[gauravanekar]

My honest effort to pen down a comprehensive ownership report of a relatively rare bike

Likes:
1. Refined Engine
2. Looks, Looks & Looks (Add Joan Mir's win as Bonus)
3. Relaxed Compression ratio which lends a feeling of long lasting durability
4. Cross country touring ability

Dislikes:
1. Front end dive while braking
2. Less Windblast protection
3. No option for fairing protection, this keeps worrying me
4. The ability to change direction quickly is limited when compared to 155cc version

Who am I
A 30+ year old who is passionate about motorcycle

What have I bought
Suzuki Gixxer SF 250 MotoGP edition

So...
I believe that every ownership review is colored by the experiences of the person with his previous vehicles, location and other factors.

A well articulated ownership report would help many others in deciding whether the particular automobile is the right thing to buy. I would like to share my ownership experience and review with fellow BHPians.

Disclaimer
My opinion may be slightly controversial, please don't take it personally.

Firstly my riding history

I started riding bike in 2005, It was a gen 1 Bajaj Discover 125 (red, no ugly decals). Discover was launched with an ad campaign which has Jackie Chan playing a Buddhist monk who is captivated by this bike. Being the 10th standard student that I was, I was indeed influenced by that ad. In the same year my dad decided to replace his Chetak with a motorcycle, I suggested him this bike. We loved this bike. I started riding this bike "underage". Fast forward 5 years I had finished my 6th sem B.E exams and was at home with parents, pestered them to let me take this bike to Mysore (where I was studying). Rode this bike through for a year, did some long rides with college friends, it did give a lot of trouble due to age and suboptimal build quality. Due to bad advice and naivety I rebored the engine, the bike never came back to its former self after that. After I finished studies, I left it in home. Shortly after that my father sold it. Didnt look back, did not regret too.



5 month after I started working I was passing through Jayanagar in a bus in front of RE company owned showroom, I glimpsed through the glass at a captivating sight. Borrowed my friends bike immediately after I reached the destination and visited the showroom.
Saw the Desert Storm for the first time, I had not seen this version of classic 500 even once in the internet. When I googled I understood that this bike was launched just a day before. I was so attracted by the bike that the very next day morning I booked the bike after taking test ride of a regular classic 500, it was Oct 2011. Waited impatiently till march 2012 for my delivery.



The ownership of Desert Storm was full of great experiences, rode long and rode hard. Those were formation years for me as a biker. This was the time when I started discovering myself as a rider. This was attention magnet like no other at that point of time. REs were quite rare those days and Desert storm was drool worthy.

I did Hosur - Pune - Aurangabad - Hosur
Saddlesore ride (not proud of that though)
and numerous rides in the 4 southern states

During the same period my friend and roommate bought Yamaha R15V2. We used to ride each others' bike occasionally and tour together many times. My bike was Thor's hammer and his was like a katana sword. These two bikes complemented each other, I loved r15 too as much as my own bike.

I sold the Desert storm after 3.5 years with 36k km on the ODO. The reason for sale were 2:
1. I realized that I liked the bikes with high revving nature, I used to enjoy riding R15V2 and another friend's Apache 180 a lot.
2. RE Desert Storm had one or the other deficiency most of the time, for a person who has a little bit of OCD, this was too much to take. It never failed on me completely anytime, at the end it was an elephant to maintain.

after selling the desert storm I had 98k in hand and immediately wanted another bike. I did not want to spend too much on my next bike as I was tight on budget. I chanced upon team-bhpian preetam_KORG's ownership thread on Pulsar NS 200. Impressed with the looks and performance. I bought Pulsar AS200 in Red.



This was such a revelation. I was right!
I did indeed like the high revving nature of this motorcycles engine. Initially I was a little apprehensive about typically low torque in city speeds (same with any high revving engine), the low bottom end of the high revving bikes didn't bother me at all. in fact I liked the dual personality of such engines.

I had a great time with the Pulsar, One of my closest friend bought Gixxer SF 155cc, I liked the bike a lot.


