Buying a bike in India
 

Does anyone have any experience regarding buying a bike in India?

How much time does it take to register it, get insurance, do I need a local residency, etc.

Is there any restrictions regarding taking the bike out of India?

You have to be a resident of India to register a bike in your name, it is possible to buy a bike there for export but you will have to provide the correct paperwork and pay the duty to do so and you will not be able to ride it out of the country. There is always the obvious alternative but on your own head be it if you want to go down that route.

I think it is easier for a foreigner to buy in Nepal but am not sure how easy it is to take it into India without a carnet.

That question will be answered here somewhere, http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/

I don't have the details, but buying from India to take abroad is a known issue. Someone at the HUBB will know why.

Also do your homework really well, if(?) you planned to register in the EU a bike that you bought in India. It might not be easy or cheap.

Please...RENT a bike in India that should solve most of the headaches than buying & then selling one; the trick to rent a bike is negotiate, negotiate & negotiate for a best price.

For riding within India for a decent period of time, I would not say that renting is that much easier or better.

Most rental places require massive deposits (50% or more of bike value) and pretty much all the rental places are small operators and they all try to screw every tourist as best they can so it's probably not going to be that easy to get that deposit back in full. If you manage to find a place that will rent you a decent bike like Pulsar 220 without putting down a very big deposit, please let us know. Maybe they're more flexible on the deposit for an ancient Enfield...

In part because of this, I ended up buying. You still end up paying too much when you buy, and you end up selling for a low price, but it comes out better financially and you don't have to think about anything. You have no obligations to anyone.

If you buy, make sure you know exactly how the paperwork looks, and you know exactly what should be signed and what shouldn't be signed and where. They are super picky and it will cause you problems if things aren't perfect when you try to sell. But you can step into any place and buy a motorcycle in 1 hour and be ready to go. It takes about the same amount of time to sell it back. The only thing that adds time is finding the bike you actually want at a price you want.

I'm not sure you know about the bureaucratic & red tapism prevailing in this country; as a citizen, it's extremely difficult to comprehend the law & get the paper work done.

In reality, the good rental agents don't take 50% advance & even if they do, it's REFUNDABLE + your headaches are way too less. But yes, there're only handpick of good rental agents.

A better motorcycle to rent in India is Hero Honda Karizma than Pee220 :evil

Non O ring poor quality chain therefore needs lube every 200 km, adjustment every 750, clutches that can die in less 10000km, body panels that are guaranteed to break with saddlebags and will probably break even if you look at them the wrong way and hideously expensive and difficult to get parts. Better handling, wind protection and NVH levels than the 220 are the only advantages.

Oh, trust me, I have had the please of experiencing the world famous Indian Bureaucracy. It is nothing short of funny - unless it is you trying to get something done. :D

As far as 'good rental agents', it's unclear if there is such a thing in Delhi. My impression is that they are all trying to milk the tourists for every last dime they can get their hands on and trying every shady trick in the book. There are a 100 rental places, and each and every one of them is a hole-in-the-wall dump that may or may not be there next month. I wouldn't trust any of the guys in Delhi/Manali. They may be out there, but it's going to be hard to tell and hard to get reliable info on who is 100% legit and who is 80% legit. (most of these cheats don't cheat everybody - they pick and choose their targets.)

If you do know any rental places where people don't have to leave a huge deposit on newer bikes like Pulsar 220 (or Enfield EFI, CBR250, Ninja250, etc) please let us know as that would be ideal. Without a solid recommendation, I would not trust any of these places with a big deposit. They will most likely try to give back as little of that deposit as they can negotiate their way into.

Lastly, I've ridden both Karizma 220 and Pulsar 220 quite extensively. There are things that I like about each bike and things that I dislike about each bike. But ultimately, there is a very clear winner for two reasons:
1. Paper fragile clutch plates on the Karizma - I burned out clutch plates twice when I tried to use the clutch a bit when I was trying to get out of mud/sand. The clutch was gone in an instant. It is verifiable junk. Pulsar is much better on harsher roads for this reason.
2. Although it only happened a handful of times in real extremes, Karizma did struggle in high altitude. In one area, I simply had to give up and turn back because the bike didn't have the power to make it up some steeper grades at high altitude (16-17,000 feet). Karizma is supposed to be fuel injected and I should not have had problems, but paper specs don't live up to real life.

Additionally, Pulsar has more power overall. My friends and I did some tests and the Pulsar would pull away from my Karizma every time and top out faster. Even ridden 2-up, the Pulsar would pull away from Karizma. The power is not a big deal, but the above 2 reasons are a big deal and why I would pick Pulsar 220 next time... Ohhh... and it's substantially cheaper than the Karizma too.

That said, I wonder how hard it would be to get KTM Duke 200.... :D http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oaw95CVi4Lk

Open O ring versus closed regular chain - good comparison :D Any day thumbs down, quality & reliability of Honda cannot be beaten with a manufacturer who's just stepped into the industry. If you believe so, please do, not me :) And when one rides, you've mentioned all the needs that one should expect on ZMA.

Like I said, please join https://www.facebook.com/groups/hvkumar/ group on Facebook or www.xbhp.com, you can certainly get good education on how to stay safe & some good deals without getting ripped off. Whether you choose ZMA, P220 or D200, ride safe, because you're riding in India :deal

Thanks for the links Aargee, Im a kiwi, So please can I buy a bike privately in India and ride it around India?

If I can buy a near new KTM 200Duke for 115K rupees!! Why would I need to transport my bike to India. wow thats cheap!! 330K rupees for the same bike in Australia

I do not wish to take it out of India or export it