Innholdsfortegnelse for August 2021 i BIKE India

AS WE ENTER OUR 17TH YEAR OF PUBLICATION, THE INDIAN ECONOMY IS STILL RECOVERING FROM the second wave of the pandemic. With the threat of a third wave on the horizon, the outlook for the next six months is still cloudy. The automobile industry, often considered to be the barometer of the health of the economy is also in a challenging situation. High fuel prices have made owning any automobile an expensive affair. More than 60 per cent of the price of fuel is in the form of taxes and blaming the oil producing countries is a deliberate distraction. Over the last two years, the government has raked in over Rs 2 lakh crores as fuel taxes and risks killing the goose that lays the golden egg. Rising fuel prices…

THE HERO GLAMOUR XTEC IS THE most modern variation of the Glamour yet and it comes loaded with features that are in demand for the new-age rider. In terms of connectivity options, the Xtec is the top-spec motorcycle in its category and has introduced some revolutionary features to the segment. Before we write about the motorcycle’s technology highlights, some attention must be given to the latest styling elements. The new Glamour features a refreshed front end that is dominated by an LED headlamp. The motorcycle’s strong lines then flow back to the muscular fuel-tank, complementing its popular character. Furthermore, Hero have also introduced new split alloy wheels and they go rather well with the overall design of the Glamour Xtec. The Xtec’s party pieces begin at the instrument console. Now…

WE HAVE BEEN LIVING IN A NEW world ever since the pandemic changed many aspects of our day-to-day lives. The last couple of months trapped at home on account of another lockdown did get really frustrating and little did I know that things were going to take a turn for the better very soon. The next day as I arrived at the office, a BMW G 310 GS wrapped in the special black and yellow “40 Years of GS” anniversary edition colours was sitting pretty in the Bike India garage. I jumped at the first chance and convinced my Editor to let me borrow the motorcycle for the weekend. The special part about living in Pune is that it is surrounded by beautiful mountains on all sides and the best…

NLY TWO YEARS AGO, KTM LAUNCHED their 790 Adventure. Funnily enough, I rode the R version for the first time at Sweet Lamb, Wales, KTM’s dedicated 6,600-acre off-road school. Fast forward to 2021 and I am back again at Sweet Lamb to ride the all-new 890 Adventure and Adventure R models. KTM had to meet Euro-5 emission standards and increasing capacity was the simplest solution, especially as the 890 platform already existed in the KTM range. The hike in capacity means an increase in power, up by 10 hp to 105 hp and a 12 Nm increase in torque. However, the larger engine and other related changes such as a new exhaust system have increased the weight, too, which is now seven kilograms more than the previous model. KTM have…

IT’S NOT OFTEN THAT YOU GET TO SPEND TIME WITH A legend, or in this case a legendary motorcycle. It was in 1999 that the original shook the motorcycling community and took on the mantle of the world’s fastest production motorcycle; even now, over two decades later, the third-generation bike still commands awe and respect. But is it just the name? Are big sport tourers obsolete? I recently spent a couple of days with the new ’Busa in various conditions in an effort to answer these questions. I won’t go too deep into the design of the 2021 bike since you have probably already been talking about it for months. Suffice to say that the new bike is instantly recognizable as a Hayabusa from any angle but the rear, where…

MAXI SCOOTERS! PLUSH AND SPACIOUS WITH two wheels and a motor is well-liked in foreign markets. But this variant of scootering has barely seen much of our South Asian nation with a few launches here and there; think Kinetic Blaze from yesteryears or the current Suzuki Burgman. Aprilia, too, jumped on the bandwagon with the launch of the SXR 160 and, though none of these are true maxi-scooters, it did allow a slight taste of the concept garnering up and down receptions. It was only a matter of time that Aprilia would launch its smaller sibling, the SXR 125. Meant to resemble a maxi-scooter, the question arises as to how close the Aprilia SXR 125 is to the comfort-oriented concept that maxi-scooters portray? Starting with the visual appeal, the SXR…

WE ARRIVE AT ASSEN FOR THE Dutch TT, a track favoured by the nimble machines. The Yamahas and Suzukis were supposed to have their day, but, 2021 being a surprise package with circuits suiting manufacturers being topsy-turvy, what would Assen have in store for us? MotoGP The two Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP motorcycles were one and two on the starting grid with the championship leader, Fabio Quartararo, in second and Maverick Viñales in first. They were joined by Francesco Bagnaia of the Ducati Lenovo Team in the front row. Would the Yamaha’s holeshot keep the Ducati at bay into corner? That was the question. At the lights, it was Fabio who got off to a great start as well as Bagnaia, both of whom led the grid into corner one…

