This is Jaichandran here. I’m a hardcore petrol head, and love anything with an IC engine and wheels. For a long time, an issue has always been irritating me, and I need to vent my anger. It’s about our motorcycle industry. As everyone must be knowing, India is the one of the largest 2-wheeler markets in the world, but, 90% of the sales comprises of fuel-sipping commuters.
We can’t blame the buyers, can we? For they out number us enthusiasts by a large margin. This makes manufacturers think only about those “fill it, shut it, forget it” bikes. There are only a hand full of performance bikes on sale here, and all of them aren’t so much different from the other, all sticking to the single cylinder format.
Isn’t it time we moved on? Adding salt to our wounds is the government, by putting restrictions and levying heavy duties on importing bikes from abroad. This may be easy for the really rich and moneyed people, but what about us enthusiasts who fall in between? Is there manufacturer there to listen to our lament? The ideal bike for us would be a 2-cylinder 250cc bike that is fast and fun to ride, and priced around Rs 1.75 Lacs. Any manufacturer ready for developing such a bike? It’ll be a sure shot success; just look at the the Yamaha R15 and the FZ series! They might be expensive single cylinder 150CCs, but then again people are buying them by the dozen! That clearly means that the customer base is very much there now. The reason for the RD doing badly is that motoring in India was at a nascent stage. We’re all matured now, aren’t we?
Of course, there are a few idiots on the roads who care little about their safety and the safety of the others, but barring them, I guess the Indian market is now ready to handle bikes more powerful than the 21Bhp. Come on bike makers, give us enthusiasts what we deserve, after all, we Indian are your biggest customers.
– Jaichandran
