[KarthikK]

Originally Posted by srinath34

When do you plan on introducing bike#3 to us fellow bhpians, KarthikK?

Work in progress, lol! Thread will come out directly, in a short while. I wanted to clock some considerable miles on it so that I could be accurate with my judgements before penning my thoughts down, the bike #3 is 5 months and ~3000 km old now

Originally Posted by Hells Bells

Lovely review and it is the second time I have gone through it.

Thanks for your kind words!

The first time was an introduction to Ninja 1000 for me, the second time is now when I have started seriously considering a tourer bike and checked out the bike in flesh at Rideventur. What is your take on the Bangalore Kawasaki ASS?

The place is very small and cramped as I have mentioned in my review also. Earlier the service staff came across as very lackadaisical and laid back, but now things are improving with one Mr. Unni who is the new incharge of the service centre. They are pretty proactive and good with the tasks. Since the bikes are themselves bulletproof, there is a rarely a chance for us to experience things out of the ordinary. So my review over 2 years is completely with routine service tasks.

The alternative bike I am reading up (yet to check it out in person) is MTS950S. Hopefully, I would get to see it in real life on one of the upcoming weekends.

Do check out the MTS 950S as well, the new one has all the goodies that can be needed to keep the bike modern for another decade of ownership. BHPian deepfreak15 who rides with me frequently, is very happy with the bike and is munching considerable miles on it.

[anandpadhye]

Congratulations on the Ninja 1000.

I have been contemplating buying a big bike now (can't quite call it mid-life crisis as there have been a few already ) I had registered for a test ride on Kawasaki India website and got an email from them with the contact details of the sales person, so I called that number to check the availability of test rides. Understood from him that Z900 is a CBU from Malaysia and there is a waiting list so bikes are being allocated to customers on priority and test ride bikes will come later. Ninja 1000SX is a CKD so it's readily available and they also have a test ride bike. So visited the showroom and took a good long test ride (in the city, not on highway).

My thoughts after the Test Ride of the new 2021 BS-6 Ninja 1000SX:

- Decently beautiful (surely better looking than Z900)
- I am short and both bikes are heavy but i could manage both the bikes, so that's a good news for me
- Mirrors on the fairing, so away from the rider. I liked that because they provide good coverage with this setup (unlike Z900 mirrors which are on handle bar)
- Super comfortable riding position. Very slight lean forward but I was instantly at home
- Super light clutch, so much so that the quick shifter is quite pointless.
- Awesome throttle response, so the specs on paper and videos on YouTube are real :-)
- Super smooth gear shifts, and enegine is so tractable that could pull away from ~35kmph in 6th.
- Terrific acceleration (tried in first 3 gears primarily as I was riding in the city, not on highway)
- Silky smooth engine, no vibrations (of course did not cross 90kmph, but I have feeling that this engine will remain smooth and relaxed even at higher revs)
- Super comfortable suspension - deliberately went over potholes, broken sections and ride was plush, way more plush than my GTI!
- I was riding for ~15 min in traffic and at slow speeds and there was absolutely no heat coming on me. Of course the weather was overcast but still it was ~30 deg C
- Weight is surely felt during slow U turns, but I am happy that i could manage. This is noteworthy considering the last bike that i rode was almost 5 years ago and it was 150cc 2001 Suzuki Fiero that I scrapped after it became 15 years old. I have puny electric scooter now which weights 60 kilos which I use for local work and some joy rides. I had test ridden the Hyosung 650 a few years back and that bike was quite a handful for me - weight, wrist pain, U turns - everything. Comparted to that one, I found Ninja 1000SX extremely easy to handle!
- Sales guy mentioned the Z900 engine and ride is just as silky smooth and comfortable as Ninja 1000SX so I can save ~3L by opting for Z900 but somehow I fell in love with Ninja 1000SX, it's way more beautiful than Z900.
- Sat on the Ninja 650 also and it's felt even easier to handle due to less weight and lower seat height but did not take a test ride as I want silky smooth engine note and I don't think a parallel twin can match an inline 4.
- After the test ride, i also asked for a pillion ride, and the sales guy happily took me on one. Pillion comfort is also pretty decent for such a powerful bike. I didn't expect this at all, so it's bonus
- I like silent machines (one of the primary things I love about my electric scooter) and I hate the loud superbikes that go past me making huge noises when I am out on my Sunday long runs. Ninja 1000SX did not appear that loud (and of course, i will keep it stock if get it). It's a mature bike, suits my taste.

