[TaurusAl]

Wondering why Hero Moto Corp never had a cruiser in their sleeve. They have surely neglected that segment.

[ArizonaJim]

The Harley Davidson 883 weighs over 265 Kg and its handling reflects this.
The larger engined Harley's weigh more and are less responsive.

Here in America where there are many wide straight roads, cruisers like this are popular but I question whether they are very practical for most uses in India?

I could have purchased a Harley Davidson but their massive weight and balky handling didn't impress me so I chose a Royal Enfield.

[TaurusAl]

Originally Posted by ArizonaJim

The Harley Davidson 883 weighs over 265 Kg and its handling reflects this.
The larger engined Harley's weigh more and are less responsive.

Here in America where there are many wide straight roads, cruisers like this are popular but I question whether they are very practical for most uses in India?

I could have purchased a Harley Davidson but their massive weight and balky handling didn't impress me so I chose a Royal Enfield.

Of course they are not at all practical for Indian roads, but we can have more Avenger & Enticer type options catering to easy riders.

Not everyone gets impressed by stunts shown in adverts and wants to race and squeeze in tight holes in city traffic.

[am1m]

On a different but related thread of thought, would you be comfortable parking a Harley or a comparable cruiser outside some lodge on some out-of-the way road?

I remember being worried about parking my Thunderbird outside a lodge on a state highway towards the Orissa border a couple of years ago, when I got caught in the rain on-route from Ranchi to Raipur.

I love the Thunderbird, it's very comfortable on long rides and has taken a lot of abuse, but there are several times when I've wished it didn't look the way it did, attracts too much attention in certain spots; a good old Standard Bullet would have been better in those situations. Just thinking, how much more attention would a Harley attract there.

Though I guess if I had a Harley, I'd probably just keep the "touring" down to inter-metro runs on the GQ.

[ArizonaJim]

I am just guessing but I suspect that a Harley Davidson in India would be less likely to be stolen than almost any other motorcycle. After all, if a thief rode away on your Harley he/she would stick out like a sore thumb. Everyone they rode past would notice them.
They would be very easy for the Police to pick out because of their rarity.

A Royal Enfield or any of the other common motorcycles would blend in with the scenery and go unnoticed by most.

On the negative side, the rider of a Harley Davidson obviously "has more money than they need" and may be picked out by the criminally minded individual(s) as a target for their nefarious ambitions.

As for theft in the U.S., Harley Davidson is usually ranked 5th behind Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki and Kawasaki but I feel this ranking is in line with the numbers of each brand owned and ridden here.

[am1m]

Originally Posted by ArizonaJim

I am just guessing but I suspect that a Harley Davidson in India would be less likely to be stolen than almost any other motorcycle.

There is something in that line of reasoning, but I wasn't actually thinking about the bike being stolen, I was wondering more about people fidgeting with the bike, sitting on it, pressing the clutch and brake repeatedly, twisting the throttle, and the like. I'm happy to let other people satisfy their curiosity about my bike, I've had some wonderful conversations with perfect strangers who were curious about what I was doing in their part of the country. But when on a long ride, the bike is my only means of getting back home. My whole trip depends on the well-being of the bike. As such, I'd much rather have a bike that attracted less attention than more.

But coming back to the main topic of the thread, more cruiser options are always welcome. Would also like more "practical" cruisers, those meant for our non-GQ roads. And non-weekend-at-Coffee Day parking lots.

[ArizonaJim]

I fully understand and find that my Royal Enfield has the same "problem" here.

People walk out of their way just to come over and look at it saying things like, "WOW! I haven't seen one of those for years! Did you fix it up? What year is it? Where did you get it?"
and things like, "I used to have a 441 BSA! I just love big singles like that", and "That looks like my old Matchless! Boy there was a bike!", etc. , etc.
I've even had people waiting at a stop light in their car roll down their windows to start talking about it until the light changes.

Fortunately they usually keep their hands off of it.

Back on track: I agree. The more cruiser options available the better.

[TaurusAl]

Referring to the Delhi Auto Expo 2012, Sad to see just one option in the low budget cruisers segment, and from Enfield again. So again cruiser lovers are left with just 2 options i.e. the Avenger and the Thunderbird.

Nevertheless, i think Thunderbird 500 is a nice launch and much awaited.

[kadanaJ]

Let's ignore the Harley's and Triumph's for now, I think we need to focus on more practical cruisers, i.e. those in the 150-250cc segment.

Also, why do a lot of cruisers not come with a tachometer?

I would consider the Bajaj Avenger a near perfect bike, but I just can't imagine not knowing how many revs I'm doing, if not for redlining (who redlines a cruiser anyways?), then from the point of view of fuel-efficiency at least.

[highway_star]

Lack of demand for cruisers seems to be the reason for low number of options. Number of Avengers seen on the road is much lower than Pulsars, with similar engine and price range.

Also, I think that R&D costs of developing a new cruiser would be high, since cruisers are very different from commuter and sports bikes. Manufacturers probably think that the effort and money spent will not be worth it for such a small segment.

[nakedflame]

Royal Enfield really needs to come out with a twin (preferably a V-twin). Something like the Interceptor of yesteryear...

[TaurusAl]

Originally Posted by highway_star

Number of Avengers seen on the road is much lower than Pulsars, with similar engine and price range.

I beg to differ my opinion here a bit. Probably the reason for low numbers of avenger is because though i want a cruiser, i do not want a Bajaj. I will probably prefer same bike in Yamaha / Honda / Suzuki / HERO etc. (I know none of these names are hardcore cruiser manufacturers.)

Also, if i need a cruiser, and for some reason i do not like the looks or the low seating of Avenger, then again i wont opt for Avenger.

So basically judging the demand of modest engine capacity cruisers based on sale of Avenger alone is not right IMO.