Himalayan Dilemma
I was always on the lookout for new bikes and the RE Himalayan was too good to resist. I arranged for a relative's himalayan for 3 days and test rode in detail, at the end of it I felt unimpressed. The bike felt heavy for an offroader and the engine sounded stressed in highway.



R15 - the unmet love
Every now and then I would feel the urge to sell whatever I used to own (Desert storm or Pulsar) and buy the latest R15. I always used to stalk R15 in various dealerships wherever I lived. However I never ended up buying considering the sane advice of my close biker friends that Once one is used to a certain power figures, its difficult to go a step lower.



During the fag end I did get involved with Team-bhp Bangalore bikers group, did 2 or 3 breakfast rides, had a great time meeting and knowing fellow bhpinas. The pulsar was having oil leak issue on and off, in spite of getting repaired at Bajaj ASS the problem just didn't go away. I had an embarrassing moment in one of the last such breakfast ride, The engine suddenly started leaking too much near Krishnagiri, and on that day I had to drop my bike in Krishnagiri ASS. Dr. Vijay did help me out graciously on that day by dropping me back to Bangalore. I decided to sell the bike and not take it for any long rides before I sell.



What next

Meanwhile life happened, I had a cute 1year old son, I had decided to switch job and move to Jaipur, Rajasthan, sold the Pulsar before taking the flight. I was too busy with my new job since June 2019 and was bike less for 1.5 year.

[gauravanekar]

My riding style
I feel the obligation to give you an idea on how I like to ride. I enjoy touring and the kinds of roads I like riding on is curvy roads with a little bit of elevation changes but not the typical hairpin curves (looking at you kolli hills). There should be an element of unpredictability at each turns.
I always try to reach the highest safe speed that is possible on each section of road. I accelerate hard and I brake liberally. Sometimes I go into a calm mode and slow down a lot to soak into the mood.
Some of the best roads that I’ve ridden on are in Valparai, Chikmagalur, Kumbla, Gudalur etc

When I tour I feel that there’s three forces that are at play, they intermingle, mix, influence the other forces tussle with each other. The equilibrium that is reached forms a vibe in the mind which can be of various flavour, pleasant to vibrant, hot to gritty.
The three forces are
1. The road, scenery, ride and handling
2. The state of mind influenced by current life situation
3. The music which is running in the earphones

Which new bike then??

The automobile addresses only a part of the first force, is the most important force among the trio which defines the vibes.

With the added responsibilities at workplace I wanted something which can soothe the mind, rejuvenate and energise for the daily grind.

So when I started looking for a new bike to buy the KTMs and their ilk were batted straight out of the field, no that’s not what I was looking for.

I had decided that I would buy a “premium” “Quality” motorcycle and would try not repeat the bad experiences that I had with RE and Bajaj. So it had to be Japanese or Japanese Quality like.

Some of the bike launches which attracted me a lot over the years were Dominar, Xpulse, Interceptor, Gixxer 250 and Apache 310, yet I didn’t take the plunge as I was pretending to be a wise man who doesn’t splurge on bikes unnecessarily (Who was I kidding)

I reached out to bhpian Aswinprakash to take feedback on the Quality front on various manufacturers, he gave some valuable inputs on Heromoto and Honda brands. Decided to not go for these two brands. At the end I had only TVS, Suzuki and Yamaha to choose from, which was not bad at all as these three manufacturers have some good products in their portfolio which are fast and high revving and yet don’t cost a kidney.

R15 the unmet love Part 2

I started visiting Yamaha Showroom again to checkout R15 again.


And then the Pandemic happened. With a little concern about job security and overall gloomy mood in 2020, somewhere in the month of May I thought that as a family if we were able to sail through 2020 without any problem I would get a good bike for myself first thing in 2021.

Fortunately, all was well. So What next? A bike of course!!

Which Bike

I had two lists, looking at the list you can make out what it means

List1
1. Yamaha R15 2. Gixxer SF 250 3. Apache 310 R

List2
1. Xpulse 200 2. RE Himalayan

I decided to choose among these, sadly I couldn't make up my mind.

