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Pulsar NS400Z – CHALA APNI

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Karizma R now in white

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Hero Honda Karizma R Spotlight WhiteHero Honda aims to spice up the bike with the new colour scheme

Karizma has been one of the most well-rounded performance bikes, below the rupees one lakh bracket. Since its launch in 2003, the bike has been getting regular upgrades and most of them have been superficial. Except the fuel injected version – ZMR which was introduced back in 2009.

Hero Honda Karizma Spotlight White

With competition getting fiercer in the small-capacity performance bike segment, Hero Honda has decided to give it’s 223-cc bike a white wash by launching it in a new Spotlight body colour. There is no change in the engine or other specs, as it produces 17.2 PS and 18.3Nm and is priced at Rs 85,143 OTR, Pune. We have to agree that the new shade does make the bike look good. But we can’t wait for a complete ramp up of the Karizma range.

For more information on Hero Honda Karizma R click here

 

500kmph+ on a motorcycle, new motorcycle land speed record

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brocks performance - bill warnerThe land speed record for piston engined, wheel driven, semi-streamlined motorcycles has been broken by the same man who held the previous record.

Bill Warner of Wimauma, Florida held the earlier record for a little over 448kmph on his turbo-charged Suzuki Hayabusa. This time, he’s gone for more and exceeded 502kmph on the same bike.

 

 

This feat of riding a bike faster than a Bugatti Veyron, was achieved not at Bonneville Salt Flats, but at Loring Timing Association’s land speed races held at the Loring Air Force Base in Limestone, Maine and incidentally, this is not the fastest man has ever gone on two wheels. Faster speeds of 600kmph+ have been achieved by Top Oil-Ack Attack streamliner at the Utah Salt flats as recently as September 2010.

 

Warner said that at that speed, “The bike was bouncing, hopping, skipping and sliding. Needless to say, I got it stopped safely. It was a little scary.” Just a little scary…

That’s it? Yeah, right.

Image courtesy: Facebook

Biking Across Continents

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Angelika Weber“I remember very well my first ride on a bike about 30 years ago. We had bought a brand-new Yamaha 550 XT, a 550-cc, one-cylinder off-road bike with a fantastic acceleration that was a recent release at that time. The publicity slogan was, ‘Ride the Bull’, and the experience was exactly that. Rough, tough, no self-starter, but with a high fun factor. I learned to ride it in a gravel pit. A hard school, but very effective. Of course, I also had to go to the driving school. I was very lucky to get a good teacher. He had the ambition to teach me how to ride a bike, not just how to move one. Later on, I underwent several training courses, which helped me a lot to improve my skill and gave me a lot of self-confidence too.

“My next bike was a BMW 800 GS with a two-cylinder Boxer engine. Much heavier, but much more comfortable for long rides. This one was followed by a Honda 650 Dominator and the last motorcycle I owned in Germany was a BMW F 650 GS, all of them off-road bikes. I preferred this kind of bikes because they are lighter and more manoeuvrable than street bikes or choppers – perfect for rough and narrow roads. Unfortunately, they are not available here in India.

 

“I lived in Munich, which is very close to the Alps, and therefore I did a number of wonderful rides through the mountains to Austria, Italy, Switzerland and France – sometimes with friends, sometimes alone. I rode on all kinds of roads, also unpaved passes through snow and ice, and I enjoyed all of them. Now I am living and working in south Kerala. More than three years ago I bought a used Bajaj Pulsar 180 which I still possess. On that bike I got used to the chaotic Indian traffic and rustic roads, especially to the left-hand drive rule in India. One thing that really shocked me (and still does) was the rude manner of many people. One of the basic things we learn in Germany is politeness when participating in road traffic. Give way to others and try your best not to bring yourself or others into dangerous situations. Here in Kerala it seems that many drivers don’t obey traffic rules and drink-driving seems to be normal. In most European countries they would immediately lose their licence for a long time and get a severe punishment. Nevertheless, I love to ride bikes. It opens my heart and my mind. A few weeks ago I made a one-week trip to the Kerala mountains, up to Munnar, Marayoor and Thekkady, mostly on small roads. I drove through the tea plantations and rainforest, saw wild elephants passing the road in front of me – fantastic! Even though I was alone, I enjoyed it immensely. Often I have been asked whether it is boring to drive alone. Boring? When I ride on my bike I don’t need anybody else. Of course, in the evening and during the breaks it makes for greater fun if you have someone to share the experiences. Maybe next time?

 

 

Dr Angelika Weber, a German lady with a passion for motorcycling, has been living and working in ‘God’s own country’ for the past three years following her marriage to an Indian. She recounts her experience of riding an Indian motorcycle and coming to terms with our chaotic traffic after nearly 30 years of owning and riding various bikes across Europe.

Royal Enfield Classic 500 chrome

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Bullet Classic 500 chromeThe bike maker introduce a chromed version of the Classic 500 internationally

Royal Enfield has recently upgraded their website www.royalenfield.com and it does look rather slick. What caught our eyes was a shimmering new variant of the Classic 500 with ample use of chrome. Previously only a few components on the Classic 500 came with chrome finish however, the company has now coated some of the major components like the front/ rear fender, air box cover and the tank with chrome. The new variant retains the same 499cc UCE engine that produces 28PS of power and 41.3 Nm of torque. Apart from the chrome the other visible change is the long straight exhaust. Unfortunately, it is not yet available in India. The bike has similar aura like the macho Machismo of the last decade. Hope the motorcycle maker gets this version for the Indian enthusiasts as well.

Royal Enfield Classic 500 chrome

Your Apache on a TVS promo

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TVS Apache 180 white wheelieMany a bike enthusiast loves to shoot himself and his bike both in photo and video.

Learning from the Yamaha Fazer experience, TVS has now asked customers of it’s top-of-the-line motorcycle, the Apache, to, well, show off.

For this, they have created a contest on Facebook, where you can upload a video of your Apache, with or without you, and send it to the judges at TVS. All that the video is supposed to do is to explain between 3 to 40 seconds, why you love your Apache. If you win, your video gets featured in an upcoming promo, if not, your video can still be used by TVS anytime in the future. If there are any other prizes, they are not mentioned yet. Also, a final date of entries isn’t declared yet.

So get your video cameras out and get featured.

TVS Apache 180 white wheelie