I really enjoyed riding the bike. It’s not perfect but here goes:
For its power it goes well. Before though we get into that, I must say that the bike handles really well, quite ‘sharp’ even, responding excellently to even a little bit of input through the bars. In short, the chassis is excellent. From 0 to say 40 mph (a useful measure in London) is accelerates well from the lights and when dealing with large busy roundabouts. It then pulls well enough to 70 mph and cruises at a very easy 60 mph at only a bit above 4,500 rpm. Similarly, acceleration in the important band of 30 to say 75 mph is brisk enough. I rode for two junctions of a quite busy but flowing easily M25 and could deal with all vehicles easily, never finding myself boxed in, unable to overtake. I had the bike up to an indicated 90 mph on some open country roads in Essex, where it was was perfectly stable.
You can take both hands of the bars at most speeds, with no wobbles or shakes.
The clutch engages and disengages smoothly, with plenty of feel at the lever. The gear changes are all smooth, with no false neutrals. Neutral is easy to find, the green neutral light being easy to see but not obtrusive.
I didn’t look to see how adjustable the suspension might be. That being said, I like bikes on the harder side of soft; the bike was firm enough, with little to no dive and no unpleasant bouncing up a stretch of road that leads to Newmarket, which is deceptively bouncy on some bikes.
The bike didn’t have a fly screen, though wind blast was not a problem. You sit quite tall on the bike. I am six foot, I could feel the wind hitting my upper thighs and chest but it was by no means unpleasant, nor was there any buffeting. With the exception of the foot pegs (see above and below) the riding position was definitely satisfactory for a day’s ride. I did not feel uncomfortable at the end.
It is a relaxing bike to ride, much better than the same frame / engined GT version, with its lower bars, which got uncomfortable by mid-afternoon. Similarly, it was much nicer that the smaller engined Scram which I didn’t like one quarter as much as the Himalayan, which shares the same smaller engine.
The riding position makes shoulder check ‘life savers’ easy, whilst the mirrors give a pretty good view and don’t seem to vibrate too much.
The single front disc does its job; the bike is certainly not under braked. Similarly, the rear brake (unusually for the 21st century) actually does something.
The CEAT tyres were fine. It was a cold but dry day, but they didn’t feel at all ‘wooden’. I don’t doubt that there are ‘better’ tyres out there but the CEAT’s did their job.
The bike is quiet, at least from the rider’s position. I quite like this aspect of modern motorcycles, having got very bored with the unnecessary row that is coming from many bikes with silly aftermarket cans.
I came back in the (near enough) light, so had no need to check the headlight.
I forgot to ‘beep’ the horn. I guess it works.
The side stand leans the bike over quite a long way. The centre stand (I guess it is standard and not an optional extra) is very good.
I would compare the bike with the Honda 400-4 I owned in the late 70’s and, in a way, compare it favourably with the excellent F800R I owned, though that was more ‘buzzy’ and the suspension did require swapping for Nitron units front and back. To this comparison, I’d also add the excellent Honda 500. All four bikes are medium sized (small, even), light, not hugely powerful but good to ride.
Not so good points….
All of these I can live with but are worth commenting on perhaps:
1. The footrests are quite wide. Before I got used to them, particularly on the off-side, I was getting my leg in the way of the peg. Similarly, I found that (when my foot was on the ground) the inside of my right knee was coming into contact with the clutch actuator (as above) and the bulge in the casing.
2. Whilst I like the simplicity of the twin clocks and the simple key, it is perhaps odd that the outer ring of mph numbers is duller than the brighter inner kph numbers. I would have thought it would be the other way around, as it is on my Himalayan.
3. There is no easy way to mount a GPS or a phone. Of course this encourages the rider to go back to using a tank bag with handwritten instructions, which sort of suits the style of the bike quite well. What though I think might be good would be to mount a simple small round GPS unit (rather like the one on the 2022 Himalayan) between the top of the clocks, rather like 50’s and 60’s bikes of a similar style had a volt or ammeter mounted there. I don’t think it would look out of place.
4. This one is simply cosmetic. I don’t particularly like the cheap, chrome effect, square indicators. I would swap them for some better styled round ones.
5. The switch gear works but it feels fragile. I would be happy to pay £50 more on the list price for some modern switch gear.
6. I would like a clock. There might be one in the little subtle LCD screen, I must confess I didn’t look.
7. I am no great fan of the totally removable fuel cap. Put a hinge in it, Gupta, please.
It’s a ‘cheap’ bike. Easy to work on. Fun to ride, without all the bells and whistles. Bling parts, if that’s your thing, are cheap too.
Marks out of 10? A very solid eight. I would have given it nine, if they shave a bit off the foot pegs and give it a clock. 10 if they just fix (which is easy) it’s very few shortcomings left.
PS I purposely didn’t watch or read any reviews before I went out, not helped that most of them fall into the “High guys….” ‘Biker meet up’ camp and are best avoided. I do though like these fellows’ reviews, so I’ll give it a watch now:
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TM0QgKcdDKA" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/APaIy08kXhE" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>