TT CIRCUIT ASSEN HAS ALWAYS BEEN A favourite for Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) and this time was no different because the champion blitzed to claim his fifth consecutive pole position. Things were not so hot for Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with BRIXX WorldSBK) because he crashed early in the session. Thankfully, he recovered and salvaged second place while Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) rounded off the front row. For race one, Rea did not get the best start off the line and was passed by Razgatlioglu. The lead proved short-lived, though, because an error sent the Turk wide and Rea was back in the lead. Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) showed promise of a great fight but put an end to that effort when he…

KTM HAVE LAUNCHED A BESPOKE TRACK-ONLY MODEL, THE RC 8C SUPERSPORT, OF which only 100 units will be made. These are meant to carve and blitz racetracks. Designed and developed in partnership with Kramer Motorcycles, customers would get the closest thing to a race bike. Well, it is a race bike. The 140-kilogram lightweight machine is powered by a 128-hp, 889-cc LC8c motor, also seen in the 890 Duke R, but with a greater focus on drive out of corners. The fuel-injection system developed by Dell’orto does its tech wizardry to accurately adjust the fuel mixture for each cylinder. You even have a five-inch TFT AIM MXS 1.2 RACE dashboard that stores all data into the AIM RaceStudio for later study. Switchgear promotes functions such as wet and dry mapping,…

I AM LUCKY, I KNOW. I HAVE BEEN professionally testing bikes for 25 years and I still get a buzz from riding every day. But every so often, there is a special day. I get excited, like a child before Christmas, counting down the days with excitement and anticipation. It takes a special bike or trip to do this — and Ducati’s Panigale SP is just such a motorcycle. I first saw it earlier this year and have been waiting to get my hands on one ever since. Luckily, Ducati loaned me SP number 29 for the week, which coincided with a heatwave in the United Kingdom. Dry, warm, and sticky roads plus a Ducati SP — heaven! Moreover, despite a limited production run, prices start at a more affordable…

MY FIRST MAJOR ENCOUNTER WITH THE SPEED Triple 1050 was riding with my friends from Bengaluru to Chikmagalur. My memories of riding the KTM 1290 Super Duke in Spain were still fresh and the difference between the two street-fighters was stark. The Triumph was a great road bike but the 1050 didn’t really offer a hair-raising experience like the KTM. But it seems like things are set to change with the new Speed Triple 1200 RS. This Rs 17-lakh (ex-showroom) all-new roadster has been on a high-protein diet, propelled by a more powerful engine, and boasts of a brand-new chassis, top-spec suspension, and gadgetry charms. Even in terms of design, the 2021 model is extremely compact. The narrow LED headlamp takes inspiration from its younger sibling, the Street Triple RS.…

AT TRIPLE-DIGIT FIGURES per litre, fuel prices are now an important factor in the purchase of a motorcycle more than ever. New riders who want a motorcycle as a primary means of transport are more likely to look for one that packs the styling of a larger motorcycle while delivering reasonable performance and more kilometres per litre. That probably explains why Bajaj have introduced the NS range to the 125-cc segment with the Pulsar NS125. The NS125 is now the smallest and most accessible offering in the NS range and we got a chance to live with it for a few days. First visual impressions were identical to those I had of the NS160, because, save for the sticker work and some minute details, not much sets it apart from…

AYAMAHA YZF-R3 WAS ONE OF THE OPTIONS FOR THE NEXT step in my journey as a motorcyclist. However, astronomical pricing (of the brand-new one) kept it well out of my reach for longer than expected until my mentor for all things mechanical, Sheri Bhathena of Motex Garage, suggested that I go for a used one. It hit me like cold water on a Sunday morning. Why had I not considered this? It made perfect sense and, after a few bank transfers, I bought one of the R3s from his stable for a price that was almost half of what it was worth when it was brand-new in 2016. Taking into account the fact that such phenomenal luck is hard to come by, we have put together a manual of sorts…

IF YOU ARE A PROFESSIONAL MOTORCYCLE RACER, you will get hurt and most likely quite badly hurt. That is just the way it is — even these days, it is a dangerous game. Indeed, the ability to bounce back from injury is every bit as important as the ability to ride around corners fast, because as a professional racer, you will not be able to do one without the other. Sometimes, however, riders do not so much bounce back from injury as crawl back, grimacing through the pain and climbing on to the bike when the rest of us would be climbing back into bed. It is not only the hardware of their bodies, it is the software of their minds. If riders allow any fear to creep into their…