[surjaonwheelz]

Originally Posted by anandpadhye

I have been contemplating buying a big bike now (can't quite call it mid-life crisis as there have been a few already ) I had registered for a test ride on Kawasaki India website and got an email from them with the contact details of the sales person, so I called that number to check the availability of test rides.

My thoughts after the Test Ride of the new 2021 BS-6 Ninja 1000SX:

- Weight is surely felt during slow U turns, but I am happy that i could manage. This is noteworthy considering the last bike that i rode was almost 5 years ago and it was 150cc 2001 Suzuki Fiero that I scrapped after it became 15 years old. I have puny electric scooter now which weights 60 kilos which I use for local work and some joy rides. I had test ridden the Hyosung 650 a few years back and that bike was quite a handful for me - weight, wrist pain, U turns - everything. Comparted to that one, I found Ninja 1000SX extremely easy to handle!
- Sales guy mentioned the Z900 engine and ride is just as silky smooth and comfortable as Ninja 1000SX so I can save ~3L by opting for Z900 but somehow I fell in love with Ninja 1000SX, it's way more beautiful than Z900.
- After the test ride, i also asked for a pillion ride, and the sales guy happily took me on one. Pillion comfort is also pretty decent for such a powerful bike. I didn't expect this at all, so it's bonus

Welcome back to the biking world, hope you get your big bike soon!
Glad you started with a Sportstourer where one can go as fast as he can without compromising on comfort! Ninja1K is a very capable bike and the new one makes thing even better. Pillion comfort is better, the new one has a pillion seat that extends further back over the tail lamp (or something?)

You must have been told, that if you're originally looking for a naked then you should try the Triumph Street Triple atleast once before finalizing. Even in the R variant it's quite a handful!

In addition, run through the Triumph Trident 660 as one of its target category is bikers who are returning to biking after a break. You've to wait though!

Kawasaki service and spares is a gamble as per Kawasaki owners but you're experienced (multiple vehicle owner) enough to tackle such situations.

On a side note, if your crisis seeks more adventure then why not consider a smaller adv bike which can go to any place or terrain (MTB like)
- KTM 250/390 Adventure
- BMW 310GS

/surjaonwheelz

[anandpadhye]

Originally Posted by surjaonwheelz

Welcome back to the biking world, hope you get your big bike soon!
Glad you started with a Sportstourer where one can go as fast as he can without compromising on comfort! Ninja1K is a very capable bike and the new one makes thing even better. Pillion comfort is better, the new one has a pillion seat that extends further back over the tail lamp (or something?)

Thank you

I have been watching youtube videos of various bikes and even after factoring in poor quality of my TV/phone speakers and youtubers' mic, I see (hear) marked difference between twin cylinder, inline 3 and inline 4 engine note. Inline 4s sound so delicious, silky and smooth. So I am open to any bike as long as it's fast and inline 4

[KarthikK]

Ownership update - 2 years / 24 months

I don't have much to report on the ownership as such. I have hardly done around 1000 km since the last 4-5 months, so I skipped the 6 months service and the service centre folks asked me to go at the 12th month due date instead (May 2021). The reason for low running is silly. Something bizarre happened earlier in 2020, the infamous tyre imports restriction which have many premium bike/car owners wondering what is the way ahead when tyre replacements come up. I hadn't thought of it much until the problem actually started aggravating towards the end of the year, with good tyres drying up everywhere, leaving only outdated tyre patterns or ridiculously old stocks in the market. The contemporary tyres were all overpriced and difficult to procure.

