[adrena]

Heya guys... meet a new member from Mumbai. Glad to see this much enthusiasm around a product that is just about starting to see light of day.

Let me try to give a lil info about myself. I'm @adrena on twitter, facebook and pretty much all other social spaces but my given name is Roopesh. I'm 37 and an advertising professional. Born and brought up in Bangalore, been in Mumbai for about 8 years now.

As for my life on the road - I currently have 3 bikes and 3 cars. Proud owner of an '85 RD350, a '96 Vespa Cosa and a '05 Bajaj Avenger. Cars include a '97 Premier 118NE, a '07 Swift 1.3 and a '12 Fiat Linea TJet+. In all I must have easily done over half a million kilometers between all these wheels. Must add that I've had several others which have come and gone.

I'm looking to replace all of my bikes and the oldest car to fund a part of the new Street 750. Yup... they are all way past their fun days.

I did check the bike at a store here in Mumbai and came away fairly impressed. Specially at the price. Also like how tight and compact the bike is. I plan to use this as my daily driver so makes perfect for tight and crazy Mumbai traffic. I may also take out on a occasional cross country run.

I book my bike this Sunday so stay tuned for updates. Great to be here.

 

[Santosh kumar]

Welcome !!!!

Welcome to the forum adrena
Interesting collection of rides u have there ,I own fiat punto 90hp myself I love my car
Am from Bangalore myself ...
Can u post pics of your RD350 ,coz am big fan off the bike how much miles you have done on 350 ???
Am very curious to know about it

 

[harleyhoonigan]

Welcome to the forum!

 

[Livin On]

welcome aboard @adrena! whats the ad industry like in India? I did a couple internships with an agency over this side of the pond when i first started my career, been copywriting in other capacities for about 5 years now but have been contemplating a return to the industry

Anyways, definitely keep us updated!

 

[adrena]

Thanks Santosh kumar, harleyhoonigan, Livin On... glad to connect with you guys.

@Santosh, will certainly get some pix of the RD350 in here soon. Don't have them handy. The bike has done over 80k km with over half of it done by me. it's a nice powerful machine that just needs too much daily care to keep it going. Besides, the gas guzzling two-stroke motor does not return more than 12km/l making it stupidly expensive.
@Livin On, the ad industry in India is pretty much what you'd expect elsewhere in the world. We're a large country with multiple brands jostling around for the consumer mindshare making the industry a vibrant place to work. Personally, I head the interactive services arm of a full-service agency. Being in the digital space is much more relevant now than ever before.

In other news, I plan a visit to the store tomorrow to do the booking. Will give you guys another update soon.

 

[adrena]

Ok so I've done my booking. 14th Sep delivery promised.

 

[Santosh kumar]

@adrena ,hi could u share ur experience on booking street 750 ,when did u book ur bike & did u enquire why so much waiting period for delivery ???
Any other info u would like to update us with ???

 

[adrena]

Here is the full experience in a short note.

Lets start with the showroom:
Bafna Motors moved from a tiny showroom in Bandra and a service center in Andheri to a unified facility at Turbhe (Akshar @ 19.0692488,73.0197189). Bikes pending spares, service & payment remain in the basement, service center with around 8 ramps on the ground floor and the showroom sits on the first floor. I haven't seen other showrooms but this one does seem well stocked with accessories, clothing (men, women & kids) along with a lot of other HD trinkets.

The booking:
I had seen the bike, sat on it, made all vroom vroom noises and convinced myself that this was it. I was really preparing for a closer look and one quick transaction. I didn't want to do much more than that. When I landed there, Zaid Kazi, my contact was tied up in delivering an Iron 883 to someone. I let myself look around, figure accessories, try helmets etc.

What struck me was Zaid was really trying to upsell the Iron 883. To the point where he did give me a bike to take out for a spin. It is a fun bike on the open road but I found that unit slightly clunky overall (specially shifting gears). This is where the Street shines, even through the bike was turned off, I can tell that all the controls are going to be very very easy to use. Light cluch, slick shifting gearbox with very positive clicks. Brakes with proper action and no sponginess. I think the combination of all this plus the size made me decide to put down INR 30k booking amount.

You guys must note that here in India, you can put down INR 50k to book an Iron 883 and decide to make the switch over to Street 750. But you cannot put down INR 30k on the Street and then change over to the Iron. You will loose 50% of that 30 grand booking amount. Bit of a bummer if you ask me.

Here is a bit on the waiting period. Each dealership is allowed 30 - 40 bikes a month from the plant at Bawal, Haryana. Folks at the Mumbai dealership had already received 40 bookings on 2nd March - the second day of opening the booking. We were already staring at July deliveries then. I was literally given access to the booking logs to see why I was getting the mid-September date. Besides, I'm in no mood to get the bike smack in the middle of monsoons here in Mumbai.

