It's been little over a month and 1000 km odd since I got my Inazuma. Having driven over 1000 kms, guess a an initial assment/review is due.
Let me get the most disgusting/sordid part of the story out of the way first, which is the price of this bike. Here goes.
Ex-Showroom 3,25,000
10% Road Tax in TN 32,500
AAP-Mamool to RTO/Agent 2,500
On The Road Price: 3,60,000
Engine Guard 18,000
Center Stand 6,000
Total Price of Bike+Accessories: 3,84,000/-
(If you can call and engine guard and center stand accessories). Mods, I hope you will understand my outflow of emotions regarding the price and excuse this transgression of a few extra emoticons...
I would also like to add that Suzuki should call this model
Hara-Kiri like Hayate, cause this is what they plan to do in India !! .Now that I have gotten the crazy part out of the way, let me go on to the good bits.
I was quite excited when the Duke 200 was launched and used my friends bike a couple of times for fairly long distances. I was quite happy about the bike, but couple of things held me back. 1) The seats where very hard and narrow, 2) Orange Wheels (Thankfully there is a more sober option for 200 now), 3) Knees bent back seating position. Of the three things, the third one was a show stopper for me. Then the 390 was launched and it was a no brainer, and I almost put my money down on it. Then I began to ask myself, do I need an affordable bike that doesn't meet my need or should I just cough up and pay more and buy a bike that meets my needs as a comfortable long distance tourer which the duke definitely is not. It is sprinter not a marathon runner.
Finally the choice came down to Triumph Bonnie or Suzuki Inazuma. Japanese reliability, better economy, lower price point & lack of a dealer in Tamil Nadu, made me narrow down on the Inazuma. There will definitely be bonnie down the road sometime.
Getting to Inazuma, these are the positive points, that I can think about the bike.
1) It is an absolutely comfortable tourer. There is plenty of place for rider & pillion or the option of loading it up with plenty of luggage. The suspension is very soft and ride is great over any kind of Indian Terrain (not the jeans).
2) Excellent low and mid range torque. Best rpm range is from 3000 to 7500 rpm. Still riding conservatively as second run in period is 1600 kms with 7500 rpm limit. First run in period is 800 kms with 5,500 rpm limit.
3) Slick gearbox with no false gears. The only problem I found is that if I came to a sudden stand still in 6th gear, it was a pain to downshift all the way to 1st. Best to downshift when bike is moving. Then no problem at all.
4) I really like the instrument cluster, especially the dial rpm gauge. Kind of reminds me of the jap sport bikes of yester year. I am not a fan of full digital lcd screen instrument clusters which seems to be the fad these days.
5) Tyres are IRC make and are reasonably grippy & broad.
6) The twin exhaust looks very meaty and many stopped and asked me if it s 500, cause from the back it does look much more than a 250.
7) Headlamps are reasonably bright. However, plan to upgrade bulbs to PIAA All Weather.
8) It is extremely well put together with no compromise made to meet a lower sale price target. Overall excellent quality. Just park it side by side a 390 and look at the fit and finish of parts like the instrument cluster, etc and you will see what i mean.
9) Has an real oil filter which is about the size of a Maruti 800 oil filter placed a the front of the engine. Engine takes about 2.1 liters of oil, which is only 1 liter odd less than a swift multijet engine.
10)Has a side sand warning/cut off which will cut of the engine if side stand is engaged and bike is in gear.
11)Water cooled engine with radiator fan.
12) You are treated like a king in the service center (or rather the only fool)
Things i don't like about the Inazuma
1) Price and the fact that Suzuki will rip you off 24K for an engine guard & center stand !!
2) Air filter is under the tank which requires you to remove the seats, the fiddly bits at the side of the tank, remove the tank & then replace/clean the air filter. Couldn't they have just found space under the seat especially given our dusty road conditions.
3) Looks like any of the other wannabe superbike commuters like Unicorn, FZ, etc, etc..
Overall, I can say that I am totally enjoying the bike and am slowly recovering from price shock after multiple visits to my shrink and lying on a sofa watching goldfish swim.
For those of us who started using Bullets before Bullets became a fad and have outgrown bullets, I suggest taking a test drive of the Inazuma. This bike is ugly compared to a bullet, but it is something you can tour the length and breath of india, safely, reliably & comfortably without batting an eyelid.
This is all that I can think of now...