I had around 2000-2500 km of tyre life left on the stock Bridgestone Battlax Hypersport S20 tyres, but I had to actually cut down on trips and ration the Ninja's usage over the past few months because I wasn't sure if/when I would get a worthy replacement set of shoes, and this was a very frustrating period indeed.

While I was hunting for options, through BHPian shaikhmimran's reference from his Honda CBR 650F owners' group, I contacted one Mr. Vikram (also a CBR 650F rider) who runs Moto Car't, a bike accessories supplier/importer store. He was transparent with the communication and fair and upfront with the pricing and manufacturing date details. I met him in person and bought my tyres from him, overall a very pleasant experience from end to end with Moto Car't.


The stock tyres have adequate tread left on the rear



The front seems to have worn out a bit sooner than the rear though, but still has some life left





There weren't many options available in the size I wanted, as I said before. After hunting the inventories of multiple vendors and bike accessory stores across cities, I finally found the following tyres (across vendors) available for my size(s) as on December 2020:

Pirelli Angel GT2 (2019 manufactured)
Pirelli Angel ST (older than 2017 stock)
Pirelli Diablo Rosso 3 (2018/19 manufactured)
Pirelli Diablo Rosso 2 (older than 2018 stock)
Michelin Road 5 (2019 manufactured)
Metzeler Sportec M7 RR (2018/19 manufactured)
Metzeler Sportec M9 RR (2020 manufactured)
Metzeler Roadtec 01 (2019 manufactured but got sold out soon)


The Angel GT2s, Road 5s and Roadtec01s are similar touring tyres and offer longevity and more kilometres of touring. I was initially inclined towards them but later thought about it again. Personally, I mostly do 2-up touring in the hills and would like a lot of confidence cornering, so I wanted to try something grippy this time. I don't mind if the life is even as low as 8000-10000 km, because for my rate of usage of say 4000-5000 km a year on the Ninja, sportier tyres will still last me 2 years, which is reasonably decent. I'll take the extra grip over some extra miles of life, and have some more fun and confidence .

The choice was then between the DR3 and the Metzeler M7 RR. And then I got a message from Vikram, of Moto Car't that he had Metzeler's latest offering and successor to the M7RR - The Sportec M9 RR! Since it was a brand new product, the M9 RRs were 2020 manufactured and fresh out of the oven. They were supposed to better the M7 RRs on many parameters and last 20-25% longer. I wasn't complaining! They set me back by an extra 5k over the other 2 options, but I went through the reviews online, bit the bullet and got the M9 RRs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sc9iGld9KLc

The next set of tyres - Metzeler Sportec M9 RR! Looking forward to some fun times with these shod on the monster. I went for 190/55 instead of 190/50 though.



The replacement tyres next to the existing Battlax Hypersport S20s






I will be sending the Sportecs to cold storage for a couple of months while I ride out the existing Battlax tyres over some roadtrips coming up . Now that the new shoes are here and the hibernation has ended, expect more roadtrip updates on this thread in the weeks to come, lol!



Until my next update, ciao!

P.S - If you are approaching tyre change in a few months, better get a good replacement set and stash it away. Don't make the mistake I made, the situation seems to be getting worse, and there is no end in sight for some more months.

[KarthikK]

After a long, long gap, thanks to tyre backups now being in place (refer to previous post), the Ninja resumed highway trips and what a way to kickstart 2021 roadtrip season with a short and easy ride to Coorg, to spend a weekend with some bhpian friends and fellow riders.

The missus was held up with some extra work and I rode solo this time on my bike, with bhpians ebmrajesh, CrAzY_dRiVeR and deepfreak15 (and his better half) accompanying. The homestay was a place frequented by my better half and me multiple times on earlier occasions. It was a known place, and having just 3 cottages, we knew we 5 were the only ones in the property.

