Latest Bike News

Yamaha scooters anyone?

July 25, 2011 by Bike India Team Leave a Comment

They look good. Usually like a small aerodynamic spacecraft on 2 little wheels. But are we going to get them this time?

A few years ago, Yamaha was exploring the possibility of bringing these scooters to India. When the unofficial news spread, smiles lit up on everyone’s face who looked up them up on Yamaha’s international website. We waited …

Since then the tuning fork logo has been seen in India on the FZ series, R-15 and bigger bikes like R1 and V-Max, but there’s no scooter yet.

This time though the Japanese manufacturer is serious and has already put in 10 crores into its Surajpur plant to build the scooters which will take on the challenge presented by its rival Honda’s dominance in the sector.

No details are available yet but the scooters are to be unveiled at the 2012 Auto Expo.

Stay tuned for more updates …

Hero Honda to unveil new identity

July 24, 2011 by Bike India Team Leave a Comment

The firm will officially announce new brand image details next month in London

This August Hero Honda will not remain India’s largest two-wheeler manufacturer… technically speaking. What we mean is that the two-wheeler giant will be changing its brand identity. Like we had disclosed earlier, after confirming to part ways with technology partner, Honda Motors Japan, the Indian company would be renamed as Hero MotoCorp Ltd and has been burning the midnight oil to create a new global brand image.

Bike India has now got details of the official unveiling that the Hero Group is planning next month. The company has chosen August 9, 2011 as the auspicious day for the introduction of the new brand identity. Interestingly, the venue for the event will be London, UK, a clear indication that Hero does not want to limit itself to just the Indian sub-continent, but wants to be recognised as a major global player in the automobile industry. The auto major had expressed its desire to venture into several emerging markets globally. This is the first major step the company will be taking from the time it announced that it would be going solo. Hero Group and Honda had signed an agreement in March 2011, whereby the Indian firm would pay the Japanese partner around Rs 2,450 crore till 2014.

Earlier this year, the company had hired global brand and innovation specialist Wolff Olins to create its new brand identity, and Law & Kenneth (L&K) as a creative partner to launch and establish the new brand for the company.

It goes without saying that when the unveiling happens in London next month, Bike India will be there to get you the LIVE updates.

Pulsar 220 in new colour scheme

July 22, 2011 by Bike India Team Leave a Comment

New Bajaj Pulsar 2011 - red and black Now Bajaj gives its flagship bike a superficial upgrade

Looks like Bajaj is following the current trend to offer the same models with newer body-colour and graphics. A new lot of Pulsar 220s have hit the Bajaj showrooms sporting dual colour schemes and unfortunately with no changes in the engine specifications. All is not lost, as the new lot seems to be an attempt to make room in the Bajaj warehouse for the all-new Pulsar that the Indian firm has developed with its Austrian partner, KTM and is sheduled for a pan India launch in a couple of months.

We can wait to get our hands on the all-new Pulsar… till then feast your eyes on the latest colours of the current model. And before you say anything negative, check out Pulsar fan page on Facebook, where in just 20 minutes these pictures received over 500 likes!

New Bajaj Pulsar 2011 - red and black

Karizma R now in white

July 22, 2011 by Bike India Team Leave a Comment

Hero Honda Karizma R Spotlight White Hero 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

July 22, 2011 by Bike India Team Leave a Comment

brocks performance - bill warner The 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