First of all, thanks to all the reviewers for their posts. It helped me in taking a proper decision.
I had narrowed down to Honda, Bajaj and Yamaha. Visited the showrooms of all three near my place. Honda showroom guys weren’t even interested in talking to me. I had to speak rudely to some chap before he even showed me a bike. For Unicorn, he said the waiting period was 1 to 2 mths, which put me off completely. I was not too keen on Bajaj as I feel that these bikes are good only for 3 to 4 yrs and after that, the maintenance goes up. I’ve had Pulsar and KB 125 and was disappointed after a few years of using them. I am not a rash driver, and drive very carefully. So it’s got a lot to do with the service center.
Yamaha showroom was a better experience as the sales guy helped me sell off my bike as well showed me all the options. I finally settled on Gladiator. When I asked him for a test ride, he gave me a bike that had 15, 000 km on the odometer. Initially I was a bit worried, but then thought to myself lets see. This bike was owned by some contractor and was primarily used by his employees. You can imagine how bad it’s condition could have been. However, when I test rode it, the bike was very smooth. This was before the servicing was done. It’s pick up was fairly decent, with two heavyweights on the bike. I finalized immediately.
Post 1000 KM - I don’t regret the decision one bit. It’s an excellent bike, comfortable and smooth to ride. Mileage is decent too. However, I am unhappy about 2 (minor) things:
1) The gear shift pedal is only a single lever - I have to use my toe to shift the gears up. This spoiled my shoes and I had to spend another 100 bucks to get it fixed.
2) The fuel tank cap - its too complicated for me. I struggle to get it fixed every time I visit the petrol bunk. Maybe I am not doing it right!
Overall, the bike is really good and I am definitely happy to recommend it.