The Meteor is peppier than the Classic & Triumph is in another league. None can be directly compared to one another. All three have a very different character.

BHPian Hillman recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

I got a chance to test ride this beauty today at Keerthi Triumph, Bengaluru. My opinion will be a bit raw, considering I'm not a day to day bike user. After me turning family man most of my commute is 4 wheelers for more than a decade. The Harley and Triumph launch ignited back the biker in me and so I casually booked the Triumph for 2k refundable.

Took my better half along for a test ride date back to back Triumph - Meteor - Classic. Here are our impressions:

• Triumph indeed looks good.

• Drove in City traffic, the Triumph brakes are very good and predictable.

• Pillion was surprisingly comfortable on Triumph. Can sit straight with no issues. Didn't have the problem of pillion shoe touching. Even getting on and off for my 5'6” lady love wasn't a problem. I am 5'9" 85kg. She liked it better than Enfield. For pillion seating she rated in this order of comfort as Triumph-Classic-Meteor. Meteor was too compact. Classic very spacious. Triumph was in between but plush.

• The bike is real good in hiding the speed, acceleration is linear and very quick.

• With pillion, frequent gear change is needed. I managed to stall it over speed breaker trying to see if it could pull in third gear. 2-3 gear is where you will be comfortable in traffic. Both Meteor and Classic chugs through in this situation. I did half clutch on all three. Meteor does a better job.

• For rider comfort, i could feel a strain on my arms compared to Classic specially if your better half leans on you lovingly during the ride. Leaning is not comfortable for both rider and pillion. Enfields are comfortable that way.

• Meteor is peppier than classic, Triumph is in another league. None can be directly compared to one another. All three have a very different character.

• The engine heat and vibrations from Triumph are felt but bearable. It loves to be revved.

• Surprisingly the clutch didn't feel very light, It felt marginally better than Enfields. Harley X440 had softer clutch lever. Took a feeler at Harley Showroom near by. Given the number of gear change and half clutch on city ride there is no major advantage with Triumph.

• The exhaust note is loud but nothing to write about as distinctly noticeable.

• Riding stance and balance- Classic is the best for both rider and pillion.

• Putting vehicle on center stand - Never knew you could put Meteor on center stand with one hand holding the handle bars alone. It was a breeze. Struggled with Classic and had to use the hand grip on the back. Triumph is light but Meteor is a cake walk in this department.

Overall liked Triumph for pillion comfort, throttle and break response. However I felt it is best for solo trips. I will not be comfortable for long duration rides with pillion. The novelty will wear off soon.

Keeping Triumph clean specially the back side with be a job.

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Rider Mania will be held in Goa between November 18 and 20.

Royal Enfield has a slew of products in the pipeline, including the Himalayan 450 and multiple models based on the 650cc platform. Now, if rumours are to be believed, the Super Meteor 650 could be revealed as early as next month.

According to media reports, Royal Enfield is likely to showcase the Super Meteor 650 at Rider Mania 2022. The annual event will be held in Goa between November 18 and 20.

The Super Meteor 650 will be the brand’s flagship cruiser powered by the same 649cc parallel-twin engine used in the 650 twins. This engine develops 47 BHP and 52 Nm and is paired with a 6-speed gearbox via a slipper clutch.

Rider Mania has always been the ideal platform to showcase new products given the high footfalls. Earlier, Royal Enfield had presented the Interceptor 650 and the Continental GT 650 at the same event.

Source: Autocar India

TVS deliberately did not design a motorcycle that had proportions similar to the Royal Enfield Bullet / Classic 350 and the Honda CB 350 / RS.

BHPian neil.jericho recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

I dropped into a nearby TVS showroom to check out the Ronin. There were 3 bikes on display. Some thoughts

• The bike is definitely small. You cannot get around its diminutive proportions. My theory is that TVS deliberately did not design a motorcycle that had proportions similar to the Royal Enfield Bullet / Classic 350 and the Honda CB 350 / RS. Had they done so, customers would have compared the products side by side and said, "Why does the TVS only get a 225 cc engine?". The battle would have been lost then and there. So, maybe TVS is on to something with this 8 / 10 sized motorcycle. I just wish it was a 9/10 sized motorcycle.

• The styling of the final product is a designer's nightmare within a nightmare within a nightmare. If I had to guess, the following is what actually happened

• Product manager to design team : Guys, I want you to come up with 5 options for every design element. So, give me 5 headlight designs. 5 tank designs. 5 exhaust designs. 5 paint schemes. We have to show different options to the higher ups.

• Final decision maker in TVS to the Product manager : I will take Headlight #1, Instrumentation Pod #3, Tank #2, Exhaust #5 etc.

• Product manager to the baffled design team : You heard the boss, put it all together and give us the final design!

• There is zero cohesion in the design. Its like me loading my plate with 10 dishes from 10 different cuisines from 10 different parts of the world and expecting to get a lip smacking meal. I think most people are being kind to TVS on the design front.

• I found the display to be just too busy. Just because you can display all that information, doesn't mean that you should. That offset display unit is disproportionate in size and sticks out like a sore thumb, both literally and figuratively. Speaking of sore thumbs, that humongous chain guard feels like it came off a BMW GS1200.

