I am looking for a motorcycle for my daily office commute, with a total distance of around 30 km. The route is a mix of very bad and some good roads. I may also do an occasional highway ride once a year for around 100-200 km. My budget is Rs. 3 lakh. My primary requirements are good suspension, comfort for my back, and ease of riding in bumper-to-bumper traffic.

Autocar India

•1d

The 349cc Triumph Tracker 400 is a lighter and less powerful machine, which will make it easier to ride and get on with in daily use. Since you are a college student who will primarily use it in the city, these are factors that will play in the Tracker's favour as will its higher fuel economy owing to its smaller engine. Coming to its tail section, there's not much you can do officially. The Tracker and Thruxton use a simpler, rectangular tail lamp, unlike the other Bajaj-made Triumphs which have a rather neat-looking, flush-fitting and ornately designed tail light. Its unlikely that this unit can be fit onto the Tracker / Thruxton without significant reworking of the bodywork and the electricals. Our advice is that if you want a road-focused 350cc Triumph with a good-looking tail lamp, opt for the Speed 400 instead of the Tracker. The Royal Enfield Guerrilla 450 may make the same power but its larger, 452cc engine makes significantly more torque which will translate to a very different riding experience than the Tracker. It also has the more sporty chassis, which should make it fun in the twisties. The Guerrilla's tyres are wider than the Tracker so the Triumph will tip in quicker than the Royal Enfield, but of the two, its the Guerrilla which has the edge in terms of sportiness. To our eyes, the Guerrilla's slick round TFT dash is better-looking and has more features than the simple digi-analogue dash of the 350cc Triumphs. To see which one is the better fit for your use case, we'd advise a thorough test ride of both before you make a decision.

Autocar India

•1h

Our recommendation to you would be to pick something from either KYT or MT, both brands which have ECE (and ISI) certified safe full-face helmets which should also be budget friendly. There should be multiple options from both under the Rs. 10,000 mark which should be comfortable enough for daily use. Ensure the helmet fits snugly - but isn't too tight - and if you wear spectacles, make sure you can slide them in and out safely and smoothly before you make your purchase. These helmets should be around the 1500-1700gm mark which, while not positively light, is also not prohibitively heavy. Depending on your height and what windscreen you have on your Himalayan wind noise could be a problem but using earplugs will be an easy and inexpensive fix.

Autocar India

•1h

The good news here is that both the Hero Xtreme 160R 4V and Bajaj Pulsar N160 are comfortable machines and going for either of them will be a good move. Picking between the two will boil down to which one suits you better and which bike's sales & service reach is near to you. The Pulsar feels slightly more spacious than the Xtreme, especially in the seat to footpeg curve which could be something to watch out for on your test ride.