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Pulsar NS400Z – CHALA APNI

NEW ISSUE

JULY 2026

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The Ticklish Issue of Ethanol

The war in West Asia has given rise to a fuel shortage, and this has given an excuse to the Indian government to try to increase ethanol blending in petrol. As of this day, 85 to 90 per cent of two-wheelers on the road are not even five to 10 per cent ethanol-compliant. What happens to the majority of consumers is that they perforce have to suffer all the problems caused by ethanol blending. As it is, the country is water-deficient, and we want to grow high water-consuming crops like sugarcane, corn, and rice to produce ethanol. Even as I write this editorial, water supply cuts are in place in Pune.

The authorities keep citing the example of Brazil for ethanol blending. Brazil has rainforests, and it is not a water-deficient country. Moreover, they began blending ethanol gradually while offering the option of non-blended fuel to the customer. Why not offer us the option of buying regular non-blended fuel at a slightly higher price compared to the blended fuel?

Manufacturers are being arm-twisted into making flex-fuel bikes that run on 85 and 100 per cent ethanol. Thus, we seem to be moving towards a situation wherein we will have ethanol for our bikes, but not enough water to drink or to have a bath.

After four zonal selection rounds, we had the final rider selection at the Kari Motor Speedway. What I noticed during those rounds and the final selection round was that the standard of riding in the amateur class has improved over the past two years. The difference between the fastest rider and the rider in 20th position was less than three seconds, as compared to more than five seconds between the first and the 12th rider.

Aspi Bhathena

Editor

JUNE 2026

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Abuzz with Activity

We are already in the month of June, half the year already having gone by. Every year, the time seems to fly by quicker and quicker, what with there being a lot of activity in the Indian automobile industry.

With the increase in fuel prices, the demand for electric scooters should go up. The problem is that all electric bikes are dependent on China for a lot of the components, and that is not good for the country.

The government is asking the citizens to conserve fuel, but every day, even a big city like Pune has no power supply, and people are forced to run diesel generators to power their homes and charge their electric vehicles.

Ethanol blending is creating a huge problem for old bikes, especially old scooters that have carburettors, because they have a vacuum petrol tap. The operating system for this petrol tap has a diaphragm, and this gets eaten up by the corrosive ethanol-blended fuel. Many such people cannot afford to buy a new scooter, so this remains their sole mode of transport. The government should offer the citizens the option of buying blended or non-blended fuel.

The fire department in Noida and Gurugram has banned electric chargers in basements and stilt parking under buildings. The department refuses to issue fire safety certificates to housing societies if they have an EV charger installed in the parking. This is a very confusing situation. On the one hand, the government wants to encourage electric vehicles; on the other, one of its departments will not let you charge your EV in your own parking. The government must talk to all stakeholders and only then frame policies that affect the citizens of the country.

Aspi Bhathena

Editor

MAY 2026

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Smart Engineering

This month we celebrate the 250th issue of Bike India magazine. The BMW F 450 GS was launched last month at a starting price of Rs 4,70,000 for the entry level and Rs 5,30,000 for the top-of-the-line variant. These are introductory prices. The motorcycle has a parallel 450-cc twin-cylinder engine developing 48 hp at 8,750 rpm and a max torque of 43 Nm at 6,750 rpm, with a six-speed gearbox.

Incidentally, the GS 450 attracts the same amount of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) as the top-of-the-line BMW 7 Series, a luxury yacht, or a helicopter. This makes the GS 450 buyer feel as if they are in the same league, wealth-wise, as the owner of a ’copter or a luxury yacht.

To beat the exorbitant GST on motorcycles above 350-cc engine capacity, the engineers at Bajaj, Triumph, and KTM have done something very smart: they have reduced the engine capacity without incurring any extra cost, shortened the stroke, and increased the length of the connecting rod, and by doing this, everything remains the same so far as the hardware such as the height of the engine and rest of the engine internals are concerned. The only changes required are those in valve timing and ignition timing. The downside of making these changes is that the engine becomes more oversquare than before and this can cause loss of bottom-end and mid-range power and torque. It will be quite easy to convert your 350-cc KTM, Triumph or Bajaj bikes back into 400-cc machines by just changing the crankshaft and connecting rod and no one will be able to find out if you are running a 350-cc bike or a 400-cc one because they will look identical externally. Neither the RTO nor the GST official will be able to tell the difference.

Aspi Bhathena

Editor

APRIL 2026

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Spiralling Costs

From the first of this month, the prices of two-wheelers will go up as the result of a rise in the cost of manufacturing, which, in turn, has gone up due to the rising cost of fuel and gas, which has a direct bearing on the cost of raw material and transport.

The Bike India Awards were presented last month. We have been presenting these awards for the past 21 years. When I look back upon how the contenders have changed over this period of time, it becomes apparent that in 2006, most of them were commuter motorcycles and scooters, with only a sprinkling of 250-cc to 350-cc motorcycles. In contrast to that, we did not have a single 100-cc motorcycle for the jury round this time, the smallest capacity bike being a 125-cc one. Even the scooters this year were 150 cc. In keeping with the trend of the times, we also had electric adventure motorcycles and electric scooters.

The Royal Enfield Guerrilla has received an update. The notable change is a transition from dual-purpose tyres to road-specific ones and this has made a big difference in the handling of this motorcycle. It feels planted and the grip offered by the new tyres is better than that from the earlier dual-purpose ones.

The Indian motor sport fraternity has suffered a double blow, first with the demise of Sanjay Sharma (Hardy), head of JK Tyre Motorsport, in February, and the loss of Hari Singh, five-time national rally champion, last month. Hardy was instrumental in Narain Karthikeyan and Karun Chandhok making it to Formula 1 and Gaurav Gill to the World Rally Championship (WRC). I had known Hari Singh since his rallying days and I got to know him even better when I started running the GT Cup concurrently with the JK Tyre National Championship races. He was always willing to help everyone. They say that god takes away the good people first. My heartfelt condolences to his family. Keep rallying in peace, my friend, till we meet again. The sad part is that the accident that claimed his life could have been avoided.

Aspi Bhathena

Editor