Pitching the Dominar 400

Front page ad for Bajaj's Dominar 400. Go hyperriding!

Recent reports suggest Dominar's not selling in numbers that Bajaj may have anticipated, expected and estimated. Royal Enfield's Classic just clocked sales of a whopping 60k+ motorcycles last month, May 2017.

Bajaj hasn't hidden its intention of taking some market share of this growing category and competing with Royal Enfield's motorcycles. That snow-clad-mountain visual in the background seems to suggest just that.

Am wondering what happened to 'Dominate The Night' which showed city-roads at night as the territory of Dominar! You see, if we take the message literally, it might even mean Dominar's good for riding in the city at night, some other bike may be better for day-time traffic riding. I may be over-interpreting. But then, may be not.

Dominar suddenly seems to have chucked the nights and city-roads for days and highways. That may not be an issue though. Whatever folks promoting Dominar say, buyers of the bike will ride when and where they like to or have to ride. The question is, does the categorizing and positioning and messaging by the marketing folks make it any easier for riders to choose Dominar 400 over RE's motorcycles? Are they making it difficult? If only it were easy for the agency folks to offer a glove like expression for the motorcycle that is Dominar 400. One that really trades punches with the Classic.

Look at the message again! Hyperriding? If ever there's been a motorcycle on Indian roads that can claim and rightfully boast 'Hyperriding' that's the KTM Duke, with the exception of Yamaha RD350 discontinued ages back. You read about Indian motorcycles on whichever forum or platform, and that's what you come to know.

I like the term 'Hyperriding'. KTM says 'Ready To Race' alright. But folks understand those terms to mean the same. One can go do the surveys and researches to validate this.

Dominar isn't 'Hyperriding'. Do they mean riding on high altitudes as 'Hyperriding'? Oh dear! Do they mean adventure riding at high speeds as 'Hyperriding'? My guess is as good as yours.

Some other comments... For me, that perimeter frame is an eye-sore-like design element. And those tail-lights give an impression it's a Pulsar. Over-all design reminds one overwhelmingly of Pulsar 200NS. Or rather, just makes it look like a bigger Pulsar. And all the PR for the 2 odd years that preceded the launch of Dominar, established it as a bigger Pulsar.

Now whenever I hear Mr Rajiv Bajaj speak, I like it. And so let this be a reminder. Sir, the perception building started way before the motorcycle was christened as Dominar. It's Pulsar!

But then what's Pulsar? Definitely male! Bajaj tried to tag it with India's No.1 Sports Bike. But then, after KTM, the Sports Bike thing doesn't stick to Pulsar.

Consider this.

Dominar 400! Definitely male!

Does that ring in the ears?

Let me think of other alternatives, since a lot of water has already passed by. I can't undo the flow. Let's say you really want to offer a great alternative to RE's motorcycles... RE's are known to be not-so-reliable in spite of the new platform. So, here you go.

Dominar 400. Hyper-reliable Highway Rider!

Or

Dominar 400. Damn fast. Damn dependable!

Or something more courageous.

Dominar 400. Dad on the Highway!

When I reflect on pitching motorcycles for the highway, I am cautious since even RE's motorcycles are typically ridden in cities or at best just around cities. Highway riding is still leisure and still a very small number. Another try!

RE's are known to be slow and loud. So here you go.

Dominar 400. Not that loud, but real fast and real good!

Or something more direct.

Dominar 400. Fast. Not just phat-phat-phat.

Is it really Dominar 400 vs Classic 350?

For Benelli TNT 300 wins the battle against these two bikes. But, of course, the price difference is mighty and most wouldn't even consider it as a competitor (perhaps rightly so). India is very very price-sensitive. 3L+ for a motorcycle is a big sum. Anyone reading this should surely test-ride the Benelli.

The Pulsar Pandemonium

I've been wanting to write about this for a pretty long time. But I needed a prod I guess to finally write.

Verbatim from bikeadvice.in:

The company’s Managing Director, Rajiv Bajaj, in an interview to Money Control has revealed that they will launch the 2017 range of Pulsars very soon. The timeline given is “between now and December (2016)“. Without naming any specific model (from the existing range), he informed that these will get “significant changes in both their appearance and performance“.

I've observed the improvement in performance of a Pulsar in the avatar of 200NS. But it's the appearance that has confounded me the most for quite some time.

Let me indulge in the appearances and draw my inferences keeping in mind the announcement above.

Here's the look that folks have come to admire and adopt over time. 

Here's 200NS. Compare this with the one above.

And then here's RS200. All 3 have been amusingly (at least for me) called Pulsars.

And then here's the Pulsar that won't be called a Pulsar any more but that folks have been eagerly waiting for as the big Pulsar and that has also been widely shown and talked about as the biggest Pulsar yet. On earlier occasions it's was called Pulsar CS400. Off late, they were calling it Pulsar VS400. Now we hear it won't be Pulsar at all. And that open's my speculative mind.

So going by appearances, CS400 has a good number of similarities with 200NS. No? Have a look at them yet again. The second pic and this fourth pic.

Now if the motorcycle in the fourth pic isn't called a Pulsar, I would say even the one in the second pic shouldn't be called a Pulsar. And if Pulsar 200NS would no longer be a Pulsar, then the Pulsar as seen in the 1st pic is going to stay the quintessential Pulsar. But we've been given to know that Pulsar will see significant changes in appearance and performance.

If the significant change of appearance in the fourth pic isn't a Pulsar any more, then are we expecting a completely new Pulsar look which isn't yet captured in any of the 4 pics shown above? In which case, the Pulsar 200NS look will also likely be discontinued for its blatant similarity to the non-Pulsar 400VS.

