Hard Torque Approved

Hyper LMAOness!

Very pertinent though. Brilliantly and emphatically written, with possibly the most polite outpouring of a pissed off biker! Kudos!

I think kenda pretty much summarized what every self respecting member of this community feels!

This should go into print - at least our pathetic bike manufacturers can read what almost every performance crazed biker wants!

I still Wonder shal i go for a new bike..??

Or shal i wait for some time for a machine which could do a 600kilometers in a day,as rightly said by Ken.da ...
These were the only options i had in my mind,now i certainly feel trapped as in what shall i do..??
ZMA,200 with a paint job and some add-on's on its tank,, ..or R-1-5.. Which yamaha claims to be atleast a " .5 " of a superbike,atleast in Looks.. ..

Crux of everything: What Shalll we do..?? Wait.. Or GO for what we have today in market..??


P.S: Entirely My sole opinion..

in my last trip to coimbatore city from my town(near cochin) a 200kms run on my RE Bullet Electra 4s ,I took only for a 10 minute chaya(tea) break.the bike simply runs covering miles and miles .

indeed a very emotional rite up............
u actually regret that u were born here(the feeling persists only
for a second, but then y for a second also???)
really an emotional outburst.........
the same ,what you experience when you get frustated after of all the things you have seen............
n then realizing what a fool you have been making out of your self by getting happy n exited over the revs n acceleration of those 150s n 200s.
the world has changed but the bike senario remains the same here.
n all those enthusiast who took a ride of a SBK or saw it going past you at
insane speeds(insane for all the lay man) and cant afford it realise that they have been pissed off by these multinationals by providing some punny bike with 13-17horses (20 at max) under the tank.
what a shame n this will happen till d perspective of the common man changes as hez who demands milegage n the same monotonous schedule n speed n compromises on the excitement factor

touring is far off thing, and only few ,very few see it as a way of life.
people here see bikes nothing more than mere commuting asses.n all those who have niche for speed either require for posing (the monetry value of bike) or for street racing.

no one has a serious attitude for touring n things.
n if you are your self a person who has passion n inclination towards
the two wheeled and tell it to other ,you are either claimed a moron or insane,
immature or simply a poser.
well i wont xtend it too much simply i m oppresed and disheartened by the way the india bike senario is proceeding,its moving slower n slower n is stagnant for a particular clas of 125s ,150s n200s.
n if u ever give it a thought we have the most varety in bikes (223, 220, 200, 180, 175(beamer), 160, 150, 135, 125, 115, 100, 85, 75 what more can u ask for) but extending to mills which have no power (i my opinion)

neways no more can type some thing which will be crap for others.

P.S.-no offences for any rider or his bike,its just my perspective.
n also no offences toward the country,n i can proudly say i m an INDIA.

@pratik : You seem to be saying very logical things..people are more intrested in mileage and stickering..

Lemme jst tell what people say:
"Arrey,zma leke k karega chhore,ae lele (CBF stunner)..same si hi to laage hai..ye le le..average bhi badhiya deve hai.."
And i pity on that guy instead of buying ZMA he had to opt for CBF stunner cos he cud not convince his Dad..for a ZMA..

So was I confused to buy a new Bike,Now this thread seems to be a head turner for me.. what shal i do with it now..
Shal I or Shal I NOT..?? ..
which seems to be a better option..

We all have a very similar thought deep back in our brains, but never really vent it out. Its just coz we know that wont make any change in the present scenario. Its not just machines of higher ccs, multiple cylinders, but we need better roads, infrastructure and stuff to support such mean machines/speeds.

I can very well consider buying a ZMA or a 200/220 for the sheer pleasure and power, but will I be able to make full use of it? Take for example, how many percent of your riding is considerd as "touring" ? and how many percent as "commuting" ? If its commuting that you want and 20% touring, I would suggest you to go for a proper 150-180cc bike. If you consider going in for a bike just for touring, it better be something over 200cc (seeing the current scenario of roads/infra and 2-wheeler market). Its not just ccs and bhps anymore, not even milage, its more than that, its sheer business. Getting a 250cc 30+bhp 2L machine is easy, but will it sell like the current crop of 150ccs?? If not, then what ??