A bit on accessories:
I did get access to a catalog and a decent enough range displayed from which I could place some of the stuff on the bike and get a sense of how it felt. Guess the whole touch-feel experience is laid out to promote sales and it works. Parts that I'm particularly interested in are the windscreen, closer handlebars, handlebar end-caps and the rear luggage carrier. Thought I'd get rid of the front fork bellows but they seem to be of great quality rubber so I'll let them perish on their own. Those hideous regulation saree guards have to just go after I get the bike but then they're great protection for my saddle bags. I have a pair of Cramster 45L saddlers along with a magnetic tank bag called the turtle which I suppose is some 15L. All of this luggage has come in very handy. You can check pix on the BajajAvenger[dot]com official website.

The wrap:
If you're considering this bike, I recommend you don't wait. It's put together quite well with economy that cannot be disputed. It is simple and uncomplicated to work at home. Agree, that it may not instantly make you a HOG or any other some such groupie. But then some of us do like to take the lonely road.

 

[Santosh kumar]

@adrena ,thanks for sharing ur experience
You made some interesting pointers there ,I too enquired regarding iron & I asked the sales head clearly if I book street can I upgrade he smiled at me and said by all means sir ,you have to pay extra 20 k and the waiting period starts from the day u make your change from street to iron ,they won't deduct 50% booking amount ...
Did u get to fire the engine or u just vroom vroom by urself lol ???
What was ur impression on the production quality of bike ???

And regarding accessories for street follow this link ,it has all accessories for street in india with prizes
http://www.hdstreetforums.com/forum/india/1754-brochure-accessories-list-india-4.html

And am not making any change ,am going with street 750 ,hope the reviews will be great
But am not happy with overall build quality ,anyway it doesn't bother me much I tried other options & bikes from other manufacturers are not reliable as HD...
And am looking for cruiser bike so 750 will fit my bill ...

Santosh

 

[fkystreet]

id like to hear more on your thoughts on the Street compared to the Iron.

thanks for sharing and welcome!

 

[HarleyVest]

Welcome ot the forum @adrena

Thanks for taking the time to give us your feed back with your booking.

 

[adrena]

@fkystreet I'm heading to ride the Street. Let me get that done and give you a feel of what the differences are between the Street & the Iron.

IMHO Iron was clunky with hard noisy gear shifts. Also a bit handful in weaving through traffic at lower speeds. However, it did have excellent acceleration.

 

[stude]

@fkystreet I'm heading to ride the Street. Let me get that done and give you a feel of what the differences are between the Street & the Iron.

IMHO Iron was clunky with hard noisy gear shifts. Also a bit handful in weaving through traffic at lower speeds. However, it did have excellent acceleration.

If you are used to riding Japanese bikes, the air cooled Harleys will all feel "clunky" as you describe it. I actually prefer the longer shifter throw and positive clunk into gear, and to be honest, I never think twice about it until someone points it out.

 

[Rickster]

hi adrena,
just wanted to know hows ur avenger holding up? i own one too and love it very much. i too believe street 750 is going to be a better handler compared to 883 and lets not think that 750 is a cheap machine as had it been a CKD like 883 then it too would have costed much more.
i'm going to buy my street 750 from mumbai as well but your mid sept. delivery has made me worried. i'm a sailor and am currently not in india and i usually take a 3 month vacation when i come home and want to enjoy the bike to the fullest, wonder how should i manage to get dis bike on time? i will be coming back to mumbai by august end or sept. 1st week.

 

[adrena]

@Rickster I have a 9-year-old Avenger 180 (the same one that is featured on http://www.bajajavenger.com under travelogues - Blr-Goa). It's done about 170,000kms so it is very tired but runs smooth and easy. One of the main reasons for my liking the Street was the near-avenger looks / stance / size.

As far as the booking goes, you can do that right away by wiring them the 30k booking amount so that you get the bike in Sep once you're back.

 

[Rickster]

@adrena hmm thts a lot of kms on ur avenger n it must hv been fun.
I like street cos of similar reasons n also cos it wil bmuch more practical option here in.india. n dis fits in my budget just fine as an entry level harley. Hope to buy a dyna switchback one day.
Tx for d info, I'll try n.get it bukd thru my wife n pay d 30k to them.
Do we need to go all d way to turbhe for d buking?

 

[Rickster]

hi adrena
wht news about your bike delivery?
we are trying to catchup on whatsapp too
pls fwd me ur no. or else just msg me on +601112298162
im currently sailing in far east asia so using my malaysia sim for whatsapp