I bought my brand new bullet in Oct 2005 at 75k on road bangalore price (now 83 k, Aug 2009). Decided to buy the standard bullet after much talk with the service mechanics.
I had decide on the Electra 350 but changed my mind after talking with the mechanics and with the unsatisfactory ride on Electra 350cc.
Today after nearly 4 years it has run 17000 kms and I rode it once to coorg from Blore which is 270 kms, with a friend with him on his yamaha enticer. In 4 days we did 640 kms. The bike is great to ride to put it simply. Major aspects are great power, great stability, great smooth engine. I have had 3 minor accidents and each time had to get rid of the fork bend.
I bought it and gave it to Agro Services so far, who did a fine job servicing. The parts are slightly expensive. The service alone used to be Rs. 850, which included oil change of Rs. 450. The problems I have faces so far are. I just had the clutch cable cut twice and accelerator cable cut twice within 10000 kms. The service guys managed to fix the accelerator cable using the electra’s hook below the handle. It hasn’t cut since then. The choke cable cut once on the coorg trip.
I agree it is an old and odd looking bike, and hard to manuever when the engine is off. The mileage in Bangalore city traffic is 25 to 28 kms per litre. All in all it is a great bike so far. I am trying to buy a car which meets the same quality standards and servicing, but I am unable to find one even if I am willing to pay 6 lakhs for a car.
The only cars that are not over priced in my view are the fiat cars (palio and punto) and tata cars (indica and indigo). But the after sales services really suck I hear. That’s it from my side regarding the classic standard BULLET.
Lakshman M P Sorry I forgot to add one important thing about my bike. The original seat that came with my bullet standard sucked. The skin of my seat used to hurt after riding for a couple of hours. I got rid of it after a couple of years after purchasing and replaced it with Elektra’s seat. Only then did the bike become a great and comfortable ride.