[sagarpadaki]

If you are looking for tyre change to something more grippy, i would suggest you go for MRF Masseter in the stock size. I changed the rear on my Pulsar 180 UG3 to 100/90-17 Masseter X and i would say it is super in terms of grip. The bike just leans into a corner without effort and the tyre holds the line even under hard braking. Excellent tyre

[Shumi_21]

It's been awhile since I have updated this thread, but the Gixxer has been doing well, commuting on the weekdays and on longer rides on weekends. I usually ride to Lonavala/Matheran every Saturday morning, at times I go up to Lavasa, and once in a blue moon up to Mahabaleshwar/Panchgani. Nothing much to report there, as these rides are usually solo and I spend less than an hour at the destination, before turning my attention to the road back home. Maybe concentrating on the road and traffic around me gives me a rare moment to myself, a chance to introspect, or the feeling of a serene calm that engulfs me after I take off my helmet at the end. Commuting is fun, don’t get me wrong, but it’s frantic, much like life itself, where you accelerate hard and brake harder, around an ocean of people who are doing exactly the same. I guess the point here is commuting feels generic and that’s why I find myself craving the calm on the early Saturday morning highway. Really sorry if that sounded incoherent.


Somewhere near Pawna Lake

So this time, while heading towards Pawna Dam, I found that the road was being re-laid and consequently was under a thick blanket of the loose grey stones that they use as a base. A few kilometres later, the stones gave way to no road at all, just the reddish-brown mud, with a few stones littered here and there; a proper off-road trail! I decided to press on, just for shits and giggles to see how well I can ride these roads, and put the legendary Japanese reliability to the test.

Riding on the stones was scary, with the rear flailing around, sliding, even at 30 km/hr. But after a few kilometres, I sort of got used to it and was much more comfortable. No surprises on Rocky Road except a bull sitting on the road who suddenly charged at me but after a few steps stopped and turned back. I was riding a red bike after all.


Riding off road turned out to be more fun than I expected!

Eventually, the rocky road ended and the dust trail began, much to my comfort. Locals out on their early morning errands gave me the WTH look as I passed by. Reaching closer to the dam, I found a very narrow path that led downwards at steepish angle. Rode down the path, it led me really close to the bank of Pawna lake, until I reached about a 15-foot vertical drop. I could see an island sort of a formation in the distance, with a mound in the middle. I really wanted to get there, so I did the most sensible thing that could be done. I climbed down a tree in all my gear!


I climbed down the tree on the right in all my gear to get to the island like formation in the background.

Finally, having made my way to the island’s mound-top, I proceeded to take off all my gear and take a nap for a couple of hours. I woke up face down with mud covering half of my face, to the sound of the boats that provide joyrides on the lake. The folks onboard the boats were giving me seriously weird looks. They must have thought I was passed out intoxicated. I cranked up the weirdness quotient and did my best “I am drunk” impression as the boats passed. After all, this was about shits and giggles wasn’t it?


Another view of the earlier photo

Rode the return leg of the trail at a good pace, the bike performing marvellously in conditions that it was not exactly designed for, till a Ford Endeavour passed me as I was doing about 65 km/hr leaving me quite literally in the dust. I stopped by the side of the road till the dust left by the Endy in its wake had cleared and pushed on. As the straight roads gave way to corners, I was not only able to catch up to the Endy but also return the favour! I stopped after a few kilometres for a break, and sometime later, the car arrived, it’s occupants rather amused to see a motorcycle on these roads. We chatted for some time, and pressed forward together, the Endy kind enough to let me lead, so that I do not get covered in more dust than I already was. And then tragedy struck….

We saw an Innova parked in front of us an elderly couple standing near it. A few other people were on the other side of the road, taking photos/selfies. We slowed down and the Endy honked to alert the parked family. The elderly gentleman waved us through, but as we passed, the elderly lady suddenly ran across the narrow road, forcing me and the Endy to brake as hard as possible on the stony path. It would have been disaster averted, but the lady was not done yet, as she turned back three-fourths of the way across and ran back towards the gentleman, directly into the Endy’s path! The Endy braked harder, swerving a little towards me, nudging me from the left rear side. The end result was that I took a tumble at about 25km/hr on the stones and the Endy knocked down the crazy lady at a similar speed.

I got back up almost immediately, and went to check on the lady, she was alright but for a few cuts due to falling on stones. So, I went back to my bike and luckily, there was no damage, apart from scratches on the exhaust, crash guard and the right-side handlebar end weight. The rear brake pedal and the front number plate were bent too. I had no injuries, but my jacket was torn from the side.