• For all of Mr Sumbly's fancy marketing talk about the bike appealing to everyone and it being all about exciting unscripted stories, TVS has chosen the most boring colours for the motorcycle. These are paint schemes that will only appeal to mature enthusiasts. TVS knows what they are doing. The people who will actually buy the Ronin will not look anything like the people featured in TVS's commercials.

• Considering this audience and the size / proportions of the seats, I dont think too many people will be comfortably doing 2 up touring.

• The build quality looks to be pretty good.

• The bike is as much a scrambler, as I am an astro-physicist. P.S - I'm not an astro-physicist.

• Once you sit on the bike, you understand that the detailed technical breakdown from the launch, was not fluff. This feels like a well engineered product from a company that is renowned for being an engineering company. The ergonomics are good. You can tell that TVS has spent a lot of time in making this a motorcycle that is going to be comfortable for long rides.

• Car enthusiasts talk about a car shrinking around you when you drive it. I've never understood it. In the showroom, when you sit on the pint sized Ronin, it suddenly feels like a normal sized motorcycle. So, its the opposite of the car shrinking around you sensation. Neither makes sense but I cant explain it any other way. In the real world, when you are commuting to work and are stuck at Silk Board junction where you are side by side with normal sized people on normal sized motorcycles, you will probably feel silly being seated on the smaller Ronin.

TVS seems to have put a lot of effort into the product but it does appear as though siloed teams have worked on the product, the positioning and the launch event. It is all disjointed. You don't find this confusion with a Meteor, for example.

I really don't know how this lifestyle motorcycle fits into TVS's overall philosophy. I really don't know what this motorcycle is trying to be. I think I have a fair idea of what it is, though. A test ride should help clear things up. The good thing for TVS is that people are genuinely interested to know more about the product. How many of them will convert to actual sales? That remains to be seen.

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As per suggestions from a fellow BHPian friend, i tried various options from changing my riding gear to sitting position during rides and religious stops.

BHPian silverstreakcbe recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Hello All, Its been a while since catching up with the forum due to office routine and trips. Just wanted to update on the seat modification that i had contemplated in my previous travelogue.

As per suggestions from a fellow BHPian friend, i tried various options from changing my riding gear to sitting position during rides and religious stops. But, nothing worked out for the butt ache. Still could not bear with the Hard touring seats. I did couple of rides to Bangalore with all the suggestions above, but could not feel any better. So, i decided to modify the seat with more additional cushioning.

There were lot of videos on Youtube suggesting various vendors and predominantly in Chennai. Since i commute to Bangalore often, i wanted some options in Bangalore. The costs that were mentioned on these videos were somewhere between 5K to 7.5K. I was not much keen on prices, but wanted to solve this issue for more peaceful riding.

Last week, been to Bangalore for working from office (Hybrid). Spent some time in looking for best seat modification works. Narrowed down to Rao Seat Covers in Shivaji Nagar. Went through most of the review, but all were most of Classic 350. I found only one review for Meteor along with a Photo. Most of them were Positive. I decided to give it a go and modify the Seats there.

Some photos before the mod:

After removing the seats:

Seats getting worked upon by the team:

The whole process goes like this:

• Upon bike arrival, the earliest free mod-expert ( i will prefer to call them this way) will attend to your bike. Will enquire and get to know what is your preference.
• Once you are ok with his suggestions, in another 10 mins your seats will be dismantled and taken in. The Owner (On the machine) will provide you with the options (Cushioning, fabric options and finishing). He also gives you the fabric sample to be put on top of the seat. Once all is finalized, he gives you the final quote.
• In my case, existing touring set covers were done away with. I wanted both Rider and Pillion to be modified. The suggestion given for me was to add 1 inch cushion on top with new seat cover fabric for rider seat. And for the Pillion, in addition to the 1 inch cusion on top, the sides were also beefed up to give more seating area for pillion rider.
• They are so professionals in their work that they carry out with clock precision. While one person is working on the rider seat, another works on pillion and then again, while one person is taking the measurement and cutting the fabric, another prepared with the cushion adhesive works. The owner does the stitching part. The sync between the team is fantastic. My seats were modified within 1 hour.
• Going by their reputation, they are specialists in RE bikes. They do have a lots of seating options (New and Modifications). In that one hour, i could count around 4 RE bikes getting done simultaneously apart from other bikes and scooters.

Coming to the post modification experience. The immediate ride to my home from Shivajinagar was like sitting on air. I could not feel that there were any hard thing below my butt. Next day, I rode back from Bangalore to Coimbatore. The seats were very comfy as expected. The outside of thighs had good support and could not feel any fatigue.

During all my rides to Bangalore and back, i took minimum 4 stops out of which 2 were definitely due to butt ache. Post modification, i took 2 stops in the entire ride and i could continue with my work after coming back. I am hoping that this modification gives me more peace of mind on butt worries and can continue long rides.

Coming to after modification:

Shop location: 12°59'06.7"N 77°35'59.9"E

Cheers!

Raaghav K S.

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