It’s a love story; it’s a story about a man who fell in love with his machine! My bike isn’t the best looking nor is it the fastest or quickest one out there but it certainly has conquered my heart. When I was in my 6th class my dad bought a Kawasaki Bajaj Caliber (the first model), a capable bike at that time, back then I considered buying Caliber as a, good decision since everyone was riding the HH Splendor and Caliber offered an unmatched exclusivity along with little extra power and an awesome exhaust note.
But since the launch of CBZ I was little unhappy as CBZ was the bike to own in the first part of 21st century. Since then lots of bikes have been launched in our great little country and till last year I somehow wanted to get rid of this old Caliber of ours.
Of the 10 years that the Caliber had been with us, last 5 years it had been under my care. And I must say that it didn’t gave any big worries to me, unlike other Caliber owners I was pretty happy with it, except for the fact that I wanted it to be a little more powerful. The 111.6cc mill develops around 7.6bhp at the rear end which is capable of taking the bike to a top speed of 85KmpH, pretty good for Indian roads (just being optimistic). As soon as my father bought the bike he fitted it with a side box, which destroyed the look of the bike even though it’s very handy while traveling.
Till last year I used to ask my friends to lend their bike to me for long rides, but I don’t know what happened so that pulsars and unicorns became so boring that, now even for extra long distance touring I prefer my good old trusty Caliber and even my friends have started to appreciate it. I think that I fell in love with the exhaust note of my Caliber, the exhaust note becomes prominent after 5000rpm and the sensation that the noise gives is simply worth the hassle of owning the bike.
The thing with the modern extra smooth, extra soft bikes that we generally see nowadays is that, everything falls into place and everything happens quite like u want them to. This make the whole riding experience very uninvolved, as we start to ride the machine unconsciously whereas the best thing about this old workhorse of mine is that one cannot expect anything to happen quite as he wanted to, the gears wont change as you intended them to, some times oil starts to pour from the cylinder head and soon after some time the engine revs to red line as if it had no problem. It’s been just a few months since I started to take the bike for long distance touring. And to my amazement it has performed amazingly well. Generally 150cc bikes accompany mine but everyone anonymously agrees that my rear seat is the most comfortable, even though the suspension is on the hard side. The handling of the bike is superb, despite of those poor quality tires; it inspires lots of confidence while braking as well as cornering. The bike feels stable even at speeds near 75-80kmph on rather bad roads, unlike other 100cc commuters which tend to generate lift and start vibrating like hell and it never felt hard to keep the pace in the long run with other bikes as it’s not practical to maintain three digit speeds on Indian roads. The comfortable seats mean that we can travel longer distance without those occasional stops.
For now the longest that we traveled was a 1000 Km round trip within 36 hours. That trip was really hard on us, not to mention the bikes; the trip was mainly confined to NH17 and the awesome destinations along its length. But the trip which actually took my bike to limits was the one to Wayanad, a beautiful district in Kerala where we found the best biking roads in India. Wayanad is essentially a hill station in the Western Ghats and my home is near the coastal region of Kerala so we had to climb the jaw drooping peaks of Western Ghats and that to in summer. The mountain roads were not exactly what we call forgiving even the Pulsar 180 was finding it difficult to climb and was crawling alongside the Caliber, but thanks to the shorter gear ratios of Honda Shine, it was performing quite well for a 125cc bike. The places where caliber took me were simply superb and even though we were expecting some big trouble from it, surprisingly it didn’t give us any sort of mess, not even a puncture! Moreover the places were simply “breathtakingly beautiful” and we really enjoyed the whole trip. Might be because of all this My Kawasaki Bajaj Caliber has become my First Love that will never go off my heart.
- Nidhin Chandran
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{ 19 comments… read them below or add one }
feel nostalgic
Absolutly agree with you,
The earlier model bajaj vehicles are reliable and trustworthy still I seen KB100, KB4s, Bajaj M80 on road
Two days back met a guy driving IND-Suzuki said he is using it from 80′s
Most of the recent machines have more plastic than metal
Dude, I have a surpise in my kitty.. over 1,00,000 kms done, superbly performing 110CC bike bought in 2001. Wait till I post about it.
AWESOME STORY !! SURELY EXPRESSES UR LOVE FOR UR BIKE !!! KEEP RIDING !!!!
it was awesome man….i must tel u that u should be a writer now. i never knew that u write so good. superb…good job
thanks everyone for all of your precious comments!
i also own a bajaj caliber and its the baap of old 100cc bikes its pick up is just awesome i can do weelies easily .
Agree ..beautiful article for people with real bike experience not just following the herd.the smoothness with this bike and relaibility is awsum .need not to stop at every kilometer it flows with the wind
didnt knew that a 100 cc can be so tough……………..
nice review
well Aditya, even I didn’t knew that my bike could be so durable and dependable but at the end I found that its just up to us, the machines that we own are simply superb(believe me!), we just ought to have faith in them
The name Wayanad comes from ‘Vayal’ and ‘Nadu’ which means the land of paddy fields. It’s really rich in nature with all those rolling hills and tropical rainforests. Edakkal caves are great too.
Hi Nidhin, i too own a 1999 Bajaj Caliber. She’s 11 now
I share the same opinion of urs regarding the Caliber . . . mine has run for about 1 lac kms and its been truly loyal . . . never left me stranded ever . . . I hope to keep her with me for a life time. Sadly a tempo crashed into my parked caliber and i had to replace my side panels and silencer. But i am not happy with the local panels so just some days ago sent a mail to Bajaj Auto but yet to receive a reply from them.
Hey Nidhin as also own a 1998 Bajaj Caliber. I bought it second hand in the year 2009 with just 23000 km. but after one year its 60000 kms without any problemms.
Hi,
I am usning Bajaj Caliber vehicle from 1999 to till date. And completed 1,60,000 kms till date.
Excellent Bike.
mere paas 1999 se bajaj calibar hai, usme sirf piche ke madgard jo tell lamp ke upar hai wo tutne ka problem hai. baki gadi 2 lakh km se bhi upar chali hai. best speed. no vibration.
I also own bajaj caliber(1st model),my only problem with bajaj caliber is that its body has started rusting near petrol tank and other areas…I was planning to buy back with Yamaha SZ-x but now will have to re-think looking at other comments posted on this blog…
Hi All.. Its a really nice bike and why don Bajaj consider its come back in the 100cc category. I own the one from 2001. Done 80k Kms. She is so young and sexy, smooth, and i guess bajaj engineers did spend a lot of time designing it since the centre og gravity for the bike is just awsome, so stable. I did ride a pulsar but was only satisfied with its speed, not so impressive as my Caliber
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I take care of her. I give her a nice shower daily, she shines like its new, awsome paint quality on the tank. Headlamps are powerful. Its a bike to be riden on 50 to 60 kmps, ul enjoy the ride. My friends still die to get a ride on her.
The duo, kawasaki and bajaj really i guess by mistake created the icon in the 100cc categories back in 1999. I call her Cindy and she is my love.. I love u Cindy, now and ever..
am using Bajaj Caliber vehicle since June 5 1999(NEW) to till date. And completed 2,15,000 kms till date……. I to Love MY Bike………………… Once Mf friend & Me Trv’ed 800 KMS in 11 Hours….
hi,i am from kerala,i am using bajaj caliber 2001 onwars,now it coverd 6000 km,super byke frm bajaj congratz.bt nw it shows sme engine missing,what is the problem?(carburetour,air filter&plug cleaned ok) pls mail me the solution plz