Bike India Team, Author at Bike India

Kingfisher announces adventure expedition

June 20, 2011 by Bike India Team Leave a Comment

Kingfisher Blue mile to range from Leh to Delhi

The Kingfisher Blue mile, a Himalayan expedition is set to be flagged off on 5th July 2011. The event will be a bike ride from Leh to the capital. Although the participants are required to manage their own motorcycles for the ride, mechanical backup and accommodation will be handled by the sponsors. The on-ground logistics for Kingfisher Blue MILE will be handled by Outback Adventures. The participants will be chosen through a blogging contest on facebook.com and winners will be announced on 23rd of July.

The journey will take the participants through 1600kms of challenging roads in an uncompromising weather. The event hopes to bring together like minded adventure seeking enthusiasts on a common platform.

For more details visit – http://www.kingfisherworld.com/blue/bluemile.aspx

Words: Aniruddha Mulgund

Cat Flyte

June 17, 2011 by Bike India Team Leave a Comment

alt A flight without wings is what Gasha Aeri achieves as she and the Mahindra Flyte paint the town red Photography: Sanjay Raikar“A car travelling at an average speed of 160 km/h will take 29 million years to reach the closest star.”

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Really, an empty mind is definitely a crappy place, if not a devil’s workshop and mine was wandering in another universe! Not that we have such leisurely weekdays all the time, but after successful completion of all the tasks at hand, that day was extraordinarily free. But not for long. Minutes later I heard the second set of golden words from my boss’ mouth, the first one being, “You’re hired!” The whole office seemed technicoloured again after those moments of bored black-and-white when he announced that yours truly would get a ride (with a tankful) and some cash in hand to do an interesting story for the upcoming issue. “An Official Pampering Day,” I said to myself and headed to meet my partner for the task – a scarlet red Mahindra Flyte. My technicoloured day got a little glitter too, as my ride was not just good looking, but, thanks to the variomatic transmission, very

comfortable to nudge my way through city traffic too.And what can be more interesting than an account of the weekday when the world turned and toiled in their office chairs and spent just another day in their cubicle, while I made merry around the city.So,the next day was to be marked in my calendar as the Official Pampering Day (OPD, for short). Just to celebrate my release from the shackles of a routine weekday morning, I made the OPD’s morning special with an early morning jog. A bottle holder in the front stored away my sipper and I rode swiftly to the joggers’ park making the day’s start better with my red Flyte. As my fellow joggers in crumpled T-shirts and faded shorts helped their poodles do the business, I parked the Flyte amid a crowd of other odd coloured two-wheelers and headed for my first run in months. The idea of a morning jog sure sounded very healthy and good in my mind, but my lazy legs refused to support the upper torso for even the first few metres. Well, you can’t really blame them, they’ve had a habit of supporting my bulk for only a few steps and not beyond. Hurriedly, I finished my crash course in jogging in just a few metres and returned pleading to Flyte to bear me back home. Farewells and good luck to my fellow joggers and hope their flab vanishes soon

or at least they ‘feel’ fit and healthy.After that gruelling run, my body demanded a quick and immediate supply of nutrition. Meaning, breakfast! Soon after that, I made my way to the city which awaited me with all its grandeur and show and kick-started the day. Fuel indicator smiling at full, I beat the morning traffic with the light weight and quick acceleration of the Flyte.This holy time of the year being sale season, all my ‘shopaholic’ brothers and sisters would pull shame at me if I didn’t mark my attendance at the malls. Some fruits of my day’s shopping hung merrily from the front hook, while others got stored away under the seat. Another level of convenience achieved here!

Compact in size, the Flyte was easy to park on those busy streets and when the lanes got really narrow and required me to pick my ride to cross through those dug up roads, the light weight won songs of praise from me. The suspension felt good for city riding, especially when the roads in our country aren’t exactly that even and often surprise us with a bump or two. Even on the lanes where one finds difficult to find enough oxygen to breathe, the Flyte made its way out without any trouble.

