[Cyborg]

Kedar, you have thought and researched a lot!

I would like to keep it simple and suggest the BMW 310 GS, look no further. This will satisfy everything you are looking for in a bike. If it’s out of budget I would suggest waiting a bit and picking it up when possible.

Cheers

[Aragorn]

Hi Kedar,

That's a very well structured decision matrix! I however differ on only of the mentions there - VStrom SX.

The part sharing between the Gixxer twins and the VStrom are only the main frame. It gets a completely new swing arm. Even the front and rear suspension travel has been tweaked to account for mild off-road use. The engine map is different too. All this will become apparent if you take a detailed TD. Don't miss out on such a fantastic machine without doing a proper TD.

The seating triangle is probably the best of all machines listed here. It can comfortably maintain 100+ speeds. The engine is so tractable that you can go all they way from 60 - 130 kmph in 6th gear. Makes highway cruising effortless.

The vibes issue has been solved as per latest posts on this thread : https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/motor...ml#post5468202 (Vibration issues with Suzuki Gixxer SF 250)

The weight is also very well manageable (under 170 kgs). It is probably the most underrated of all machines in India today. It also fits rather well into your budget bracket. Humble suggestion to consider it seriously.

[KedarB]

Originally Posted by NEMatters

If you need more power, the Interceptor does makes a case for itself, but ease of riding in the city, mileage & practicality may get a hit while the performance would get the boost.

Originally Posted by Torino

Not sure if you mean stiff suspension, well the suspension is soft which can be modified to your liking with heavier fork oil & aftermarket suspension kits etc. 30 minutes into heavy city traffic ride and the engine gets noticeably warm, stutters and lags below 2000 rpm. The engine behaves normal only after you switch off and let it cool for 10-15 mins. Basically this low tech air/oil cooled 650cc engine hates prolonged stop-go traffic.

I am going to try the interceptor on hopefully a longish test ride. Thanks for your suggestions and inputs! @Torino, I went through your Interceptor ownership thread, that's a lovely bike you have there. Really liked the subtle silver/gray color of your bike.

Originally Posted by srkriz26

Why not try Yezdi Scrambler and Adventurer?

Thanks for your inputs! In my mind, the bikes (and even the company) seem like they are a work-in-progress. I am sure they will get better with time but the reason I did not include them in my list is I did not want to risk being part of their validation and evolution process. The adventure also seems very close to Himalayan, with both having their pros and cons. I value the Himalayan's pros (better ride quality, better overall quality, and more tractable engine) over the pros that the adventure will offer (better performance and tech).

Originally Posted by PreludeSH

I am in the same boat. Want to buy an RE and can decide between Meteor and the Classic. The Meteor is easier to drive and moving it front and back manually is also easier.

I did try the meteor too and agree that it's easier to move around in parking lots. This could be because of the low seat height and the wider handlebar. And it is indeed a very comfortable motorcycle too. But do check its riding position. You cannot stand up while going over speed bumps or potholes and that starts taking toll on you as you ride longer. This is the issue I have with my current bike, Avenger.

Originally Posted by tarmacnaut

The VStrom is nothing like AS200. AS200 was just a fairing slapped on NS200 with zero difference.

The chassis has a new a sub frame, the seats, front/rear suspension, front/rear brakes, footpegs, front wheel, tyres etc. are all completely new and are engineered for ADV touring and basic off roading. The ground clearance difference is massive. You can find the detailed differences in my earlier post in, link => https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/motor...ml#post5462923 (Team-BHP 2-Wheeler of the Year, 2022. Edit: It's the Royal Enfield Hunter 350!)

Originally Posted by Aragorn

Hi Kedar,

That's a very well structured decision matrix! I however differ on only of the mentions there - VStrom SX.

The part sharing between the Gixxer twins and the VStrom are only the main frame. It gets a completely new swing arm. Even the front and rear suspension travel has been tweaked to account for mild off-road use. The engine map is different too. All this will become apparent if you take a detailed TD. Don't miss out on such a fantastic machine without doing a proper TD.

