Musings of a Ducatista!
My first tryst with superbikes was when I picked up a Bonnie (Read more @ http://bit.ly/2kjMy1stGurl-Bonnie). She served me well, still does, will forever be my trusted steed. She saw me through many a miles, including the childhood dream of Khardung La. But eh dil maange more, wanted more power, more comfort, more… And Bonnie couldn’t really keep up with the newer gurls, especially in the freeways. By the time my gurl reached the top gear and a steady cruising speed, other gurls were way ahead, despite being in 2nd or 3rd gear, still accelerating. And then there were certain descriptor associated with the Bonnie:
- Gentleman’s superbike
- Modern classic
To me these roughly translate to an Old man’s superbike. Old I’m not, hence wanted something that matched my age. My first love is touring, so tourer the gurl had to be. Not into racing and tracks. Also, the stuff I want to do needs a lot of ground clearance, so sports tourers eliminated. That brought me to adventure tourers (#Adv), and heart truly sold to the GS, I started the test rides back in 2015:
Triumph Tiger (the 800s) – this bunch of gurls is awesome, great pricing, bloody good 
perfomance, am sold into their mother brand – Triumph, but a few niggles – slightly top heavy; the electronic nanny’s a tad bit rigid, cuts in more abruptly than what I’d like. Most importantly, she’s got a 3 pot, don’t get me wrong love the engine, she’s an absolute gem, only not in this bike. To me an adventure tourer has to have two pots, twins of any kind – parallel, V, L, or the mother of them all – a boxer. The whine of a 3 pot v/s thump of a 2 pot was THE deciding factor. (Photo credit – http://bit.ly/2kTfjPb)
perfomance, am sold into their mother brand – Triumph, but a few niggles – slightly top heavy; the electronic nanny’s a tad bit rigid, cuts in more abruptly than what I’d like. Most importantly, she’s got a 3 pot, don’t get me wrong love the engine, she’s an absolute gem, only not in this bike. To me an adventure tourer has to have two pots, twins of any kind – parallel, V, L, or the mother of them all – a boxer. The whine of a 3 pot v/s thump of a 2 pot was THE deciding factor. (Photo credit – http://bit.ly/2kTfjPb)
Kawasaki Versys – Again an awesome gurl, has the same DNA of the much acclaimed Ninja, that to me was the pain point. The 4 pot high-rev engine does brilliantly well on a Ninja, I just love the noise, she screams and shouts “I’m a super-bike, look at me”. But for an adventure tourer, IMHO, NO, not my style. (Photo credit – http://bit.ly/2BxysNA)
Suzuki vStrom – Good bike, a darn bloody good bike, but nothing that made it go to the great territory. Everything about the bike is good, can’t pick even one decent sized hole, but on the same note, can’t pin anything on the vStrom to say that this is awesome. Or maybe the dealer didn’t let me explore her enough, but I guess we were not made for each other. (Photo credit – http://bit.ly/2C3Cpqz)
BMW GS 1200: I just wanted to sit on her once before I made the final decision, wanted to ensure that my heels touch when I’m astride. I was willing to travel anywhere in India, just to get a feel, but no, no one seemed to have one at that point of time. I have my heart set on her, even now. (Photo credit – http://bit.ly/2BwBzWj)
Edit: Finally rode her in 2017, read my take on it @ http://bit.ly/BlueBMW1200GS
Ducati Multistrada 1200S: She’s the gurl I eventually picked…
In hindsight, not very sure what helped me zero into the Multi – was it the Skyhook suspension, was it the curves, the L-twin, the raw power, or the unavailability of the GS, dunno. Also wondering if the decision were to be made today, 14-15 months later, with the GS now available in India, would the decision have been different? Honestly, I don’t know.
No, don’t get me wrong, not regretting my choice (well, may-be, just may-be grapes are a tad bit sour). But no major post-purchase dissonance, niggles, yes, many, but major dissonance, no. Will not make this blog a review of the Multi, that’s a subject of another blog, instead will focus on my musing with the Multi.
The common questions from my previous blogs – A Biker’s Musings (http://bit.ly/2kjMy1stGurl-Bonnie) and Musings of a cyclist (http://bit.ly/2A9EwHW) remain, just because the bike changes, the questions don’t, only new ones get added on.
#Cost
2-3 laakh ki to hogi, Haan bhai, shauk ki koi keemat nahin hoti… (Roughly translates to – “Must cost INR 200,000-300,000, well, one can’t put a price to passion huh?” Innocuous statement at the face of it, but for the uninitiated, he’s missed a zero!!)
So, skipping the rest on #Cost & mileage (#KitnaDetiHai), here are a few notable ones…
Curiosity (#Curious):
No matter where she goes, she does draw eyeballs, away from the cities, they are more carefree, more open, #Masoomiyat? The cities however are more reserved. Got a first-hand look at it when I accidentally left the camera on.
While the video does explain the curiosity lucidly, there was one guy in a group who went a few steps further – after using his knuckle to tap (yes, it hurt quite a bit, but then again, I was alone and he was a village chieftain) around all across the fairing, petrol tank et al, the village chieftain says knowingly – Poori plasteek hai, nahin tikegi! (roughly translates to – “Completely plastic, will not last”). Hate to admit it, but he seems to be right, fairings are a tad bit delicate. The Italian philosophy of design before engineering I guess. She doesn’t give the built-like-a-tank feeling of the Bonnie. No doubts on the design aspect, dainty damsel she is, and a big tick in athletic capabilities as well, but she’s not a boxer (pun intended) or a wrestler.
