I wanted a bike for cruising on highways. The only affordable cruiser with big engine capacity was thunderbird. Harley street 750 was way more expensive so I decided to purchase thunderbird 500cc. The bike looks good but lacks rider experience. The bike has serious issues of vibration in foot pegs and handle bars which destroys cruising experience. This bike doesn’t do well what its supposed to do and that is cruising at high speeds smooth and vibe free. If you are looking for good highway Cruising experience I suggest not to go with tb500. When you go to showroom for test ride note a few things
When you start engine place your hand on fuel tank you will feel vibration which will increase as you revv the engine.
Notice the vibrations on speedometer.
When you ride concentrate on your feet you will feel vibrations that will increase when you go beyond 70kmph.
Its better to spend 1.5 lakh more and go for a used street 750. A used harley will give you a better experience than a brand new tb500. Riding tb500 at high speed is like you are holding on to a vibrating body and trying to control it. If you want to buy a bike that you will own for more than 3 or 5 years its better to invest your money in a bike that you will enjoy riding every time you take out on road. Its better to spend more than being stuck with something you don’t like for years.Also you can rent a royal enfield for a day or more and ride it on highways and then make a decision. Renting will cost you only 800-1000 per day& buying will cost you lakhs of rupees. Also after sales service is pathetic. I changed my spoked rims to alloy wheels and left spoked ones to be picked up tomorrow. Next day when I went to take back my rims I was given ones that were rusted and had manufacturing date one year earlier than my bike. Also I got information that rust is a common thing in spoked wheels. Another thing that service manager told me smilingly was "Vibration is a feature of Royal enfield".