So your result just came out, you got into your favorite college or just landed your first job? such occasions are an excuse for any rev-head to finally get that showroom fresh new bike which he always wanted. Since buying a bike and especially your first motorbike is such an important moment that we at BikesMedia decided to help you brothers out in choosing the right set of two wheels which will get you hooked for good.Following are the parameters which you can go through while motorcycle shopping:
• Nature of the bike-
Do you like to cruise on the highways for long distances? Or just attack the streets for a short time? Because there is a specific weapon for both of them and many other purposes as well the main type of bikes available in the Indian market includes:Naked Bikes:
These are the kind of bikes which dominate our market, from TVS Apache RTR 180 to FZ. All these bikes are naked bikes. Most popular bikes in this range include Pulsar 200NS, TVS Apache RTR 200 4V, Yamaha FZ, Suzuki Gixxer and CB Hornet. Naked bikes are not too track focus because they don’t have such a sharp handling of a fully faired machine like R15 and neither they are too highway specific as they lack wind protection due to their minimal equipment nature in the front. But these machines are the jack of all trades and even master of one which is street riding.
Ask any bike enthusiast and he will confirm the street dominance of naked bikes. These motorcycles have small turning radius, good low-end, comfortable riding position and excellent agility to keep you engaged throughout the city riding. The best option among Naked in the 150cc is Suzuki Gixxer and in the 200cc segment is Pulsar 200NS.
Cruisers:
It goes without saying that these bikes are best at cruising. A low seat height, raised handle bars, comfortable riding position, front set foot pegs are the features which can be found on all types of cruisers. They also have high weight carrying capacity and wide seats. The main purpose of these bikes is to provide the user with as much comfort as possible on the highways. One can easily nail down a ride of 300 Kilometers on these bikes without breaking any sweat. They are on a bit of a heavier side and are not ideal to ride in the tightly packed streets as they have a wide turning radius as well. Royal Enfield Thunderbird and Bajaj Avenger are the bikes which dominate this segment.
Sports bike:
Yamaha R15, KTM RC 200 & 390, Bajaj Pulsar RS 200 and so on. A bike with aerodynamic full fairing, an aggressive seating position and rear set foot pegs coupled with a clip-on handle bar comes under this category. These bikes are meant to do one thing and that is to go fast, as fast they possibly can. A KTM RC 390 can clock up a top speed of 178 km/hr on an empty road. These bikes have sharp handling, acceleration and braking. They can go fast really fast and can slow down too really fast. But they are not ideal for long rides.
The aggressive seating position becomes a bane after 2 or 3 hours in the saddle. Though Indian manufacturers know that any person buying a sports bike in India, is surely going to use it for every other purpose including highway riding. That’s why seating position on Bajaj Pulsar RS 200 is a little less aggressive than the other two and can be ridden for long rides too. Thus it can also be included in the next category of bikes which is-
Sports tourer:
A sports tourer is a mixture of sports and cruising bikes. These bikes though conventionally offer panniers and a decent amount of luggage space as stock but that space is not available in India especially in the kind of segment we are talking about which is between 150-400 cc. What is available is the bike itself. The bikes in these categories include Suzuki Gixxer SF, Yamaha Fazer and Fazer-25, Bajaj Dominar 400, Mahindra Mojo. These bikes include almost all the good qualities of a sports bike without any of its short coming. These have a comfortable riding position with such a grip on the handle bars which doesn’t affect your wrists. These are the bikes to go to if you wanna kill kilometers on a highway with good enough handling to take on the twisties along the way.
So you figured out which type of bike you want, congratulations hard part is over, now what remains is to choose the engine variant which will depend upon these following factors-These are the kind of bikes which dominate our market, from TVS Apache RTR 180 to FZ. All these bikes are naked bikes. Most popular bikes in this range include Pulsar 200NS, TVS Apache RTR 200 4V, Yamaha FZ, Suzuki Gixxer and CB Hornet. Naked bikes are not too track focus because they don’t have such a sharp handling of a fully faired machine like R15 and neither they are too highway specific as they lack wind protection due to their minimal equipment nature in the front. But these machines are the jack of all trades and even master of one which is street riding.
