WHICH BYKE?. Review on General Tips on Buying a Bike

SEEKING ADVICE ON BYING A MOBIKE

Who is buying? I am buying. Who needs advice? I need advice.

WHY A BIKE?

This last year or so I have been bitten by the Byke bug very seriously. My last one was a Jawa 250 cc which I sold decades ago to a doodhvala.

Of late fuel prices have sky rocketed. Sooner than later fossil fuels will touch Rs 70/- a liter a year or so down the line.

I figured if I had a byke, then for the short runs in my locality I could just zoom off on a Hero Honda and be done. The CD Dawn gives some 70 kmpl, as opposed to my Santro, which gives me just 12 kmpl in the city.

WHICH BIKE?

Reading reviews here on Mouthshut leaves me confused. So often I have test driven a Bajaj Hodibaba, a Hero Honda CD Dawn, a Yamaha, the Libero but repeatedly  postponed my decision to buy.

Should it be a 100cc/125cc/150cc? If so which one?  Just cannot make up my mind. The new models come so fast and furious.

Two bikes caught my fancy the Bajaj Pulsar and the Honda Unicorn. Here again there are conflicting reviews on MouthShut.

CRUISERS

Recently I was in California and did all of it and much more on the road driving a Honda Accord. Hate the airplanes.  American Highways are a dream to drive on. You need a car GPS though.

Here I saw some of the greatest bikes in the world! Never saw any 100/125/150 cc bykes that we use in India. They were all 500/750cc some 1000 cc bikes, big big CRUISERS like Harley Davidson, Yamaha, Hondas. Even the Sports bykes on the road were like what you see on Star Sports mobike races!

The one that I fancied most were the Harley Davidson. Hugh majestic bikes driven by big big menacing looking fellas,  with muscular biceps and arms tattooed all over!  Very very intimidating and impressive I dare say.

Bikers always moved on the highway in-groups of 10/15/20, never alone. The noise these bike make was like some war planes zooming down for a bombing raid! Traffic always gives way to bikers. Surprisingly, I found many bikers over 50 years old!   This made me think maybe *I need to get back to biking. *Most of the bikes were immaculately maintained, shining.

At The Food Malls on the highways, where we stoped for food, I saw many bikes. I took time to inspect many bikes and ask questions to these menacing looking bikers. They are quite friendly. Most had twin cylinders, with long stroke pistons, firing alternately. The good Harleys cost some$ 22, 000/-!

I asked my son to buy me one. He refused. He told me “Indian Dad’s don’t drive Harleys  in California.”  Crazy dude!

BACK TO BASICS

Here back in India a young Army Officer drove from Ahemdabad to Pune to meet me,  on his Bajaj  Eliminator. I drove this bike on the NDA road and it was a breeze, it was back to basics, it was like flying to heaven!

The cost though was beyond my budget, about Rs 1, 00, 000/- is what you pay for a new one, which is more than a second hand M-800. I figured the way to go is the Yamaha Enticer, some Rs 60, 000/- But these bikes are cumbersome for short rides. On the other hand if I do decide to drive to Bangalore or Goa, or Mahableshwar, the small 100/125 ccs would be a pain to use. I love the high handlebars of these Cruisers for the driving comfort.

I am quite impressed with the Bajaj Pulsar and the smaller Discovery.

I am still struggling….I need to make a decision and I need to make the right one. My technical understanding for terms like BHP, RPM,  disc brakes and so on is very poor.

There should be plenty of bikers with hands on experience here on MouthShut to help me make a decision.