Being a girl’s ride, the Flyte wasn’t very hungry for fuel either. The tankful lasted over 200 km. After riding a geared bike all this while, a day off from the hassles of gear shift and the luxury of front footboard and under-seat storage, the Flyte was a refreshing change from the routine.

Much before I could realise, the clock struck seven and it was time for Cinderella to run back home before the beast of evening traffic got unleashed. The headlamp threw the beam to quite a distance and night riding woes were also solved. Thus came to a happy end my dream day of officially being working, but not really working, something every employee wishes to achieve before they retire. I wish this OPD gets stretched to some more days. Sigh, the human heart never stops asking for more.

Hurrah, Triumph is here!

June 15, 2011 by Bike India Team Leave a Comment

The UK based two-wheeler manufacturer is gearing up for a launch next month

With the Indian two-wheeler market undergoing its golden era currently, the new feather in the hat comes by the name of Triumph Motorcycles. Looks like plans have taken shape and Triumph will make the big announcement by next month. The bikes are most likely to be brought in as CBUs (Completely Built Units) and reportedly Triumph is in talks with a local manufacturer for support too. Triumph America, Speed Master, Speed Triple and Rocket III come across as the most likeable models to be brought to the Indian mainland. Company has not officially confirmed anything yet, but they haven’t said ‘no’ either. Nevertheless, it’s time to rejoice in the Indian market.

Words: Gasha Aeri

Building Blocks

June 14, 2011 by Bike India Team Leave a Comment

Piyush Sonsale describes the experience of the Yamaha Riding Clinic 2011, India’s first manufacturer-backed motorcycle riding school

Photography: Yamaha India

Piyush Sonsale describes the experience of the Yamaha Riding Clinic 2011, India’s first manufacturer-backed motorcycle riding school
Photography: Yamaha India

The Yamaha Riding Clinic 2011 was conducted between April 11 and 14 on the Chennai race-track, where I donned the racing skin (riding suit) and rode the last two days of the school to experience the programme at first hand. The first two days were meant for novice riders and the last two for experts. Yamaha had invited former 250-cc GP rider, Osamu Miyazaki, from Japan to train the participants. The fee for the school was Rs 3,000, which covered the rent of the bike with full service support, fuel and food.

Day one began with some limbering up exercises. Contrary to popular belief, any form of motor sport (motorcycle more so) causes extreme physical exhaustion; by the end of the day’s sessions, my legs would wobble inside my R-Jays due to lack of strength. We were then asked to scrutinise the bike assigned to us. The set-up of the bike is extremely important to extract the desired performance as also to avoid mishaps. Finally, we were told about the riding rules and the meaning of the various flags used to signal a rider while on the racetrack.

The duration of each track session was one hour in which we were allowed to ride freely. By the end of each day, we had completed three hours of riding. During the feedback sessions in the classroom, Miyazaki pointed out the flaws in every rider’s style and suggested improvements after observing the video footage he had recorded from his helmet-mounted camcorder. At the end of day one, every rider’s lap time was recorded for self judgement.

On day two, we were taught how to launch the bike at the start. A swift synchronisation of the throttle and the clutch is necessary to achieve a quick start without lifting the front wheel. Next, Miyazaki selected a couple of fast corners on the track to explain the correct line to follow. For instance, the classic line for a right-hander with no immediate turn after it would be to pull out to the extreme left before the corner entry, then ride on the inside edge of the road in the corner and drift away to the extreme left again at the corner exit to carry maximum speed. At the end of the day’s sessions, the riders’ lap times were recorded again to evaluate the improvement on day two.

The programme culminated with a race organised for the participants to give us a taste of competitive riding. The best performers from the riding school and the R15 races will be promoted by Yamaha to race internationally. The YZF R15 championship 2011 begins this month. Log on to the FMSCI Website for more information.