The seating triangle is probably the best of all machines listed here. It can comfortably maintain 100+ speeds. The engine is so tractable that you can go all they way from 60 - 130 kmph in 6th gear. Makes highway cruising effortless.

The vibes issue has been solved as per latest posts on this thread : https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/motor...ml#post5468202 (Vibration issues with Suzuki Gixxer SF 250)

The weight is also very well manageable (under 170 kgs). It is probably the most underrated of all machines in India today. It also fits rather well into your budget bracket. Humble suggestion to consider it seriously.

Thanks a lot, tarmacnaut, Aragorn! Exactly the kind of input I was looking for when I posted my query here. To be honest, when the V-Strom was being revealed through teasers and before the reviews came out, it did feel like the perfect match for my needs. It looked great, the engine platform already had good reviews and it seemed to have all the right set of features. I have gone through almost all the reviews from popular publications as well as YT reviewers and the lack of suspension travel and slightly vibey nature in higher RPM ranges looked like a common theme in most. Which is why I may have given up on getting a test ride when the first few calls did not give a positive result.

But I am definitely going to try and ask for a longer test ride now and will try through the Suzuki online website. It looks like not all suzuki dealers sell the 250s and I may have contacted all the wrong ones.

Originally Posted by Cyborg

Kedar, you have thought and researched a lot!

I would like to keep it simple and suggest the BMW 310 GS, look no further. This will satisfy everything you are looking for in a bike. If it’s out of budget I would suggest waiting a bit and picking it up when possible.

Cheers

Thanks for your inputs. It's not just the purchase price that is out of my budget. I am also worried about general service and maintenance cost. I have heard these are quite steep because of it being a BMW. Please correct me if I am wrong.

[surfatwork]

Originally Posted by KedarB

I did try the meteor too and agree that it's easier to move around in parking lots. This could be because of the low seat height and the wider handlebar. And it is indeed a very comfortable motorcycle too. But do check its riding position. You cannot stand up while going over speed bumps or potholes and that starts taking toll on you as you ride longer. This is the issue I have with my current bike, Avenger.
.

Correct. The Meteor isn't great for long rides with exactly the same problems as the Avenger. In addition, I found it's suspension to be all wrong. Too soft in the front and too hard at the rear, which results in a pretty uncomfortable ride over bumps and potholes.

[Cyborg]

Originally Posted by KedarB

Thanks for your inputs. It's not just the purchase price that is out of my budget. I am also worried about general service and maintenance cost. I have heard these are quite steep because of it being a BMW. Please correct me if I am wrong.

It will not make an earth shattering difference in the long run. What you may wind up paying extra will be recovered in pleasure of riding, longevity and overall satisfaction of ownership.

I would advise you to make a trip to the dealership, speak with the sales person, ask them regarding all your doubts, take a test ride and see how she feels for you. Then compare her with your other options and only then decide against it. Doing this will not cost anything but you will be making an informed decision rather than on speculation or hearsay.

Cheers

[FiatDiesel]

Hi Kedar, I was in same situation last year however your decision making process is vastly superior. In my case gap has been 20 years when in my twenties I used to ride Splendor. I also have similar goals and purchased RE Classic 350 Reborn with dual channel ABS and disc brakes on both tyres.
To be very frank I never expected that RE will transform my weekends to exciting rides as I also joined their riding group. It has been amazing journey with very capable men and women riders. It’s different topic all together but highlighting it as with purchase of RE product you also get support to get into mainstream riding and will find good bunch of rider buddies.
Coming back to bike, I have ridden it 6K kms in last 1 year and have done several single day -300 Km rides including solo round trip between Pune - Hyderabad. Technically bike performs flawlessly and it’s heavy weight helps in keeping it stable on highways and pothole ridden roads. Initially I was also not comfortable with weight but now I zip through on Classic like Splendor ��. Yes comfort is less then Himalayan due to smaller suspension but then Classic easily switches the role to daily commute or for city rides with wifey. Himalayan looks little odd and cumbersome for city.

