[Intrepidspy]

Choose A bike according to your built ie: height, body stature etc. I have driven most 100-350 cc segment machines. The only bike that was comfortable for city (40+ kms) and long drives was Karizma. Superb riding position and suspension.
Not a Bullet ( too heavy) not an avenger (the handle on avenger is cumbersome and will result in pain in thoracic region rather than lumbar)

Best is to have a mix of Driving & Riding...if possible!

[ashwinprakas]

From experience if someone is complaining of body pain resulting from riding a motorcycle then either;

1. There was something wrong in the first place that got aggravated by riding a motorcycle.

2. The person is doing something wrong.

Since I'm not enabled enough to provide suggestions to resolve the difficulties mentioned in #1 I'll be skipping to #2.

Luggage:

Carrying weight on your back while riding a motorcycle is a really stupid thing to do, which is something I'm also guilty of, but once I went a little overboard by riding 170 kms through broken roads with a rucksack on my back, I remember riding into a pothole and for a moment I felt a shock travel through my spine, thought there were no permanent damages the pain did linger for close to a year. So I'd suggest anyone who rides to either tether their bags to the motorcycle or invest in panniers or tank bags(actual ones like the Rynox Optimus etc, not the ones made by bored tailors) based on preferences.

Riding Ergonomics:

Be comfortable, keep the balls of your feet on the pegs, this is done with the interest of ensuring that you can get your bottom off the saddle A.S.A.P when required and it also ensures that your toe doesn't scrape while riding over elevated surfaces, plus your ankle would act as a spring enabling it to dissipate some shock when encountering uneven/broken roads.

Grab the motorcycle with your thighs not your hands, as the handle bar is merely present for steering the motorcycle. This ensures that shock is not transferred to the upper back resulting in back back/shoulder pain.

Riding Style:

Don't brake/aggressively slow down in anticipation of a pothole/speed breaker. You're better off taking it as it comes with your bottom well off the saddle and your knees bent(NOT LOCKED!) this helps to better dissipate the impact as the suspensions have the whole travel range intact, your ankle and knees are bent to dissipate any leftover shock rather than transfer the same to your bones.

Remember your suspension is cheaper to overhaul compared to your back, irrespective you're not doing your motorcycle any favors cause hitting a pothole/speed-breaker without any suspension travel left actually does more harm that just taking it as it comes.

Well this is all I could think of at the moment, do share your thoughts.

[locusjag]

I have just moved back to India after 4.5 years abroad...

As a 6'4" tall rider with an already bad back (in the lumbar region), I further found my 10 year old Unicorn to hurt my tail-bone while riding over broken roads. Or maybe my body has just grown soft, after living in a cushy & developed nation for quite a while.

I contemplated depending upon a car for my 40 Km-a-day daily office commutes in Chennai. On a whim however, I test-rode the Royal Enfield 350 ES ("Electra"), the RE Himalayan and the RE Thunderbird. Turns out that the latter two are made for shorter riders and the Standard 350cc Electra is just right in terms of riding position for tall people like myself. Also, I found the shock-absorbing to be superior on the Electra and sure enough - the Electra comes with gas-filled shockers in the rear. I have shelved my plans to buy a car in a hurry now. I have full confidence in the Electra's abilities to protect my back.

Wish me luck, for I am set to take delivery of a Black Electra this Friday. I will look to update this thread with my findings on how the Electra differs from a more conventional motorcycle, from the perspective of a guy with a bad back.

But even at the onset of my journey of re-discovering motorcycling with a bad back, I will concede this - motorcycling is inherently bad for your back. And for that, I will buy a car later and eventually alternate my office commutes between the Electra and the car.

[S.Marine]

Need some advice guys. I own a 13 year old HH Passion Plus used primarily for short commutes. The bike was lying almost unused for the past 5 years when i shifted to cars. Lately, I've begun using her regularly due to the horrendous traffic. Had to iron out some minor niggles caused by age but she still returns wonderful FE and is extremely trouble free. The only problem is the rear suspension which i think has gone bust and regularly bottoms out with a heavy pillion. Should i just go ahead and replace it with the regular Passion Plus one or is it OK if i plonk in a better one from another bike? I have no problems with carrying out modification but need to ensure that the one i fit gives decent ride quality and is easier on the back. Buying a new bike wont be an option for me as the investment doesnt justify my limited usage.