The Urban 1 – Yamaha FZ1

June 14, 2011 by Bike India Team Leave a Comment

Yamaha have brought their street weapon to the showrooms in our country. We find out how this new entrant fits in the Indian scene

Story: Adhish Alawani
Photography: Sanjay Raikar

Yamaha have brought their street weapon to the showrooms in our country. We find out how this new entrant fits in the Indian scene

Story: Adhish Alawani
Photography: Sanjay Raikar

The motorcycle market in India is expanding at an unimaginable rate and the big bikes have been contributing their mite to this expansion. Though not through sales figures, the variety of motorcycles available in the market has gone up considerably: from supersports to hypertourers and entry-level cruisers to muscle bikes. However, the most suitable in all these for India are street bikes. Most of the big bike players in India introduced their urban street machines long time ago and the one who had missed out on a strong contender initially has offered one now. Yes, we are talking about the Yamaha FZ1 – the naked, litre-class urban machine.

Though the bike was introduced late last year, we didn’t get a chance to ride it then. The moment we got our hands on one, however, we didn’t feel like giving it back! I have reviewed as many as five V-twins of late and the feel of getting back on an inline four had to be unique.

To start with, the FZ1 is a beast that makes an impression right from the first glance. The meaty tank and the sharp, angular headlamp sitting at the front make for a masculine façade. The naked part of the bike exposes the huge 998-cc engine beneath the solid twin spar frame. The mighty front tapers drastically towards the short and stout tail. The big, plain black exhaust is the only part that fails to impress on the styling front. The earlier version of the FZ1 used to have a silver tip to the exhaust and without a doubt it looked more striking than the current one. The bike looks gorgeous with its frame and engine painted in matte black, topped with a pearl white tank. Look at the FZ1 from any angle and the one thing that makes itself highly noticeable is the compactness of this machine while not taking away the aggressiveness that certainly makes its presence felt on the streets. The short wheelbase (1,460 mm) and a tall seat (845 mm) take the credit for this compact look.

Essentially, the FZ1 is powered by a 998-cc motor that comes from an older generation R1 that was being sold from 2004 to 2008 before the engineers at Yamaha came up with the crossplane crankshaft. No doubt, the engine has been detuned, but not so much as to give one the feeling of lack of power. Basically, different camshafts have been used in the FZ1 from what were given in the R1 and this has also brought down the rpm at which the peak power is produced. With 150 PS of peak power and an extremely impressive 106 Nm of maximum torque, the FZ1 has a lot to offer. However, leave aside that top end power and look at what the bike offers for typical Indian road conditions. It was nothing short of mind-boggling to see the kind of response and drive the bike offered from the lowest possible rpm. The FZ1 quite literally pulls from as low as 1,300 rpm in as high as the third and fourth gears to offer perfect rideability in the crowded streets that force one to vary riding speeds all the time. The bottom end of FZ1 is unimaginably strong and that is what makes for its biggest plus point. At the same time, it’s not as violent as its competition. The front stays planted even under abusive opening of the throttle all the way until the red line. It wasn’t feasible to do high speeds during the short period of time the motorcycle was with me, but it still was enough to make me realise that the lack of a quarter fairing or a windscreen will make long highway journeys tiring due to wind blast.

One major update for the FZ1 came in 2006 when its tubular frame was replaced with a twin spar one that offers excellent handling. The riding position is fairly comfortable without taking away the tiny bit of sportiness offered by the slightly low-set handlebar. Though we didn’t get enough time to exploit the handling capabilities of this bike round the corners, whatever we experienced was impressive. The bike is happy to lean and comfortable even while powering out of corners. Though the bike shares its engine with the R1, it’s not as vicious in the higher revs, but instead feels a lot more user-friendly all round the rev range and through the corners.

