Should you buy an exotic bike in India?
I bought my first bike in 2010 - TVS Apache RTR 160 and it has been a fun bike to drive. After 13 years, I decided to upgrade and bought a Triumph Speed 400. You can read the entire experience in the previous blog. The ownership experience makes me think if I should have bought a Triumph or any other exotic bike in India. I am not sure if this can be extrapolated to all brands, but I am sure this is the case with Triumph.
The good
- Triumph Speed 400 is an amazing bike. At 310K on road price, its a great buy.
- Looks amazing. I love the retro styling.
- A pleasure to ride. The torque is adequate and the bike is very stable at high speeds. 80 Kmph is the sweet spot for the bike. Hits the mark with little effort, just the hands on throttle and the bike does the rest.
- Very comfortable to ride. Sitting position is upright and the seat is perfect. Handle could have been 2 inches higher. (I am 6’ tall)
- Handles well and is easy to maneuver in traffic.
The bad
- Heating issues. The bike heats up a lot in traffic. Highways are fine.
- Very bad dealership experience
Should you buy?
Triumph has a very limited network in India. There are stories that they would be opening new shops soon. IMO, if there is no service within a short drive, stay away. You would have to travel to the dealer for every service and that is a pain. Now, if you have a dealer near you, that means you are in a big city. Big cities have traffic and traffic means you would be riding in traffic. If you are OK with the heating issues, go ahead. Else, if you have another daily ride, go ahead.
Overall experience
September
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
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| 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 |
| 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 |
| 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 |
Sep 2nd - Test Drive
Sep 15th - Payment
Sep 27th - Invoicing
Sep 28th to Oct 15th - Waiting for bike to be delivered
October
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| 29 | 30 | 31 |
Oct 16th - Bike is delivered
Bike at dealer for repair
November
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| 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 |
December
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| 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |