[ebonho]

Originally Posted by DrCar

Another advantage of cruiser is that the older folks find it easy to climb and sit on the pillion if they need to accompany you sometimes.

Very pertinent point that I never would have thought of. But it resonates with me coz my dad has a very painful and stiff left knee. He always tells me to pick the Baleno over the Storme when we go for a drive. He can simply slide into the low Baleno. Getting into the Storme is really painful (and long) exercise for him.

Cheers, Doc

[drift87]

A sports tourer/street naked until i reach 40. An adventure sports forever after that.

[JTM]

Wow, this is just such a confusing and close to heart topic.
I'm glad that I can't vote, since voting for just one of these would be too damn cruel on my part

A Grid Gold Edition Yamaha R15 V2 as a commuter, because I grew up absolutely loving one owned by a guy near my tuition centre.



A Yamaha RZ350 YPVS Kenny Roberts Edition as a retro classic.



A 2002 Honda VFR800 as a tourer, one of my favourite bikes growing up.



And finally a Ducati 1098S Tricolore as a Supersport weekend warrior. Fell in love with one of these after seeing the similar 848 EVO for the first time in a magazine several years back

[PrasannaDhana]

Voted for Sports (supersport in specific)

Because

1. Motorcycle is not my primary mode of transport and hence comfort is not a priority

2. I wanted something that delivers the best in terms of performance (not just engine performance, but also ergonomics, handling and braking)

3. It looks bloody cool

Glory of motorcycling in my perspective is not about enjoying the breeze nor visiting destinations nor enjoying the engine note or whatever. To me, motorcyçling is a very effective way to keep alive the fearless, energetic 17 year old in the work-laden, responsibility bearing 34 year old me. The pleasure in leaning down at speed, just focusing on the direction you need to go, and not at all worrying about the corner is something that every rider needs to experience. With supersport motorcycles, the pleasure is multifold.

And that's why I ride this, a pure sinful machine



Even if I had to use a motorcycle as a primary mode of transportation, I would still choose sports, I mean those bikes that are neither here nor there - like the cbr250r or the R3 or the Apache 310r. They look sporty but are brilliant commuters for longer duration of riding.

[NiInJa]

My preferred style is street naked or sports. Sports less preferred on bad roads.

Whenever riding a bike, our spine should be a bit curved and tilted forwards. This ensures better comfort and our body takes sudden shocks well as the spine is not under tension. Also, there must be a bit of weight on the handlebar which aides in better handling. Commuters and cruisers are good on paved surfaces, but on pothole ridden roads they put a lot of pressure at the tip of the spine (tail-bone ?)

[ebonho]

Street nakeds are closing the gap on Retro Classics.

[sandeep.k]

I recently got myself a pre-owned 2018 red Ducati Scrambler Icon. I guess this bike slots into the modern classics and my preferred style right now. No high-tech on the bike except for ABS. I love the fact that these bikes ( modern/retro classics ) are infinitely customizable and no two bikes can never be the same!

Been making some changes on my own and the bike doesn't look anything close to what it was when I got it.

[saikarthik]

My love is with performance and sport. But requirement is to tour for long distances, and can handle light off-roading(bad paths basically - like on the way to high passes of Himalayas), and can handle curvy roads confidently with slight tail slide when I open the throttle.

I currently own a CBR 205R, Its been almost 9 years and I have been in love with it from the first day.
Few things I was able to do with my bike,

1. have cruised on highways for thousands of kilometers,
2. been to high altitudes - Khardung La and many passes,
3. rode to desert in hot summer (48 deg C),
4. places with lots of rain and wetness (Western Ghats),
5. Cross-border touring - Nepal and Bhutan,
6. Take it to track - BIC on track days,
7. Go on off-road trails (light trails),

There is nothing that this bike can't do (in its limits of course). After this I just wanted the same CBR but with bigger displacement - basically as my friend usually says: Need. More. Power!!!

Few Pics of my bike.

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by sandeep.k

I recently got myself a pre-owned 2018 red Ducati Scrambler Icon. I guess this bike slots into the modern classics and my preferred style right now.

It's a proper street naked. Which could also equally comfortably slot into the dirt segment.

Which brings me to my earlier point about street nakeds , the evolution of bikes, and classification based on sit angle versus hybridised use based specialization.

If you go back on history, all bikes that are now genuine classics (not retro classic lookalikes) were essentially street nakeds ... aside from the USA with its arrow straight continental length roads and fetish for the absurdly low and long ...

Cheers, Doc

[bhargavd]

ADV Tourers all the way.

Learnt riding on a Pulsar 150 and was the only motorcycle I had for 10 years. Graduated to a RE Classic 350 which was used for commuting till few months back. Got a Tiger 800 in July which has blown away a lot of perceptions I had about riding.

Like a lot of members have mentioned, it's the need which justifies the kind of bike to have. For me ADVs are the all in one solution for my requirement till the time I can't have a multi bike garage!

On the poll results- street nakeds as the second choice is eye opening. The current market interest around ADVs made me believe it would be the second choice (and is currently at 4th behind Sports)

[alphadog]

Not fair!. Having to choose only one option.
I have voted Adv-sports, as I could choose only one. In an ideal world, I would like to have an Adv-sports, a modern classic (Honda CB1100 / Kawasaki Z900RS) and a corner carver and a looker like the Ducati Panigale V4, preferably in Red and not to miss, a 125-150 cc scooter for the run-abouts in the city.
Presently, I own the Africa Twin and the Z900. I will mostly swap the Z900 for an appropriate retro-classic and then start saving up for the sports bike.

Cheerio!