I would advice you to decide between Classic and New Himalayan given your use cases.

PS: Service centre coverage in Pune for RE is very good. I have 4 authorised service centre's within 4 Km radius of my Home.

[Drlmtukkar]

In my opinion the Suzuki V strom 250SX will work best for you. I’ve just gotten mine on the 5th of Jan and the more I ride it the more I like it. It’s light, nimble, smooth, comfy with good ground clearance, good enough for all bad roads (it’s not a true blue off-roader but what it manages is more than enough for everything on your and my bucket list) and Japanese reliability.

It’s super smooth and a really great bike. I’m telling you this after having used an Interceptor for 2 years. Dump everything else on the list and buy the SX 250. It’ll fit all the roles you want of it.

[rajeevsulu]

Hi
I test rode the Interceptor today and promptly paid the booking amount. I also own a Highness 350 which I am going to retain. The interceptor would be fantastic on the highway, I realized today. Rest ride and take a call.

[achintatri]

Originally Posted by Drlmtukkar

In my opinion the Suzuki V strom 250SX will work best for you. I’ve just gotten mine on the 5th of Jan and the more i ride it the more i like it. It’s light, nimble, smooth, comfy with good ground clearance, good enough for all bad roads ( it’s not a true blue off-roader but what it manages is more than enough for everything on your and my bucket list )and Japanese reliability. It’s super smooth and a really great bike. I’m telling you this after having used a Interceptor for 2 years. Dump everything else on the list and but the SX 250 it’ll fit all the roles you want of it.

Dear DrImtukkar,

If you don't mind, could you please let me know how much did it cost you (assuming u bought it in Belgaum). BTW, Belgaum is my second home.

Also, my only requirement is seating comfort and suspension performance over bad roads. How does the bike perform in the above scenarios? I would be doing Pune-Mumbai-Pune atleast once in a month.

I would love to connect with you in case you don't mind sharing your contact.

Congratulations for your new bike and hope to hear from you soon.

Best Regards,
Achint

[KedarB]

Originally Posted by FiatDiesel

Hi Kedar, I was in same situation last year however your decision making process is vastly superior. In my case gap has been 20 years when in my twenties I used to ride Splendor. I also have similar goals and purchased RE Classic 350 Reborn with dual channel ABS and disc brakes on both tyres.
To be very frank I never expected that RE will transform my weekends to exciting rides as I also joined their riding group. It has been amazing journey with very capable men and women riders. It’s different topic all together but highlighting it as with purchase of RE product you also get support to get into mainstream riding and will find good bunch of rider buddies.
Coming back to bike, I have ridden it 6K kms in last 1 year and have done several single day -300 Km rides including solo round trip between Pune - Hyderabad. Technically bike performs flawlessly and it’s heavy weight helps in keeping it stable on highways and pothole ridden roads. Initially I was also not comfortable with weight but now I zip through on Classic like Splendor ��. Yes comfort is less then Himalayan due to smaller suspension but then Classic easily switches the role to daily commute or for city rides with wifey. Himalayan looks little odd and cumbersome for city.

I would advice you to decide between Classic and New Himalayan given your use cases.

PS: Service centre coverage in Pune for RE is very good. I have 4 authorised service centre's within 4 Km radius of my Home.

@FiatDiesel, that was exactly what my thinking has been as well, that brought the classic to the top of my list. This dual character of a good tourer bike that also transforms into regular commuting duties is given much less credit that what it deserves. It's great to hear that you are very happy with your classic. I also see you are from Pune. Have you ridden on some routes in and around Pune recently (Like Kadave / Pabe khind, or the road that connects old lonavala highway with the pirangut route)? You will find a variety of road surfaces here, from slightly broken to completely disintegrated into small stone size tar surfaces. How has your experience been on these? I understand that it will not be as comfortable or natural on such surfaces as a Himalayan, but as long as it's not very uncomfortable, I should be OK with it.