The reason for this accident was that the lady had earphones on and was looking at her phone hence she neither heard her husband screaming at everyone to stay where they are, nor saw him waving me and the Endy through. The elderly gentleman apologised to the Endy’s driver and we were on our way once again. I was really bracing for a protracted argument but thankfully this was not one of those days. Reached home, riding cautiously and subsequently was able to straighten the bent brake pedal & the front number plate with a pair of pliers.

However, I still need to replace my riding jacket. I’m looking for a mesh jacket, as I will be wearing it every day while commuting in addition to longer rides. The armours must at least be CE approved and the colour has to be red, because I'm tired of looking at those monochrome black designs!

I want the stunningly hot looking Dainese Air Cronos 2 or the Hydra Flux D-Dry, but both of them are very expensive at 20k-ish (Dainese store in Bengaluru) and don’t even come with a back protector! I also feel that the Dainese’s have been made with the much cooler European weather in mind rather than the humid conditions of Mumbai.

Looking at the following options:

Aspida Nemesis L2
Rynox Tornado Pro L2
Tarmac One III
Solace Sprint
Mototech Scrambler Air
TBG Knight
DSG EVO R
Zeus Airdrift

Please do share your experiences/advice for the above or any other jacket that I may have overlooked.

[Red Liner]

Originally Posted by Shumi_21

Please do share your experiences/advice for the above or any other jacket that I may have overlooked.

Flat 25% off on the Revit GTR Air Jacket at High Note Performance. Will fit your needs to the T. Try the jacket locally if available and order online, or ask them about fitment-returns.

[neil.jericho]

Glad to know that you and the old lady are safe, that situation could have turned out much much worse than what actually happened. Phew! Thank your good karma / guardian angels and your riding gear for keeping you safe.

Originally Posted by Shumi_21

However, I still need to replace my riding jacket. I’m looking for a mesh jacket, as I will be wearing it every day while commuting in addition to longer rides. The armours must at least be CE approved and the colour has to be red, because I'm tired of looking at those monochrome black designs!

My suggestion is look for a well built jacket that gives you at least the provision for chest, shoulder, elbow and protectors. The reason I say provision is that many jackets dont come with a provision for chest protectors, which I feel are quite important. Many jackets come with a sponge back protector as well. You can easily get good chest protectors and a back protector in India. Just try and buy and calculate the costs of upgrading the sponge / Level 1 protectors to level 2, if you want to that is. Its the more cost effective approach as compared to buying an expensive branded option that gives you top notch protection out of the box. I would drop the mandatory red requirement because that really limits your options in the market. More details are in the riding gear thread.

[ethanhunt123]

Originally Posted by Red Liner

Flat 25% off on the Revit GTR Air Jacket at High Note Performance. Will fit your needs to the T. Try the jacket locally if available and order online, or ask them about fitment-returns.

Would highly recommend GT-Air as well. Revit makes superb stuff (Dainese/A*) quality - and their India prices are very reasonable. Do remember to add a Back protector as well since most Tier 1 OEMs dont give a back protector with their jackets.

[Intrepidspy]

Thanks for the detailed review! Just made me recollect my association with suzuki.

I owned a first lot Suzuki Fiero, the only Suzuki i had in my stable. I can vouch for the how reliable the bike was. The Engine was butter smooth, the best in the 150cc segment in terms of power and pickup. The genuine granddad of Apachie when TVS concluded their relation with Suzuki in 2001.

Leaving aside cons like poor headlight throw, lighter front-end and at later stages unavailability of spares made me let go of this beautiful machine.

Nevertheless a fulfilling experience.

[sunilch]

Really appreciate the details that you have put in your review. I took a ride on the Gixxer recently and kind of liked the bike for what one has to pay for it, if one does buy it. Came home, read your ownership experience and connected it to many of my observations

Curios to know - have you decided on your upgrade? What you were expecting from Honda (the CB300R) has been launched but I feel it is a bit overpriced, given the competition. And recently Suzuki has launched the Gixxer 250 and Gixxer SF 250 with competitive pricing. Or have you decided to stick to the same for a while more since it is still working as expected

[sunilch]

Originally Posted by sunilch

Really appreciate the details that you have put in your review. I took a ride on the Gixxer recently and kind of liked the bike for what one has to pay for it, if one does buy it. Came home, read your ownership experience and connected it to many of my observations

Curios to know - have you decided on your upgrade? What you were expecting from Honda (the CB300R) has been launched but I feel it is a bit overpriced, given the competition. And recently Suzuki has launched the Gixxer 250 and Gixxer SF 250 with competitive pricing. Or have you decided to stick to the same for a while more since it is still working as expected

Sorry my bad, I just checked and it seems like there is only the SF variant for the 250cc engine. There is no Gixxer 250 as yet. Someone had told me that Suzuki has launched both but I just checked the facts now on the internet

[Shumi_21]

Originally Posted by Red Liner

Revit GTR Air Jacket

Originally Posted by neil.jericho

My suggestion.

