General Biking Discussion Approved.

Exactly! Rightly Said my friend!

It's a change that has taken place along a decade from the time's of RX-100's and KB-100's when i learnt riding it has now improved from 100cc's to atleast a commuter 200c or 225cc.. and so has the passion for having bigger bikes has grown.

We can see the change in the market,but we tend to Crib because a normal human tendency as he is never satisfied with what he has and wants the next step,same is the case..

We should actually applaud the way the industry has progressed and accordingly wait for another decade () for a CBR 600 to be launched in INDIA and india's industry to atleast design somthing more than 225cc.

I completely agree with what Rahul has to say, cribbing aint gonna help, and also we should appreciate the fact that the manufacturers are at least taking tep in the right direction.
But there are somethings which NEED to CHANGE, take for example the ban on import of bikes below 800cc. I dont see how is it going to hinder our "Desi" manufacturers' market At least they can lower the bar to at least a 400cc or so, at least. This is just one of the many things that are long awaiting a change and I think its a high time they do.

Rightly pointed out......I guess mandate made and never visited back....

Or that's probably our manufacturers think they can go upto that level in some time hence taking the cushion so that they are not harmed when they step into that segment...

I guess the government too should do away with the taxes on CBU's which prevents people from buying superbikes. AFAIK, the superbikes sold in india have a market price of about 5-6 lakhs but because of the taxes levied, there is a huge dent on the sales. I guess we just have to wait.

someone pull the evolution revolution thread.

i'll just sip the coffee

To my knowledge they are priced a little higher at Rs 7.5-8.5 lakhs
thats the MRP. So the prices are relatively high not very high.

Right.

Let's accept that we pay 2.4 times the global price for quality bikes just because they're CBUs and our govt(s) decided to make more money on that.

Let's accept that manufacturers are systematically ripping off the indian consumer by upgrading the stickers on their bikes and even charging a premium for that. pro power plus anyone?

Let's accept that at the best we get 20cc upgrades, that too after many, many years. When did the P180 come out? 2001. And today, 8 years later, they've managed to increase 40cc? That's 0.04 litre in a different perspective. I don't even wanna start about twin cylinders or the lack of them.

And you know who is to blame for this? No, not the manufacturer. You and me. For gettin all hyper over an added half-fairing, or a red coloured rear-wheel and running all the way from the bank to the showroom to plonk your money on the 'latest'

Applause !

I think one can count handfull number of people who are ready to spend more than a lac or two for a bike in India, with that mentality at the back of the mind how do you think mfgr come out with something over these years where they spend that much on production itself... It takes time to get ancillaries also to upgrade to supply them such parts which are made in India....or else you get all supply from abroad only n so build cost is again moving upwards..

You did point out 40cc 8 years, Well thats true n yes its true not becoz of handfull of us...but a large mass of us...

in case you didn't get what my post was about it's that manufacturers in collusion with the govt. are making fools of the general public.

what india really needs is a decent twin cylinder in the range of 250-400cc. sri lanka has a capcity limit of 250cc for motorcycles and they have a pretty decent variety of bikes there. that capacity is enough for regular use in indian driving conditions.

all i'm asking for is a decent twin that i can use on a daily basis. not an sbk. couldn't afford one even at 5 lakhs anyway.

instead, we get digital this and injected that. where else in the world would a company apply for and be granted of all things, a patent on twin spark plugs in 'small capacity engines'.

as long as we accept; that's what's referred to as the 'chalta hain' attitude, we will never see true progress. and it's evident in other things too, not just biking. basic infrastructure, internet access, heck even bare necessities like water/electric supply and sewage systems are lacking.

remember, there's no point cribbing against the manufacturers or govt. WE are to blame for accepting ...

you are very wrong about the number of people ready to spring big bucks on vehicles. and it's not celebrities or politicians. ordinary people like you and me, except they have a lot more money to spend.

if suzi could sell 100+ sbks at 12+ lakhs, then at 6 lakhs they wouldn't sell 200, it would be an exponential figure.

and if i'm not mistaken the r15 sells for more than a lakh. surely, more than a 'handful' have bought those ...

True change comes with a change in attitude, not by changing govts. or names of cities.

my friend in a population of more than 1 billion(120 crore) a handful also means a lot....... just b'cauz of these handful peoples we see so many foreign cars of all reputed co.s........ we even see a class B segment car priced at 14lakhs and another is waiting to be launched at the end of this year nearly at the same price (normal calss B segments cars are priced at say 2.5-4 lakhs)....... even julianpaul gave a nice figure about SBKs....... so before accepting anything blindly first look around and if necessary raise your voice......... not in protest but to ask for more........

I agree with you totally. The amount of taxes the government levies on CBUs is completely ridiculous. If that were to be scrapped we would all be able to afford superbikes and such.

One of the popular reasons they give for the high taxes is that they want to protect the local players and also want the international players to set up base here instead of importing them from a different country. But such idiocracy prevents many a consumers from getting their dream bikes and also leaves doubts in the mind of the manufacturer about the volumes they might be able to do here.

Apart from that let's be honest there is a Automotive lobby at work here who try every under-handed trick so the CBU duty stays at that 100%+ level. Imagine this, who in their right minds would buy a Safari or a Scorpio when a Toyota Fortuner comes in the same price bracket ?

Although our desi manufacturers need to be applauded but there are certain things about them that are not something an Indian will be proud of.

well but like the new airtel add say's 'impatience is new the new world ain't it'

that didn't even make any sense.

if you mean that we're being impatient by demanding better bikes, then hell yeah!

i've been waiting since around '98 when lml and daelim were supposed to come out with the vr 135. it's just been waiting ever since. so yeah, i'm F***ING impatient!

2009 and the best (mainstream) bikes in a country that practically lives on two wheels are a 0.15 and a 0.22 litre single. Oh, but they have digital thingies! yay