On a concluding note, I would say that the FZ1 is a very practical machine considering its tremendously strong bottom end. The upright posture is good and easy on the palms. Light clutch lever action makes it an easy bike to ride around the town. The only place where the FZ1 might suffer is on fast highway rides where wind blast might be troublesome for the rider at speed.

All said, the FZ1 comes with a price tag of Rs 10 lakh (OTR, Pune), which is much lighter than that worn by its competing litre-class street bikes. Our take? It came late, but it came strong!

LML launches Select 4 stroke scooter

June 13, 2011 by Bike India Team Leave a Comment

One time scooter giant, LML, thoughtfully introduces Select 4 stroke scooter strictly for Delhi NCR market

Kanpur based, LML Limited has launched Select 4 stroke scooter for the Delhi NCR territory. The scooter is equipped with a 148cc, air cooled, single cylinder engine. With 4 gears to offer, the engine is capable of generating a peak power of 8.8 PS at 6200 rpm and a peak torque of 11.3 Nm at 4250 rpm.The scooter has a fuel tank capacity of 5.5 liters which includes the 1 liter of reserve fuel. The Select4 KS (kick start) is available at Rs 47,140 (ex-showroom) while the Select 4 ES (electric start) will cost Rs 50,978 (ex-showroom). P S Choudhary, Head, Sales and Marketing, LML informed Bike India that the company looks forward to open the sales of Select 4 in the states of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh by the end of June 2011. He conservatively anticipates selling around 250 – 300 units of Select4 in Delhi NCR within next 2 to 3 months.

Disclosing his plans for the year ahead, Choudhary mentioned that the company is working on expanding its current portfolio by introducing 2 bikes and 2 scooters. The 2 bikes would cater to the100cc and 125cc categories. Further, one of the two planned scooters would be gearless and would again cater to the 100cc – 125cc segment. The expansion would also include a 200cc scooter targeting the sports / lifestyle segment. The two wheelers are expected to be launched between August –December 2011. Additionally, the company is also planning to manufacture and export light gearless scooters (50cc onwards) to Europe by the end of December. LML currently exports a 200cc lifestyle/ sports scooter to European countries besides the 125 cc and 150 cc regular geared scooters such as Star, Stella Speedy and others. “The domestic scooter market is resurging at a CAGR of 42%. We shall leverage the growth by placing exciting offerings in geared and gearless segment both. LML shall continue to explore these segments besides re – entering the motorcycle markets in India and abroad.”added Choudhary.

Words: Amit Panday

Kawasaki Ninja 650R first ride

June 10, 2011 by Bike India Team Leave a Comment

The long wait is finally over. Though the big bikes arrived in the country long time back, the affordable options were still absent. So, what Kawasaki and Bajaj do? They brought in the Ninja 650R – a pure sports tourer machine with a tag of Rs 4.57 lakh (Ex-Delhi).Now that is what we call as the smartest move one could have made in a market like ours. Here’re the first ride impressions of the Kawasaki Ninja 650R that has blown us off with its potential and price!

To start with, the bike looks stunning in green and black combo. It’s typically Kawasaki. The offset monoshock and underslung exhaust are unique design features that will distinguish this bike from anything else on the road. Single seat looks old school but serves the purpose when riding with a pillion – comfort at its best!

The Ninja is powered with a 649cc motor that pumps out 72 PS of peak power and 66 Nm of peak torque. These figures translate to superb 0-100km/h acceleration run – just 4.56 seconds. The maximum speed we could read on the speedometer before running out of road was 198km/h (true 191.8km.h), which sounds more than sufficient for the Indian highways. The bike can cruise easily at 120km/h with the engine spinning comfortably at just 5500 rpm. Adding more to the highway and touring abilities is the full fairing and wide windscreen at the front. With no windblast troubling you whatsoever, this bike is a serious touring machine.

