So, after about 2 1/2 years of living in a nostalgic world of back-to-front levers, upside down gears, 4 gears and about 7 neutrals, no brakes and appalling handling, I decided that the novelty of my designed in the 1950s and built in 1978 by Indians motorbike had worn off.

Admittedly it looks good and sounds good, but that's where it stops. Slow and thirsty and overall a bit of a liability, proved when I mowed down a stupid pedestrian a few months ago - something which probably could have been avoided my bike possessed any brakes

Bunta has spoken about these and deliberated for months, I deliberated for a few hours and then went to the showroom this morning and bought one

OK, it's never going to set the world on fire only being a 200cc, but it's only 125kg and handles really nicely, first impressions are good

Crappy phone pics after I got it home a few minutes ago, old and new:

Cheers, Rich

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I have tiny testicles, my voice hasn't broken, I've got tits and no facial hair

Nice!

--

Tim

Balance Bikes from STRIDER & Kiddimoto, HARO BMX Bikes to suit from age 4

Ace!

I can't believe these are only £1200 !

Welcome to the KTM club

N said...

I can't believe these are only £1200 !

I was actually looking at one of these last month. It's a shame they are closer £4000 in the UK. I've read they were also going to do a 350cc one, though it might be near 150 KG. I wonder if I could import one from India?

Updated December 7, 2012 at 10:52 AM

ilmostro said...

N said...

I can't believe these are only £1200 !

I was actually looking at one of these last month. It's a shame they are closer £4000 in the UK. I've read they were also going to do a 350cc one, though it might be near 150 KG. I wonder if I could import one from India?

go there, buy one and ride it back. Take Charlie Boorman with you and become famous at the same time!

--

What would Daddy Pig do?

Daddydadbo said...

ilmostro said...

N said...

I can't believe these are only £1200 !

I was actually looking at one of these last month. It's a shame they are closer £4000 in the UK. I've read they were also going to do a 350cc one, though it might be near 150 KG. I wonder if I could import one from India?

go there, buy one and ride it back. Take Charlie Boorman with you and become famous at the same time!

I've never been to India, but if the roads are as bad as Sri Lanka, I expect it would take about 4 mins for me to get killed on a Motorbike there!

i've been tempted to spend that much on one of these:

i think yours is the better decision

Updated December 7, 2012 at 11:26 AM

Nicely. I quite fancy the 690 version but the RRP is a joke over here. They are doing the 390 too, just to cheer I'll mostro up

N said...

I can't believe these are only £1200 !

A bit more than that, 150000 Rupees, or about £1725ish, still not exactly mega money.

It's a fun little bike, I've just managed an unintentional power drift on some wet paving slabs

There was no point in bringing my Enfield back to the UK as it would never pass an MOT. However the KTM would make a nice city bike, so might fall into my repatriation belongings when I finally get fed up of India and return to civilisation

Cheers, Rich

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I have tiny testicles, my voice hasn't broken, I've got tits and no facial hair

Daddydadbo said...

go there, buy one and ride it back. Take Charlie Boorman with you and become famous at the same time!

I did harbour rather romantic notions of riding my Enfield home when I finished here, however I'm not sure it would make it. It's slow as buggery anyway, so I'm not sure how enjoyable the journey would be either.

Route-wise, it would be India, Pakistan, Iran, Turkey etc, not sure how much fun Pakistan and Iran would be. If I could ride from Istanbul, certainly, but again, a Superduke or 990 Adventure would be a bit more suitable than a little baby 200. Maxed out at 135kph might get a little tedious after a while

Cheers, Rich

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I have tiny testicles, my voice hasn't broken, I've got tits and no facial hair

Barry said...

Nicely. I quite fancy the 690 version but the RRP is a joke over here. They are doing the 390 too, just to cheer I'll mostro up

Just had a look on KTM uk - 390 ( which is actually 373cc ) Is only 10KG more than the 200cc ( 390 is 139KG ), 44 bhp, which should be enough to cruise at 70 odd. £4500 thought!

Updated December 7, 2012 at 12:21 PM

That should be a giggle.

The 640 LC4 SM I had a few years back is a bike a don't regret selling. The LC4 engine (still pretty much unchanged in the 690 anpart from Fi and few more cc's) is quite strong but feck me is it rough. Painful over any distance.

Love the LC8 stuff though. Any they've always been well regarded with smaller capacity stuff too.

So, after being away for a couple of weeks, I've ridden my little KTM to work and back twice, and the verdict is good

It's everything my Enfield isn't, buzzy, direct, tight, and quite quick. However, I thought that having a bike with decent handling and working brakes would mean that I'd be able to avoid accidents better than on my old bike - the reality is that it encourages me to ride like a bit of a tw@t

Will still be officially running it in for a while as I will only be using it for short trips, so technically I shouldn't be taking it above 5k rpm, which is difficult to resist as it loves to rev

What will also be difficult to resist will be to upgrade to the 390 version when it comes out, potentially in March. If there are trade-in deals to be done it'll almost be a certainty

Cheers, Rich

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I have tiny testicles, my voice hasn't broken, I've got tits and no facial hair

I need to man up and just get one - they are still 120000 rs in Banga.

But then there is one with more power coming out...

On the road with taxes, insurance etc they are about 1.5 lahk, or £1750, the new one will be about £2.5k.

Recommended though, fun little bike

Cheers, Rich

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I have tiny testicles, my voice hasn't broken, I've got tits and no facial hair

Well lets see - I really am not sure how much longer I'll be staying there to be honest mate