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-   -   One bike to tame them all! 'Black Panther' - My Kawasaki Versys 650. Edit: Now sold! (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/superbikes-imports/183764-one-bike-tame-them-all-black-panther-my-kawasaki-versys-650-edit-now-sold-20.html)

Will slightly disagree with this. Ofcourse, beauty is in the eyes of a beholder, and I always always glance again at the sight of a Honda Africa Twin.

BMW/Ducati. Meh. Too many breakfast warriors with these machines these days.

From Bangalore dealership, the news is that the next shipment for India is only by August 2019, as one upcoming shipment is already booked out.

What you say is true. But, Off roading is not at all important for me. Basically looking for a pure touring bike.

Also Africa Twin cannot be said as a upgrade from Z800 in terms of power output. :D Any way would definitely do a TD.

Well, in that case the GS1200 is your apex predator. If you can put aside the money for that and for the next 10 years then by all means do it. Someone I know swears by it in every way and day.

Unless KTM comes in with its 1290 road touring range, there's nothing really to challenge the BMW.

Ducati's are twin's so I'm not bringing them into this comparison range at all.

A biker is always young at heart - and trust me some of these bikes can make you feel YOUNG when you open the throttle lol:

In my book - V1000 is the worst of both worlds. It neither has the oomph of a XR/Multi, nor the go anywhere creed of GS/Africa Twin. Plus Kawasaki is not even getting the fully loaded model. AVOID.

Multi V4 is atleast 2 years away - first V4 would be in Monster or a new naked street fighter as Monster 1200 is struggling to keep up with big nakeds. As for the sound - put a nice Termi can and it will sound wonderful. Its pretty reliable too - Bangalore DOC has majority Multistradas and i havent heard any major issues cropping up in either mechanical or electronic parts.

New 1000XR should be out next year based on new 1000RR platform. If you can wait - it can be a perfect bike for you. But it will be pricey for sure - atleast 3-4Lakhs over Multistrada.

You have hit the bull's eye - the biggest con of Africa Twin is the lack of power. Especially since he would be coming from a Z800. Unless he has major plans of going off-road, he would be making a huge compromise in bike's performance. Plus its a parallel twin - sounds horrible :D

This is SPARTAAAAA!!!!!

PS: BTW both KTM 1290 & BMW GS are also twins. So not sure why you would not bring Ducati into comparison :-)

stupid:

You are absolutely right. I am not sure how I got spooned that these were 4cyl. Must be the ginormous power and torque these monsters generate.

BTW Ducati Multistrada makes more power & torque than the GS, and almost as much as the crazy 1290 Super Duke GT.

You said it. That's what I'm looking forward to.

Anyway going to commit myself only after April 2019. Let's see. Already it is 3 to 4 Lakhs costlier than Multistrada 1260S. Don't know how much more moolah they are going to add. Also if price is the only factor nothing quite beats Versys right? Any idea when they are going to launch new XR. Now it is available with a new colour scheme(BMW's own blue & white).

BTW it is interesting to note that accessories are more costlier in case of Ducati than BMW.

GSA is quite a Behemoth and feels like one when you straddle it. I felt it has got the same presence as Harley Road Glide when you sit on it. stupid:

One friend [in fact he sent me the pics just now] has shifted [haven't used the term upgrade or downgrade] from a Z-800 to a V-Storm. Why not have a test ride and then choose between options available?

Having tried every mount out there including the one you've ordered I can say with confidence that RAM Mount is the only viable option as far as mobile mounts go.

The issue with the type of mount you've ordered is that;

1. The base is plastic so it is prone to material fatigue, after some hard riding you'll notice the base start to develop minor stretch marks, this would go about for a while until one fine day it snaps, same was the case with the one I bought from Rynox as well as one I got locally.

2. Mobile would overheat, though on most phones after a fair bit of overheating you'd get the warning to either pull out the battery or an auto-shutdown counter or the BSOD on some phones, on some the GPS Antenna starts acting funny, with one HTC in my case it overheated to such an extent that parts inside the phone such as the autofocus motor etc failed, the screen became too hot for me to even touch it without risking a burn.

Here's a snap taken after the above happened;



With the money I'd invested in these kind of sub par mounts over the years I could've purchased a RAM Mount with a couple of variety adapters If I'd known better then.

I finally purchased the RAM Mount in 2017 and have been using it for over a year now, and am a very happy customer, no matter what I throw at it the things performs without fail and is worth every penny spent.



Cheers,
A.P.

Thanks Ashwin!

I see you have done proper research on this! I should have seen this earlier - because the mount is already on the way. Will use it till then first sign of weakness and then throw it off and get a ram mount.

The upside is that you didn't buy the exact same thing(No Kidding, I still have the top portion lying around at my parent's place, its a Chinese mount with just a Rynox sticker and nothing more) from Rynox for twice or thrice the actual price.

Here are some pics from 2013,





Due to having apprehensions about the build quality I'd tether the mobile case to the RVM using my college ID Tag, which you can notice if you look close, as I don't have a better picture.



Luckily my apprehension was right and when the mount snapped after a bad shock the tether helped keep the mobile attached to the motorcycle, else would've had to invest in a new phone as well.

I have had bad experience with these plastic mounts. Even a small amount of extra tightening can break off the plastic mount which happened with me. Brand new Rynox mount broke. My only concern with RAM mounts was he exposed mobile. Which somehow I was paranoid about.

Incase you have details of other devices also, might be worth a seperate short thread? I found less info on motorcycles holders while searching, but we have a nice thread on car mobile holders.

Ashwin has a very good point.
I have been using the Rynox mount since 5 years and two issues - the base which connects to the display case can just fall off as it is a clip & lock mechanism. Fixed it with liberal amount or Feviquick. Solved.

Other one is as mentioned. My earlier phone heated up like hell and I wouldnt do it with the new one!

The only reason I am apprehensive about RAM mount is the amount of dust that would attack the phone and the inability to use maps during a moderate rain.
You could however mount the RAM behind the windscreen like a roll chart holder to minimize the dust.

BTW, damn good ownership log. Late in the act, nevertheless deserves the praise :)