End of December'20, it was getting clearer by the day that I will not be able commute daily to office in my petrol figo as it was getting too expensive. Throughout my career before the covid pandemic I used to use office cab for my office commute, however after the pandemic I started using my car for the purpose.
I tried to use my fathers humble Yamaha Saluto RX 110cc in place of car, but I did not feel safe while riding this slow motorcycle on GQ highway as a commuter on daily basis. I was constantly concerned about some fast car hitting me from behind. Weak brakes and headlight didn't inspire any confidence either.



My confusion started clearing slowly as I realized that buying motorcycle may earn ROI in 2 or 3 years. Decision finally made.
With the added requirement of daily commute, I made another list of probables. Again made a excel sheet to find out VFM bike.



My heart said buy Apache 310, my mind said buy Gixxer and my wallet suggested Apache 200

I visited TVS showroom first. they did not have a registered test ride bike and they were willing to offer a unregistered bike for a short ride around the showroom. I demanded registered insured dedicated test ride bike as I do not want to test ride a bike which will be sold to an unsuspecting buyer. I gave them my piece of my mind and refused test ride.

I visited Yamaha Showroom once again, they also did not have FZS25 test ride bike. This time I politely refused test ride and didnt bother to sermon them again. I had almost finalized this bike as it seemed good choice as a commuter.

Next turn was with Platinum Suzuki, Ajmer road. They had both naked and SF variant of gixxer 250 test bikes. Appreciated them for keeping dedicated test ride bike. To be honest the test ride was not impressive as the route was trafficky and with the pillion (dealer staff). However on one fine saturday night I made up my mind to buy Gixxer SF 250.

Sunday morning I took my wife for a test ride and final approval. She liked the pillion comfort and commented that this was better than Pulsar AS200.

I cross shopped between the dealers in Jaipur and on the same day I bought the MotoGP edition from one of the dealers by paying in full cash.

[gauravanekar]

At the time of delivery I did a thorough inspection of painted surface and all the mountings of the fairings, found everything to be fine except for the fact that there was some minor scratches on clutch lever. Since it was getting late on a sunday I was requested to get it changed during first service free of cost. I took the same in writing from them and left for home.

The 30km ride from dealership to home was the first opportunity for me to observe the engine and transmission in detail. I kept the engine rpm under 5k.

Following were the observations:
1. Gearshifts were hard and loud (takk noise)
2. Prominent vibrations between 4k-5k rpm
3. The engine was not tractable at lower rpms at all

Same day I took my wife with me to the famous Moti Dungri Ganesh Temple in Jaipur for vahan pooja. Prayed for a safe ride. My wife appreciated the comfort once more.


My dad and my son loved the bike as well.







The very next day my father went to a nearby suzuki showroom (both owned by same person) and bought me Suzuki Ecstar Mineral oil 10W-40 oil and also collected a VIP suitcase as a gift. That day I had not taken the new bike to office as I didnt want to ride the bike too much before oil change.

yes I know what might be thinking, first oil change is supposed to be at 750km to 1000km, then how come this guy is avoiding riding.

A short note on running in:

I have worked three years in Two wheeler manufacturing plant and my entire 9 year career is spent in auto OEM factories. Nobody gives two hoots about engine rpm in any company when the engines are tested in test bench, when the vehicle is test ridden or when it is loaded onto containers by driving/riding it on ramp. Logic dictates that if at all higher engine rpm damages engine, it is already done. There is no point in babying the engine later.
However it is indeed true that all the machined parts, seals, cast surfaces will always carry some impurities at the time of engine assembly and these gets mixed up with engine oil and may act as abrasive material between moving parts. Thus it is advisable to run the engine at slow speeds to minimize the effect of bad oil on moving parts.

Thats why I practice engine oil replacement @ 50km ODO

When I had bought Pulsar 200, I had drained the oil with 50km on the ODO. I had observed that the oil was black yet the viscosity felt just right. What was concerning was that I had also noticed some tiny shiny materials in it (most probably metallic).

