Wake Up To Reality: What’s The Point In Buying The Latest “High Performance” Bike?

Lot of names and bikes are coming in Indian market. But don’t you all think something is missing? I do appreciate that all Indian manufacturers are trying their best to launch best of the best but still I feel the Power and Technology is missing and that’s why I feel we are still leaving in stone age. I check many magazine’s, I meet many people. The discussion is always about vehicles. Well I am not a specific car lover but yes I am automobile lover.

In the magazines we always sees high power super bikes and then start drooling. At this moment India has got a maximum of 535cc engines. Higher CC motorcycles just made an appearance in India but not manufactured by any Indian company like TVS, Bajaj, Royal Enfield, Hero Honda neither Yamaha, Honda or Suzuki is manufacturing their SB’s.

But when R15 came in the market my hopes where high. When I saw the reality, I was really zapped. But then I found they have R125 for Europe, that time my hopes went on toss. In fact later on I did more digging for 125 series I found there are 125 series motorcycles in abroad which are better than R15. In India buying power has been increased rapidly. But neglecting market demand is always bad scenario from company or government.

There are companies who have 125 series for example Honda CBR 125, Derbi 125 GPR (2 Stroke), Aprilia 125cc RS (2 Stroke), Cagiva Mito 125cc etc. And Should we call our bikes POCKET BIKES?

TVS has got RTR, I never understand why they are coming with that commuter body style. Pulsar somehow changed the style in 220 but still feels something is missing. This generation is not like kind of a Priya scooter, Chetak segment. The segment is gone beyond that level and it is the Super Bike segment.

Indian government may not allow other companies to launch their products due to norms & laws and so they may not be allowing Indian manufacturers to manufacture higher CC bikes for some reason. But why Indian manufacturers are still launching bikes with old style. In 125cc, 150cc they can do body styling in a better way. Are they stuck up with their old dies? Sometimes I feel Chinese bikes are better at least they are good looking for example KC118.

In cruiser segment Bajaj and Royal Enfield did very good job though they just changed the body and chassis. But availability of the segment which I appreciate. Yamaha started getting cruisers but some how they couldn’t make it for long, they stopped with Enticer.

Karizma and Pulsar 220 are very good for Dakar Rally. But unfortunately we are not taking part in that rally. Well I know the engine capacity is too small for Dakar Rally. I was expecting something good from Honda, but they broke everyone’s hope. The next wait is Kawasaki Ninja 250R, but recently I heard they are going to launch that bike a bit late. KTM will be out of our question for the time because of it’s segment & the cost.

I think we should go on unlimited strike, we should not buy any motorcycle from any manufacturer until the manufacturer gets better segment and so government should allow for better looking and powerful motorcycles for Indian buyer. All our technical knowledge and work experience is just a waste. No matter what we discuss about current motorcycles you and me still knows it’s an absolute waste.

We are still away from MOTOGP and F1. Countries which are smaller than India are participating in MOTOGP and we just watch them on TV. We don’t even have proper circuit racing tracks in major cities. By having only one or two tracks will not help rider. Lack of availability of tools means giving birth to illegal street racer. Due to that accidents. When the tool is available we use it proper way.

Few months back I was thinking about putting supercharger in the motorcycle. My last article was related to Torque, in that you must have seen some of my modifications of carburetor arrangement with higher carb size & KnN filter. My aim was to put supercharger in between filter and carb. But unfortunately the supercharger which I bought was not good, which was scrap for my purpose. But soon or later I will be putting supercharger in our Indian motorcycle for sure. Some of the electric supercharger may help to increase the power, but it’s a big affair to experiment with it.

The blankness in Indian market is like a Black Hole. Companies are coming with some small innovations for example led lights in tail lamp, lights in switch console, side stand light, TCI ignition system, Endurance clutch, Gas filled shock absorber, DTSi, DTS Fi, does it increase the performance? In High RPM engines we reached till 22 bhp (I think). Well the only thing what we can do is wait and watch.

As we know recently TVS and Bajaj launched their new products in the market. But do you all think they will do better?. Well for me Bajaj is like a Pop Corn Machine, I am sorry if I am hurting Bajaj Lovers but that’s the truth. We have seen products from Bajaj all the time, they are launching products with some changes by keeping same engine or whatever, face lift but whats the use?

– Chinmay Dangre