Note to Mods: I wasn't sure where to post this query. Please excuse and move this to an appropriate thread if needed.

[Impala_123]

As per my experience back pain is mostly because of riding posture and road holding of the bike than the suspension . Issue with the geometry ( bent fork , tight steering , worn out suspension / rear arm bushes etc) are also big contributors. Lack of tyre adhesion makes us to continuous road attention and causing sprain on back muscles.

I had an experience of many commuter bikes like Boxer CT,Splendour,Suzuki Samurai etc. Currently I have Avenger 220 cruise and Thunderbird 350 from the cruisers and Samurai as a city commuter. I have observed Thunderbird has a good riding posture and gives good comfort than avenger.

[shobhit.shri]

Originally Posted by locusjag

I have just moved back to India after 4.5 years abroad...

Wish me luck, for I am set to take delivery of a Black Electra this Friday. I will look to update this thread with my findings on how the Electra differs from a more conventional motorcycle, from the perspective of a guy with a bad back.
.

On the same boat as you, but much shorter at 5.9. How is your experience of driving a bike for a year?

[locusjag]

Originally Posted by shobhit.shri

On the same boat as you, but much shorter at 5.9. How is your experience of driving a bike for a year?

For starters, I had to upgrade the seat...or rather, customize it.

There's a shop called "yamaha lining works" in North Chennai near Egmore. For 4K, I have a longer and thicker (i.e., taller seat). This is what suits 6'4" of me and my tall wife and kid.

Other than that, the bike has performed well enough. I have only sparingly used it for 6000 km in 1 year since i bought a Mahindra TUV 300 too; but one thing is for sure, it saved my aching behind when my need was greatest back in Jan 2018. Where back-pain persisted on my old (and now sold) Honda Unicorn, the Electra chugged along with me seated upright and painlessly.

The vibrations and rattles have mysteriously disappeared after the 5th and paid service yesterday! The bike seems to go faster smoothly now.

The shock absorbers on the Electra were a letdown though. My erstwhile Unicorn's shock absorbers were way better and softer. Try as I might with the Electra, no setting seems as soft as the Unicorn's. The better seating posture is clearly what has benefitted me, and not the shock absorbers in the Electra!

With the braking, special mention is needed for needing to use the front-brakes more, as a proportion of usage along with the back brakes. The rear brakes were initially highly used by me, and they quickly started giving way. I was advised on Team-BHP to begin using the front discs more and things have been okay.

Lastly - it turns out that I was (and still am) vitamin D3 deficient, causing the tailbone aches. Desis living abroad quickly become deficient in it apparently. Consult an ortho if you feel such pains in your bones. Maybe all you need is prescription-strength vit D3 capsules!

[pandey.jai]

I'm not sure if this is the right thread but I'm also looking to buy a bike and I wanted to understand if all the new bikes above 125cc that will be available after March 2019 will have ABS as standard or does it apply to new models/new launches only?

[AbhiIyengar]

Originally Posted by pandey.jai

I'm not sure if this is the right thread but I'm also looking to buy a bike and I wanted to understand if all the new bikes above 125cc that will be available after March 2019 will have ABS as standard or does it apply to new models/new launches only?

IIRC, all bikes above 125cc (new or existing) will have to ship with ABS starting Apr 1,2019. Some bikes could come only with a single channel ABS while other would get dual channel as standard.

*Edit - it's not 150cc, but 125cc.

[pandey.jai]

Originally Posted by AbhiIyengar

IIRC, all bikes above 125cc (new or existing) will have to ship with ABS starting Apr 1,2019. Some bikes could come only with a single channel ABS while other would get dual channel as standard.

*Edit - it's not 150cc, but 125cc.

