Let's try being a kinder, more helpful group

I have seen comments dissing on people who ask which bike is better out of a selection. And the post is usually a group of bikes that fall under the same price bracket. Irrespective of the category of bikes.

Like recently with the post where the Striple, Z900, Cb650r was in a group. And usually the Speed 400, Duke 390, RR310 being in the same group.

Here's why I think people shouldn't diss on posts like these..

Reason 1: Practical constraints

India majorly has a single-bike-garage system. So everyone expects their bike to do it all and do what they do frequently, well. This leads to people having a budget in mind, and comparing all good bikes that fall in the budget irrespective of their categories or purpose. Majority of us can't have one bike to tour, one for commute, one for the track etc. So keep this in mind.

Reason 2: Poor ecosystem

India doesn't have a full fledged rider ecosystem. And 2 major blockades for that are bike availability for testing and the sub-par roads. This inherently includes the pricing of bikes and safety concerns. Both of which are not in the control of a rider.

I'm not saying being a spec-sheet conscious person is good or bad. But what else can a rider do when they don't have access to bikes? Reviews are somewhat biased, test rides are limited, renting bikes come with some blockades (availability in hometown, high penalties for exceeding speed limit). Now don't even get me started on track availability. These prevent the rider from testing the bike properly even if they somehow managed to get a bike to test.

Reason 3: A lot of first gen riders

A major chunk of riders are getting onto powerful bikes for the first time in their lives. Of course they wouldn't know if an r15 would suit them or a cb350. In india, riding is like doing engineering first and then learning what you wanna do later. So don't diss on the 1st gen riders.

Even if they have experience with a 30hp bike, jumping onto superbikes is again very different and they are again like 1st gen riders.

Reason 4: First impressions on test rides are deceptive

The power delivery of each bike is different. Retros having a torque heavy nature give an amazing first impression to most 1st time riders cos of their torque hit. Whereas sport oriented bikes expect the rider to work the bike harder to extract the reward on the higher revs. Guess who is afraid of the higher revs? First timers!

So they have to choose between 2 polar opposites without even realising there are 2 types in the first place!

Tl:dr / Concluding thought

When the stars of availability, skill, safety and technical know-how align, is when a person can really compare bikes well. Which let's face it, would almost never happen

So let's try to be more encouraging, kind and helpful as a group shall we?