Put the bike around corners and the handling of the Ninja will continue to impress you. Though the softer suspension doesn’t give a solid feel when leaned over, it doesn’t make the bike nervous in any case. The monoshock is seven-step adjustable for preload giving you an option for a slightly stiffer ride too. Also, with the monoshock connected directly to the swingarm without any linkages, there is hardly any flex.
If that is the story on highways and twisties, the Ninja 650R scores maximum points when it comes to city rideability and practicality. Strong bottom and mid range make sure that the bike can be ridden around crowded streets effortlessly in higher gears without any hint of knocking. Thus, not only is this sports tourer a fantastic bike on highways and outskirts of a city but on the urban scenario too. It’s a perfect package with best of all the worlds and then at a price that is super competitive.

Our say? The Ninja 650R is the perfect machine priced so appropriately that there is hardly anything that can challenge this bike. The competition definitely needs to pull up their socks if they have to survive in a market where Kawasaki is rolling in the good times!

Words: Adhish Alawani

Mean machines

June 9, 2011 by Bike India Team Leave a Comment

Harison Motors launches ‘Funty’ ATVs in India

An All Terrain Vehicle (ATV), in simple words is the fusion of an automobile and a motorcycle. It runs on four wheels, has a saddle like that on a motorcycle and is given direction by a handlebar. These are recreational vehicles primarily used on off-road surfaces. Harison Motors (HMPL), an Indian-overseas joint venture has launched a range of ATVs in India, under the brand name ‘Funty’. The Funty family currently has four models with engine capacities ranging from 50 to 200cc which will be available in western India initially, imported as CBUs. However, HMPL is setting up an assembly plant in Maharashtra which will start rolling out 15,000 ATVs by March 2012. Apart from ATVs, HMPL also plans to launch motorcycles and scooters in the Indian market, which will be mass produced at their plant along with the ATVs from next year. The first exclusive showroom of the Funty will be operational by June end in Satara, Maharashtra. The Funty range is priced between Rs One to Three lakhs and needs no driving licence or R.T.O registration.

Words: Piyush Sonsale

TOP 1 lubricants available in India

June 9, 2011 by Bike India Team 1 Comment

U.S. based premium lubricant manufacturer, TOP 1, launched its products in India

TOP 1 Oil Products Company has launched its premium range of lubricants in India and Lucas Indian Service (LIS) will be marketing and distributing the products. The annual lubricant market catering to the auto sector is estimated to be around Rs 25,000 crore. Of which, the market share of high end lubricants comprising of synthetic and semi synthetic lubricants stand at around 10 percent i.e. Rs 2,500 crore. Frank Ryan, Vice President, Sales and Marketing, TOP 1 Oil Products Company, informed that the company would address to the market requirements of premium lubricant segment. Company’s country head, R Ramesh, added that “We are targeting to achieve around 10 percent of the premium segment in the coming 5 years.” The TOP 1 products for bikes would be available in the range of Rs 285 – Rs 750 per liter while for passenger cars they would be available in the range of Rs 285 – Rs 1,200 per liter. Further, the lubricants for heavy duty diesel vehicles would cost between Rs 310 – Rs 370 per liter.

LIS is known to be a 100 percent subsidiary of Lucas TVS, and had a country wide distribution network across 650 cities through over 2,500 dealers and service dealers.

Words: Amit Panday

Valvoline Cummins India dealer meet

June 9, 2011 by Bike India Team Leave a Comment

Present at the occasion were Pune Warriors; Saurav Ganguly and Rahul Sharma

In order to enhance its relationship with dealers, Valvoline Cummins India organized a dealership meet in Delhi. Sandeep Kalia, CEO, Valvoline Cummins India said “we continuously want to lay emphasis on the importance of our business partners and interact with them directly.” The company is one of country’s leading lubricant manufacturer. Also present at the event were cricketers Saurav Ganguly and Rahul Sharma. Amongst others who attended were Sandeep Singla, AVP, Valvoline Cummins India and Abhinav Sharma, Marketing Manager, Brand, Valvoline Cummins India.

Words: Amit Panday