The panniers and tail-box have invariably given hilarious responses:
Ismein kya hai? (What have you go in these?)
Iske andar engine hai kya? (Does it house the engine?)
Kya pijja-vijja deliver karte ho? (Are you a pizza delivery guy?- Sure bro, how else do you think I can keep the delivery within 30minutes promise?)
Miscellaneous muses…
Naam kya hai? डकैती (dakaitee)? What’s the name? Dakaitee? (incidentally this mispronunciation translates to “robbery” in Hindi)
Ismen kya khaas hai, special feature kya hai? What’s special about this, any special features? (A polite inquiry, in actuality hides a rhetoric – what kind of a fool are you to spend this kind of money?)
Kitna bhagleti hai? How fast does she go? If answered truthfully that she’s electronically limited at 299kmph, it is usually followed by:
Tumne kitna bhagaya hai? How fast have you gone? If safe enough to be truthful, the next question is:
Kahan? Where? (Read – Gotcha liar!)
But usually, when the answer is not given to “how fast bike/me”; the exploratory question follows –
Sau dedhsau to bhagti hogi? Must do about 100-150kmph, no?
Kya chipakke chalti hai? Phavikol hai ke? The local elderly gent admonishing the local stud (and therefore indirectly me) – What do you mean she sticks to the ground? Where’ve you spread the Fevicol (a popular glue brand)?
Tanki kitni badi hai? How big is the (petrol) tank?
Garam nahin hoti? Doesn’t she get heated up?
She’s faithfully served me, been through an effortless all-India trip and Spiti trip, and a not-so-effortless Leh trip, more on these soon.
Niggles, there have been a few, kya karen, dil mange more (roughly translates to hunger for more, actually a caption borrowed from an ad campaign from yester-years), but astride her, there’s always a smile on my face with the sheer pick-up or the long distance riding comfort or the smoothness of active suspension or the attention she seeks and the road presence she has. Overall, for a more road oriented jaunt, she’s the most comfortable steed that I have owned till date.
Or, then again, is it – dil mange less (read more about my ideal bike @ http://bit.ly/RightSizedBike).
Signing off for now…
About the author:
Muralidhar (www.musingsinlife.com):
A biker | A blogger | An adventure junky | Animal lover
Tries to fit all of the above whilst working as a brand marketing professional. His blog is a product of contemplations, reflections and an unquenchable thirst for self-deprecating humour. It is the world as seen through the eyeballs of a salt-and-pepper *sixteen year-old* fighting off #MidLifeCrisis. No doubt perspectives will be different when seen by others and those are equally welcome in the comments section.
Disclaimer:
- This is written with a sole intention of laughing at and with the author, no offence meant to anyone else.
- No bikes or animals or bystanders were harmed while writing this.
and most cruisers. They have the old-world charm about them and the smell of leather just adds to the whole experience. Usually, they do not offer too much of storage capacity. But they are not what one might call cheap and are not waterproof either. The contents are not usually safe enough to leave unsupervised. They are available as permeant fixture or as detachable ones, depending on the model. Finally they do not add too much to the bulk or width of the bike. Overall more for cosmetic purposes, not for hardcore, all weather and all terrain cruising. These usually are not universal, more so for the modern classics and cruisers.
panniers from the very small to very large, not so expensive to the very expensive, direct mount on any bike to requirement of frames to mount, standard to modular flexibility. These are amongst also the most versatile of the lot, giving you modularity and flexibility (or not depending on the ones you choose) to carry stuff the way you want it wherever you may choose to. They tend to have a pretty long life and best part, no matter how old, you will never get creaks or rattle out of these panniers. The only thing that you need to look out for is the clearance from your mufflers. This would determine how big a pannier you can use and if there needs to be a frame to keep the panniers from fouling with the exhaust or wheel.
adventure tourers. It is aesthetically pleasing, can be moulded into any shape and colour, not many size options for a given bike, good all-round dust and water protection, lockable hence can be left unsupervised. There can be a bit of vibration noise over time. The side panniers do not alter the centre of gravity of the bike, but the rear top case is a cause of concern, it does raise the centre of gravity much higher. Aesthetically too the rear top-case is bit of a question-mark, it looks like the top-box of the fast-food delivery bikes, so you can start a side-business of pizza delivery. :). In case of the bike gets tipped over, these panniers prevent the bike from going all the way to 0°, a lot easier to pick the bike up from 20°. But plastic it is, so the parts that lock it on to the bike are also plastic. In case of big spills therefore, these plastic locking mechanisms break, you have to replace the whole pannier (and in some cases the lock on the bike as well) then. So not only is it costly to buy, but even costlier to repair. The mounts for these too are customised for each bike, hence more expensive. Finally, the good looks are all gone even with minor scratches, these do not like battle-scars as much.
while being weatherproof and durable. Some of the top end panniers intentionally allow for a small amount of play between the bike and panniers. It has been sort of a gold standard for adventure tourers, thanks to the GS. It looks awesome with or without battle-scars, with or without stickers. It incorporates the positive aspects of all of the options above, but has a couple of limitations as well. It is a bit bulky, so can impede hard core technical narrow trails or in a city ride. In case you are carrying delicate stuff inside, you need to pack them so that they do not get bounced around inside. Also, while the most rugged of the lot, they also are the heaviest, upwards of 15kgs, yes, when empty, also over time they also tend to pick up vibration noise. Finally, the mounts for these too are usually custom made for each bike so you can’t go on a pannier swapping spree.
Musings in life 