Armed with new oil (no new oil filter), I promptly drained the factory filled oil and refilled the mineral oil. The plan is to get the oil replaced again as per manufacturer recommendation @950-1000km. However, this time with the Suzuki the drained oil did not have any shiny metal parts in it, but the oil was black and dirty for sure.

Took the bike to office (25km ride), the engine felt much smoother, silent and the gear shifting had smoothened, didn’t notice vibration @4krpm prominently.



I have ridden total four trips to office since the oil change, I’ve been riding normally like I would ride any bike. (As far as I’m concerned running in is over). These are my impressions:
1. Bike is stable at all speeds it is capable of going
2. 110kmph on the speedo is easy to achieve
3. Once triple digit speed is achieved if the throttle is let go fully and then again a mild throttle is given ( let’s say the least throttle that’s practically possible) the bike settles at a speed of 80kmph
4. Can’t comment on handling right now because I’m riding in the flat lands of Rajasthan
5. Ground clearance is adequate to cross any abnormal hump, mild off-roading is doable
6. There is an intake growl which one can hear in the midrange if the throttle is opened wider, it sounds delicious yet gentlemanly
7. Can’t cross most humps, big potholes in 3rd gear, should shift down to 2nd if one doesn’t want the engine to shut off abruptly
8. It seems like the clutch full disengagement happens only when the lever of fully compressed, needs a minor adjustment, may be gear shifting will become smoother if done.
9. As many reviewers had mentioned, the visor is useless, I don’t plan to go for aftermarket visor as I can live with this much wind blast.
10. 6 gear is not too tall, there is enough life in the engine in top gear, can-be used for overtaking, I like it this way for daily use.
11. The stock mrf revs tires are not the best, I had Michelin street radial in my Pulsar.
12. Brakes are average.
13. Headlight beam orientation seems a tad bit higher, but I need to ride some more to determine whether it is ok or needs adjustment.
14. I’m not enjoying the switch from halogen to led, heck I like the dispersed light of the olden days.
16. This time I’m not measuring the fuel economy, will start measurement from the next full tank fill.
17. The bike looks more expensive than it actually is.
18. Seating ergonomics is not perfect I feel that the angle of rider seat upper surface is a little messed up.
19. I would have wished the seat to be a little narrower and allow the legs to be closer to each other (like r15v2).
20. In this deep winter, I offer no comments on engine heat management.
21. Compared to AS200, performance wise Gixxer 250 is better. But the margin is very small, the biggest improvement is in the feel of the engine, ease of the engine while delivering the same performance.
22. Post 115kmph engine performance starts dulling (perhaps I’d like to revisit on this comment when I get back to you after my first long ride).

I intend to keep you guys updated with my ownership experience of this bike. Since this bike is not all that popular if you’ve any questions or comments feel free to discuss in this thread or DM it to me.

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Motorcycle section. Thanks for sharing!

Your ride is going to our homepage today

[aargee]

Originally Posted by gauravanekar

A short note on running in:

Nobody gives two hoots about engine rpm in any company when the engines are tested in test bench, when the vehicle is test ridden or when it is loaded onto containers by driving/riding it on ramp. Logic dictates that if at all higher engine rpm damages engine, it is already done. There is no point in babying the engine later.
However it is indeed true that all the machined parts, seals, cast surfaces will always carry some impurities at the time of engine assembly and these gets mixed up with engine oil and may act as abrasive material between moving parts. Thus it is advisable to run the engine at slow speeds to minimize the effect of bad oil on moving parts.

Thats why I practice engine oil replacement @ 50km ODO

Thanks for sharing your knowledge; I practice your thoughts but with 500 Km; will change the initial change interval to 50 Km going forward, incase I buy a new vehicle going forward. As I see this forum has baptized me that buying an used vehicle makes most sense than a new one, so hopefully I don't land up buying a new one, but time changes everything.

Would suggest changing the engine oil filter in addition as well as quite good chance the metal wastes are accumulated at the filter as well.

