New Bike Launches in India

First showcased at the 2012 Auto Expo the prototype cafe racer from Royal Enfield was quite the eye candy.

The cafe racer concept has been the talk of the town since quite some time now and if official sources are to be believed, come 2013 it might be a reality for India too. Royal Enfield have stated that this Royal Enfield Cafe Racer 535 motorcycle promises to be the lightest and fastest Enfield yet!

Surely, people in India usually don’t associate a Bullet being light and fast, something quite a bit poles apart from the ones we use in India. A Royal Enfield dealer in the United States have revealed that this could possibly be the best, fastest and coolest motorcycle from the ‘Madras legends’. With a kerb weight of 170kg, souped up with a 535cc UCE fuel injected engine this beast of a bike is all ready to change the way we look at the Royal Enfield. The cafe racer will sport an electric starter and a plastic front mudguard, a first for Royal Enfield.

Other tit-bits include alloy wheels, a longer seat (the pillion might have to get squeezed in), two different choice of exhausts and other add-on goodies. With the motorcycle all set to be unveiled at the 2012 Long Beach International Motorycycle Show next week, the cafe racer concept is all ready to take the world by storm.

Honda have just revealed pricing details for their international 2013 lineup at the Motorcycle Live event at NEC in Birmingham, London.

Honda have priced the all-new 500 series very competitively throughout the world in order to exapand their customer base as much as possible. The naked CB500F is priced at £ 4,650 (INR 4.10 lakh) while the CB500X and CBR500R both are priced at £ 4,950 (INR 4.37 lakh), undercutting the Ninja 300 ABS by £ 249 (INR 22,000).

Honda currently is the only major manufacturer offering 500cc street motorcycles. Internationally, the CBR500R’s only rival in the value-for-money stakes is the SV650S Street from Suzuki, priced at £ 4,975 (INR 4.39 lakh); which is, however, not A2-compliant in the UK. Honda’s NC700S however is A2-compliant and is available at a price of £ 5,450 (INR 4 lakh). Among higher capacity models, the CBR600RR has been priced at £ 9,500 (INR 8.38 lakh), while the retro CB1100 is available for £ 8,950 (INR 7.90 lakh). Prices for the sporty NS300 Forza scooter are yet to be revealed, but a figure of £ 5,000-5,500 (INR 4.41-4.85 lakh) expected, in order to bridge the gap between the SH300i which is priced at £ 4,700 (INR 4.14 lakh) and the Silver Wing which is priced at £ 6,600 (INR 5.82 lakh).

If all goes as well here in India next year, and the CBR 500R does undercut the Ninja 250R’s price, Honda have a surefire winner in their hands. Bring ’em on!

At a recent event recently, Firefox Bikes got none other than Gary Fisher, the creator of Mountain biking, to launch his latest design concept the SuperFly Hi-end 29er series in India.

The high performance cycles were unveiled in the presence of Shiv Inder Singh, Managing Director, Firefox Bikes, and will be available exclusively through Firefox Bike retail outlets across India.

Speaking about the newly launched mountain bikes Singh said, “The bikes with 29” wheels are the latest as compared to the standard 26” wheels. We will be adding additional models every year as the market demand develops.” He further added, “The Company expects to increase the sales growth to 1,00,000 bikes a year by year 2015 from the present 50,000.”

Targeted at youth, the new models include SuperFly AL and SuperFly Comp, priced at Rs 1.45 lakh and Rs 2.35 lakh respectively.

After tasting success with the premium Vespa scooter, Piaggio is now aiming for bigger volumes with a new 125-cc gearless scooter.

Obviously, the latest offering will not boast the Vespa badge, and is rumoured to be christened as Piaggio ‘Fly’ or ‘Flyer’. Shedding the Vespa tag will help the new scooter sport an aggressive price tag of around Rs 55,000, which is more in tune with competition, like Honda Activa, Suzuki Swish, Mahindra Duro DZ etc. In-fact the Rs 50,000-to-Rs 55,000 scooter segment has grown by 24.5 % in 2011-12.

The ‘Flyer’ is said to sport trendy design on the lines of Honda Dio and newly launched Yamaha Ray, with its headlight uniquely position on the front fender and will retain some retro styling that has been appreciated even on the current Vespa. It will be equipped with telescopic forks up front and hydraulic shock absorbers in the rear. The model will have drum brakes in front and rear, but disc brake could be offered as an option. The new scooter will be powered by the same 125-cc engine like on the Vespa, which offers 10.06 PS and 10.06 Nm, though tuned to offer better fuel efficiency.

The final stages of testing of the scooter is on and homologation almost completed, the Piaggio’s latest scooter offering should reaching the showroom as early as next month. The company is anticipating huge demands and is in process of doubling dealerships to 100 in the next couple of months.

In other related news, Piaggio Group Americas has tied up with Paramount Pictures for the next instalment of the highly successful Transformers film franchisee. The partnership will include a a full slate of promotional and marketing initiatives nationwide including: a national dealer open house, free movie tickets, an advertising campaign and a sweepstakes awarding a Vespa scooter.

The Bologna motorcycle manufacturers have always considered Brazil as one of their most important markets for business.

Since, the shut down of the Izzo group, which were the current importer of the Ducati bikes in the land of the ‘Samba’ due to the current economic situation, the big bosses at Ducati took a decision regarding setting up of a wholly-owned subsidiary. Ducati’s move ensures the Italian brand’s ability to sell in the rapidly-growing South American economy.

Headquartered in São Paulo, this subsidiary will be Ducati’s base in Brazil. With extremely high tariffs imposed on foreign goods, importing complete knock-down (CKD) kits to Brazil, Ducati will have a minimal manufacturing presence in the South American country. It will be essential that assembling their motorcycles within Brazilian borders would be necessary in order to side-step loopholes in the Brazil import regulations.

However, the question remains whether there will be a decrease in prices on these Brazilian Ducatis or not? Gabriele Del Torchio, Ducati CEO has stated that, “The Brazilian motorcycle market is one of the most interesting and the third biggest in the world and Ducati has a very strong image in this country. The opening of this new subsidiary and the fact that our motorcycles will be assembled in the Manausplant is evidence of our focus on the Brazilian market. We wish to offer our customers here the best possible sale and after-sales service, and confirm the strategic importance assigned to this market by Ducati.”

Seen here in the picture: Ricardo Susini (Head, Ducati Brazil) with Ducati CEO Gabriele Del Torchio