On a different note, in our photography garage, my ageing 12 year old Nikon D5000 DSLR was up for replacement since quite a long time. Now with my evolved camera needs (I mostly shoot nature and street), I upgraded to a compact, mirrorless fixed-lens beast from Fuji - The Fujifilm X100V. It is weather sealed, supremely capable and delightful to shoot with, and incredibly compact and lightweight, making it the ultimate do-it-all companion for all our motorcycle rides and backpacking trips. No more multiple-lenses-hauling headache, this one is as compact as a wallet and can be slipped into any luggage readily!



I will end this post with some snaps of our short weekend trip, with me mostly experimenting on the sights and sounds around Green pastures, (the homestay we stayed at) with the new photography weapon .

The full line-up - L-R - CrAzY_dRiVeR's Versys 650, my Ninja 1000, ebmrajesh's Ninja 1000, deepfreak15's Multistrada 950



The Kawasaki trio



The bikes and the riders



There was a plethora of good food and plenty of coffee!



Banana caramel and sea salt cake anyone?



And plenty of fun conversations after a long time, around this bonfire with plenty of delicious appetizers





Coffee season was in full bloom this time of the year (harvesting season for coffee berries), so ripe berries were seen all over the estates





Closeup mode!



Some random sights in the homestay premises











We woke up to a foggy morning which cleared only after almost 10am! Here are some sights from a morning stroll in the surrounding greenery.

The ramp leading to the exit



Winter mist



Some heavy fog condensation on all our rides meanwhile, lol!



Dew drops



Some wild ants busy foraging for rations



Views from a nearby hillock







Morning sights from a nearby village









An idyllic stream in a small clearing inside the adjoining woods



555 km from this short and sweet weekend ride.



Many more rides to follow in the weekends to come, with one slated for this weekend. Until my next update, ciao!

[KarthikK]

Ride to Tipperary Estate, Yercaud (30-31 Jan 2021):

It was quite a few months since my better half and I had done an overnight trip with the Ninja, thanks to the continuous lockdowns and the subsequent tyre rationing. We opted for a quaint little homestay in Yercaud, called Tipperary Estate.

This was just a short weekend ride and pretty routine, but for the black missile getting some much needed exercise this time around.

IOCL created some noise about their new 100 octane petrol called XP100. It is priced at an atrocious 160 rupees per litre! I have been a regular user of HP's Power 99 and BP's speed 97 for more than 2 years now, and I wanted to see what the fuss about XP100 was all about, so I tanked up with this 5-star meal for the bike .

The IOC pump opposite Agara lake on ORR, HSR layout stocks XP100. This place is hardly 3 km from my place, so I paid a visit there. It was a bit amusing to get extra special service when I stopped at the XP100 pump dispenser, lol!



The fuel tank already had some fuel leftover from the previous week's trip, so I couldn't get more filled up.



XP100 Experience - one word - Fantastic! It makes you appreciate the performance of these litre class monsters all the more! The throttle response is very very crisp, acceleration is effortless (relative to regular 91 RON petrol), the refinement is outstanding during acceleration bursts and across the entire rev range, and you soon start seeing some crazy numbers on the speedometer even if you don't really intend to! The riding experience with XP100 was addictive to say the least. If I could afford to fill this everytime, it would be so much more enjoyable, but alas!

Relative to Power 99 and Speed 97, theoretically all of them should feel similar because this bike is meant to run well on anything >RON 95 (normal fuel will not cause harm anyway). This might even be placebo in reality, but the XP100 does feel a tad bit better than the other two, perhaps it has to do with the way the other two achieve higher octane numbers (additives, etc). Anyway, at this price difference of ~50 bucks over Speed 97, I fail to see any major advantage so I might end up going back to BP's Speed 97 for my touring to make more economical sense. I hope BP does not hike their prices after learning from IOC, lol!

Back to the ride itself,
There was quite a bit of traffic between Bangalore and Salem



The bike gets a break while we do a pitstop for breakfast at our usual hangout for this route - Radisson, Salem.



