Help To Decide Among 500cc Royal Enfields (EDIT: Bought Thunderbird 500)

[ERTIGA_ZMR]

Hi Friends,

I was thinking to upgrade from ZMR to more powerful bike and I found Suzuki Inazuma is most suitable but Suzuki India decided not to continue Inazuma.

Now I am left only with Royal Enfield. In Royal Enfield we have plenty of options from Bullet Standard to Cafe Racer. Most famous are Classic and ThunderBird. My ride will be not too much and cost of running and maintaining is not a worry. I was in same situation in 2011 Nov when I suddenly decided to upgrade Pulsar 150 to a better bike. RE was the first preference but waiting period and lack of service centre near my home to go for ZMR/CBR but I opted for ZMR. Now there is new showroom and one of biggest service centre is about to open so decided to gift myself a 500cc RE.

I/we have finalised Desert Storm and TB500. Please suggest which one would be the best in terms of following:
1: Less niggle.
2: Better comfort including for pillion rider.
3: Fuel economy ( It may sound stupid as both are of same capacity but read several reviews and TD owner claimed more than 30 while DS owner around 22-27 KMPL)

All of my friends/family to go for DS because of it's Macho look. My heart says go for DS but mind say TD500 because of modern features.

Friends please help me out on priority as I will make booking in couple of days.

Thanks,
Alok

 

[pravin1987]

Have rode both desert storm and thunder bird, i would suggest thunder bird.

 

[ERTIGA_ZMR]

Have rode both desert storm and thunder bird, i would suggest thunder bird.

Please elaborate why TB,what are advantages of TB over DS,

 

[pravin1987]

1. seats; The seats feel crampe on DS where in TB you can move around.
2. Fit and finish like exposed weldings, chrome parts on handle bar leave a lot of perfection needed.
3. I hope the DS still comes with 153mm drum, braking is poor. the front disks felt wodden whereas the TB brake lever provided more feedback.

 

[ERTIGA_ZMR]

1. seats; The seats feel crampe on DS where in TB you can move around.
2. Fit and finish like exposed weldings, chrome parts on handle bar leave a lot of perfection needed.
3. I hope the DS still comes with 153mm drum, braking is poor. the front disks felt wodden whereas the TB brake lever provided more feedback.

Is FE differ between these two siblings?

@Sam Dinkar, awaiting for your expert opinion.

 

[pravin1987]

mileage should be around 20 to 23 for DS and 27 for thunderbird

 

[Mr.Boss]

1: Less niggle.
2: Better comfort including for pillion rider.
3: Fuel economy ( It may sound stupid as both are of same capacity but read several reviews and TD owner claimed more than 30 while DS owner around 22-27 KMPL)

1) Mechanically both hold same level of niggles is my understanding
2) TB wins when it comes to Pillion comfort. Front seats posture / comfort depends on the driver's build (height) and almost same in both bikes.
3) I came across several such feedback / reviews. Friend of mine is getting around 25kmpl in his DS (for mixed driving, B2B traffic in Chennai and long drives touching 3 digit speeds occasionally)

 

[ERTIGA_ZMR]

1) Mechanically both hold same level of niggles is my understanding
2) TB wins when it comes to Pillion comfort. Front seats posture / comfort depends on the driver's build (height) and almost same in both bikes.
3) I came across several such feedback / reviews. Friend of mine is getting around 25kmpl in his DS (for mixed driving, B2B traffic in Chennai and long drives touching 3 digit speeds occasionally)

Thank You Mr. Boss, could you get some more information on advantage/disadvantage of these two siblings. I took test drive of TD500 and found it is mighty one and for DS I just got feel in showroom and found this is very hot :).

 

[Mr.Boss]

could you get some more information on advantage/disadvantage of these two siblings.

TB
+ Feature rich
+ Comfortable rear seat
+ More miles per tank fill (I'm talking about the gas tank capacity, not FE)
+ Best suitable for long rides

DS
+ Good at handling department (by saying this I don't mean TB is poor, but comparatively DS is better)
+ Killer looks
- Rear seat is not good for long rides

There are few reviews (bad) about the rear drum brakes in DS, but don't go by them. They do their job pretty well.

 

[amitpshelke]

According to me TD is the better choice to have. But if you are looking for some classic styling then DT is the better to go.

If you ask me for the comfort between those 2 then TD is best in ergonomics and ride quality.

But buying these two may not be an brilliant choice if you can extend your budget to choose "Café Racer". Among all the RE bikes the ride and handling is really superb in Café Racer. But all the RE bikes have there own style definition, you will get lean toward the one which your are fond off.

Café Racer is altogether a different bike. If you are looking for something unique or rare on INDIAN roads then Café Racer category is really rare.

A good video to have a Café Racer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RGB2pCq4e4

 

[ERTIGA_ZMR]

Caferacer is meant for weekends only not for carrying backpack with 3kg of lenovo thinkpad

 

[RVSB]

IMO, Thunderbird scores well.
It has many modern features like Rear Disc, Projector Light, LED Tail lamp, Digital Console, etc etc
which beats other RE (in terms of features).
But TBTS lacks the Exhaust Sound (The RE's trademark!). I recommend you to change the stock with megaphone silencer.

 

[ERTIGA_ZMR]

What if I buy DS500 and use 20K for modification of rear seat, silencers and back rest for pillion rider. I am also in to use alloy wheel like of Harley. Please suggest.

Also do let me know the correct price of well maintained ZMR - Nov 2011 white model ran 29,000 KM. The bike is mint condition and always serviced at authorised service centre for every 2000KM.

 

[RVSB]

You can expect anything between 68k-75k if you have maintained your ZMR well.

 

[ERTIGA_ZMR]

You can expect anything between 68k-75k if you have maintained your ZMR well.

Yes I quoted for 75k and can settle down till 72k.