There are countless good experiences that I can recount. Most of which are related to how the bike behaved under emergency braking. There's no flexing or squirming under hard braking. The bike feels composed all the time. The chasis is capable of taking in swift maneuvers and responding well to all the feedback.
Bad experiences include rusting,small niggles that crop up time to time and ruin the actual feel of the bike(mostly the electricals). The bike has conked off twice,once at a place where the nearest workshop was 25kms away. You can imagine my predicament while I walked the bike home.
And to come to think of it,it isnt as good as a Yamaha should be. Forgive me for saying this on the Gladiator thread,but my Discover 125 has always trumped the Yamaha in speed runs on a track and on normal everyday roads. Me and my friends have time and again pitted both the bikes on a particular stretch of road that has enough corners and straights to call it a 'track' (a rudimentry one,though). We have timed both the bikes. Swapped them among ourselves and timed them again. But the Discover always pulls through. Simply because it makes power everywhere and makes it fast. The Gladiator may have a better top end( I seriously doubt it) but in real world conditions,it just doesnt cut it.
Yamaha need to think about addressing these issues. However with the launch of the SS125 and the SZ150,I dont see that happening anytime soon except for more color options. In any case,the Discover 125 doesnt exist now so there's no reason to compare them. And at the end of it though,I dont care about speed. I like my bike to be safe and to stop in time. And the Gladiator does it better. A lot better infact.

I have done 25 thousand kms. Already mentioned it in my previous posts. I plan to keep this bike with me forever.Call me a sentimental fool if you will.
And I didnt buy the Gladiator either. 5 years ago,my elder brother was looking to buy a bike. He had planned on the Apache (the original one). I had the Discover then. Read the review of the Gladiator in Bike India. Fell in love with the bike immediately. Pestered him to buy it. By a twist of fate my brother had to leave the country to pursue further education in the UK. And Gladiator came into my possession. Finally I was reunited with my love.
Happy ending.
As they say: "You dont choose the bike,the bike chooses you."

@Tom Sawyer Sir: Among other hobbies,I have picked up photography as well. And regarding the difference between the SS/RS and the old Gladiator,I cant comment since I havent ridden the SS/RS. However a friend of mine who has a K&N-ed Type JA and has extensively ridden the Type RS maintains that the RS feels more planted round the corners owing to better rubber and the redesigned and lowered front end. He believes that at high speeds the bike is actually pushed down into the corner due to the altered air flow through the front fender and the gap on the front visor.

Thanks nightwing for your detailed replies....

I read the detailed one written by you and have lot to write about it but will post it later.. may be a pm..

The braking department alone made you to like this bike to this extent. so apart from braking is there any where else Gladi fairs better...
what about longevity and engine reliability?? ,what z ur take n it, i heard bajaj products have least life and yamaha is better in that area?

But if you see the factory figures, the gladi's spec is claimed to have a better bhp and better top speed and how come it failed in real tests ??

i think the tests would have been carried out in ideal conditions without add-ons like side stands, bumpers, etc


Finally : what do you mean by "" bike is actually pushed down into the corner due to the altered air flow through the front fender and the gap on the front visor.""

cheers guys after a long time our gladiator thread has reached 1000 posts

Hi Friends,

So many new models in the market, Discover 150, twister, dazzler, gs150R. With such stiff competition, can yamaha still have a decent slice of cake with it's current line up, the gladiator and fz requires immediate & serious attention i guess.. Can any one tell or find out how many units of gladiator were sold in the last quarter??

thanks for reading..

these things are very hard to obtain as the yamaha does not disclose any exact figures of it. You can find this out only from the dealers. The previous time i had enquired from a dealer he told me that the gladiator's sales have increased in a pretty good no.s than before (although i dont know the exact figures)

I dont think there would be any effect on yamaha's sales due to the other bikes. Moreover the yamaha has done a very good job by launching the sz150 which would for sure increase the sales to a considerable amount. It is a very good VFM bike.

Fourth Service

Hi folks, took my Gladiator for its fourth service a few days back. Odometer read 2923KM - I am doing roughly 400KM monthly - fully commuter

1. Mileage/average - I brought this up second time (first time on the second service). The guy wrote it down. Let's see if the mileage improves. Currently it is hovering at 37-39 KMPL mark

2. Metallic ringing/whirring noise at around 5000 rpm only when bike is in motion. The guy wrote down 'tighten engine bolts'. Needless to say, issue not fixed.

3. Switchgear getting stuck - sprayed a lot of 'lubricant' on it - not fixed.

Another thing I wanted to ask is - from last two services, the oil being used is 15W-50 instead of 20W-40. I asked their chief guy about it and he said it is also OK. Is it really OK?

2. Metallic ringing/whirring noise at around 5000 rpm only when bike is in motion. The guy wrote down 'tighten engine bolts'. Needless to say, issue not fixed.

I also get a same metallic ringing noise when the vehicle is in motion, but as far as i noticed, it seems like the sound is coming somewhere from inside the headlight/speedometer assembly. Will confirm about this asap, maybe tomm. if you have any reports on that sound let me know..


3. Switchgear getting stuck - sprayed a lot of 'lubricant' on it - not fixed.

What is it that you mean here?

even my riding is very low like you
bro i would suggest against it. I wouldnt recommend you to use 15W50 oil in your bike. From what i have enquired from the experts i can say that using a thicker oil can jam your oil pump. You can use any XXW40 grading oil.

The horn switch requires a firmer push to sound horn, the starter switch is loose in its socket - it comes out a bit when pushed to start the engine. The turn indicator's 'push to cancel' doesn't work most of the time. These are mostly due to the switches getting wet in the rain.

Its irritating but not majorly dangerous. I will have to wait out the rains to get the switches dried and cleaned out.

@madhav,

I am thinking of getting the oil changed soon (am in the middle of a few things now). There is a reputed 2-wheeler auto shop near my place in Mumbai - where I will get it done.

Guys,

Is it possible to plug-in a yzf-r125's speedo on to our gladiator? I do agree that the gladiator has one of the most elegant speedo assembly with apprpriate sizing and spacing, still wanted to find out if we could explore that possibility.?

ehhh??? where did you get that & that too in india?? Is the r125 launched??

Finally got my sprocket changed today... Had to get it changed at my last service but they dint have the sprockets in stock... Finally i am rid of the tak tak tak chain sound...

Good, what is the odo reading now?? You could have waited for the monsoon to end before you switched to new sprockets Prashanth.

Also guys can the air-filter be cleaned or since its a viscous one we need to replace it if its too dirty?

@samschenker I could have... But i was just getting irritated.... Chain was making lot of noise... The change was long overdue... And the odo reading is around 25200...

>>If its too dirty, they usually replace it... Otherwise they clean with air pressure... I'm using the old gladiator's foam filter now... Its been in my bike for at least 3k kms now... Find no difference... Advantage is that it can be washed and reused...