How to make a 235kg, litre class bike look like a toy! :P



Stopping to admire some views from atop the Shevaroy mountains





As it neared the top, it was quite misty and cloudy for a while



The last kilometre or so leading to the estate had this dusty trail that my better half jokingly referred to as 'offroading'



Reaching Tipperary estate



The staff gave us a nice parking lot in one of their sheds, away from the prying eyes of other guests and their kids



Catching a glimpse of the owner's Prado. The owner, Mr. Satyendran, was a delight to interact with. We had a long chat about the history of this place (it is a 150 year old place apparently), coffee farming, offroading and many other things



They have a fleet of these Hilux 4x4s as well, and frequently conduct offroad expeditions and safaris around this area apparently. Our stay was rather short and we couldn't try these though, perhaps next time.



The main bungalow which is around 100+ years old and belonged to a British family until the 1960s



We stayed at another rustic but smaller cottage called Gardenia. It had a lovely private garden and dining area overlooking the lush green plantations of this estate



Private garden and bonfire area





Dining area balcony adjoining the cottage and overlooking the plantation



The quaint cottage had decent and spacious interiors. Spacious considering we had a ton of biker luggage (read as 2X riding gear), lol!





A small manmade lake at the estate, perhaps for future fish cultivation



Flora at the property



It was a hot day, at times leaving us wondering if it was even winter at all now!



We spent the rest of the post-lunch day hiking through the estate trails and enjoying the views from atop the pinnacle





Watching the sun go down into the horizon



The night was very cold, but what is bonfire for?



We did another long hike in the morning and then left from Tipperary estate after a sumptuous breakfast.



Short but sweet weekend ride with just ~450 km round trip, but it felt nice to get back to our 2-up weekend trips on the Ninja all over again! There was some crazy traffic build up in the last 10 km leading to our house, but for that no negatives at all.



After a quick wash and wax, the bike is ready for the next ride, another weekend, another destination, another ride.



Until my next update, ciao!

[xtremeshock]

A great thread, great to see you munching miles on beautiful locations.

I have an itch to buy this bike from a friend who is selling it, it is purchased in 2017 November and is a 2018 model bike, run around 15k kms and has its tires recently replaced, any idea what I can offer for the bike? Thanks in advance.

Looking forward to your updates on this thread.

[Born 2 Be Wild]

Originally Posted by xtremeshock

I have an itch to buy this bike from a friend who is selling it, it is purchased in 2017 November and is a 2018 model bike, run around 15k kms and has its tires recently replaced, any idea what I can offer for the bike? Thanks in advance.

Cannot comment on prices in chennai but in delhi dealers will buy such a bike @7.25-7.5 lakhs tops and then ask for 8.75 from customers and negotiate. A friend recently sold his 2018 N1k with 14k on the odo to a dealer in delhi for 7.35 lakhs.

[neil.jericho]

Originally Posted by xtremeshock

A great thread, great to see you munching miles on beautiful locations.

I have an itch to buy this bike from a friend who is selling it, it is purchased in 2017 November and is a 2018 model bike, run around 15k kms and has its tires recently replaced, any idea what I can offer for the bike? Thanks in advance.

Looking forward to your updates on this thread.

In south India, prices usually range from Rs 8-9L for these bikes with a similar odometer reading. Rs 8.5L seems about right.

[KarthikK]

Originally Posted by xtremeshock

A great thread, great to see you munching miles on beautiful locations.

I have an itch to buy this bike from a friend who is selling it, it is purchased in 2017 November and is a 2018 model bike, run around 15k kms and has its tires recently replaced, any idea what I can offer for the bike? Thanks in advance.

Looking forward to your updates on this thread.

Thank you for your kind words xtremeshock, and apologies for the rather late reply.

I believe 2018 model bikes would be going for 8.5L and upwards in the southern cities, as Neil has mentioned. I am not particularly aware of the resale value and preowned big bike market in Chennai, but I presume it should be fairly in-line with Bangalore's prices. Do talk it out with your friend and let us know what you decided on . Good luck with the purchase!