Ask any bike enthusiast and he will confirm the street dominance of naked bikes. These motorcycles have small turning radius, good low-end, comfortable riding position and excellent agility to keep you engaged throughout the city riding. The best option among Naked in the 150cc is Suzuki Gixxer and in the 200cc segment is Pulsar 200NS.
Cruisers:
It goes without saying that these bikes are best at cruising. A low seat height, raised handle bars, comfortable riding position, front set foot pegs are the features which can be found on all types of cruisers. They also have high weight carrying capacity and wide seats. The main purpose of these bikes is to provide the user with as much comfort as possible on the highways. One can easily nail down a ride of 300 Kilometers on these bikes without breaking any sweat. They are on a bit of a heavier side and are not ideal to ride in the tightly packed streets as they have a wide turning radius as well. Royal Enfield Thunderbird and Bajaj Avenger are the bikes which dominate this segment.
Sports bike:
Yamaha R15, KTM RC 200 & 390, Bajaj Pulsar RS 200 and so on. A bike with aerodynamic full fairing, an aggressive seating position and rear set foot pegs coupled with a clip-on handle bar comes under this category. These bikes are meant to do one thing and that is to go fast, as fast they possibly can. A KTM RC 390 can clock up a top speed of 178 km/hr on an empty road. These bikes have sharp handling, acceleration and braking. They can go fast really fast and can slow down too really fast. But they are not ideal for long rides.
The aggressive seating position becomes a bane after 2 or 3 hours in the saddle. Though Indian manufacturers know that any person buying a sports bike in India, is surely going to use it for every other purpose including highway riding. That’s why seating position on Bajaj Pulsar RS 200 is a little less aggressive than the other two and can be ridden for long rides too. Thus it can also be included in the next category of bikes which is-
Sports tourer:
A sports tourer is a mixture of sports and cruising bikes. These bikes though conventionally offer panniers and a decent amount of luggage space as stock but that space is not available in India especially in the kind of segment we are talking about which is between 150-400 cc. What is available is the bike itself. The bikes in these categories include Suzuki Gixxer SF, Yamaha Fazer and Fazer-25, Bajaj Dominar 400, Mahindra Mojo. These bikes include almost all the good qualities of a sports bike without any of its short coming. These have a comfortable riding position with such a grip on the handle bars which doesn’t affect your wrists. These are the bikes to go to if you wanna kill kilometers on a highway with good enough handling to take on the twisties along the way.
• Mileage desired:
Rule of the thumb is less capacity engine equals more mileage. If you want at least 50 kilometers of mileage from every litre of petrol poured in the tank, then you should blindly go for a 150cc segment engine variant. Because the only reason you want mileage is that you need to save money and a 150cc bike can offer you plenty of smiles and kilometers per litre.• Commuting and racing requirements:
Whenever we talk about racing among our friends then it isn’t actually a well-planned track day but a sudden drag race or a sprint from point A to point B. So keeping that in mind a 200cc Naked or sports bike can really make your day and help you win that race happening down the street. The 200cc engine easily helps you out in everyday commuting as well as highway rides. Nowadays many bikes like Suzuki Gixxer and Pulsar NS 160 also offer enough performance to rival bikes in the 200cc segment.RELATED ARTICLE: 5 Points To Consider Before Buying A Second-hand Bike
Coming to the commuting requirement that a higher engine capacity serves you pretty well on the highway, this doesn’t mean that “a 150cc bike can’t cruise”. Sure it can, but if you need to commute 500-600 kilometres in a month more than two times, then it’s highly suggested that you go for a higher capacity engine.
Conclusion:If you are also another 22 year-old saving money day and night to finally buy you first dream bike of yours then I can totally understand your confusion. After all this talk does remember this thing in mind that it’s your first bike and you are going to do almost everything with it. Choose something within your budget so you can buy good riding gears as well. This bike will teach you everything about the basics. It will give you a hard-time, it will demand attention from you, but believe me; it will also offer you experiences ranging from sunrise at Khardung-la to Desert night rides in Rajasthan.
If you have any queries, do let us know in the comments down below. For everything related to motorcycle and its related experiences, stay tuned to BikesMedia.
By: Yetnesh Dubey