After having sold my HD Street 750 for an RE Interceptor 3 years ago, I felt the urge for a change in bikes.
BHPian Snehal_Sekhar recently shared this with other enthusiasts.
Shibumi Comes Home
After having sold my HD Street 750 (Red Baron) for an RE Interceptor (Lady Marmalade) 3 years ago, I felt the urge for a change in bikes. Reason being, constant niggles almost on all my rides made me feel that the bike was jinxed. My wife refused to let me ride Lady Marmalade after my last ride to Goa in November.
The hunt for my next bike began in Jan end. The bikes I considered are listed below:
1. Gixxer 250 SF. I currently own a 2017 Gixxer 155 and that’s a gem of a bike. Hasn’t let me down once in all these years.
2. TVS RR 310 – After having read neil.jericho’s review of the RR310, I was keen on test riding one. TVS refused to offer a test ride even after booking for a test ride from their official site. The Bangalore TVS showroom said that they do not have test ride bikes and I will have to book the bike without test riding one.
3. Ninja 300, Ninja 650, Z650 and Vulcan 650 – Rideventure Bangalore didn’t seem like they wanted to sell a bike to me. They were the least bit interested when I went in there for a test ride. I only could test ride the Ninja 300 and I didn’t like it one bit. I asked if I could test ride of the Z650 but they refused stating that all the 650 cc bikes are similar and if I test rode the Ninja 650 that would give me an idea of how the bike performs. Since I didn’t like the Ninja 300, I felt test riding the Ninja 650 would not make sense since it would feel similar in terms of handling. Since they didn’t offer me a test ride on the Z650 or the Vulcan, I left it at that and went to the Honda Bigwing showroom on Vittal Mallya road.
That’s me on the Ninja 300
4. Honda 300 – My intention of going to the Honda Bigwing showroom was to test ride the Honda 300. I did get suggestions from my riding group to test ride the CB500X as well. I wasn’t too keen since the seat height was at 830 mm. Once I reached the showroom, the sales advisor insisted I test ride the CB500X. After a lot of reluctance, I eventually rode it. That was all it took for me to fall in love with the bike. It was love at first ride. The seat’s tall for someone who is just 5.5 ft. I couldn’t even tiptoe. It was only one leg on the ground at any given time. The weight of the bike and the ease of riding it made the seat height issue non-existent. I could flick the bike in and out of traffic as easy as I could on my Gixxer and riding through Bangalore’s traffic was a breeze.
Came back to the showroom and paid the booking amount of 25K and the remaining amount I paid on the 13th of Feb. Got the bike on the 20th.
This is me taking delivery of Shibumi on the 20th. I had Aditya to share in my joy when taking delivery.
The goodies that Honda BigWing gave.
Below is the On Road Price I paid including additional warranty and RSA.
The accessories I got installed
The accessories I need to get installed
Keyword: Honda CB500X : Delivery and initial impressions