[xtremeshock]

Originally Posted by KarthikK

Thank you for your kind words xtremeshock, and apologies for the rather late reply.

I believe 2018 model bikes would be going for 8.5L and upwards in the southern cities, as Neil has mentioned. I am not particularly aware of the resale value and preowned big bike market in Chennai, but I presume it should be fairly in-line with Bangalore's prices. Do talk it out with your friend and let us know what you decided on . Good luck with the purchase!

Dear KarthikK,

Thank you for your kind revert. My friend managed to sell his bike to a passionate fellow at good rate of 9.05L. For that price buying a new one makes more sense.
Am in the process of test riding the 900GT and the Versys 1000 this week to hopefully help me decide and make the booking

[KarthikK]

Fourth Service / 33 months Update (~12,000 km up)

There have been very few updates in the past few months, we hardly did any rides since almost March due to the incessant lockdowns here in Karnataka during and after the second wave of covid-19. As things begin to open up and look a bit brighter on the travel front, I decided to first complete a long pending annual service at Rideventur motors before we decide to embark on the next set of trips and rides for the remainder of this year.

Due to the tyre imports/ shortage last year and then the second wave related lockdowns this year, my past year's running has been at a dismal, all-time low of a paltry 2,000 km in the past year . Thankfully things do look better from here and we will definitely munch more miles in the coming days, with some trips planned in September and October for the Ninja.

There have been no issues faced in the past year and ownership experience has been pretty fuss-free as expected from this bike. Perhaps the only point I can crib about is that I was paying EMIs for a bike which was parked at home, accumulating dust during the lockdowns, lol! On the fuel front, I mostly alternate between IOC's XP100 and XP95 nowadays. XP95 retails at around 109.xx rupees here in Bangalore, around 4-5 rupees more than the regular petrol and is worth it. It is also easily available even in big pumps on the highways and in smaller towns. There are occasional XP100 tankfuls too, whenever I pass by one of the pumps dispensing it here in Bangalore.

With the general updates out of the way, let's get straight to the service update. This was the annual routine service with oil and filter changes. I reached the service centre on a weekday morning, I stepped in at around 8.30 and ran into two gurus at Kawasaki - Unni (the new service manager) and another pro called Joshua.

Customized job card for Ninja 1000, lol! I wonder if they have a separate job card for every bike model. 'No scratches' remark even after ~3 years, thanks to PPF, lol!



My bike was the earliest and so, the first to be taken in and worked on





The guru Unni who himself worked on the bike. Glad I was able to go early and get his attention to look at and tweak anything needed.



The only thing I asked them to check was a bit of play in the clutch lever. Unni cleaned up the area around the clutch lever and the gunk was removed and things were back to my liking once again. He took the efforts to also check each and every parameter on the bike and adjust whatever was needed - condition of fluids, coolant, lever play, etc. He pointed out a bit of rough idle and proceeded to clean up the throttle body thoroughly, after which the bike feels much better. The air filter was replaced last year and was still okay to use for some more time, so he cleaned and put it back. I will consider a replacement to a washable BMC / K&N air filter at some later point as a one-time investment.

The bike was all serviced and ready for delivery in under 2 hours flat. After the past experiences with the then lethargic service centre, the experience now was a revelation in how they seem to have improved!



I am really impressed by the way things have changed at Rideventur service after Unni seems to have taken over things. Everything feels in place, feels professional and they worked on my bike and delivered it in record time when they learnt that I planned to wait and take the bike back instead of going home and returning later.

