[2500cc]

Hello Everybody,

Am planning to buy a 2-wheeler. Please help me..!!

Why 2-Wheeler:

Basically am a car and not much into biking and have a very minimal knowledge about bikes. So far in my professional life I had never worked during the peak hours 9-6, but now am forced at this timings. All this while I was using my Bolero to commute to work, but during the peak hours, its proving to be a pain in terms of efficiency (kmpl) and time taken to reach office and back home in the Bangalore traffic.

I own a 1994 Samurai, which was giving me a decent service and is till serving me, however, since it is more than 15yrs old, i dont want to go through the hassels of getting the FC and all such things done. Hence the decision of buying a bike.

My Usage:

Home-Work-Home, driving to shops and small things during the weekend.


My Requirements:

Hassel free ownership
Decent mileage (35-45Kmpl) in city limits
Sturdy, Reliable and Safe.

Shortlisted:

No Scooterets...Na these guys dont suit my image
Any bullets
Bajaj Discoverer
No, funky and fancy stuff

The Max budget I can invest is 70-80K

Please help me decide one.

Cheers,
Rajesh

[scuderiamania]

My I suggest the Fazer or the FZ-16. If you travel alone, these bikes are very comfortable [although the back seats are a pain in the back side]. The reason for me suggesting the fazer is that compared to the bullet the fazer will easily give you around 10 kmpl more and maintainance is hassle free. If these are not much of a concern for you, go for a Thunderbird.

[akshay4587]

Honda Unicorn,the new one,i forgot what its called.
Look no further

[amit_purohit20]

As you have a budget of 70 to 80k. I would recommend following bikes:

1)Comfort smoothness: Karizma (Fuel consumption is on the higher side 30-35 kmpl in city)
2)Powerful,Easily flickable,reliable:RTR 180 (Avg:40kmpl in city)Seating position is not the best as you need to lean over a bit but I own one and you get used to it for sure.Very very fast acceleration an excellent city traffic cutter.
3)Pulsars:Reliability in long term is questionable(from my experience)
4)RTR160: same as RTR180 only the Avg is marginally better 42-45kmpl in city.
5)Any Hero honda 100cc bike:Really good for city commuting. Light weight,good fuel avg,reliable. Easy to use. I would really recommend this one if you are not interested in speed.
6)TVS Star city: Cheap and reliable bike with good average.

[2500cc]

Guys: I just spoke to the enfield dealerships here in Bangalore and minimum waiting period on any model is 4mnths. So this is ruled out.
@scuderiamania: Fazer and FZ are tooo funky for my age though I love Yamahas.
@akshaya: Heard that the maintainance (cost of spares) of the Honda bikes is on the higher side.
@amit: Again, no funky looking bikes . I would probably consider Splendour. Any idea how much would it cost ?

[amtak]

As a owner of a HH Hunk, I would suggest you take a look at this bike. I bought mine in 2008 and it's been a pleasure riding this bike all throughout. The newer model comes with Rear Disc brakes as well and is priced around INR 71,000 (On road, Mumbai).

Do give it a try.

PS: The spare parts are cheap + it is a stable bike at speeds above 80/90.

The only negative thing in this bike is the Name. If you over look it, its a pretty good bike.

Lastly, I am getting a mileage of 45+ in the last 3 years of ownership.

[kphilip]

1. Honda Unicorn is a good option but then waiting period is too high.You can trust on its reliability though
2.Honda Dazzler- Have a look at this bike,made by honda , no waiting period and a lil more powerful than unicorn. Got a rear disc too.
3.Pulsar 180-Although the old one was not that reliable, i reckon the new one is atleast 80 percent reliable than the previous models.
4.TVS RTR 180- Heard a lot of good comments about this bike.Havent ridden this yet

This are my suggestions on the bikes for you. All this bikes have descent looks, not flashy and gives mileage above 40 km/litre

[abhinav.s]

Originally Posted by 2500cc

@amit: Again, no funky looking bikes . I would probably consider Splendour. Any idea how much would it cost ?

The cost of Splendor last year when we bought one for the family was 44k on road. This was the spoke wheel model without any accessories. Not sure if there has been any price rise after that. This was sometime in Feb-March last year.

Along with Splendor you can also look at Star City if you are looking at commuter bikes. Moving into a higher segment, you can look at the Discover150 which is not funky looking and it will be a good balance between power and mileage.

[Spitfire]

Since you are used to a car in your travel any commuter bike wont cut it. Either you will get bored riding the bike in a while or plain simply think its not worth it.

Get a bike bike instead - Bullets. Each day you will feel like riding the bike instead of taking out the car.

[amtak]

On Second thought, I think TVS Jive is the bike for you. Sorry, for posting this late, but it had skipped out of my mind.

[kkr2k2]

Originally Posted by 2500cc

....
@amit: Again, no funky looking bikes . ..

I think you should look at Hero Honda Achiever or Suzuki GS150R. Its not that only higher (>150cc) capacity bikes have good suspension but most of the times they are quipped with better parts as their pricing gives the makers some extra room.

You can also consider the Hero Honda CBZ, may be some staid color options would do the trick for you.

The Silver metallic HH Achiever looks very sober, you can consider it! You need not worry about spare parts as it shares its internals with CBZ.

[2500cc]

I know its been more than 10yrs that I've regularly driven bikes, but cant help due to the peak hour traffic woes in Bangalore. My Bolero consumed 23ltrs of diesel for one week. Earlier, I was using that amount of diesel for 2.5 to 3 weeks for the same distance

All models of Bullets have waiting period of minimum 6mnths.

Am gonna visit all the bike showrooms this saturday and am taking the inputs from the bikers in here which should help me finalize something neat.

Am feeling that if it is not bullet, then there is point in spending anything more than 50k for any other bikes.

Originally Posted by Spitfire

Since you are used to a car in your travel any commuter bike wont cut it. Either you will get bored riding the bike in a while or plain simply think its not worth it.

Get a bike bike instead - Bullets. Each day you will feel like riding the bike instead of taking out the car.

[bblost]

All Enfields now come with the UCE Engine. It looks like a Bullet and thats about it.
In terms of seating comfort the RE bikes have a great + for them.


You might also want to check out the new Honda 250 cc bike coming in at just under 1.5 lakhs.
Of course its way over your budget, but what if she is the one.

The sensible options would include the Honda Unicorn and most bikes from the HH stable like passion, glamour and so on.

[ajay_satpute]

I would recommend the HH Hunk as amtak mentioned. It has done really well and the bike is very good overall. Also, Hero Honda spares not expensive and HH engines tend to last really long. I have been driving a HH bike since last 65K kms without any major repairs. The bike still starts in first kick even after taking it out after a month!

I would not recommend the Pulsar, as its reliability is questionable on a long term basis. I have heard most Pulsar owners replacing this and that part even in the warranty period.

For the same budget, you can also get the Karizma R. Karizma R is arguably one of the best bikes ever made in India. Amazing power, superb brakes, great design and its not as funky as the new Karizma ZMR. The FE could be around 35-45 depending on your driving style.

[sidms]

I am using the current version of pulsar 180 (ug IV) from Apr 2010 and I must say I am very much impressed by Bajaj. The improvements in 180 ug IV over older pulsars are remarkable. No problems faced at all so far.

But since you are looking for a commuter bike, may I suggest you Suzuki GS150R (riding position of pulsar 180 is a bit "leaning forward" ).
I used to own a Suzuki Fiero for nearly 10 years and can safely conclude that Suzuki bikes are the best in the engine department.

Cheers