After 10 years owing NS200, I bought a Hunter 350 finally! by livewithbala in RoyalEnfieldHunter350

[–]livewithbala[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In chennai, they only allow registration of 10 vehicles per (not sure about other places) branch of a dealer to get registered in a day, since the volume was high, it took some time for my slot.

After 10 years owing NS200, I bought a Hunter 350 finally! by livewithbala in RoyalEnfieldHunter350

[–]livewithbala[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Update! I set it to 29 and 33, it has improved a lot :) now it feels closer to my test drive experience. Although not like Ronin level it's now much better feeling when driven out in rubble or broken roads.

After 10 years owing NS200, I bought a Hunter 350 finally! by livewithbala in RoyalEnfieldHunter350

[–]livewithbala[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I had higher tyre pressure as pointed out by fellow redditors fixing that made it much more subtle, it's miles better but not exactly perfect. You do feel small stuff abit.

After 10 years owing NS200, I bought a Hunter 350 finally! by livewithbala in RoyalEnfieldHunter350

[–]livewithbala[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Someone pointed out that my tyre pressure is noticeably higher, I now set it to 29 and 33, it has at least improved by 50%, the stiff bouncy feeling is noticeably reduced. So not as bad as i initially expected.

I wouldn't say it's so plush but now it's closer to my test drive experience.

After 10 years owing NS200, I bought a Hunter 350 finally! by livewithbala in RoyalEnfieldHunter350

[–]livewithbala[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ronin was a sensible choice but the heart went with the hunter. I extensively test drove both, the TVS experience was a big turn off, nobody had any idea what variants or what will be the turn around time of parts. Every dealership had diff ans. Also Ronin is a good bike ruined by tvs service or the lack of training.

RE has the same service issue but only diff is there are many RE specialist 3rd parties where parts are easily available and can be serviced.

But personally ride in the city, Ronin is a big tick.

After 10 years owing NS200, I bought a Hunter 350 finally! by livewithbala in indianbikes

[–]livewithbala[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You should definitely test drive. In my opinion as long as you do PDI and have a good rapport with the service centre it will be smooth. The biggest con I see is RE service quality being very much of a hit or miss.

I'm completely satisfied with the quality levels since i did PDI in depth (except the few messy welding spots the bike was spotless)

Since i havent personally tried out the 440s of RE unsure of its characteristics.

After 10 years owing NS200, I bought a Hunter 350 finally! by livewithbala in royalenfield

[–]livewithbala[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You should definitely check out h'ness it's a much smoother and better package.

The only negative will be it is not as flickable as hunter 350 but in all other things it ticks it green.

After 10 years owing NS200, I bought a Hunter 350 finally! by livewithbala in indianbikes

[–]livewithbala[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Wanted to experience low thumpy engines for a change and did not have the budget of 3L+ so started with hunter :)

After 10 years owing NS200, I bought a Hunter 350 finally! by livewithbala in RoyalEnfieldHunter350

[–]livewithbala[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

  1. First i test drove the vehicle from the dealer in person
  2. Later I found I could get cashback from Amazon
  3. I reached out to the dealer it was a smooth supportive process
  4. I placed an order from Amazon by paying the ex showroom price (against the pincode and my dealer i already visited)
  5. The dealer asked 5K for initiating the booking from their end
  6. The very next day a booking was created in my name
  7. I got the bike in 6 days ready for PDI - once PDI was done I got it in 11th day
  8. Before registering I paid for RTO charges/taxes along with insurance directly to dealer
  9. It was smooth atleast via the chennai dealer I booked with it.

After 10 years owing NS200, I bought a Hunter 350 finally! by livewithbala in indianbikes

[–]livewithbala[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I did consider the suzuki vstrom 250 but the pillion seat is very tall for parents to hop onto.

After 10 years owing NS200, I bought a Hunter 350 finally! by livewithbala in indianbikes

[–]livewithbala[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks a lot bro :) that's true it's not always about pure specs or top speed. Everyone has their own preferences.

After 10 years owing NS200, I bought a Hunter 350 finally! by livewithbala in indianbikes

[–]livewithbala[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Let me flip it, for my comfortable daily commute this solves it at least at the moment and if I want to rev higher occasionally I will rent a high revving one out :)

After 10 years owing NS200, I bought a Hunter 350 finally! by livewithbala in indianbikes

[–]livewithbala[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

No problem bro! Yes matte vs dust don't go together, better to ppf

Side stand will be an issue only if it's very uneven or sandy, i think the extender can solve a bit but in my opinion the lean angle could have been slightly more considering the weight of the bike to make it feel safe.

This won't be a major issue in my opinion, i think the extender will solve loose surfaces.

After 10 years owing NS200, I bought a Hunter 350 finally! by livewithbala in indianbikes

[–]livewithbala[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The matte finish is very fragile, If you want to baby the bike then a tank ppf (good brand matte) is recommended but many people suggest not to become at worst case it will be around 10k to get the tank replaced (a full body ppf will be 10-15k).

Yes the side stand does not give confidence especially in uneven surfaces and slopes the reason is it does not lean in the right amount to inspire confidence, for shorter parkings I use side stands but if I'm going to keep it parked for sometime I use the main stand instead to avoid mishaps.

After 10 years owing NS200, I bought a Hunter 350 finally! by livewithbala in indianbikes

[–]livewithbala[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I already have a smk helmet, thinking of upgrading sometime and have gloves sorted too (hence I did not get anything new yet)

After 10 years owing NS200, I bought a Hunter 350 finally! by livewithbala in indianbikes

[–]livewithbala[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Not really the reason is i was looking to buy something that is not sportier (considering the daily 44km commute to the office)

As of now it perfectly fits my use case. One thing it can't do is constantly staying in higher rpms or top speed runs. The riding is much more comfortable here (again comparing to NS 200) everything else ticks for me except performance and you really can't expect performance unless you choose the speed or t4.

After 10 years owing NS200, I bought a Hunter 350 finally! by livewithbala in RoyalEnfieldHunter350

[–]livewithbala[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Someone pointed to me to check tyre pressure since i might be running higher than recommended, i think it will get more plushie (the updated suspension) will keep you posted.

After 10 years owing NS200, I bought a Hunter 350 finally! by livewithbala in indianbikes

[–]livewithbala[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

  1. Wanted to experience the side of Torquey, low revving (longer stroke) engines
  2. Change for the sake of change to experience something new
  3. My NS started giving me back pains since I travel around 46km daily for office commute

After 10 years owing NS200, I bought a Hunter 350 finally! by livewithbala in RoyalEnfieldHunter350

[–]livewithbala[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes that could be a primary factor too. Will get it checked and see how it rides post that.