Thunderbird on the highway, chicken in traffic :). Review on Royal Enfield Thunderbird 500

I owned a Thunderbird 350 for 8 years before replacing it with the new Thunderbird 500.

I was expecting an upgrade but this is a whole new bike, almost everything has been changed and Eicher has invested a substantial amount of time trying to improve the stability and lure of the bike.

The new machine has a lot of power but it is not meant to compete with the smaller peppy plastic bikes, its simply not really a city bike and gets uncomfortably hot when pushed to do bumper to bumper.

Its a heavy motorbike in the true sense that's meant to cruise on highways. Very uncomfortable in heavy traffic and drinks up as much as a Nano.

I booked in Oct, 3 weeks from launch and waited 5 months for the bike to be delivered. Called the dealer every month to get an update and finally received the call to make payment. I checked all aspects of the bike before taking delivery, this is prudent for any Royal Enfield product as they still have quality issues.

Found the indicators failing, hazard light failing, pilot light failing. I didn't expect the delivery to be seamless in any case. I took the bike and got the problems fixed at the service center.

This is a fantastic machine that's hard to find fault with however I see some quirks that should not have been there in a 1.8 lakh machine.

1. Buzz from the front disc while breaking.

   
   




2. Unreliable fuel gauge.

   
   




3. Stiff suspension.

   
   




4. Quality issues.

   
   




5. Rusty edges.