Naked/Standard superbikes comparo I recently bought a Z800 (about 3 months ago) and went through some research and reading to finalize it. As I was reading some other threads on the Z800 and recently launched Versys 650, I realized that there was no comparo of the naked superbikes available in the market. I thought I would pen down what little reading and logic I used to arrive at my decision if it is going to help others.
To provide my background, I had stopped riding bikes about 10 years ago and last year I wanted to get back to riding and bought a slightly used Ninja 650 (666kms in 6 months). I rode this for about 6 months and was extremely happy with it in all respects except one. My group of riding buddies all ride litre class bikes (R1, ZX10R, CB1000R, FZ1, etc.) and I realised that I was lagging behind quite a bit when we did our usual Sunday morning rides. Also, after riding for about 6 months on this, I was itching for an in-line 4 just for the pure joy of the acceleration and the scream of it.
I had some conditions that I had before I bought a new bike –
1. It had to be a bike that I could ride to office at least a couple of times a week
2. It had to be something that could at least stay at the very least at the back of the pack when riding with buddies
3. Reliability and cost of running were also an important factor and hence in-directly had also made up my mind to get a new bike and not a used one
The choices I explored –
1. Kawasaki Z800
2. Kawasaki Z1000
3. Honda CB1000R
4. Yamaha FZ1
5. Triumph Street Triple
6. Triumph Speed Triple
7. Ducati Monster
8. Ducati Hypermotard
Choices at the back of my mind but did not explore in detail –
1. Triumph Tiger
2. Suzuki GS1000
Let me first eliminate the bikes that were at the back of my mind. The Tiger (though very highly recommended by owners and friends) was left out as I felt it was too big for me to ride to office during the week. I only heard horror stories of Suzuki sales and service in Bangalore and straight away, I did not even venture near the showroom.
Kawasaki Z1000 – Ticked all the right boxes. In my personal opinion, the headlights felt too sleek and narrow but I could live with that. Where I had a problem was with the price. I felt that 6 lakhs more than the Z800 for 2 kgs weight savings and 30 bhp extra did not cut it for me. But if you ride one, you will love it.
Honda CB1000R – Two good friends of mine have this bike and it ticked all the right boxes. It was a little over my budget and also the design has not had a single change since 2009. This led me to think that an update was in the works and I would struggle to sell this later.
Yamaha FZ1 – Again like the CB1000R, a friend of mine owned this. But there were two things playing at the back of my mind. It was expensive at about 15.5 lakhs and also considering that the FZ09 was available abroad, it was a matter of time before this was replaced with that (and it seems to have already happened with the recent launch of the FZ09)
Triumph Striples – The entire Triumph fiasco was sitting at the back of my mind. But when you ride the Street Triple, the seat is so much more comfortable, the lesser weight is so evident especially when you want to weave in and out of traffic and low down torque is also quite evident due to the triple cylinder engine. Ticked all the boxes for me and was a very close second choice to the Z800. The price diff of 50k was what swung it towards the Z. The Speed was again out of the budget range.
Ducatis – I was in love from a long long time and it was the Ducatis that I was originally eyeing for. The Hypermotard is one crazy bike and a hoot to ride. It has everything that you could want. The Monster 821 again is such a good looking bike, even standing still. The price at which they were selling is also something that just makes you want to own the bike. When I weighed these with the Z800, the only places that the Z scored over this was – in-line 4, less conspicuous, easier to run and maintain. Even with the above, I would have still thought about the Hypermotard but once I sat on the bike, I quickly realized that it would be tough to manage that height in daily traffic conditions. The Monster was still very tempting but didn’t want to go from one twin to another expensive to maintain twin.
Special mention – Though I did not have this option 4 months back, I think the FZ09 is a bike that ticks everything for me. If I had this available, I would have blindly booked the same. I would highly recommend that you take a look at this bike if you are in the market for a naked superbike. |