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Upgraded to the V-Strom 250 from an Activa: My detailed impressions

18th August 2024, 12:11 by Ananth Iyer

I was always fan of Yellow V-Strom and initially thought that Suzuki will bring the price down which never happened.

BHPian Mrs&Mr_Shenu recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

When life throws twists, beware—they might lead to hidden treasures.

Travel was a passion that lay dormant for a while. Life’s obligations, age, and the COVID pandemic put a halt to many trips and rides. However, my two-wheeler rides were significantly fewer.

My Activa, my trusty workhorse for a long time, remains my go-to ride. No matter the occasion, this black beauty is always my first choice.

Over last couple of years, my wife and I embarked on numerous small rides with our Activa, exploring various districts of Kerala, including Ernakulam, Thrissur, Pathanamthitta, Allapuzha etc. for a variety of purpose. Our rides were often inspired by our YouTube channel hunt, where we focused on showcasing temples and elephant processions.

Each ride was at least 100 kilometers round trip, making for some memorable adventures. One of our most notable trips was to Munnar, which we shared in a blog thread.

These experiences not only kindled our interest back but also deepened our appreciation for the beauty and culture of Kerala.

Plan to purchase

We understood that with the mark of 40+ at your life Odometer, we have to think beyond Activa. Looking around, I wanted to make it an upgrade from 100 -150 cc I usually used with and We kind of zeroed in on

Bajaj Dominar 400
Honda Highness
RE Meteor 350

Shortlisting and Eventual call off

For my birthday, I planned a special ride with my wife to Illickal Kallu and Illaveezha Poonchira. Knowing that my Activa wouldn’t be suitable for this trip, I rented a Dominar 400 instead. During the ride, my wife realized that I had a rider’s spirit hidden within me. Surprisingly, she found the pillion seat quite comfortable and upright, which was contrary to what other Dominar users had mentioned.

We took a few more test rides to confirm our liking for the Dominar. Meanwhile, we also developed an affection for two other bikes, which led to a bit of confusion about our needs and preferences.

After extensive test rides and much deliberation, along with our YouTube channel rides, we decided to abandon the idea. Coincidentally, our channel experienced a surge in subscribers from March 2024, growing from 1,000 to 15,000 in just two months. This unexpected growth led us to dedicate our weekends to shooting videos and our weekdays to uploading them.

Throughout this period, our trusty old Activa was our reliable companion for all our travels, enduring the rigors of the journey. We became content with the Activa by our side, and the plan to buy a new one was put on hold. This continued until the monsoon season arrived, bringing dark skies and clearing our minds.

Monsoon Ride

With the outset of Monsoon, season of temple activities was over and we were contemplating a pre-owned bike for our use. My wife would look for some bikes on OLX and other portals and occasionally enquire about the price. We in fact driven few RE classic 350, RE Meteor, RE Thunderbird X etc. Somehow this enquiries were piling up and then eventually we lost interest.

Monsoon brings a special feeling for anyone who have experienced it for years. It may be a chai with a snack, making a paper boat, splashing water and so on.. Somehow I convinced my better half to undertake a ride on our Activa to Vagamon on a monsoon day. It was supposedly a normal ride with around 100 km on one side.

Apparently, we reached Vagamon in noon and having lunch on a lazy afternoon. My wife was ecstatic and told me that one owner of the bike has replied back and he is in Kumali. This was a Suzuki V Strom 250 with a peculiar case as this vehicle looked to be in pristine condition and have done around 3200km only. Pictures matched the condition of the vehicle and what he quoted was almost 80 thousand rupees less than a new vehicle. I told her to check the location and the owner shared the location on WhatsApp.

Now, the rain gods were also happy with our idea and they poured down like anything. Imagine a drive on Activa with raincoat where it is raining like cats and dogs. We reached Kumali around 6 PM and by that time the rains stopped.

At owner's home, checked the RC, vehicle and took the key. Surprise, Surprise, Surprise. This vehicle has 22k+ on odometer. Still with a heavy heart driven it for a test ride. Vehicle was still good with bit of vibration reaching to foot pegs and scratches on body. There were some wires for blinker which was not working. Good vehicle, but is it worth the price they put on Advertisement? NOOOO?

