Re: Why No Faired Bike <150cc

GBD approved!

I have 2 reasons on the top of my mind.
1. <150 cc is primarily commuter segment in India. So, naked bikes to keep costs in check.
2. Lack of powerful engines in the <150 cc segment again due to #1.

Re: Why No Faired Bike <150cc

I think India is the country where people like the cheap and cheerful things more than the expensive ones. Adding a faring to a bike will increase its cost on both levels.

At production level - because engineers have to take care of air flow to the engine coz it will be air cooled (all this research will cost money to the company, and we are Indians.. cheap and cheerful, remember..), the next logical step would be to make the engine Liquid cooled (R15), but we know how affordable that would be for a person who wants a commuter.

At the customer level, the maintenance of the bike, if it falls.. the repair bill would be sky high, one big crack and you would have to replace the whole panel which would be a lot more than if you drop a common commuter bike. Coming to the condition of the roads, the fairing will creak and rattle with every pothole every speed hump, unless the quality of the plastics is very good, which is very unlikely (cheap and cheerful, remember..).

Another reason is the knowledge, India is a country where most people don't even know what a high beam and a low beam is for, their headlights are searching for the UFO's in the sky. With most of the population this ignorant, the use of fairing would be lost on common person. Even 90% of the R15 owners buy it just because it looks cool and they have money (I too own a R15 by the way). They have no knowledge about the aerodynamics and don't know what use is a fairing. Most of the R15 owners I know treat their fairings as crash guards and complain that it is not strong enough in case you crash (They get angry when I tell them that they are not supposed to be treated as crash bars).

Just the points on the top of my head. Please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

Re: Why No Faired Bike <150cc

Hi

I understand the increased cost of production.
If i'm not wrong then the first fully faired bike launched was the Yamaha R15 and that too @ +1 lac price. (smallest engine capacity i'm talking)
And we see how people prefer the bikini fairing versions over the original bikes like the Discover/ Fazer.
What surprises me more is that no manufacturer has even tried to skim the surface.... I mean if we go by 'cheap and cheerful' theory then simply slapping on a plastic fairing as a 'Limited Edition' should be enough to test the response.... No



Cheers.

Re: Why No Faired Bike <150cc

1. Production Cost ( Most people who buy bikes with less than 150cc displacement capacity are very much into strict budgets and economy.)

2. Fairing wouldn't help these bikes much in performance or handling as engines would barely reach up to speeds where wind blasts or aerodynamics would become substantial.

3. The front of bike would become unnecessarily heavy and cheap plastic would eventually start falling apart or rattling.

Re: Why No Faired Bike <150cc

Agreed, slapping a fairing and calling it limited edition would be a good idea, but the cost will still increase a bit, and the cheaper the plastic in fairing the more rattle and noise it will produce (Ride a brand new Pulsar RS200 and a 4 year old R15 or CBR and see the difference. you will know how much vibration and rattle a cheap fairing produces). In the end it would fall apart.

Another thought that crosses my mind is that Indian manufactures never take the risk, they will keep changing the color scheme and keep selling the current models(CBR R15 and pulsar are great examples). They play on the safe side and are happy if regular number of bikes keep selling every quarter. So they might think - why mend which isn't broken we are selling same number of R15's and Pulsars as we were selling 5 years ago, so why take any risk, if we are getting our profits.

Re: Why No Faired Bike <150cc

when come to choose motorcycle we, Indians highly depends on what other people are using and praising about particular bike. By this a particular segment bike gets popular and so all companies start highlighting that segment only. Like unicorn, pulsar 150,180,220. Many years after there launch we still want them to look same. I hate this mentality of our people.because of this saturation of particular bike happens and all other good bikes becomes underdog and maintaining them becomes headache as company dont produce spare parts for long if sale of bike is less.
But very much influence of social media people have clear idea about what they want and showing interest in all segments of motorcycle...

Re: Why No Faired Bike <150cc

Your idea will be more successful in 4 wheeler market(where its getting successfully implemented in few models), But the 2 wheeler market is more dependent on pricing point of the end product.

And the manufacturers cannot simply put faring to the current model without affecting its current looks.
Adding a faring to a stock naked bike will either look more hideous than the outgoing model, or will be more costlier than the outgoing model because of design and R&D involved.

Take the older Karizma twins(again not in the segment being discussed, but) for example, both come with semi fared and fully fared bike, but to convert one bike to another will involve quite an amount of time and money, apart from designing and manufacturing the faring parts which will be required in the initial stages.

So unless people like us are ready to spend money on beauty(read faring) than the performance(where the commuter segment are kind of strong now), this limited edition will not take off in the bikes under 150 cc category in our market.

Its just my point of view
Ram

Re: Why No Faired Bike <150cc

Feasibility as discussed by many so far; its just not a profitable/bankable option. Under 150cc bike users will look more for features like economic spares and service, luggage ferrying capability, capability to carry pillion+x no. of passengers. etc.

Next would be those who would see a fully faired bike and say,' we dont want A RACER BIKE, we want a safe regular type usage bike for our son (or husband)'.

AND Last and rare chances: By chance if such a bike picks up on sale then company will worry that it may choke sales on its own other higher capacity models.

these are the only reasons i can think of.

Re: Why No Faired Bike <150cc

Thanks everyone for the inputs.

So i guess no way to keep the price acceptable and deliver a quality product.
Because then the masses will shift to gear less scooters as already is the trend we can see.
Fuel efficiency and endurance seems to be the strongest factors keeping that motorcycle segment alive imho ?


Cheers.

Re: Why No Faired Bike <150cc

There is RC125 manufactured in India, but will never be sold here. 125cc at >1 Lakh Rs is not acceptable here. Same goes for R125. The commuting mass needs more practicality than looks.