forty6

It was the winter of 2001 when the said Pulsar was coming. It was Feb of 2002 that i got it.
And for some time it was the best thing that was there in this good wide world. At 21 you don't have many hangups in life anyways.

Over a period of time i realized that it wobbles in the corners, that its suspension was not the way it should be. The more i pushed it the more its follies came to light. It took time because when i got it, from bagga link in karol bagh, it was only the second time i have sat on a bike. Anyone who is familiar with the traffic there and at Dhaula kuan should give me medal for being able to pull that off.

My first crash was a spectacular highside, landing me inches from a big rock on MG road. The second one was a classical slide due to front brake lock up. I thoroughly enjoyed both of them and still remember everything about it.

After 2 years of Pulsar i went looking for another bike, and got the second generation pulsar 180. I did try karizma but was not very keen on its look and the way it delivered power. And there were no other options. As some of you already know am not a big bullet fan.

2 more years and some kick ass road trip later it was time to buy something with my own salary. In came P200, because again i found p220 quite an obtuse and ugly looking character.
The p200 had its quirks, being heavy and a pain in the ass in tight corners being the worst.
But honestly i loved the bike. And love it more now, coz i miss it. yes i sold it after last year's ladakh trip and got myself a ZMR.

Let me explain. I wanted a Ninja but it was nowhere to be seen. Then when it got in it was a bit expensive and i wanted a second ride to avoid heartburn of people scratching and mucking about on the ninja. Plus i wanted fuel injection. That left p220 and zmr. Before 220 came in without any fuel injection. Never in the history of biking has a model being stripped of its crowning jewel.

ZMR it is then. Not elated about it but it does the job i wanted it to do, with aplomb. And that is that.

Now i know this is a boring piece of history but it was essential to come to the story.

And the story is, while in 8 years i have grown, both physically and financially, none of the bike maker has.
No really. The bike makers are targeting the young saurabh yadavs without caring about the old one who has now enough financial ability to buy better bikes.
This is very strange to say the least. Because am sure all of you people who are of my age, and rode bikes when i rode, are still fond of bikes. Yes you might have cars, i for one don't, but given a bit of enchanting option will prefer to buy the dream bike on emi.

Look at all of the bikes there are. They are all for 18-20 year olds. The first girlfriends for them. All there to satisfy the hormones racing wild.
Not me. My dad does not need to finance my bike and hence am not at the mercy of a 150 cc eco commuter in drag. But the bike makers don't give a rats ass about it.
Now i know one of you is thinking of typing a quick reply which says Ninja, but thamba.

Ninja is just one option. Where are others? Tell me of any one category where there is just one car in that category. Chances are the more expensive the car the more the options. but bikes?

Are you trying to tell me that i have to be super rich to get a good bike. Or middle class. Nothing in between.

And which brings me to another point, Bajaj. Ohh my favourite golden boy when i was 20. I hate them now. Not dislike them. Hate them. Because at once point i loved them. And you can never hate anyone if you have not loved them. What has happened to them? They practically changed everything when they got pulsar, but look at it now. Every product looks similar to each other. Every product looks like built to a price. They are not after your heart anymore, they are after your pockets.

Hero Honda is hopeless. So i won't waste words on it.

All the others TVS, Honda, yamaha and Suzuki are trying and i know the reasons. Because they are not doing well.
See Bajaj did what they did when they were on brink of death. Scooters were not hep anymore and their bikes were not the best of the lot. Extinction forces every orgainism to evolve. Even organisations. And they evolved.
Hero Honda never faced extinction and they never will evolve.
TVS is evolving too. yamaha did. And so is Honda now.

But they are evolving slower than i am. And that is the trouble.

They think when a guy who has grown and has money wants to spend it, will go for a car. But not all of us do. And even if they do, given a nice product we will get nostalgic and go for it. Because in heart of heart you can never take a bike out of a biker. But there is no such product. We are the forgotten bastards of the bike makers. When actually we should be the most pampered ones.
Don't believe me, try getting a test ride of ninja. Am dead sure you will be refused.