The total bill was INR 7787/-, as per the invoice





The maintenance timeline looks like this with the recent update



BHPian and fellow Ninja 1000 owner ebmrajesh and I did a short breakfast ride on Saturday to give some much needed exercise for the bikes plus make sure the bike was perfect after service. The Ninja goes to cold storage for another fortnight, while we embark on a week-long ride on the Himalayan next week and the week after that

Parking while we camp for breakfast in Empire / Vegetarea, Kunigal







I needed a small backpack for these short timepass weekend rides just to carry bike documents, wallet, n95 mask, phone, etc. Not a fan of backpack usage for longer rides / overnight trips due to the inherent problems they come with. After my previous backpack wore out, I was on the lookout for another one - this one from Carbonado caught my eye at Orion riding store. It is called X14 and has a X-shaped weight distribution via the shoulder and waist straps which are locked together at the chest.

Carbonado X-14 backpack






It is compact, rain resistant, has decent space (14 litres), can contain hydration bladders and is weightless when worn. There are securing loops for all the loose strap ends to avoid flapping around at higher speeds and distracting the rider. Overall great product for short daytrips and breakfast rides to carry weightless things.

The bag isn't very big though, this is how it looks when worn with riding gear





A mix and match, all-black avatar with bits and pieces of riding gear, using the jacket, gloves and pant from my Himalayan's alpinestars gear set, helmet from the interceptor's gear and boots from the Ninja's gear





After a wash and detailing session at home, the bike was back to its old sparkling self



Those are all the updates I had for now. The stock Bridgestone tyres are good for just 1 more 700-800km trip, which I plan to do in September first or second week with my better half, and then switch to the much awaited Metzeler M9RR. More updates to come in the following weeks as travels and rides open up.

Thanks for reading!

[neil.jericho]

Originally Posted by KarthikK

I am really impressed by the way things have changed at Rideventur service after Unni seems to have taken over things. Everything feels in place, feels professional and they worked on my bike and delivered it in record time when they learnt that I planned to wait and take the bike back instead of going home and returning later.

Ive heard only good things about Kawasaki Bangalore's service experience after Unni has joined them. So now Kawasaki and Triumph in Bangalore offer perfectly complimentary end to end journeys. Kawasaki gives you an indifferent and / or bad sales experience but back it up with a really good service and ownership experience. Triumph Bangalore gives you the royal treatment till you buy the bike, and from there its all downhill.

Originally Posted by KarthikK

I needed a small backpack for these short timepass weekend rides just to carry bike documents, wallet, n95 mask, phone, etc. Not a fan of backpack usage for longer rides / overnight trips due to the inherent problems they come with. After my previous backpack wore out, I was on the lookout for another one - this one from Carbonado caught my eye at Orion riding store. It is called X14 and has a X-shaped weight distribution via the shoulder and waist straps which are locked together at the chest.

It is compact, rain resistant, has decent space (14 litres), can contain hydration bladders and is weightless when worn. There are securing loops for all the loose strap ends to avoid flapping around at higher speeds and distracting the rider. Overall great product for short daytrips and breakfast rides to carry weightless things.

This looks like a really good purchase. Will it be able to take a laptop?

[KarthikK]

Originally Posted by neil.jericho

Ive heard only good things about Kawasaki Bangalore's service experience after Unni has joined them. So now Kawasaki and Triumph in Bangalore offer perfectly complimentary end to end journeys. Kawasaki gives you an indifferent and / or bad sales experience but back it up with a really good service and ownership experience. Triumph Bangalore gives you the royal treatment till you buy the bike, and from there its all downhill.

Haha well said.

This looks like a really good purchase. Will it be able to take a laptop?

This is actually a good question. I hadn't thought about it or tried it until you asked . I always thought it wasn't meant for laptops or couldn't accommodate one properly.


At first glance, I didn't think it would fit my HP Elitebook 840 G3 with 14" display.



But I was wrong, lol!



It was able to swallow it completely.



I think 15" laptops may have some difficulty due to slightly higher width. This backpack is the X14 version by the way. Carbonado has a 16 litre variation of the same thing - X16. Perhaps bigger laptops may need the X16 backpack instead of this X14. Thanks for the question, and glad I know now that if I have to make any trips within the city with my laptop, this is also an option to carry it around