Thanks for this. I think I read in one of the pulsar threads here that Bajaj might not have to have the ABS version on their classic 150s because it's an old model and not a new one.
If the rule is applicable to all bikes, then I guess i should wait it out before buying a new bike.

[AbhiIyengar]

Originally Posted by pandey.jai

Thanks for this. I think I read in one of the pulsar threads here that Bajaj might not have to have the ABS version on their classic 150s because it's an old model and not a new one.

The rule said existing bikes had to have ABS from Apr 1,2019. But any new bikes that were released after Apr 1,2018 had to have ABS as standard.

If the rule is applicable to all bikes, then I guess i should wait it out before buying a new bike.

Yes. Buy a bike with ABS. It will be worth the wait.

[PremRocks]

After some research, I found that back pain is related to some observable features in the motorcycle.

The nature of the seat: The buttock tissues are best suited to absorb shocks on bumpy roads and a thin seat does not engage it fully. That is why a wider seat configuration vehicle, such as the activa or the bullet is better on the back. Secondly comes the softness of the cushioning in the seat. A good PU foam hard seat is better on the back, since it does not take the shape of your impression on the seat, like an overly soft pillow, during long rides. A soft seat on the other hand, looses shape and cushioning after a short while.

I found the tips on ergonomics, that is grabbing the bike by the thighs to be useful. One more thing about back injury is that doing something awkward as one nears a pothole, in attempting to rise from the seat or adjusting posture almost always causes perceptible pain. It is better to assume a standard posture and stick to it.

All said, I own both a discover and a bullet. The discover despite the best of attempts (maintaining a thigh grip on the tank, keeping an erect posture, sitting at the widest portion of the seat) does cause worse back pain compared to the bullet. I suspect, something to do with the vibrations of the engine synchronising with the natural frequency of the vertebra as being a causative factor, but it is a wild theory.

One useful find is that - From my personal research, more people riding on narrow seats like splendors and discover consistently report worse back pain than people riding avengers, activas and ertwhile chetaks. So it is more to do with the seat than the shock absorber.

[mvaidy]

Hello All,
I need a suggestion. I am looking for a bike with good shock absorbers. I suffer from Tailbone and lower back pain. Please let me know if there are any current bikes which will be suitable for people with these issues. I need to travel 30 to 35 kms every day for my work.

[WhiskeyTangoFox]

Originally Posted by mvaidy

Hello All,
I need a suggestion. I am looking for a bike with good shock absorbers. I suffer from Tailbone and lower back pain. Please let me know if there are any current bikes which will be suitable for people with these issues. I need to travel 30 to 35 kms every day for my work.

Hi! Firstly I'd advise you to get your back checked out by a doctor and make sure there isn't any underlying issue. If the doctor clears you to ride a motorcycle, then here are a few options.

If your commute is mostly Highway/Open roads, I'd suggest the Himalayan. It is ridiculouly plush and itll take on the worst of roads with minimal issues. Easy availability of spares, relatively cheap service costs.

If your commute involves a lot of traffic and low speed manouvering, I'd suggest a CB350 Hness or a Yamaha FZ25. Both Hondas and Yamahas have pretty much bulletproof reliability, and these two bikes are fairly light and comfortable.

[mvaidy]

Originally Posted by WhiskeyTangoFox

Hi! Firstly I'd advise you to get your back checked out by a doctor and make sure there isn't any underlying issue. If the doctor clears you to ride a motorcycle, then here are a few options.

If your commute is mostly Highway/Open roads, I'd suggest the Himalayan. It is ridiculouly plush and itll take on the worst of roads with minimal issues. Easy availability of spares, relatively cheap service costs.

If your commute involves a lot of traffic and low speed manouvering, I'd suggest a CB350 Hness or a Yamaha FZ25. Both Hondas and Yamahas have pretty much bulletproof reliability, and these two bikes are fairly light and comfortable.

Thanks a lot for the response. I did check with my doctor and he is fine with me driving bikes, but I will have to be careful while driving on bad roads.

Also I have to go through lots of Traffic which involves lots of bad roads as well. So I will check your second option.