I also don't fathom any great relationship between the appearance in the first pic and the one of RS200 in the 3rd pic. Which means even that isn't the future look of Pulsar either. Which means even that is going to be discontinued. Or am I going way too speculative?

While the earlier Pulsars -150, 180 and 220 - all seem to be well-liked even now, the recent ones and the publicity-garnering pics and announcements have kind of messed up Pulsar, the brand, the look, the essence.

Time to come clean. I would be happy to see a new non-200NS, non-VS400, non-RS200 appearance for Pulsar. I haven't seen any spy-shots so far on these lines, so my thinking could be just very wildly speculative. But I trust Bajaj to spring pleasant surprises more than any other motorcycle company in the country. Let's keep a close watch.

Yamaha Fascino, Unicorn 160, Benelli TNT 300 and Bajaj V

This happens to be the first post since Sep 2014. Even I am surprised. Apart from my hyper occupation with my venture, in spite of a string of motorcycle launches in the interim I just couldn't find the motivation to write about any motorcycle.

But even so, I did go to test-ride some of the new launches.

I went to Yamaha to test-ride Fascino. I was told I can only admire its looks, there was no scooter available for test-riding. So much for Yamaha's push to make a mark in the scooter market.

I test-rode the Honda Unicorn 160. Felt it has a good sweet engine but no looks whatsoever. Tyres felt rather thin and didn't seem to fit the proportions of the bike. Of course, my familiarity with the sight of my red FZ daily doesn't help me see any motorcycle with thin tyres favorably I suppose.

I also test-rode the Benellis. 250 and 300 both.

I first tried the 250. It felt good. Big and, of course, with quite a bit more power than my FZ. I was about to leave when the sales-guy at TNT offered me to test-ride the 300 as well. And 300 felt amazing. Super-smooth and such good sounding. So much better than the 250. But the price difference also turned out to be really big.

Both motorcycles however felt quite heavy for city riding. When I compare them to the Duke 200 and even the Duke 390, I don't think the Benellis are as nimble. The Duke 390 has that 6th gear which you just can't get into when riding in city conditions but very nimble I would say.

Why did I write this summary sort of post btw. I wrote it for V.

I ride in and around the city quite a bit. Amidst all the launches, this comes closest in terms of styling (though a little less on power) if the purpose is to enjoy city-rides. I have read this is a torquey bike. Just a couple of days back also checked the newspaper ad, so I suppose it's in the showrooms. Hopefully, a test-ride's available. I am gonna go and post my impressions soon.

Bajaj's new superbike - CHETAK

:) I know the title is tempting enough to go through this post.

As I see, Bajaj thrives on springing surprises. And surprises which almost get the entire biking fraternity sit up, notice and acknowledge the efforts. So, here's another strategic surprise that Bajaj can throw for the enthusiastic Indian bikers:

Launch a superbike called CHETAK!

I sense that the time has come for a bike to carry the age-old name. Yes, it was fuddy-duddy scooter once upon a time. But think about the word, its connotations, the myths and the history, the way it sounds when it is spoken. Quite rich, quite emphatic, very Indian but very apt for something grand! A superbike is just the right machine for the name.

If still not convinced, rattle it out with the likes of Fazer, Ninja, Hayabusa, Chetak, Ducati, etc. Repeat these names in your mind twice or thrice and you'll get the drift of what I wanna convey.

Indeed, the Bajaj's understanding and legal arrangements with its partners like KTM and Kawasaki need to be factored in. If there's space for Bajaj, then this is the thing to do. Imagine CHETAK 1OOO! Or, CHETAK 500! :) Doesn't take a lot of time to sink in, does it?

Bajaj Burst

I relish Bajaj’s approach to biking like I relish Domino’s Cheese Burst Pizza. Bad analogy! Nevertheless, I read about Bajaj’s announcements yesterday in The Economic Times.

The 220cc Pulsar DTS-Fi was officially launched on Monday. Bikers were waiting for the official launch for quite some time now. The bike comes for 81290 (ex-showroom Delhi). Not bad.

Apart from that, Bajaj plans to launch a new 100cc bike developed on a new bike platform by September.

It’s also planning to launch Avenger with a bigger engine very soon. Well, in my earlier posts I had mentioned that Avenger 200 might be launched by June end. Well Pulsar 220 was supposed to be launched by end of May but that got delayed by a month. So, applying the same case to the new Avenger, it might be launched some time in August.

Earlier the newspapers reported that Bajaj would launch Avenger 200. I have other thoughts though. Bajaj might not have taken so much time to launch the 200cc variant. The fact that it’s taking more time and the fact that this latest article mentions only ‘bigger’ engine instead of being specific, I would like to speculate that Avenger’s coming with a bigger engine than 200. So what is ‘bigger’? I really don’t know. I would like to think 220 at least. On the higher side 250 may be. If it goes beyond 250, then… Well hold your breath and control your imagination… On a serious note, my gut feel is it would be bigger than 200cc certainly.

More news. Bajaj is in talks with Yamaha and Kawasaki for bigger bikes (800cc and above). Not sure how many takers are there but if there’s one company which rocks the biking scene in India that’s Bajaj. Hats off! Hope newer bikes keep rolling out.

Bajaj: Understanding the aspirations of Indian bikers

Just read a post on Bajaj's plans to launch bikes with 250+ capacity. Just click any of the links in the previous sentence and check out the articles. It's great news for Indian biking and great challenge for other bike manufacturers to catch up. Alarm bells!