Originally Posted by ethanhunt123

Would highly recommend GT-Air as well.

I am grateful to all of you for your advice!

Ended up getting the Scorpion Eddy Jacket & I have been using it for over a month now. Will be putting up a review soon along with a small review of all my other gear.

Originally Posted by Intrepidspy

Nevertheless a fulfilling experience.

The poor headlight throw has unfortunately been carried over to the Gixxer too. But I agree with you, the Suzuki experience has been a fulfilling one indeed!!

Originally Posted by sunilch

Curios to know - have you decided on your upgrade?

Really really sorry for the late reply.

I have already made a booking for the Honda CB300R back in March. The delivery was supposed to happen in July/August, but I postponed it to September/October because I did not want to run in a new bike in the brutal monsoons. The delivery has now been postponed again to March 2020, because I am on standby for a year long overseas work assignment and it wouldn't make sense to buy a new bike in that case.

So for now, I'm trying to figure out if I want a street/urban motorcycle like the CB or something like the upcoming KTM 390 Adventure, that can take on the cratered landscape known as roads in Mumbai and also go off the highway once in awhile.

The Suzuki Gixxer SF 250 and it's inevitable naked version is late to the market by at least a year, IMHO. And in a world where we did not have the TVS Apache 310 & CB300R, it would have been a good upgrade from the 150's. I will probably take a test ride the next time I visit the Suzuki dealership to buy the Ecstar engine oil. However, I would be very interested if Suzuki were to launch a V-STROM variant of the 250cc engine!


Leaving you all with a picture of a recent ride in the rains

[Shumi_21]

The winter season is on and I have been taking full advantage of the chilled climate to chill my mind from the monotonous machinations of adult life. Have been out riding every weekend mostly solo, sometimes with a pillion & rarely with a small group of bikes. 10-year-old me dreamt of this while sitting pillion on my cousin’s CBZ. My weekend-ly disappearing act has been a source of some really weird & hilarious speculations amongst the housing society aunties and my extended family who live in the same locality as me. Really wish I had a bike that could go as fast as these rumours travel!


Going off the beaten path also makes for better pics

These weekend rides now invariably take a detour off roads of mostly out of curiosity to explore & sometimes due to the presence of selfie taking idiots at every damn turn on well paved roads. No wonder we are number one in the world in selfie related deaths. For me, it really underscores the importance of having an ABS equipped bike.


Riding off-road on a road bike is its own “adventure” and it comes with its own consequences

So, on one of these off-road excursions, I found myself riding through early morning dew covered grass. With the tyres adamant to lose traction on wet grass, I felt a big thunk on my right side as I hit an unexpectedly large stone that was hiding in the grass! The result was a bent right leg of my bike’s centre stand. It was still operational, but putting the bike on the centre stand made it look like the leaning Gixxer of Suzuki.

I went to an FNG recommended by my cousin (of the CBZ fame). The welding guy there was an old hand and he decided that the best course of action was the bent part to be cut off, straightened and re-welded back to the main stand.


The bent part being cut off


Fully lopped off, notice the curled up edge from the stone impact


Welding the cut off part back on after straightening it


Final touches, looked kinda fascinating to me

It was really intriguing to watch him work with an enthusiasm that belied his age & he charged me a princely sum of hundred bucks for his troubles, because mine was the first Gixxer he had ever worked on!


The centre stand is fixed now and I am taking extra care on off road stretches, lest I break something more critical to the bike working flawlessly. And speaking of working flawlessly, my Gixxer has done over 87000kms in 4 years and 3 months! Never expected to ride it this much, but here I am, dreaming of CB300r’s & 390 Adventure’s, but still riding the humble Gixxer.


Shared a pack of Parle G biscuits with this doggy, and he repaid me by photobombing my attempt at a cinematic picture


PS: @Mods can we please do something about the 4mb picture size limit? I have to compress all the pics and all the details get lost in compression

[ashwinprakas]

Originally Posted by Shumi_21

The welding guy there was an old hand and he decided that the best course of action was the bent part to be cut off, straightened and re-welded back to the main stand.

Ah, poetic.

BUT,

If it helps, do know that the main stand is usually held in place by a long rod which is locked in place using a cotter pin, you pull the pin out, push the rod out and the main stand falls off without a care in the world.

Once it's off you can hammer/twist it back to shape.

Cheers,
A.P.

