Video Editor: Puneet Bhatia
Cameraperson: Abhay Sharma
Wind in your hair. The open road. A large-capacity cruiser. The stuff weekends should be made of. We took the Triumph Bonneville Speedmaster, priced at Rs 11.11 lakh ex-showroom and a Harley-Davidson Forty Eight, priced at Rs 10.5 lakh ex-showroom for a cruise down the highway to see what these 1,200cc bikes are capable of.
The verdict: They are as different as chalk and cheese. But both appeal in very different ways.
The Triumph Speedmaster is loaded to the gills with features. It is based on the Triumph Bobber chassis, with a fairly long wheelbase. It features a beach-bar handle, which is swept back, forward-placed foot pegs and pedals and an upright laid-back cruiser riding position.
It comes with a twin-cylinder, 1,200cc liquid-cooled engine with a six-speed manual transmission. It puts out 76 bhp of power and 106 Nm of torque, which gives it good cruising ability. It has a 12-litre fuel tank which can take it close to 200 km on a tankful.
It features twin disc brakes in front and a single at the rear with switchable ABS. Its feature list includes cruise control, traction control, LED daytime running lamp and headlights and different riding modes for rain and road.
The Harley-Davidson Forty Eight, on the other hand, is a raw American muscle bike. Its stance looks stunning, but the seating position can get uncomfortable on long rides. It is more of a short-distance cruiser, and the fuel tank size vouches for that. The 8-litre tank gives a range of just a little over 100 km.
It comes with a twin-cylinder, air-cooled engine that puts out 60 bhp of power and 96 Nm of torque with a five-speed manual transmission and belt drive. It features single disc brakes at the front and rear with no ABS.
It is pretty bare bones in terms of features as well, getting none of the goodies that the Speedmaster is loaded with. But it can turn heads with its engine note and riding stance – the perfect attention grabber.
Watch the video (till the end) to see what happened on our ride.
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