Considering the not so great city roads, buying a car and driving it seems like a bit too tiring luxury. Any Indian youth would want to flaunt his bike, zooming across roads, impressing girls, and so on. A bike is nothing but a matter of pride, even if you own one you always aspire for something better.

Assuming you are not a rich kind, and that your dad is not Mallya, you will want a bike that stays with you for a minimum of 3 years. Since we are so concerned about your hard earned money, we have bought a comprehensive list of pointers that you might want to consider when buying a bike.

Budgeting
Well, of course, every average Indian lives by a budget, so why would you be different. Before stepping out in the world, and buying you bike, fix a budget. Assuming your budget is Rs 30K with a stretch of upto 40K, list all the bikes that fit in this budget of yours.

Remove the unwanted from the list
Don’t jump to select the one bike you like, instead remove the ones that you don’t like. Deprioritize them based on your liking and understanding of different bike features. Bring down this list to the minimum of 3-5 bikes.

Test ride the selected bikes
Find a showroom and rush for test ride of these bikes That you selected. Feel the bike, secretly check out the girls that are checking you or the bike out, see the smoothness the bike offers, and other factors that make you feel the bike is special and needs to be yours. Now, out of these 3-5 bikes, come down to 2 bikes that were your favorites.

Collate information from friends
Contact your friends and relatives to get an idea about both these bikes. They might not own the same bike, but can definitely provide information on what not to look for in a bike.

Skip the mileage test
Yes, you might think I am crazy, but I have my reasons. Consider this, you buy a bike of Rs50K that gives 40kmpl mileage. Assume 1000 kms traveling is what you do. Now this bike say cost you x litres of petrol but runs n (number of kms) since the mileage is better. This means as the years cross your kms run will keep increasing. As the Kms increase, the bike’s value depreciates. Now, its upto you to decide if you want to ride the same bike for years and let the value depreciate or change the bike and settle for a lower mileage bike.

Go for the market leader
If so many people invested in a company, and found it good, why not consider their opinion as a well though suggestion and invest in the same brand.

Hell with all…buy your fav
If you got a feel on the bike that was much better that the others, go by your instincts. Don’t compromise this feel for better mileage, or what people had to say, or for anything else. A bike is your style statement, it will exude your personality, and you won’t be able to express your personality in terms of the mileage.

These are just a few pointers that might clear your doubts in the approach you need to follow to buy a good bike. If you have any other pointers that might help others, please feel free to share.