Charting courses...

Soaring fuel prices notwithstanding, there's an onslaught of cubes happening and it doesn't seem to have any sort of end in sight. In fact, this is only the beginning!

But first, I want to make something perfectly clear. Personally, I feel the YZF-R15 should have been launched in the BCs rather than ADs... Well, at least a couple of years earlier. It's a fabulous motorcycle, but the hard truth is, in this day and age of rising fuel prices, and depleting fuel sources; it will not find too many takers, especially in our country. True, it is everything an average Indian motorcyclist wanted - which just so happens to be a 100cc, 100kph, 100kpl, Rs. 10000 bike... Which of course, is not entirely possible.. I'm not saying the R15 is something close, I'm saying it's just something else!

It is that kind of bike that looks a little like the sort of thing our population of idiots (which is quite substantial) would want their CBZs or Pulsars to look like, after a whole round of mods... I don't mean everyone who gets the odd fairing, or a paint job, or even a loud exhaust can; I'm talking about owners of bikes like the "Ducati 959 Turbo" or a "KTM Ninja GSX600 FireBlade Sports" with a billion exhausts on either side! On that note, what the R15 is, is a refined, modern 150cc bike, which is powerful, and light enough to destroy all the 150s we have now, as well as a whole bunch of larger capacity motorcycles...

The R15 is a very good thing to have happened, although it happened a little too late. Yamaha could have done the right thing and launched their concept Gladiator in production form 2 years ago, with the R15 following a year later. But they didn't. Anyway, it's happened, and I'm happy it finally did. But, there's another bit they had showed off, but still haven't delivered - the Fazer YS250.

Surely, the reason Yamaha didn't launch the bike could not solely be because they "could not get the price inside the 100000 bracket". It's hideous to try and imagine that, now that they're 150 costs 110000! (;p) Obviously, we are looking at a 180000+ price tag for the Fazer, without the half-fairing even... That aside, there are many bikes that would be ideal for our country - in terms of practicality and desirability alike. So, the point of writing this bit, for me, is to bring "to the fore" the ideal bikes which, according to me, should be here ASAP!

With the stupid "800cc and above" rule, practicality obviously takes a firm back seat! So we can rule out the likes of a 400 or even a 600, without passing homologation, which, by our standards, will again take another decade or so.

First off, the Suzuki Bandit 1250S. Yes, 1255cc may sound huge, but how does 11-odd kgm at 3700rpm sound? Add the near 100bhp output to that and you have an extremely fun, and capable machine. I'm sure Suzuki have it in their list of probables, because it isn't the only one they probably have in mind. The Hayabusa is, undoubtedly the most famous of the lot, and Suzuki spokesmen have, on numerous occassions, confirmed their plans to launch the 1300 here. In fact, you can actually buy the old Hayabusa from a Suzuki showroom near you for about 13.7 lakh. Old I say, because their new 1340 is here, and has taken the crown of fastest hyperbike away from Kawasaki's ZX-14. With an output of 200bhp from the 1340 inline 4, and 180+ horses at the rear wheel, it is very, very brutal! The GSX 1000R too is likely to make it here shortly, since the R1's here already. And I would dearly like the GSR600 to be here here as well...

Honda. Amidst rumors of a new 100cc hair dryer, um, motorcycle, I will go out and say they are being stupid. With Bajaj promoting 125s to replace 100s, it's only fair to say that an upgraded and price-trimmed Shine would be the better way to go. And it wouldn't hurt their image to have a CBR 1000RR FireBlade to gawk at in their window, while you're out buying a Unicorn. Nor would a Hornet 900 or a VFR800 Interceptor, or even the bloody GoldWing, though it would take up the space of a dozen Unicorns and a million Activas put together.. Crikey! They have it all, but they're just not doing anything, are they?!

Kawasaki's new Ninja 250R will hit ProBiking showrooms "soon", according the Bajaj boffins... At 2.2 lakh it is a rather good deal, considering you get excellent service and assurance of a worry-less after-crash period.. :D Then, there's the Z1000 - a personal favorite of mine. Big, yet compact, and brutally good looking! It's sharp, aggressive stance is fantastic and if I had to go out and buy a bike today, given the money, it would be this one. Okay it would be the R1, but that aside, the Z1000 is a very good choice, and they have indeed shortlisted it for launch here, along with a Vulcan (1600 or 2000 no one knows), the Ninja ZX-6R and the ghastly ER-6n...

Away from the little far-eastern island now, Aprilia, MV Agusta, BMW and Ducati are all rather well-known brands. And to say that I'm glad Ducati have roared in would be an understatement. Even so, the fact that they came with their carrier ship full of Italy's finest, was the best bit of news I'd had in a while. We have all their bikes on offer, save for the RR Desmo.. That might make it here sometime too, hopefully. So too for the BMWs and Aprilias. There are so many bikes that we could actually "use" here. Like the Benelli TNT, which just recently got options - an 899 and an 1130! Both sufficiently practical and economical enough to have around here, and yet, be rip-roaring fun at the same time!

On that note, I can say it's finally growing, our bike options; the market too, and so too, the mindset of the people. Realisation is dawning amongst the masses and they are beginning to slowly accept the fact that a bike costing as much as a bungalow, can indeed be faster that a car that costs as much as Paris! And I'm in no mood to discuss our import duty structure at this point... In fact, I'd rather not say anything, than risk being gruesomely sentenced on multiple counts of blasphemy.

Cheers to biking then!