Well, I'm 17 year old and 5"5 inch in height . I live in India . I'm gonna buy a bike this week , I have shortlisted two bicycles according to my budget (7-8K) and availability .

NEED : A bicycle with gears and front-rear shocks fitted . Need to go to school and come back . 2.5 km one way .

• HERO Octane Spear 26T
• Hercules Turner vx

The turner vx has disk brakes in front now !

My major concern is that Hero Octane spear 26T has Shimano Rapid fire 21 gear system while Hercules Turner vx-18 has shiman 18 speed gear system with RS-35 shifters . I don't care much about 21 to 18 gears but I do care about the shifter difference they have . I don't know which is better :/ Thats the only deciding factor for me . Please suggest

Greeting.

What sort of terrain are you going to be riding on while going back and forth?

A 3km commute can be done on almost any bike but some are more practical than others.
You don't need any suspension on a commuter bike. Cheap suspension is worse than no suspension. As suspension, it isn't very good, it is heavy, sucks energy, needs maintenance and removes the ability to fit standard rack and fenders. In a Gadget Show test of entry-level bikes the winning budget MTB over a course of rolling forrest tracks was a non-sus Decathon Btwin model.
A good quality tyre is much more useful than suspension. Fat tyres can cope with rough roads and puncture protection will ensure that you get to school on time.
18 vs 21 gears is not important on a 3km ride. Generally 21 spd will be higher grade. If you ditch all the suspension and seek out a bike with higher grade components you will be much better off. At entry level, a slight improvement in component grade is a huge improvement in quality.
I have changed cables on several grip-shift style shifters . They are all much harder to maintain then simple thumb shifters.
Rack and mudguards/fenders are best fitted by bolting onto threaded attachment points on the frame or forks . If your bike lacks these eyelets you have to use ugly clamps.

City roads . In few places roads are bad , but not that bad . I'll be going over bad roads for like just 50M(including both sides) . Also by bad I mean , small ditches of .01-.2M deep . Small stones(2-2cm approx.) over all . Thanks for sincere reply . Well , I have a simple bike right now its the cheapest one in the market , Hercules Turbo Drive After 1-2Km it makes me little bit tired . So I planned to buy new one . About rear suspension , Well in the budget I have they are the only available . for bettter ones I need to raise my budget thrice ! which unfortunately I can't . I didn't got you on gear shifters part bro :/ You mean to say the shifters in 18spd one are bad over 21spd one ? There are models available with thick tyre but they don't have gears which I need . So after couple of factors I shortlisted those 2 . Both got disk brakes in front and V brakes in back . Tyre on 2nd seems thicker than first by photo . The tyres on 18speed one is same as my current bike and current bike's tyre lasted 3 years .What are your final recommendations on those 2 ? Which is kinda better than other keeping in mind I'll be using those bicycles for quite long time(4-5years) . Both companies offering at same price so There must be some reductions in quality of minute things in each other . Greeting.

Have you checked out the Decathlon Btwin Kemmel, you probably need a med size. It lacks the multiple chainwheels and has only 7 gears but the rest of the bike is good quality. Decathlon seem to be the best for quality budget bikes. Check out this guide.
Gripshifters are more complex than thumbshifters, more difficult to replace the cable and more parts to break. They seem to be standard on most entry level bikes so if thats what you have, don't worry too much.This is an exception to the rule that more money buys more reliability.

Old Raleigh 28 inch wheel Roadsters have held up to poor roads in India for maybe 100 years ,
you only think you need a suspension fork , but history has a different position.


having a fat 2" tire would be fine, and the complication, of the cheap Suspension fork's, spotty reliability

are avoided ..