Additionally, if Suzuki recommends using FS oil, would strongly suggest using the FS oil as modern engines love FS over mineral oil. But yes, initial usage of mineral oil is recommended for bedding though.

Congrats & Thanks for sharing your experience. May you have a joyous 2L Km on your Gixxer

PS - You've a beautiful little Son, brought back on the thoughts of my Son at that age when I had bought C250R

[saikarthik]

Originally Posted by gauravanekar

A short note on running in:

I have worked three years in Two wheeler manufacturing plant and my entire 9 year career is spent in auto OEM factories. Nobody gives two hoots about engine rpm in any company when the engines are tested in test bench, when the vehicle is test ridden or when it is loaded onto containers by driving/riding it on ramp. Logic dictates that if at all higher engine rpm damages engine, it is already done. There is no point in babying the engine later.

11. The stock mrf revs tires are not the best, I had Michelin street radial in my Pulsar.

First of all, Congratulations on the new ride.

A good choice and I loved the way you made the excel file chart by the heart vs mind vs wallet representation!

I totally get what you were talking about the handling of engine and the vehicle OEMs. By the time the bike comes out of the assembly line, inspection, yard & loading into containers till reaching the dealership, it would have felt like it took an unpleasant stroll of "The House of Horrors".

For example, I personally had to redesign a part just due to the way it was handled, while loading the bike into container trucks. People were lifting the bikes using turn indicators as if they pull a donkey's ear to drag it into a shed!

And for the tires: I used Michelin Pilot street radials for quite some time on my CBR 250R and they had good grip (even in wet) and decent life. I recently got the Michelin road 5 and it is phenomenal in grip (as in - I squeezed the front while travelling @ 50kmph on a partially wet strip, it came to a stop without any drama and my bike doesn't even have ABS). They cost a bomb, but worth it.

[KPR]

Very well written. From my (non tourer but city/bit a highway rider) perspective,
sharing my thoughts on Gixxer SF 155 & 250 as I test rode them for choosing a bike for my BIL in Sept 2019:

1. Gixxer SF in motoGP edition (be it 155 or 250) is definitely the most beautiful bike 1-1.5 lakh can buy.
2. Gear box of both the bikes are hard. definitely needs a work on your Toe and Heel which you've already mentioned in review.
3. The handle bar position in 250 was a bit more sporty for our liking than 155. Driving position in SF155 would've been like AS200. (In fact we went to Bajaj to look at AS200 but heard that it has been stopped long back).
4. Ride quality simply the best in class as compared to other bikes in that category. It's like HPS in cars.

Hence we picked the last available Motogp 155 (Blue) for my BIL's daily usage. It's indeed a looker. No wonder your 250 is a gem for touring purposes too.

P.S: We had very good memories of Suzuki Zeus 125cc despite Suzuki ASS wasn't there nearby. The bike was absolutely no problem type.

[saikishor]

Congratulations gauravanekar! Your bike looks beautiful! I have a few questions,
1. At what RPM does 100 and 110kmph come up?
2. What about spare part availability? I have read somewhere that the 250 siblings spares are always out of stock/not available. Can you throw some light on this?
3. Are the mirror stalks( those rods ) too wide for city traffic?
Wishing you lacs of kilometres of joy on this beauty!
Also, I think this is the first Gixxer SF250 ownership review on the forum. IIRC, there is a Naked Gixxer 250 initial ownership report on the forum.

[PaddleShifter]

Congratulations and wishing you years and years of happy ownership experience.

Looks very premium and the decals dont give a very loud college boy appeal in real life. I was contemplating buying SF150 in 2015 but it was too under equipped with drum brakes at the rear. Test drove it thrice. I used to keep a bike for local commutes till 2 years back.

I have stopped trusting Bajaj motorcycles. Noticed that you were an AS200 owner so sharing my experience below.