Originally Posted by Drlmtukkar

In my opinion the Suzuki V strom 250SX will work best for you. I’ve just gotten mine on the 5th of Jan and the more i ride it the more i like it. It’s light, nimble, smooth, comfy with good ground clearance, good enough for all bad roads ( it’s not a true blue off-roader but what it manages is more than enough for everything on your and my bucket list )and Japanese reliability. It’s super smooth and a really great bike. I’m telling you this after having used a Interceptor for 2 years. Dump everything else on the list and but the SX 250 it’ll fit all the roles you want of it.

Yes I will be test riding this soon, thanks for your inputs

[FiatDiesel]

Originally Posted by KedarB

@FiatDiesel, that was exactly what my thinking has been as well, that brought the classic to the top of my list. This dual character of a good tourer bike that also transforms into regular commuting duties is given much less credit that what it deserves. It's great to hear that you are very happy with your classic. I also see you are from Pune. Have you ridden on some routes in and around Pune recently (Like Kadave / Pabe khind, or the road that connects old lonavala highway with the pirangut route)? You will find a variety of road surfaces here, from slightly broken to completely disintegrated into small stone size tar surfaces. How has your experience been on these? I understand that it will not be as comfortable or natural on such surfaces as a Himalayan, but as long as it's not very uncomfortable, I should be OK with it.

Hi Kedar, sorry for late response, completely missed it. I don't remember riding on that specific route but in terms of bad roads / no roads have done couple of them including Varadh ghat during monsoons and further into villages to access various waterfalls. Minor to medium undulation is handled with ease by bike but in case of deep potholes I stand up and bike holds the line...gets pasts it. Here are few snaps from one of my posts: -

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/motor...ml#post5380713 (2021 Royal Enfield Classic 350. Edit - Launched at Rs. 1.84 lakhs)

You can also think about Scram, however it will be little higher to sit and has existing Himalayan engine which is due for replacement soon. I would suggest take extensive test rides and find your love. I can say confidently that in case of Classic, while you walk away after parking her, you will always look back at her.

[ani_meher]

Hi Kedar, excellent jotting down of your thought process. Your point about every iteration of RE Himalayan making one wonder how bad it was to begin with, made me LOL.

I have some points in no particular order.
1. Forget 15 years of ownership. In current market, where new and exciting technologies are coming up, riding a dinosaur will soon become too boring. Better to taste new technologies as long as our years are supporting us to ride.
2. Agree about the image of classic 350. Somehow, the usual populace riding on these Classic bikes is not something that one would universally love to be associated with. Though the RE brotherhood is amazingly developed.
3. I had a BMW G310GS. The bike's suspension is just beautiful. But its hard clutch gave me lot of trouble in traffic, and its seat height somehow always felt too tall to my 173cm tall frame, even after BMW low seat. Do sit and test, the inability to flat-foot is serious issue to consider. Parts are costly and the lack of service centers is alarming.
4. From TVS, there is Ronin as well, that is usually pitted against RE Meteor. You may test ride that bike.
5. Nowadays, you get all kinds of bikes on rent at most tourist places, so you may as well rent bikes at your preferred places.
6. Are you going to use the bike in city? If yes, then give preference to lighter clutch and managable weight+seat height.

[ReventonLover]

Originally Posted by KedarB

...

So let me now come to the bike that is currently at the top of my list, the Classic 350...

Hello.

The RE classic, in its current avatar, is a much better machine for rider and pillion comfort. However, you should take a long TD and get a feel for seating comfort. I'm 6 feet tall, so the riding position in the classic is slightly hunched. Plus, there's no back support for the rider (you can get AM accessories for the same). Do have a look into that. Also, the pillion seat is really uncomfortable (complaint by pillion riders of multiple sizes). Check out the same on the new Classic as well (mine is 2016 model). You also have the option of custom seats.

If you are as tall or taller, any ADV will be better suited to your frame and you can have the seat modified for cushion, shape, size and what not. If suspension comfort is your primary requirement, the scram or Himalayn should be the thing for you.

My personal opinion, prefer for motors which are air/air-oil cooled. Simple to check and maintain. Don't wait for their liquid cooled cousins (if you are not hell bent on higher power output at relatively higher rev range).