If touring for 600 kilometres in a day without rider getting tired and bike getting fatigued is the main issue, I dont guess a higher cc multi-bore bike will suffice it. The only thing being you can do the same 600km in a shorter time stint. But then the risks of speeding on our non-worthy roads come into picture.

The whole reason of not getting big machines is coz of the duties the customer has to pay and secondly the usable power that can never be used in the manner it should be, and last but not the least, the milage factor.

and yeah thats the reason i'm still with my old Uni. I don't see any logic to move to any other bike in india and that too when i will not get any real pwer upgrade. So whats the use? i know there is a diffrence between a 13.3 bhp and 20 bhp bike but then for how long can it excite you??

i never understood as why every machine which we get here is detuned for Indian conditions??? what are these Indian conditions which forces them to detune all the bikes????

and then what's the login behind a mere 20 cc upgrade in every new launch? just a marketing gimmick and the easiest way to earn profits from a billion population which will buy anything termed as supersports...

and i'm not saying that we don't get better options and i'm happy the way Yamaha returned but again there so called performence bike still has only 17PS, 150cc and price over a lack???

ps: no offence to anyone.

All our roads are not as unworthy as far as I feel and see it. I keep moving through 5 or 6 states right through the year and I know that there are bad roads at quite a few places. But there are a LOT of good roads too at a lot of places where you wring the Zma to the hilt and still get blown away by a clumsy looking Scorpio.

I have never said anything against good 125CC bikes that exist. Commuters will be there, they need to exist, they have a right to be in any and all countries and they are clearly the biggest selling crop in ANY country. What I am talking about is the lack of anything better in another "Segment" if you get the gist of the story.

It is not making the 600 kms with a big time difference. It is about doing it nice and easy without rider and machine fatigue. I have done 550 kms on identical trips on a Litre class and the 220. It is not the time difference that will amaze you which was barely half an hour at the end of the day. But after doing 550kms on the 220 at the end of the day all I wanted to do was think about writing this article.

The Zma is good. So is the 220. But hey, give me a break. Please do not sell these to me as a Premium Sports Bike. They are not. The Zma is a CRF for biker's sake! The CAM was lowered to detune it to make it roadworthy for this country, shod with street tyres. A laudable effort to give us something rather than nothing. But it has been 5 years since. (Or more?)


Yes. Stick to your Uni. There is no point in moving to anything else. From the current crop of the bikes, nothing will excite you much and not for long either. If you got something similar to a Comet with a little more power (5 odd Bhp), some more reliability on the service front and regular supply of parts, I would have been talking a different talk.

The main reason for all the biking griefs in India is the outlook of the manufacturers. They make bikes for city riding and interstate commuting, max. How many manufacturers actually put a "touring" parameter while designing a bike in India? The answer might not be zero but it isn't going to be convincing either. Most of the companies make bikes to be ridden around in the city. It is the passion of bikers in India that gives them the balls to push a 150 CC till Leh or even a 100CC for that matter. You ask anyone outside this country to do that and they will probably laugh at you. 100CCs are for delivering pizzas and not Leh-ing.

Now, the question of "What next?" is valid but has been existing long enough to be ignored by even the biking community. The bikers of our country cannot do anything more than presenting their views to the company. And why should companies bother to do anything more when they know that we will anyhow push our a$$, bike and the balls to their extremes to reach Leh. And how many do really tour in India? How many people in India really know what "speed" means. Speed is not accelerating to 100 in 4 secs. It is not even zooming on the loneliest highway at 150kmph. It is about knowing when to hit the brakes. On our 150CC bikes our brain is not alert enough to beat the reflexes of bottle/lota population that zoom across highways in search of Nirvana land each morning. We cannot escape the trucks coming on the wrong side. We cannot escape the peeking front tyres of cyclists on the highways dividers. It is not just the manufacturers but I feel it is sometimes for good that we don't have the high capacity bikes else terrible incident, that happened recently on a highway, will become an every day thing with a reduced newspaper page rankings with every passing day.

