the cbz. I rode the cbz for 12 years clocking around 90k kms. I used to spend my Sunday mornings washing and polishing it. All services were done at the authorised service centres using original parts. But things changed after marriage, and I started to use my car more often than my bike and I became so used to my car that my bike was left neglected for almost 3 yrs. But the biker in me never ceased to exist. Sitting in my car, I used to always think just how much fun I had riding a bike. And one day I decided I'll start it all over again. And that's when I started searching for a bike suitable for me. This time though, I want something bigger and better.
The R1 has been my dream bike since ages and will always be. Maybe one day I will own it. I had read in many articles that starting with litre class superbikes is not advisable and hence started searching for 600 cc bikes. The R6 is what I thought would be great to start with but it's not available in India freely and it would anyway cost a bomb(at least for me). Hence after narrowing down my options i was left with the ninja 650, duke 390 and the recently launched benelli tnt600i. (Budget in mind was 6lacs)
I visited the dsk benelli showroom and checked out the bike. The tnt 600i is amazing and the moment you crank it up, the sweet exhaust note is orgasmic. But myself being on a lighter side and a height of 5'4", I was not quite confident of being able to handle it well. I dropped it from my list because if I'm not comfortable with its weight and height I might end up just buying it and then not using it.
Next, I visited the KTM showroom in bhandup and checked out the ninja and the duke 390. I had read a lot about the Duke and was very eager to try it out. But test ride wasn't available. I found the seat to be very stiff and the saddle height a bit on higher side. So that was ruled out as well.
My choice -The Ninja 650: Strangely, although it has been launched since 2011, I had never seen one on road. Infact I didn't know it existed till I started searching for 600cc bikes. When i first looked at the ninja 650, i got a feeling which was quite similar to the one I had when I first saw the cbz. Test ride wasn't available. I was allowed to sit and check out the bike (which was brought to showroom for delivery to some lucky fellow) and just loved the ergonomics of the bike. Quality, fit and finish was excellent. Inspite of its 210kgs dry weight, i still could not feel it. Another plus point was that both my feet would touch ground. After a brief talk with the sales guy I walked out with one thing in mind, if I was ever going to buy one, it has to be the ninja 650.
That's it for now guys. It's already a very lengthy intro. So I'll just stop here. Next part of the story..... Coming soon
Till then.... Ride safe
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