Two of my friends have Discover and another a Gladi J.A type. Having driven both 'extensivley', i would say, Discover actually wins on refinement.
C'mon guys just dont take it for granted; Just because its an Yamaha, it doesn mean all its products ll be 'double refined'

Drive one before you come to conclusion. I had a YBX125(brought it 3 weeks after its launch, OTR 49k ), while the performance for a 125cc was mind-blowing, it had a lot of other issues, ranging from electricals to fuel leak from tank. Eventually we sold it off in 2 years for a meagre 11.5 k!!!

But i should mention the overall Quality of parts were extremly better in the Gladi as compared to a Disco. Both of my friends changed thier Silencer within 3 years, after it started giving out 'glass wool'. one also had shocks problem(that SNS thing gave in)

@ALL: Please! We are discussing Yamaha's Current Strategy in India in case you guys forgot the topic!

Ken da .. I am Ok that you deleted my post .. that was a perfect OT but post which I replied should also have been deleted. In any case I just wanted to read all the posts which were deleted .. I missed those as I woke up late

That's first post from me wihch got deleted and now I'll ne OT(on track), though this post will also qualify for an OT.

For Yamha's strategy: I guess they just want to create a healthy gap of 10k between FZ and Fazer. In this way they are trying to create a niche exclusive clientele for Fazer while want FZ to be accepted by masses and special offer to students that means they are definitely targetting campuses with FZ and tourers with Fazer.

ACTUALLY yamaha wants 2 say buy a FAZER in ur city n den start touring..lolz..

Why don't people accept the fact that now you have two options when buying a FZ. A naked one for nudity{I am talking in terms of bikes} lovers and a faired ones for the fairing lovers. And wont all the material that goes into the fairing come at a price?

Check out peoples public profile pages here. Everyone likes different kind of bikes. Some like it fully faired, some like it naked. Its individual choice and liking.
Yamaha has given us the option of having the same bike with or without fairing.

And it being a tourer or not well, it is a tourer. What does one expect in a touring bike? It should have a fairing to manage the windblasts. One would have found it a bit tough to tour on the FZ because of its naked design and the heavy windblasts at higher speeds.Well Fazer atleast got one thing rectified.

About power bump for the thirst of touring, people here even tour on a Honda Dios and splendors. The ones wanting to get a 150cc touring capable bike below a lakh for themselves will have a best option the Fazer.

The fairing cannot be equated with the damned stickers. Although the same bike at the core, the fairing alters the looks very much and gives the bike character..

The stickers and shit are all useless. But the fairing is useful.Yamaha's Fazer cannot be compared to the numerous sticker jobs some companies bring out.Although the FZ-S fits perfectly in the useless sticker "upgrades" category.

truly speaking touring on Dios and Splendours is better termed as adjusting or rather the point to prove something like eg:'nothing is impossible'.I sincerely admit I would not be capable of achieving such a feat.I would rather go for a HH Karizma or Enfield by the best for actual Touring in its truest sense.

When it comes to Yamaha Fazer,I wud not be wanting a 200+cc engine.But I definitely want it to be atleast 165+cc.Bcoz the base FZ16(153cc) engine is not for touring.That engine should be replaced with a bit higher cc engine having good torque curve and wide power spread over rev range.Thats all.

My opinion


Well Yamaha should ideally know what it wants from India.
I happen to see a picture of a FZ 1 that looks almost like the FZS.
The Fazer as it has been explained a numerous times falls into the touring bike category.

But the problem is 'Is there such a category in India like that?"
Was there ever any category of bikes in India??

Was there a Sports bike-dedicated to out and out sports and racing..track racing..please!!!!

Was there a Naked Street bike..Yes..The Pulsar..although compromised for the Indian public..that means an all rounder.

Was there a tourer in India..yes the Bullet the TB..It was a will remain a touring favorite. Then the ZMA..it fitted the bill as a tourer..It was neither a sports, neither a commuter, neither a naked road bike and hence eventually became a tourer.No offences really I dont think it was positioned as a touring bike when launched..but eventually it got there coz it is good.

Well the fact is..If Yamaha wanted numbers and were sure about getting them would'nt they price the FZ equal to the other 150s..the Pulsars, Unicorns, GS 150Rs etc..
If they wanted more market share and even more numbers think of an R15 priced at 85K.You know is'nt Yamaha India already in a huge loss..for profits they could have just sold numbers.
thats where Honda is winning..they are giving what the mass market requires..you all know that right.

But Kudos to the Japs they have dared to show Indians like you and me (No down grading India, India is and will remain my Motherland I a loyal citizen!!Jai Hind!!!!) whole different league of motorcycles, categories which you and me read about and used to discuss over forums like XBHP. It happens in Japan and Europe because biking is a lifestyle..not a means to earn your food everyday.
The concept of motorcycling which a very few people really are aware (not me!!!) is not yet popular in India..it may someday..when a bike is not a commuter for your wife, kids, neighbouring kids to travel from A to B.
Motorcycling is a lifestyle..Sadly not in India..
You and me use the bike to earn a living..very few use it for pleasure..Surely the Japs would know that..would'nt they???

Well quite a long one..

Failed to understand the underlying sense (or overtures) of your entire post!

Ya..me not surprised.
Well the thing is Yamaha has India as along term market now.
Hope they are here to stay. May more models come in.
It is not short term goals that they want.So is Suzuki and HMSI..forget HH..only Honda are'nt they slow too!
So will Suzuki, Kawasaki and all get into this kind of thinking?
Hope they do for our sake.
Then what about strategies of Bajaj and TVS. How will they figure in a future Japenese dominated market (speculative, Ok!!)

Now I am beginning to get the drift! I think!!!

Do you mean to say that Yamaha dont want numbers and delibrately overprice their bikes to end up with loss in earning and market share just because they want to be the one who brought 'categorical' bikes in India?
I dont have the numbers but I seriously doubt that Honda sells more bikes than Yamaha.

So what you are basically trying to say is that what us all indian bikers have always wanted is an underpowered bike which has been priced alongside more powerful and subsequently more practical rivals.
Just because a bike has YAMAHA written on it doesnt mean it should be priced in gold.

Total number of Shine which Honda sells is more than the total number of Yamaha bikes sold in a month.

Thanks for the info.I stand corrected.

If the number game, I think HH is ahead of rest of the bikes manufacture. but really it is big things???

Farari or Roll Royce are sold less their car then TATA motors? so does it matter??

For, those who are stakeholder, Yes but as a company/product fan, doesn't !

The main things of the Yamaha policy is that they want to change the taste of Indian bikers. If you see the slogan or any theme, they introduce their bikes as a sport or super sport rather then just commuter bike.

Yamaha, known for racing, and they want to established their international image in India.