Bike India Team

Specially Yours

February 8, 2012 by Bike India Team

Yamaha R15 v2.0 Limited Edition colours goes on sale

Visitors to the Yamaha stall at the Auto Expo last month will remember the two Yamaha R15 v2.0s in striking limited edition colours very vividly. Both the two versions, WGP 50th Anniversary Edition and Fiery Red Special Edition have recently gone on sale now, at a slightly higher price point than the standard version. While the R15 WGP edition is priced at INR 1,11,000, the Fiery Red edition is priced at INR 1,10,000, both ex-showroom, New Delhi. As befitting the LE monicker, these two editions will be produced in limited numbers, just about a couple of thousand units. So, in case you are planning to get your hands on one these, we suggest you hurry to the nearest Yamaha showroom ASAP.

Revised R15

February 6, 2012 by Bike India Team

Yamaha have upgraded their first true Indian super sports bike, the R15. We take a ride to find out how it fulfils the aspirations of those who were eagerly looking forward to version 2.0 of this bike [Read more…] about Revised R15

Pitstop Beauties

February 3, 2012 by Bike India Team

Pune’s most happening educational hub (Symbiosis Centre for Management Studies (Under Graduate)) is back with with bang this year with its bustling college fest -‘Sympulse’

Following in its foot steps, the college as it did last year, held an event titled ‘Pit Stop’. As the name suggests, the campus’s outdoor parking lot was a stop over for some of the fastest and most expensive bikes and cars Pune has to offer.

The event started off with car show, displaying the world’s finest and most sought after supercars and included a few classics. Students and onlookers were in for a treat with the Rolls Royce Silver Cloud, Bentley MK VI, Porsche Boxster, Ferrari F430, Audi RS5, Mercedes SLS AMG, Mercedes C63 AMG, Mercedes SL 500, Mercedes E350 Cabriolet, Aston Martin Vantage, Jaguar XJL, BMW 650i, BMW 645i and the historical London cab. Everyone watched in awe as each car turned the key to enthrall the crowd with the heart soothing sound that makes heads turn.

After gawking at these beauties for an hour, our eyes and ears turned to take a look at the ground shaking two wheeled marvels coming out of the garage and onto the courtyard. As the crowd surrounding the bikes grew larger, each owner who brought his/her love on two wheels started to talk about their bike and regaled the crowd with the screams of each ones engine. The bike that came for this year’s show and tell were the Indian Chief, BMW R60, BSA shooting star, BSA Golden Flash, Norton Dominator, Ducati 848, Ducati Monster, Suzuki GSX 1000R, Aprilia RSV4 and the BMW R1200GS.

Pit stop by Sympulse was definitely an evening that make you walk away with a smile on your face and longings in your heart to one day own one of these beauties. But the main message throughout the show was ‘ATG ATT’ which translates to ‘All the Gear, All the Time’. Safety first people.

BIKE India is proud to be an associate sponsor of this fest and contribute its part in fostering education and love of automobiles amongst the emerging youth of our country. and More information can be had from the Sympulse website at www.sympulsefest.com.

Launched! Honda Dio 2012

February 2, 2012 by Bike India Team

dio scooter Close to a decade after the original launch of the light-weight Dio, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (HMSI) has given the automatic scooter a much needed upgrade.

And thankfully, the scooter gets a thorough revision, with a bigger and more powerful 109-cc motor, which has been borrowed from the new Activa, and produces 8.11PS of power @ 7,500rpm and 8.66Nm of torque @ 5,500rpm. Honda claims that this will improve fuel efficiency by 15 per cent, the fiber bodied scooter will now return 55 kpl.

The re-styled 2012 Dio looks chunkier and more sporty with the new aerodynamic design. This is the first gearless scooter in India to sports tubeless tyres and in combination of Honda’s ‘Combi Brake System’ which would improves stability and braking. Other new features include a maintenance-free battery, viscous air filter, 3D emblem and enhanced luggage space under the seat. All this for an attractive price of Rs. 42,362 ex-showroom New Delhi. The new Dio will be available at Honda showrooms from the last week of this month and will be offered in five new colours – Sports Red, Matt Axis Grey Metallic, Pearl Sunbeam White, Candy Palm Green and Leblon Violet Metallic.

Speaking about the launch N.K. Rattan, Vice President – Sales, Marketing & Corporate Affairs, HMSI said, “The increased convenience and comfortable riding position of New Dio will appeal to both style conscious young males and females.”

Stormy New Classic

February 1, 2012 by Bike India Team

Royal Enfield’s new Desert Storm claims to be a tornado. Does it have enough force to sweep you off your feet? Let’s find out

Story: Ravi Chandnani
Photography: Sanjay Raikar

Royal Enfield launched the Classic 500 at the end of 2009. Since then it has been one of the best selling models in the company’s line-up. The bike has the right aesthetics with a nostalgic appeal that attracts customers without much effort even in these times when performance bikes seem to rule the roost. However, since evolution is inevitable, Royal Enfield have launched two new variants of the Classic with a few tweaks, claiming it to be better than ever.

This new bike, called the Desert Storm, incorporates changes to the front end and the ECU along with a new cool paint job to lend the bike a new character. Firstly, the new paint job, which I am sure every Bullet fan will appreciate. The Desert Storm comes clad in a matte-finish shade of khaki, which lends the bike a raw, rugged and minimalistic character. The Royal Enfield lettering in plain white gels well with the whole retro character.

Let’s now move on to the next big change – the ECU. Now, there was nothing wrong with the ECU of the older bike. However, Royal Enfield have re-mapped the ECU of the new Desert Storm for a smoother power delivery, though we were hardly able to notice the difference between the Classic and the Desert Storm.

Another thing that has changed is the front-end, which now has conventional forks instead of the offset forks seen on older models. But in appearance they look very much like the old forks. The front wheel has also been replaced with a 19-inch one, though the tyre profile (90/90) remains the same.

Royal Enfield claim that the handling of the bike has improved considerably. That is not what we found. Looking back in history we can see that the older bike had a neutral handling compared to the Desert Storm/Classic range because of factors like the placement of the engine and the offset front forks. The original bike had a lower centre of gravity as compared to today’s Classic. However, when Royal Enfield decided to replace the old engine with a modern ‘unit construction engine’ (UCE), the handling of the bike suffered seriously. Today’s Royal Enfield bikes have engines mounted higher in the frame to bridge the gap between the cylinder head and the petrol tank.

Another easily evident problem is the heavy front end. Because the new bikes use the compact UCE motor, the weight becomes concentrated in the front. Besides, the front wheel has moved a little inwards because of the conventional forks, thus adding to the already heavy front. The Royal Enfield engineers have also increased the length of the swing-arm in order to fill up the gap created by the compact engine. This has resulted into a slightly increased wheelbase and also the centre of gravity and has made the front of the bike heavy. We reckon that if Royal Enfield address the aforementioned problems, the handling of these new bikes will certainly improve considerably.