[SAS]

Originally Posted by Kalash_6324

Hey there!
I'm 5'6" myself and have ridden the Himalyan (800mm), KTM 390 ADV (855mm) Vstrom 250 SX (835mm) and use a Classic 350 on a daily basis (800mm).

Riding tall bikes is a skill that you can develop over time. You don't need to flatfoot a bike and the very first habit you should let go is waddling. There are a ton of techniques that can help you manage the height and weight of these bikes, but it'll take some time. So don't let the spec sheet be a barrier.

Thanks buddy. With your encouragement and others on the forum, I did a testdrive, first of the Speed 400 to get a flavour of the engine etc and then a 310GS to familarize myself with the seat height. Firstly on the seat height, yes I could keep 1 foot flat and the other was to tiptoe, but it was comfortable to ride a 835mm seat height. I even tried pushing the bike around in the parking lot with the engine off to see if I could manage to control it, and it was indeed possible. the issue is that I”m recovering from a femur fracture about a year back hence its a little difficult for me, but manageable. I think within a month, I should be very comfortable with the seat height.

Now coming to the speed 400, what a hoot it was to ride around.

• Its engine is super tractable.
• Only issue is with the very short gearing. Heck, at 80kmph, I was searching for the 7th gear, thats how short the gearing is.
• The brakes are good and the engine is effortless. It pulls like a freight train from 2.5k till around 7k.
• The exhaust was louder than I was expecting, the drone can be a bit annoying on long rides.
• The turning radius is too wide, so you got to be careful if you're used to cut in city traffic
• The suspension is the best in any bike below Rs 10 lakhs, period. Its very comfortable at both crawling speeds and when riding fast its good and maintains its composure. I’m guessing the scrambler will take this to another level of comfort.
• Riding posiiton is a bit on the leaning forward side. I would have preferred slightly more relaxed, but again, thats personal preference.

Overall, this is a superbly mature bike, meant for the mature rider. Kids can go for hooligan bikes and the uncles can go for the REs. Anybody between 30 to 50 would love this bike to bits. I’ll wait for the Scrambler to come and then take my final call.

[5h1n1gam1]

Originally Posted by Cyborg

I would suggest you take back to back test rides of both these bikes again. Take a longer ride on both of them or take yet another ride. A lot of times two or three rides are required to sort out the clutter in our minds.

Thanks for the advice Cyborg! Took another round of test rides of the two and my thoughts from the initial ride were re-affirmed. The Triumph was giving me wrist pain during the 10 minute test ride and I wasn't sure if this is because I'm a newbie rider or if I just have very bad flexibility. Didn't want to take the risk of it being that way throughout the ownership period.

Riding the CB350 again, I was sure about it. The torque is there but just so much more mellow and controllable. It wasn't pushing to speed like the Triumph. I guess that's just more my style. And the comfort, my god. Also, I don't really see why people are annoyed with the gears being tall. They were very manageable, maybe this is because I've been driving for a while and I'm used to downshifting frequently. Anyone who likes the aggressive stance and more thrilling power should definitely go for the Speed 400. It's definitely beginner-friendly.

So yeah, I booked a CB350 Chrome in Matte grey the same day. Now I'm just waiting on the BH registration process to be complete. Should have it in a couple of days. *Fingers crossed*. Thanks a lot to everyone on this thread for all your thoughts and views so far! You guys really help out the newcomers.

[psyph3r]

Made the payment for mine today afternoon, they're delivering the first lot of bikes (around 50) next Sunday.
No accessories available for now, total on-road price was around 2.78L with the discount.

[lazyrev]

Originally Posted by psyph3r

Made the payment for mine today afternoon, they're delivering the first lot of bikes (around 50) next Sunday.
No accessories available for now, total on-road price was around 2.78L with the discount.

Do you mean you paid the 23k payment or the full amount? Next Sunday is good to hear. Do you know what number you were on the Pune list?

Looks like many have got delivery in Bangalore, Delhi and Hyderabad already. I guess you can manufacture the bike in Pune but you cant tell the RTO to do it's job in time in Pune .

[HillMan]

I got a chance to test ride this beauty today at Keerthi Triumph, Bengaluru. My opinion will be a bit raw, considering I'm not a day to day bike user. After me turning family man most of my commute is 4 wheelers for more than a decade. The Harley and Triumph launch ignited back the biker in me and so I casually booked the Triumph for 2k refundable.

Took my better half along for a test ride date back to back Triumph - Meteor - Classic. Here are our impressions.
1. Triumph is indeed looks good.
2. Drove in City traffic, the Triumph brakes are very good and predictable.
3. Pillion was surprisingly comfortable on Triumph. Can sit straight with no issues. Didn't have the problem of pillion shoe touching. Even getting on and off for my 5'6” lady love wasn't a problem. I am 5'9" 85kg. She liked it better than Enfield. For pillion seating she rated in this order of comfort as Triumph-Classic-Meteor.
Meteor was too compact.
Classic very spacious.
Triumph was in between but plush.
4. The bike is real good in hiding the speed, acceleration is lenear and very quick.
5. With pillion, frequent gear change is needed. I managed to stall it over speed breaker trying to see if it could pull in third gear. 2-3 gear is where you will be comfortable in traffic. Both Meteor and Classic chugs through in this situation. I did half clutch on all three. Meteor does a better job.
6. For rider comfort, i could feel a strain on my arms compared to Classic specially if your better half leans on you lovingly during the ride. Leaning is not comfortable for both rider and pillion. Enfields are comfortable that way.
7. Meteor is peppier than classic, Triumph is in another league. None can be directly compared to one another. All three have a very different character.
8. The engine heat and vibrations from Triumph are felt but bearable. It loves to be reved.
9. Surprisingly the clutch didn't feel very light, It felt marginally better than Enfields. Harley X440 had softer cluthch lever. Took a feeler at Harley Showroom near by. Given the number of gear change and half clutch on city ride there is no major advantage with Triumph.
10. The exhaust note is loud but nothing to write about as distinctly noticable.