Surprisingly, my wife liked the seating position and she really was happy if we chose this bike. I was also okay with that suggestion and tried to do bit of negotiation with the owner. Poor guy had a loan attached to that bike and he was selling on a break even price so that he can close the loan without much loss. We thanked them for their time, driven back and by the time we reached Kuttikanam, it was foggy. The high beam cant penetrate the dense fog and Slowly we reached to a restaurant to have dinner in wet clothes at around 9:30 PM.

On way back, roads were scaringly empty (as it was Sunday and raining) and without street light. At one point, We even thought that google map is taking some sort of short cut. My fuel was almost at the red mark and no pumps were open till we reached Pala which added to the pressure of riding in night. With irritating mind, wet dresses; we reached back home around 12:30 midnight.

Am I angry, pissed? Hell I AM!!

Case of Mistaken Identity

The very next day, my wife tells me at around 9 PM that the V-Strom person has replied and was open for negotiation. I was not interested and said to neglect it. She said that he is messaging on from the advertisement portal itself which was strange as we had been chatting in WhatsApp on previous day. I logged into the chat, started chatting with this person.

I was already pissed with last day's misadventure and told him that, in order to sell the bike, don't put wrong/fake details and pictures on the advertisement. He was surprisingly polite and Conversation went something like below,

Him: "Have you seen my bike in person?"
Me: "Yes. Don't you remember we came yesterday at your place. Husband and wife on an Activa".
Him (Confused): "Nobody has come yesterday to test ride this vehicle".
Me: "Now you are giving excuses and faking here too?".
Him: "Chettaa , seems you have mistaken my vehicle with someone else's"..

note: Chettaa (Brother in Malayalam)

Me (at this point embarrassed to the core) checked the advertisement he shown. Then asked my wife to check the ad she got the message from. Ohhh My Bad, those are 2 different ads of two different V-Strom. The second ad was clearly mentioning the location as Kumali with 22k as mileage.

Now, embarrassed and ashamed, I apologized to him profusely. He was in fact cool during this whole time and shared his number. One way, this was clear that this vehicle is still not sold, has only 3200 on odometer and owner is a cool decent guy.

Awe of Test Drive

We ridden our Activa again for another 120km on a Saturday to take the test drive (I know sometimes this is an extreme). The route is full of surprises as we can see paddy field during first hour, then rubber estates in second and then thick forest in third.

To be honest, even if the test ride don't satisfy us, the ride would have. In that way, we both were happy to do this.

By the time we reached, the google map was taking us through a high elevation, then some broken road and we thought that we were almost lost as the signal was also losing. Then, we landed in front of a VERY LARGE house, where 2 EV cars are parked, 2 people standing and doing an interview with few cameras. Bit surprised, this was indeed the place. Later we understood that, the owner has 2 EVs (out of 6 cars in their garage) and they were giving an interview on user experience.

As usual, we checked the RC, other documents, a visual inspection. Then took the key and rode for around 3 kilometers which had a straight road, a 300 meter steep ascent (descent too on the return journey). By this time, we were happy with the vehicle. Stopped in between to check other things like bulbs, indicator, any abnormal sound. The boy passed all with flying colours. We came back and handed over the key and discussed on the price.

Finalize and Ownership Change

While driving back, we both deliberated on the Positives and Negatives as we had 3 hours to do that. We continued the same after reaching back too. Finally with a certain conviction, it was a GO and we made the call to seller. Requested him a discount and he obliged to that later. Made the bank transfer in few days and they initiated the RC transfer online.

Now In order to bring the bike, we decided to take the state Bus (KURTC) till Pathanamthitta. This was another experience which we haven't done in years as travel was more or less in 2,3 or 4 wheelers. We reached the bus stand, seller picked us in his Badass Car (hope you can guess the model by that hint) and drove to his home.

There, we took over the key, some home made mango juice, some friendly neighborhood stories. Finally, I was taking Stromy to our home and he was leaving his original place. The sadness was so high that, even the skies wept (Rain, I mean..)