Jan 17, 2009 11:57 PM
4084 Views
I had narrowed down my choices to just two. Thunder Bird and Yamaha R15. I could not get Yamaha R15 for a test drive. So I settled for the thunderbird. Before my test drive I had driven motorcycles for only about an year, so I was a little apprehensive about buying the gigantic bike. But the moment I test drove it I was hooked.
I am writing this review after spending almost 3 months and 3000 kms on this bike. Initially I found the bike a bit too big for the chennai traffic . I also found the suspension a bit hard I weighed only 72 Kgs so whenever I rode without a pillion I found the ride too "Jumpy". I reponded by loosening(reducing the tension of) the rear suspension. But now the suspesnion appears to have gotten better. The bike is heavy only when it is not moving. Now I find this bike very comfortable even in a crowded street.
For the first 2000 kms I followed the guidelines and rarely increased my speed beyond 70 km/hour. But now I have started testing the limits of the bike. Today I took the bike to Pondichery(150 kms from chennai where I live) and back, a total of 300 kms in a day, in 6 hours of to be exact. When I started back to chennai it was already dark and so I got to enjoy some night driving at over 100 km/hour too. But I must admit that I would have liked the head lights to be more powerful. I had to tail cars just to get a better view of the road. But I am very satisfied with its perfomance at top speeds. I found that I could cruise quite comfortably at 80 - 90 Km/hour. I topped 100 Km/h quite often. The maximum speed I attained was 120 km/hour at full throttle. The handling is good at high speeds. I am also getting over 40 kms/litre.
I use the service station near Thiruvanmiyur and the service is satisfactory.
