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Ushering in a New Era

LAST MONTH I VISITED THE NEW ROYAL ENFIELD TECHNICAL centre in Leicestershire at the Buntingthorpe proving ground. First and foremost, I would like to congratulate Siddhartha Lal for setting up this state-of-the-art research and development facility.

When I was talking to Siddhartha he reminded me about the discussion we had had at Jaisalmer in 2010 when we had discussed the R&D capability of Royal Enfield or the lack thereof. He said that that talk between the two of us was one of the reasons that prompted him to set up the Buntingthorpe R&D facility. The first fruit of this new technical centre is the all-new 650-cc twin.

The two new 650 twins created quite a stir at the recent EICMA . There was a massive representation of journalists at the Royal Enfield stand for the press conference and the unveiling of the 650 Interceptor and the GT650. The new 650s usher in a new era for Royal Enfield; not only because they are the first twin-cylinder motorcycles from the company, but also because of the quality of components, build quality and top-class fit-and-finish. The bikes are nice and compact and have the perfect retro look. Now I am looking forward to swinging my leg over these bikes to take them for a long ride.

The second bike that caught my eye was the new V4 Ducati. It was also voted as the best-looking motorcycle at EICMA . The new V4 motor looks like a work of art and even with V4 configuration the bike is really compact. The trend these days is to make the bike as small and compact as possible.

Aspi Bhathena
Editor

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Softail Surprise

LAST MONTH I WAS INVITED BY HARLEY-DAVIDSON TO Barcelona, Spain, to ride the 2018 Softail range. The new range has been completely revamped from the chassis to the engine. The new chassis is much lighter and stiffer than its predecessor. Similarly, the new engine has been reworked and is now fitted with dual balancer shafts to reduce vibrations, for the new powerplant is no longer rubber-mounted. H-D have done away with rubber mounting to reduce flex and make the frame more rigid.

The roads north of Barcelona in the Catalan mountains selected by Harley were full of twists and turns more suited to sports motorcycles. To my surprise, however, the Softails did not disappoint. In fact, I was in for a pleasant surprise as I swung my leg over the Fat Bob. Even though the foot-rests are much higher, they still ground. The lead rider was setting a brisk pace and the ride was anything but a cruise; in fact, we were flat-out from one corner into another. I could not imagine that you could have so much fun on a Harley.

Normally, one associates Harley-Davidson with ‘driving’ a bike rather than riding it, but the new models have changed all that. Now you can go scratching with a Harley. Even after spending the whole day riding flat-out, there was neither fatigue nor were
my hands tingling with vibrations, and that says a lot about the 2018 range.

After Spain I was in Hinckley in the UK for the launch of the Triumph Bonneville Bobber Black, Bonneville Speedmaster and the opening of the visitors’ centre. A week later I was in Munich to meet the officials of BMW Motorrad and a day later it was Berlin calling for a visit to the BMW Motorrad plant. Incidentally, the pricing of the BMW motorcycles is going to be on the high side because they intend to be a premium brand.

Aspi Bhathena
Editor

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Electric Two-wheelers: How Feasible?

THIS MONTH WE COMPARE THE NEW BAJAJ PULSAR NS160 WITH the Honda CB Hornet 160. These two motorcycles are more or less identical in the amount of power and torque they deliver, but different in their character: while the Pulsar is on the sporty side, the Hornet is a typical Honda all-rounder. You can read the comprehensive comparison in this issue.

The big news in the MotoGP world was Valentino Rossi breaking his leg during training on a dirt track. Many people say that MotoGP riders should not ride off-road bikes during the season and risk getting injured. I don’t think anybody is qualified enough to give advice to a nine-time world champion.

The honourable transport minister says that he wants to push electric two-wheelers. However, since most of the electric power plants are coal-fired, it means that you are only moving the pollution from the cities to where the power is generated. In fact, there was a power shortage in Maharashtra recently and the reason given for this was shortage of coal. Most of the electric scooters in India use Chinese motors and their performance and range are very limited.

There was news that the Eicher Group was bidding for Ducati, but, according to a German news agency, the labour union was not willing to give the go-ahead to the VW Board to sell Ducati. If Eicher were to buy Ducati, I am sure Siddhartha Lal would do a good job of taking Ducati forward. Incidentally, last year I had asked Claudio Domenicali if they were working on a V4 engine for their superbike, to which he had replied in the negative. However, one year down the line they have launched a V4 engine to power the new Panigale.

Aspi Bhathena
Editor

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A Momentous Tie-up

THE BIG NEWS LAST MONTH WAS THE TIE-UP BETWEEN BAJAJ AND
Triumph. Going by the information available as of now, this is a technical tie-up whereby Triumph will supply technology for big motorcycles and Bajaj will help Triumph break into the sub-400-cc market to take on the European manufacturers.

The Triumph line-up of products suits the Indian market, for it does not concentrate on out and out sport motorcycles. Bikes like the Bonneville are easy to ride on the open highways as well as congested city roads. On the other hand, Bajaj’s expertise in lowcost manufacturing will help Triumph make an advent in the 250-cc market which they are trying to enter after having aborted the previous project. This looks like a win-win for both as Bajaj will be able to make big-capacity cruisers and Triumph affordable entry-level bikes.

There is big news in the motor sport arena for motorcycle riders who want to make it big in road racing. Even today the young talent in India does not get to ride thoroughbred racing bikes for them to be able to compete against the best in Asia. All that is set to change as Honda are going to withdraw the CBR 250R from the one-make championship and replace it with the over-the-counter Moto3 racer, the NS F250R. The NS F250R is a proper racing motorcycle and this will give our boys an equal opportunity along with the other Asian countries.

We, as journalists, are supposed to educate our readers and give them our expert opinion. The big problem today is that anybody who can ride a bike becomes an expert thanks to the internet. You not only need to have the riding capability to take the bike to its limit to see how it performs, but also the knowledge and capability to understand how the bike is performing. The easiest thing to do is criticise, but when you find fault, you should also be able to offer a solution to the problem if you are an expert.

Aspi Bhathena
Editor