Riding stance and balance- Classic is the best for both rider and pillion.
Putting vehicle on center stand - Never knew you could put Meteor on center stand with one hand holding the handle bars alone. It was a breeze. Struggled with Classic and had to use the hand grip on the back. Triumph is light but Meteor is a cake walk in this department.

Overall liked Triumph for pillion comfort, throttle and break response. However I felt it is best for solo trips. I will not be comfortable for long duration rides with pillion. The novelty will wear off soon.

Keeping Triumph clean specially the back side with be a job.

[shailinder]

Originally Posted by HillMan

Overall liked Triumph for pillion comfort, throttle and break response. However I felt it is best for solo trips. I will not be comfortable for long duration rides with pillion. The novelty will wear off soon.

Keeping Triumph clean specially the back side with be a job.

Good observations but I could not see the conclusion. Are you going ahead with your booking or cancelling it?

I also wanted to test ride today but could not. Might plan for next weekend. Riding and leaning forward would be tough for me at 46 yrs (I don't have a back issue but why strain) but a test ride is a must to call it either way.

[antz.bin]

This is for anybody and everybody who has a problem with the slight forward leaning riding position on any motorcycle.

Please get a Riverside 120 bicycle for ₹12999 from Decathlon. It is a hybrid bicycle that is easy to use in most situations in the city. Get a helmet as well. Never ride without a helmet.

Set up the seat height correctly (refer the GCN youtube tutorial) and use it for a couple of months to ride up to 10km-20km at a time. Try to complete at least 300-500km on the bike. If you like two wheels, you will love the experience of riding a bicycle again. Your body will thank you for the exercise as well.

Sell it back to Decathlon as part of their refresh scheme or on OLX and get some of the money back when you are done with it. Don't hoard, you will not use it anyways.

This experience will help build up not only the lower body strength but also some back and core body strength. Once you have that baseline strength, no motorcycle with a forward bias will feel uncomfortable. In fact you will enjoy the fact that not all the weight is on your bum and tailbone and you can experiment with more riding positions by moving in the seat and get even more comfortable with your ride since your bum will be happier for longer.

The forward lean in the Triumph is practically less than 10°. The Duke is even lower, close to zero. By comparison, the forward lean on the R15 is 20°, Conti GT 650 is 25° and RC 390 is around 34°. These numbers are for my height of roughly 6 ft.

TL;DR : A slight forward leaning riding position is more comfy on longer rides than a 90° angle with the seat. Getting comfortable with this position is a skill and is learnable with a little practice.

[HillMan]

Originally Posted by shailinder

Good observations but I could not see the conclusion. Are you going ahead with your booking or cancelling it?

I've not made my mind yet. My buy will be for keeps. Enfield has a few launch plans this month end and also Harley X440 test rides will be available from 15th Sept. Harley as many said is not photogenic and looked better on the showroom floor. The seat was hard comparatively but the suspension felt very smooth, it just pressed down a few inches as you sit and has good play after that.

Think of practicality of daily commute, dirt splash from road, the Enfields are better here. Also I felt the Triumph was tempting to drive at higher speed in city, it flies, which is both good and bad. The Classic I test rode was not in a good condition. I didn't like the brakes, it was placed higher than the foot pegs and very uncomfortable at the ankle, so want to do another test at a different showroom.

[Ketan_R15]

Last weekend, I was coming back from my friend's place in Thane and decided to stop by at the Thane Triumph showroom. The showroom isn't fully functional or open for customers yet and they are looking at a timeline of 3-4 days for a soft launch of the showroom followed by a proper opening in around 8-10 days. But they had a Speed 1200, Tiger 1200 and a Rocket on display and couple of Speed 400s as test ride bikes. And I think they're offering test rides even for walk-in customers because my friends who accompanied me have not booked the Speed 400 and still managed to get test rides.

The Thane showroom's SVC is under construction somewhere at Manpada, Ghodbunder road, Thane, said the sales representative.

[psyph3r]

Originally Posted by lazyrev

Do you mean you paid the 23k payment or the full amount? Next Sunday is good to hear. Do you know what number you were on the Pune list?

Looks like many have got delivery in Bangalore, Delhi and Hyderabad already. I guess you can manufacture the bike in Pune but you cant tell the RTO to do it's job in time in Pune .

Full payment. I'm in the mid sixties on the list so I'm expecting mine in the last week of Aug.
They said they already have 100 bikes ready for dispatch at the moment, it's definitely delayed due to Pune RTO.

I also made a last minute request to change my choice of color from red to black which they obliged.

[sanstorm]

My Triumph Pre-booking with BUB, Pune (first 10K, Red-color). Still awaiting proper engagement on delivery timelines.

Off the topic-2: Activism next level in Pic. Parking Board is for Parallel Parking (समांतर पार्किंग)

[feninrexo]

New Triumph outlet opening at Jayanagar 9th block right next to al-bek on the main road.

[Sebring]

Great news, but this says JP Nagar. Al Bek is in Jayanagara right?

Originally Posted by feninrexo

New Triumph outlet opening at Jayanagar 9th block right next to al-bek on the main road.

[feninrexo]

This is actually situated on the JP nagar side of the main road(ORR). To your left while travelling from silkboard towards Banashankari.

[HillMan]

There is one coming up on Hosur road, Bangalore as well.
It is in similar shape as the JP Nagar showroom, but already showing up on google map.
https://goo.gl/maps/7runUibh3j8RkrQJ7