[Rocketscience]

I too don't use motorcycle as my primary means of transport and never will, with no offence meant of course to anyone, even the most comfortable motorcycle gets hectic over relatively long distances, you feel the extreme heat, cold, rain, pollution, wind blast after 80-100 Km/h, and potentially no music in any type of motorcycle, what more, they are not very welcome at malls and other places, and you have to carry your helmet inside which is tedious inconvenient and is not allowed inside Cinema Halls as well.

All these are my observations after having owning a motorcycle for 2 years and riding a lot of them of friends and family and hence it reinstated my belief in owning the one which pulls my heartstrings and that is a sports bike for something, dare i say as shallow as looks, that combined with overall great package minus the comfort that my r15v3 is, i will still go with a sports bike in future as well, albeit with better comfort.

The r15 is not comfortable even for those random weekend rides and this is not exactly the suspension's fault, the riding position is the main culprit here and even at 27 years of age and decent fitness levels my body gets mild pains after just a 45 minute - 1 hour ride, i will go with something less committed like maybe the CBR 650r next as obviously i'am not after extreme lean angles or extracting that last bit of performance at all, which is also not safe at all on regular roads.

I will also enter the controversial lane here and say i absolutely despise the retro segment in India to the core, no offence meant to the owners please, they are all generally lovely and passionate enthusiasts but i mean come on, if we talk about cars, no one will buy an Ambassador or Fiat 1100 today (with no one i mean the mainstream market), and won't even consider buying one if they came with exactly the same technology, power and reliability as their original 1950s-60s models, we have progressed immensely in engine power, refinement, efficiency, reliability, chassis stability, handling, suspension and just about each and every component used in motorcycles yet the Royal Enfields and the pack do exactly that, except they are even decades old than the aforementioned Ambassadors and Fiats, don't get me wrong, i have nothing against comfortable bikes or cruiser bikes or long stroke engines with good low end power, but these bikes are not that at all, they were technological masterpieces but in 1930s, there is no excuse for not having brilliant engineering yet offering all those desirable characteristics after 85 years.

The 350cc British bikes at that time (mid 1930s) made 18-20 hp, which is what the royal enfields make today, even their newest Meteor makes the same power, hell even Honda joined them and it is practically a joke, considering the fact that Honda 350 from mid 1960s produced substantially more power than their Highness launched in 2020! Honda was known for revolutionising the Motorcycle segment in the 60s and practically wiped out the British competition at that point, by being much more competent and advanced. The businessman in me doesn't blame Honda India to try to milk the already popular segment but i expected much, much more from them, but then perhaps they made this bike on minimum possible R&D and to mimic the immensely popular Royal Enfield.

If styling is what one is after then even that needs to be modified with the time while having the same character, in the same way that VW Beetle or Porsches are, another fun fact is that all the British bikes were styled like Royal Enfields back in 1930s-40s (BSAs, Nortons, Triumphs) and it is an era specific design which was perhaps the norm those days and nothing special. Blows my mind! Again, this is not meant as a hate towards anyone or anything, i for one, appreciate Royal Enfield's marketing department (not being sarcastic here they actually are brilliant), their sales department, the sales and service experience in my view is bar none the best in India, offers great premium experience in showrooms, the service centers usually don't rip you off too and are quite competent as well. (My brother's Himalyan's engine head blew after around 1k kms, and they did a decent enough job to replace it and got it right after 2 trys, again not being sneaky and sarcastic here, but they actually did do their best and considering the low service standards of 2 wheelers in India is a good enough thing)

[Manan9876]

UJM all the way started in India with the venerable RD 350 , I won't categorise those two stroke monsters with the more tame and boring British makes.

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by Rocketscience

I will also enter the controversial lane here and say i absolutely despise the retro segment in India to the core, no offence meant to the owners please, they are all generally lovely and passionate enthusiasts but i mean come on, if we talk about cars, no one will buy an Ambassador or Fiat 1100 today (with no one i mean the mainstream market), and won't even consider buying one if they came with exactly the same technology, power and reliability as their original 1950s-60s models, we have progressed immensely in engine power, refinement, efficiency, reliability, chassis stability, handling, suspension and just about each and every component used in motorcycles yet the Royal Enfields and the pack do exactly that, except they are even decades old than the aforementioned Ambassadors and Fiats, don't get me wrong, i have nothing against comfortable bikes or cruiser bikes or long stroke engines with good low end power, but these bikes are not that at all, they were technological masterpieces but in 1930s, there is no excuse for not having brilliant engineering yet offering all those desirable characteristics after 85 years.

The funny thing about the RE resurgence from when they used to sell 25-30000 bikes a year, year on year, for decades, to the last 10 years where they now sell 75000 bikes a month, is that this retro fad was spawned by decades of Indian riders who used the Bullet as purely a bike and for what it was and what it offered, and not as a retro classic or any such thing, because there was simply nothing else and no modern bike to speak off, till the japlas came in the late 80s.

The Bullet was never a retro classic.

It was what we in the biological space call a living dinosaur. A creature that did not die off with the general extinction epoch of its species.

The retro classic angle in India was spawned by the UCE engine. At the turn of the last decade, and the begining of this one. The LB just before it was still essentially the classic British engine, with Austrian modernization tweaks.

And many other bike brands took it from there.

Cheers, Doc

[architect_santo]

I would love to drive any type provided it suits the purpose. Retro classic is my personal choice, as it offers much relaxed driving posture and I could use it in the city as well as highway. I already own a RX135 (1999 model restored to stock condition), love its driving posture as well.

Sports motorcycle I prefer not to, just cause of the wrist and back pain it imparts on me due to the driving posture; I once driven Honda CBR 250R, I decided its not suitable for my body's flexibility.