Nostalgia for the Fury Loved Sarmad Kadiri’s article on the Royal Enfield Fury. I owned a 1987 model with the rubberized paint on it. I bought it from an elderly gentleman who had managed to do 8,000 kilometres over 10 years and warned me of the ridiculous power it could bring to the table. Had the bike for over six years and covered over 80,000 km. Experimented everything then possible with it. Had a couple of major accidents as well but we survived everything. One day, I came back from an official tour and found the motorcycle missing. Turned out that my father had sold the Fury off without my permission. I even reached out to the buyer who promptly refused to return the motorcycle. To date my search for…

THIS IS ONE IMAGINATIVE FANTASY TALE meant for motorcycle lovers and has all the ingredients to take them on one crazy ride. Written by the noted journalist, Murali K Menon, a self-confessed petrolhead himself, this wacky story revolves around Kandakarnan Swamy (KK), a revered deity living a mundane life in a village in Kerala. But he has almost human-like thoughts and desires and does not even possess any godly powers, apart from not being visible or audible to the average villagers. Things start to get interesting when KK spots a Norton Dominator and falls helplessly in love with the machine. As luck would have it, the owner of the Norton, Koman Kutty, is an agnostic and what is even funnier is how our holy deity convinces the man to teach…

WE ARE IN THE DAY AND AGE WHERE ELECTRIC mobility is taking over the world one step at a time. Since last year, there have been a number of new startups and manufacturers that have launched new electric two-wheelers in the Indian market. I have had the opportunity of testing a few of those new offerings and I was honestly not very impressed. Being a person who has grown up loving everything about engines, it has been hard to digest the fact that mobility is making a shift to electric vehicles. But this shift has a lot to do with saving the environment, so might as well respect that and jump onboard to find out if the TVS iQube is the EV with which you make the shift to electric…

THE “FZ” NAME IS A REALLY IMPORTANT one for the customers in the Indian market. The first-generation FZ16 was a major success when it was launched in 2008 owing to its sharp and aggressive FZ1-inspired streetfighter styling. Since then, the bike has gained increasing popularity among beginners and commuters inclined towards owning an attractive streetfighter for daily use. The FZ range has grown over the last 13 years with various iterations of the model being launched until now. The FZ-X that was launched recently marks a new chapter in the FZ series of motorcycles as it strays from the naked streetfighter segment. So, what exactly is the FZ-X? Let us take a close look. Back in my schooldays, I was a big fan of the FZ as it was surely…

KERMAN FRAMNA IS A LEGENDARY INDIAN CYCLIST WHO has won many cycling events nationally and even represented India multiple times on the global stage. He is best known for his unbroken King of the Ghats record (21 minutes 20 seconds) that he set in the 1987-88 season at the peak of his career. More than three decades later, even with ground-breaking advances in bicycle technology, the record remains unbeaten and, so far as we are concerned, he continues to be the King of the Ghats. We caught up with him during one of his bicycle rides and tried to learn more about his illustrious career. Kerman has represented India globally multiple times and has won as many as four national championships and eight state championships. His list of accolades also…

STARTED IN 2017, THE YOUNG MEDIA RACER Programme (YMRP) is a commendable initiative by TVS Racing that brings a few young professionals in the field of automotive journalism together every year to experience motorcycle racing in its real sense or as close to it as it can get. We have all seen telecasts and videos of races or probably even cheered the racers from the stands, but to be able to ride a race-ready motorcycle on the track is a totally different experience altogether. It puts into perspective the grit and determination racers must possess just to be on the track. By the end of the event, I was in awe of the hard work racers put into the whole process. The YMRP races are scheduled alongside the Indian National…

DONINGTON PARK WAS WET WHEN THE defending champion, Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK), went out for qualifying but the circuit gradually dried up, allowing him to set the fastest lap (1’40.101) and claim pole position. Joining him on the front row were the BMW men, Michael van der Mark and Tom Sykes, in second and third places respectively. The first lap of the Prosecco DOC UK round was full of drama. Rea rocketed off the line in the lead while Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with BRIXX WorldSBK) made eight places by the first turn. By the second lap, Razgatlioglu overtook Rea and claimed the lead. Things got better for the young Turk when Rea made an error on the third lap, allowing the former to extend his lead. Behind…