[Shumi_21]

The Gixxer has been out of action since the lockdown started, but I have been doing laps of my housing society compound every alternate day. So no real update except that I changed my oil last week to Shell Advanced Ax7(semi synthetic) from the Ecstar R9000 (fully synthetic) that I have been using for the last year or so.

With the pandemic forcing us to stay indoors and work from home extracting its own pound of flesh, I have had a lot of time to (over) think about my impending upgrade to the CB300R. And I have come to the following conclusions:

1. Postpone the upgrade by at least another six months. Keeping in mind the financial uncertainties brought on by the pandemic it just does not make sense to buy a new motorcycle.

2.Going by how almost every long ride of mine inevitably turns into a mild off road excursion, I need to rethink whether the CB300R is the right choice for me (cough KTM 390 Adventure cough). Hence, again circling back to point 1.

Some random pictures from before the lockdown to keep this thread alive in the meantime.


Somewhere around Lonavala



Leaned over on dirt? You betcha!!


The trail ended in a dead end


First Person View


View from the bottom to give you an idea of the slope. The bike climbed rather easily!!


The view was definitely worth it
Helmet: MT Thunder 3 Sv
Jacket: Scorpion Eddy
Gloves: Rynox Scout

[Shumi_21]

I've been oscillating between being too busy and being too lazy in trying to live the lockdown life. In the midst of these oscillations, there comes a point at regular intervals where the busy-ness and the laziness cancel each other out. And I've found the best way to utilize these opportunities is to explore, the highway on my motorcycle; and my mind through the experience of riding the motorcycle.

The only update I have for the Gixxer is that I have installed a tank pad + tank grip set from Autologue Design. The addition of these accessories has certainly elevated the already awesome cornering experience on the Gixxer by a few notches. Some pictures from recent rides to break the monotony of my rambling.


Somewhere near Lavasa. Do notice the fogged up helmet


Insert witty caption about the sun rays coming through your motorcycle


Do notice the Autologue Design tank grip.


When you find a rock to place your gear and park your bike


Somewhere along the Pawna Dam circuit

The Gixxer will complete six years of ownership in September. I didn't intend to keep this bike for so long, but here it is running as good as it did on day one. But the urge to upgrade gets stronger everyday. And here's where I'm uncharacteristically indecisive. Hoping the enthusiasts on the forum can chime in with their advice. Here's a short summary to put things into perspective:

I've test ridden all options in the 250cc-400cc class but none of them impressed me enough to actually bring any one of them home, although the Ninja 400 came pretty darn close, followed by the 390 Adventure. But both of them had their shortcomings (IMHO), the N400 it's price and the 390 adv with it's daily commute unfriendliness, especially given the fact I commute 5 days a week on my Gixxer and the new motorcycle will do the same.

Test riding all the motorcycles on my upgrade list made two things clear;

1. All of them are a definite improvement to my humble 155cc, in terms of performance, quality etc. but none of them connected with me like the Gixxer did. Which in turn makes me hesitant to choose one.

2. I will have to compromise in some way or the other to bring a new motorcycle home as I don't have the budget to buy a Ninja 400. So my train of thought is, that if I have to compromise, why not go for a bare minimum upgrade like a CBR 250R from the pre-owned market? And I can buy a new bike when Kawasaki drops the price for the N400. Or when Triumph-Bajaj launch a 400cc Street Triple! Or when RE launches a 650cc Himalayan!

Thoughts? Opinions? Advice?

[drt_rdr]

Why do you want a bigger bike?

1> Do you want more capability from your bike so that you can do more things with it, or do things more efficiently?

2> Are you bored with the current bike and want a different experience or maybe just more bang per buck?

3> Do you simply fancy a bigger, shinier toy to show off?


Ask yourself what you really want to do with the bigger bike, and how much better the bigger bike would do it compared to what you have now. You'll get your answers then.

Or alternatively, you can buy whatever fits your fancy and keep the gixxer in your garage as well. A carburetted 150 has its advantages these days.

Triumph-Bajaj launch a 400cc Street Triple!

"Make it a Street Single with Triple spark plugs and you've got a deal."
-Bajaj.

[Shumi_21]

Originally Posted by drt_rdr

Why do you want a bigger bike?.

Following reasons:

Better braking : ABS is a must. Also, the current combination of a disc at the front and a drum at the rear doesn't cut it for me anymore. I have had a few close calls and having the safety net of ABS will give me peace of mind.

Better Performance: I usually maintain a crusing speed of 90 km/hr. But the Gixxer is running at the end of it's performance envelope at these speeds and overtaking is just not possible. Also a faster motorcycle would be more fun no?

So yes, I want more capability from my next motorcycle to do the small weekend rides quicker and while having more fun.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't bored of the Gixxer.

Not inclined to buy a motorcycle to show off. Just the reasons above.