If i was a bike manufacturer i will be rubbing my palms in glee at this market segment. But they are not me and sadly am not them.

because honestly how hard it is to make a parallel twin. Two cylinders fused together. We are the masters in sub 200 cc cylinders. And all it takes to make a pocket rocket is a two or four 150 cylinders arranged in line. But no. WE will instead change a cowl and call it "lastname"+ and launch it.
Liek the mythological gods here in India, no product ever dies. They are reincarnated with a better paint and sticker job.

But they forget i can see there is no miracle or magic happening for a long time and i know you are quacks.

So wake up manufacturers, coz i kid you not, sooner or later i will be rich enough to have money to get a bigger bike. Then you will be just looking at your competitors profit margin and sighing for what could have been. But you will forget you deserve it.

Not to mention am an above average writer which means i will influence more people and hurt you even more.

Just wait till the day when i think about filing a PIL to change the stupid bike duty structure and you would have had it.

The consumers will have the ultimate revenge, make fools of them as much as you can while your good days last.

Aryan

Topic Approved.

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chicane1879

Awesomely penned down. Even i have similar thoughts but i couldnt have been able to express it in a better way.

LMAO!!

+1

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satyenpoojary

ROFLMAO! That was like listening to my own thoughts!

There HAS to be a bike which deserves to be priced on par with a small car... have said this a ziollion times! If only they hear, before I fade!

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kinshuk.arya

nicely written.... was discussing this with a friend of mine a couple of days back that to buy a "good" bike in India you have to be a student or insanely rich.... nothing in between would do...

i dnt know y the japs and the europeans are not even talking about bikes in the 400-600c.c. range forget about launching they can bring the PRO RACE bikes like the R1, fastest bike on road The Busa, the mechanical monsters (Ducs), bike which needs a straight road like those in Australia and the US to go flat out like the V max but not what a new manager or an IT professional would like to buy... because car is good but bikes are the best...

and i am sure that when launched these bikes will definitely shoot the target sales like the beetle or the fireblade or the r1 or the busa....

i just hope they wake up before i can afford one of them ....

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aargee

@Fortysix - I don't know what else to say, "how did you read my mind?" Like you, I like Bajaj initially, but now I like their innovation, but like to own one.

Not a fan of RE; may be a twin 350 will inspire me.

P200 is more appealing than P220

Yes, there're no other option than 250R for now

How did you ever read my mind?

Beautifully penned down. I sincerely wish the tax for the imported motorcycles comes down as I've lost hope on Indian manufacturers & torque monster products.

PS - For some reason I believe this thread is going to be hit several times with most of us agreeing your thoughts.

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asim.mohd

Do it brother! We are with you!

dcs

O, Forty6, I must admit, you walked away with the cake.

What you have written here is what a lot of us are facing (I couldn't find any better word). Adding anything to your post would be injustice, for I can not write half as good as you and you took the sarcasm to the next level, high enough to amaze me.

Yes, its unfortunate that either you commute or you get those liters. And at a price that brings most of the 1.3-1.5 liter cars to shame, superbikes is something most of us wont budge for.

I just wonder, just few days back, ok I mean few years- All Right a Decade or two back, we had those Two strokers that delivered more power then most of the so call performance bikes deliver today. I agree that they were perhaps not so reliable, were not so environment friendly, were not that refined either, but that still makes me think, if we were manufacturing 35-40 bhp bikes in late 80s, why are we not now, now when the technology gives us the advantage of getting lighter, more fuel efficient, more powerful, more eco-friendly engines.

Or is it just a lack of interest from the manufacturers side that has kept us waiting and waiting. Ninja was released, but at what price, and for what segment. And what else then Ninja??? we still are struggling for above 250cc four strokes when decades back, our Fathers rode Jawas and RDs 350.

I dont want to rage a confusion or a debate, just adding my inputs to Forty6's views, which I couldn't help but agree wholeheartedly.

All Cheers

dcs

shrinathrao

@Forty6 - on reading the full article i felt you have wrote every biker feelings at least here on XBHP, we bikers are always neglected when it comes to performance biking, its like we have manufacturers who can produce v twin bikes here but they wont as they dont want to give us what we want, but keep us on their mercy always getting what they want to give us not what we want.

EVOLVE is the main thing if this 2 wheeler companies have to survive in the future.

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animeher

Great writeup forty6! Really loved reading it. Nice penning down of thoughts.