I have owned the following motorcycles:
Hero Honda Karizma (2004-2011)
Honda CBR150 (2015-2016)
Bajaj RS200 (2017-2019)

Honda CBR was owned for 1.5 years but used less than 700Km. It was a wonderful bike. Sold it due to space constraints.

Bajaj RS200 was a heartbreak experience. Its fuel tank and pump got damaged in October 2018 as the fuel was 5 months old now. I was riding once a week. Spent 10k on replacements.

As per ASC instructions, I now started riding it daily for 2km and filled less fuel so that there is need to refill fuel every month.

The fuel tank and pump damaged again in Sept 2019. That person now said that I have to ride 10km daily. I sold the bike for paltry 45k and have decided that only Honda/Suzuki/Yamaha are to be trusted for 2 wheelers in future.

[DriverNo.420]

Beautifully written, precise review. Was a treat to read. Some more pictures?

Regarding Bajaj bikes, I only have horror stories associated with them. Part of it can be blamed to the bad ASS, but there's no denying the fact that the cost cutting in engine parts is just too much. My Bajaj V15's engine started making quite a ruckus after 2 years(tik tik sounds et al). Got the timing chain, tensioner and the guides replaced and the sound went away. Now tell me Bajaj, is the timing chain supposed to give up so early? Engine is good, with nice low end for a 150cc but the cost cutting is just frustrating.
My Royal Enfield Thunderbird 350x is a contrast to what RE used to be before. I've only done the periodic maintenance and touchwood there are no funny sounds and no oil leaks.

Thanks a lot for the details about your running in process. It makes sense to change the oil that early.

[nitinkbhaskar]

Originally Posted by gauravanekar

1. I realized that I liked the bikes with high revving nature, I used to enjoy riding R15V2 and another friend's Apache 180 a lot.

This was such a revelation. I was right!
I did indeed like the high revving nature of this motorcycles engine. Initially I was a little apprehensive about typically low torque in city speeds (same with any high revving engine), the low bottom end of the high revving bikes didn't bother me at all. in fact I liked the dual personality of such engines.

This is something which people who are going to buy a bike will really appreciate. What sort of bike you enjoy matters more than the brand, looks or the "CC" of a motorcycle. I am glad you discovered this so soon and now able to enjoy the bike which really fits your riding persona !!

Originally Posted by gauravanekar

My heart said buy Apache 310, my mind said buy Gixxer and my wallet suggested Apache 200

This happens with all of us
Thankfully I was able to ignore the wallet and mind consideration for my purchase and went for what my heart wanted.

Your father looks super cool on the bike and so does your son !!
Wishing you many memories and lacs of kms on this beauty.

[Slick]

Congratulations! on your new ride Gaurav,

Great Review , Your bike looks stunning in the new BS6 livery.

I bought a BS4 SF250 in March 2020, finally good to see a fellow SF owner on Team BHP.

Your oil change tip will be greatly useful.

What is your experience with the wind blast ? I am looking for a solution to install an aftermarket windshield. I did Mumbai - Pune - Mumbai recently and on our way back faced heavy wind blast and that made the journey all the more tiring.

Some pictures of my bike

[JithinR]

Originally Posted by Slick

What is your experience with the wind blast ? I am looking for a solution to install an aftermarket windshield. I did Mumbai - Pune - Mumbai recently and on our way back faced heavy wind blast and that made the journey all the more tiring.

He did mention about the windblast towards the end of his post.

As many reviewers had mentioned, the visor is useless, I don’t plan to go for aftermarket visor as I can live with this much wind blast

Does leaning forward not make any difference? Also, your helmet might play a part in this if you are having neck pain.

[BackstraightBoy]

That's a nice ride, Gaurav! Many congratulations! You're absolutely right that its looks belie its price and power. The racing livery is superb; great choice! Overall, this looks like an excellent value purchase!

And I loved the the forces at play while you're riding!

Happy riding!

[nitro_pandit]

Mate - Beautiful post. I've seldom ridden bikes and mostly cars, But I can tell you are thoroughly passionate. From Discover-> RE-> Pulasr...... You've made my day.

Cheers from Sydney.