[vsangal]

Hi Friends,
Thanks to your travelogues, pictures, and you guys for staring a burning desire of mountain biking in me.
Now I have decided to buy a motorcycle, I need your help. I am complete novice to motorcycle business, have driven almost all motorcycles but have never own one. Following are my prime requirements which I can think of -
1- Average should be at least around 40 (rather 35-40).
2- Should be powerful and good buy for mountain biking.
3- Not sure about a cruiser bike ,i think I will get a test ride before making the decision.
4- I think the Bike should be reparable at remote areas (if I have the spare parts).

Game for almost all the bikes including -
1- Pulsar 220,200,180.
2- Avenger
3- Honda

Please I need your suggestions.

[bunnypunia]

The Honda Unicorn is a very good bike (overall). Its cheap to run (45-50kmpl), cruises happily at 90km/h and is reliable too.
The Pulsar 220 and 200 are more towards the sportier side and may not be that comfy.

PS: how about a less used 1 yr old Karizma? Think about it!

[vsangal]

Thanks yaar,
But will honda unicorn be comfortable for a ladkah ride. Four five km average up or down will not make much of a difference, but bike should be powerful enough.

[bunnypunia]

Yep : the Unicorn is a good bike over bad roads. Infact of all the bikes you have listed as choices, the Unicorn will be the best over bad roads

[Prasham]

If you wanna buy a cruiser bike, go for Thunderbird. Got power, comfort and bit of mileage (around 35 kmpl).

For regular bikes, Unicorn is quite reliable, has decent power as well. BTW I have a TVS Apache RTR and previously owned a TVS Victor. I am quite impressed with realibility of TVS bikes. If you want you can go for it. But it may not be the right bike for daily commute due to its very sporty kind of sitting posture.

[Yogesh Sarkar]

Bunny is right, Unicorn has enough grunt to tackle majority of the places with ease. However if you are looking for a little bit more power and widely available spares and service then Pulsar 180 is a good candidate as well.

If you are ok with 30-35kmpl then Karizma is the way to go, though spares are slightly expensive.

Avenger I wouldn't really recomend if you are planning to take it to remote areas and do fair bit of off road riding.

[vsangal]

Thanks to you all guys,

How much average pulsar 200 and pulsar 180 generally give. And are there sitting posture comfortable for long rides of around 8 hours.

I am a little bit inclined towards p200 or p180 though have a doubt which will be better for remote trips.

[darkside_of_d_sun]

Comfort, fuel efficiency, reliability, low-end-torque, midrange, handling, off-road behaviour - Honda Unicorn. Avoid the P200, either go for the RTR 160, P220 or the P180 if you have already decided for a short stroke engine.

Cheers,
Shamik

[Prasham]

@ Darkie: How does monoshock suspension of Unicorn fare against other bikes with twin suspension? Say P180 or RTR 160 which have gas absorbers.

[vsangal]

Hi darkie ,
Any particular reason for avoiding p 200 as compared to 220 it seems to be an excellent buy.