Prabhu saar.
The CB is here too..!!
Im sure the CB is a very good alternative albeit with more displacement than one would want

Here's hoping that we get swamped by 600's of all categories soon

are u sure? i thot this was for 15 L ex showroom , and the range goes upto 1098 s which comes for 48 ex showroom ....

well our prays are getting to be answered. As the start, the Ducati monster 696 is available in India for 9.6L ex show room..
This is a bike on which we can do 600 Kms in a day without fatigue'

Hope the Japs too follow this segment

@rahul bajaj-III , what are u doing here man??

very good points raised here and the grey cells being overclocked

well we need some nakeds prefferably from 250cc-600cc here starting from 30 bhp .. bikes like the R1 arent usable by me (even if i had the $$$ )


Point :1
the roads are a big surprise.. mostly nasty. going at 110+ on some expressway and *bang* some damned cut in the road or some non engineered hump sends a shockwave and bends your rims enough to make it critical (this happened to me)

but yes roads we frequent we do get familiar with it and thus roads can be tamed with your experience on it.


Point 2:
but when considering the others on the road
i've had numerous close escapes with other people ramming into me, a bike zipping past me from the left when im taking a left turn... or changing lanes..or whatever.

now once it was just a zma.. going at just 50-60 kmph.. but IF he had hit me .. my bike would have been tossed (so his and him) i would have got out uninjured (thanks to riding gear) but my bike would have been screwed. now its obv that he'll ride even faster on a bigger bike, then would my protection be sufficient ? probably not. what to do of these people who ride like heroes and simply ignoring that there are others on the road too ?

my concern is not about the people who discussed or read this topic, its about the other fools who might buy a litre class bike and then ram it into someone,

even though the amount of deaths recorded due to bikes/related to it are less than cars or trucks, bikes are one of the most rashly driven vehicles here. you can see most of the city heroes cutting the traffic at breakneck speeds (of course without a helmet if possible) with bikes.. you cant do that on a car or truck.. bikes being small and nimble are far easier to navigate. and hence that zigzag path is possible. many fall bad on their 150's or zma's .. many make innocent to fall along with them.. i dont want to see the situation with the bigger bikes which can easily get out of control..

now to have more "responsible" people riding the bigger bikes, there should be seriously some riding test(how you ride observation and analysis) before you can buy a bigger 50hp + bike so as to see whether you can handle it properly even. if not, compulsory training so as to you dont accidentally go flying. unfortunately this is probably impossible... because this factor was supposed to be taken care of through the driving license test (what ?)

the driving license here is just a piece of card or booklet to evade fines..., I know many of my college mates here who have a license to drive a CAR but they never ever have driven one , nor have any idea about it. and this isnt going to be stringent in near future as well. these licenses actually permit a fool to commit roadkills.. instead of preventing these fools from ever riding a bike (or any other means of transport)

what to do about these people ? I dont mind you or anyone here buying a 600cc or a litre class bike... but i don't want to get run over by some "dhoom" bike when im strolling on the roadside having chai and a cigarette peacefully ?


Point3:
Owning such bikes is also a pain, esp the aftersales service and spares division. we need more specialists ready before the sales of such bikes commence... otherwise most of us will end up with a bike that just is good for a decoration piece. we do have some centres where SBK;s can get serviced but its simply not enough yet ! (akhil might comment on the sbk service situation in bangalore)


Point4:
its now or never as well,
the petrol is no longer rs 30-35 a litre which was easygoing on the pocket... many of us have dreams of getting these bikes but these only get distant as the rising petrol prices certainly .... dent these dreams. if we cant have these bikes now , then probably never. most of us here arent sons of industrialists who can just flick a finger and order a SBK, we have to get loans for our 150cc bikes even. and also with the recession setting in it will be even harder to manage a 600-1000cc bike with our incomes.

Before the server-crash, there was a post by someone about the strict regulations about obtaining a license in France. I wish I could find it. A comparison between norms there with those here will probably bring more perspective to the debate.

I am sure everyone here wants a choice (an affordable one that is). I for one want it. However, a word of caution is a must in terms infrastructure and (biking) education. Both have to be adequate. More important question is, should the choice come first expecting that, perhaps after little chaos, the natural evolution forces us to be take measures in disciplining people? Or should the discipline come first and power should follow later? Or can there be a middle path to it. I wish to tread the line

Finally one word about the NiCd thing . Love it or hate it. The economics and the resources are already sweeping the four wheeler technology with alternate means of energy. The transformation is inevitable. The technology may come much later for the two wheelers, when the innovation makes it compact, efficient and hence more powerful.

And in the context of what next, I for one believe that the Indian companies will have an advantage if they invest some chunk in the alternate means of energy. Make a collaborative or indigenous effort but make it happen. Put a good number of tech guys there. As far as petrol fuelled higher capacity bikes are concerned, put your MBA guys there. Partner with biggies and get the bikes at cheaper prices. Package them with more attractive offers like 2 training days at a track. Make it an experience. Build a brand image as a responsible company. I know people shying away from pulsar and choosing passion plus just because their parents think that Pulsars (Bajaj bikes) are accident prone. No flame intended. I agree to it that Pulsar/Bajaj has got nothing to do with it. A good number of people fail to make a smooth transition from a 100cc bikes drum brake to higher ones with disc brake getting an impression that the later are not safe.

I wasn't really fighting. I was, uh, debating

*Hai Five*?

@grey and Niks: Brothers, chill. Whats the point in fighting over something for which we have a common passion. Shake hands and rub your helmets

even a biryani isn't sufficient for this kind of .. debate.

Its the Indian mentality (sorry for generalizing)... why fix what ain't broke... as long as numbers are sold nobody bothers... our manufacturers don't have the sense of betterment (don't know if that is even a word)...

Thats another debate all together don't you think bro? The progress they did in the span of their existence, have we done for as long as we've existed?

Every year, the Japanese biggies shave off a couple more kilos, work on the electronics, the slipper clutch and so on. When the motorcycle is already 'good enough' why do they make it even better? Do we have that kind of inclination? Do we even bother? No surprise we make so much money that we are capable of buying out companies like Triumph and Ducati!

Is it possible to debate on this topic over a plate of biryani instead of a cup of coffee?

Well said... But when can we get a busa for 7lakh rs ? or an r6 for 4.5 laks ?? In india..its certainly not... And lets not forget the import duties.

Its never a low quality.... We should remember honda...suzuki and yamaha...were the same some years back when they entered industry.

And a country like us... We use bikes for our daily commutation... People in india (most of them) dont want powerful bikes for commuting.


PS: I suspect that yamaha may increase its prices on their official bikes.

will we not purchase a Busa for direct 13000$ i.e. 7 lacs INR or
a R6 for 9000$ i.e. 4.5 lakhs INR if available officially. and this is the point we are trying to debate on..


If available on these prices I will never ever think about their counterpart from bajaj or TVS ..

Its an era of globalisation now and I am in no mood to give donation to Indian low quality auto companies **...

** The way people donate to Tata by purchasing Indica , Sumo grande etc. having better and proven high quality options available like Toyota, suzuki etc.

Well, the big bikes are available in the grey market. U can buy a Ducati officially in India.

But an Indian manufacturer making an international std. bike till say 400-600 makes butterflies fly in my stomach. Atleast when the bike will be in range 2-3 lacs!

@maverick:No concrete info bro. Just rumors floating around about a bigger Pulsar [or Bajaj] thats it.