And this is a never ending debate. We can just sit and talk all that we feel and need but ultimatly in whose hands does the final decision lies in? We all know.

Absolutely.

But for manufacturers, I guess we will remember the research survey results published by MG in the now lost xBhp. The results for a 250 or even a relatively expensive 400 did not seem that bleak. From what I remember, a decent market seems to exist which is being TOTALLY ignored.

What I do feel is that it just requires a bit of courage and risk taking. No risk no gain, that we all know and they can sit back and stay in the unidirectional rut that they have got themselves into for ever so many years.

Yamaha broke the Litre class ice and exceeded their own expectations by nearly 300%. Someone needs to take that step that might embolden others.

The R15 has shown that there certainly exists a market in India for a bike...

• which can cross the 1 Lakh price barrier

• which Looks like a Superbike (with a full fairing, twin headlamps)

• which also has decent grunt and handling abilities

Now that Yamaha has shown the way, which manufacturer would play the smart/fast follower and take the game a notch higher..??

Dude.. just check the number of 2 wheelers heading out of the city for a weekend break! and compare it with the numbers a year back. There is a drastic change. So Tourer(bike) is something which cannot be ignored. A semi faired good looking tourer will make both the ends happy (a same notion when was ZMA released)

With the current road conditions...
ppl who were ridding the bicycle now moved to 100CC.. 100CC is now in 125/135/150 CC. so wats there for ppl who were riding 200CCs ??

This is what I was actually trying to say. How many of us really 'tour' ? hardly 4-5% (or even less) of the complete biker population of the country.

These machines will be less used for touring and more for riding insanely in/on the city/highways. This will surely get the occurance of accidents to a higher rate, and in turn make our roads more unsecure. With power comes responsibility (as the marvel picture's movie said), you know the responsibilities, but not the rich kid who's father can afford a proper 65+bhp machine at the stake of his son's life (at around 18yrs or so).

I am most petrified when on open highways (read good roads), I start to speed, and in that stint somehow remember what all can happen if a running dog or cow comes in between the road ? Can I control speeds excess of 100kmph in a second or two ? My reflexes wont help me much, coz the response time is very very less. Good roads are there to speed, but as of what we have now, the 200/220 cc machines are enough. And yes these conditions wont improve ever in this country. Talking of 18-20-wheeler lorries, which push you out of the road all the time, whats the use of so powerful machines (bikes) which will make you take more risks on such risky roads.

A nice ride with no casualties will always keep you thinking about the better comfort, the speeds, more power, etc. But when it comes to crashing at high speeds on such machines, unrecoverable permanant damages, these things seem unresonable, you start to think otherwise. If you see, many of our so called "premium class bike" riders race reclessly on highways on long distances, its insane, guess what will happen if they are gifted with more powerful touring machines, which can do better speeds easily with less efforts (for the rider and the bike) ? Who will be responsible for their irresponsible actions ?

Even full proper riding gear wont help you, there are many freak accidents which happen when speeds increase on good-open roads. Cursing our manufacturers wont help, getting India upto the standards where you can travel 5-6 states without the need of thinking about the risks involved, is what matters. Those who want proper power machines shell out enough cash to get them imported (or buy them here now), this has been going on for many years now, and will be the same.

I would like to finish by saying this, if you talk of biking as a lifesytle in India, a country where you can tour at like 140-150kph cruising, forget it. Dont go by the ego thing, that a not-so-powerful 4-wheeler smoked you and showed where you belong. Its like hes risking his 40-50% (sitting in a metal box,with the so-called air-bags n safety features) compared to you risking more than 100% on 2-wheels.

Yamaha has come out with their litre class lookalikes just coz they know that Indian conditions are best suited for 150-200cc types, touring is a rare word here.

India is a hope-less country when it comes to biking as a part of life, I am proud to be an Indian !!!

You mean to say anything about the speeds or touring capabilities ? I very much agree that we are moving forward, but the conditions are not.... lets see where we reach/end with this Hard Talk (I mean Torque) about "What next?".


Edit: highly OT: Sorry but I saw this webpage while typing the post and could not stop sharing...just amazing