[SedanGuy]

Kedar - what a detailed decision matrix mate. Kudos to you.

Here's my take on it. I have been in the exact same situation as you. I was a biker till 2017 and gave it up after had I a daughter. I had a RE350 classic which vibrated like the flour mills but i still loved it as I had upgraded from commuter bikes like CT100 and Suzuki Access. Even though it was a ton of money to maintain back then, i still liked getting everything done to it. Having said that, I had a hairy situation once in the city and decided to let go of the bike and focus on driving more often on the mean streets of Bangalore.

Somewhere back during July-August of 2021 (post second wave), I started having an itch to buy another bike for weekend cruises and hopes of capturing the Himalayas once I have some experience. So i started rounding up by budget and starting putting a list together. My shortlist was:
1. Interceptor 650 - i feel this bike has the power but that thing weighs a ton. Its front heavy mostly which makes it hard in and around the city
2. Super meteor - Yet to take it for a spin but I am sure it will be a handful in the city and in Bangalore it will cost close to 5 lahks.
3. Duke 390 Adv - I love how the bike looks and there is not a single bad review on this bike. From most owners I have interacted with none of them have a single issue with it.
4. Vstorm 250 - Again this one is extremely underrated. Haven't taken a test ride as of now but soon will know how it performs in the real world but has great reviews overall.
5. CB350 - I love how this bike performs. The engine and exhaust note is better than the bullet any day.

I rented the interceptor for the weekend by royal brothers and got it home to test it out over a weekend cruise. The bike was extremely abused and had 65k kms on the clock. The bike broke down by the time I got it home. It had a break failure (rear) and I managed to lug it home on the front brake alone and asked for a replacement. They gave me the classic reborn 350 which wasnt my choice but I had a ride planned and decided to give it a go. I was really surprised by the refined motor of this new 350. It was like I was riding the cb350 or something. After the old classic 350 i had, I could not believe how far this motor had come. On the ride we had a rx135, meteor 350 and a cb350 h'ness along with my rented classic reborn. I tried riding almost all the bikes and we rode around 250 kms that weekend. What I realised was that the old 350 motor, however unrefined it was, it managed to get upto 100 kmph in a hurry. It never had trouble reaching there. The classic reborn and meteor struggled to get upto 100. Upto 80 it was a breeze and those torquey machines put a smile while cruising at 80kmph but anything beyond that the vehicles start wheezing. The stand out was the CB350, I was impressed by the top end of it when compared to the J platform RE engines. It is everything you would want in the bike and then some more.

I am currently test riding the KTMs 250 & 390 advs and maybe wait for 450 liquid cooled REs as well before I pull the trigger. I hope you buy something that meets all your requirement. One thing I realised while doing this exercise is that I want to keep my next bike for the next 10 years atleast and did not want to buy something that i can get bored with easily and the REs & CB350 might fall under the "might get bored" category.

[CormoranStr1ke]

Hey, you have already done a lot of research. Here's my opinion on the Classic 350 / CB350 comparison. I was confused between these 2 and a couple of other bikes for 6 months or so. I read a lot online, but each article I read confused me more.

I was leaning a lot towards Classic 350, but then I rode my cousin's Classic and the top heavy nature of the bike was an instant deal breaker. I just didn't like it 1 bit, never wanted to be stuck in bumper to bumper traffic with it. I had driven Activa, Jupiter and my dad's old Hero Honda Passion before.

At the end I went with CB350 around 2 months ago. The super light clutch is such a joy to ride in the city and the traffic in Ahmedabad can get as bad as Bangalore at times. It feels so easy to manoeuvre manually. I actually ended up liking the tall gearing a lot in the city. The design isn't exactly super special and classic, but IMO it isn't souless either. It definitely looks much better in person than in photos.

If you do decide to go with the retro classic category, I would urge you to atleast get a test ride on CB350 back to back after Classic 350 before deciding. The experience might surprise you.

Attaching a photo of my bike from a recent small weekend ride