the 100cc revolution

This is an article i had written when i was interning with the hindu, i included it in my magazine for my final project in college hope you guys like it. Its based in the city of Chennai

I recently saw a video on the website youtube.com which shows a video from someone’s car while they were traveling around in the city. Most of the video contained footage that showed the person navigating between cars and buses and a ton load of motorcycles. it inspired me to realize just how many vehicles have been added to the road system in the last five years.

Initially there were only motor scooters most famous of these were the Chetak line from Bajaj motors. The TVs fifty brought commuting to the layman thanks to small capacity and low cost. The motorcycle saga began in 1986 when Bajaj and hero Honda introduced the   KB100 and a CD 100 respectively. Both were 2 stroke 100cc motorcycles they provided a level of performance that never existed previously at a throwaway price people lapped up these motorcycles and began moving all over the country. Yamaha brought along its RX 100 which was of the same category but gave a racing bike performance.

 

In the early 1990’s Suzuki came along with its motorcycle range and totally dominated the market. But perhaps one of the greatest bikes to be launched was the hero Honda splendor, it was a four stroke motorcycle and was fantastic to look at and ride, more than 12 years later it sells in large numbers being the world’s best selling bike it is very popular among the commuter category.

 The first affordable high power bike was the hero Honda cbz launched in 1999 it sported a 156 cc engine and had a racy design. Its popularity was only surpassed by the launch of the Bajaj pulsar in 2001.

 The pulsar has come a long way from its original 150 cc avatar the range now goes all the way to its 220 cc super cousin.

 As a nation we have grown in the last fifteen years the modern day consumer is one who has a lot of money and unlimited choices. Almost all the international brands have seen potential and have setup shop in the country. This has not been limited to just small items many foreign motor companies have the seen the demand that Indian consumers had for cheap yet easy to maintain vehicles mainly along the lines of motorcycles.  The customers nowadays looks for bikes with better technology  better designs combined with  light weight, attractive design  and fuel efficiency.

 By observing the trend in the last five to six years we can see that the newer consumer is moving towards higher capacity bikes with bigger engines, lots of  modifications and whole load of torque. It has become a large trend to and modifications like body fairings, fatter tires, modified exhausts as well as neon lights. “The first bikes to be modified were the RX series bikes from Yamaha then in the newer generation many people went on to modify the pulsar as almost anything we put on it looked good” says J.prakash a tire store owner who has seen the bike industry of the country move from its infancy to its current stage.

With the introduction of the R series bikes from Yamaha and the looming launch of the 600 cc + bikes from Honda and Bajaj probiking has finally come to India. The yfz R15 is a 150cc motorcycle derived from the R1 it is a race ready tool redesigned and accustomed for India.

 

But are we ready for such a leap? Can our roads and traffic system sustain high speeds? traffic yes it can but not all of them....like the higher CC engines of above 150cc range as it gets tougher to handle them in traffic” says Nagapan a student, to further realize this a simple glance into the parking lot of the Spencer plaza shopping complex gave me rough idea .Of the 300 odd bikes or so parked there 9 out of every ten was a 100 cc model of the various brands sold.  The hard reality is that with growing fuel prices and the addition of 1 lakh vehicles to the road system many have stuck on to the 100 cc marque due to its low fuel consumption and low maintenance. But like any consumer trend it will grown in the next five to six years. Who knows maybe just five years from now the sight of a 1000 cc motorcycle on our roads would become common place but till such time low rumble of the 100 and the 125 cc bike will rule our roadways

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

Yamaha RX-135

Yamaha had made its foray into our country more than twenty five years ago.their first bike to come here was the mammoth RD-350. It lifespan very short but its legend will be in our minds forever. Their other ïmports" were the the RX-100 and little later on the the RX-135. the whole concept of a two stroke engine is brilliant but if i explain it to you in my own words it would not make sense just visit http://www.animatedengines.com/twostroke.shtml . From this you will realize that it performs just half the work but giving us almost double the output of a four stroke engine.

The conception of such a technology is revolutionary but not without its consequences,as we can see its inefficent and pollutes in a really large manner that realistically speaking has no place in our world today.Nonetheless given where i have tested this bike the rules are a little more lax so its existence is pretty safe and coupled with the fact that the owner has kept it really well.

Im not going to post technical details here simpy for the fact that they are readly avaliable http://autos.maxabout.com/twid0000062/yamaha_rx_135.aspx.

I knew this was a going to be a brilliant ride the instant the owner gave me his keys,well more likey it was a single key. I walked into the parking lot and found it almost instantly.all its 10 years of age had not done a thing to it. it followed a conventional gear shift apttern that i have seen on most Yamaha's of one gear one down(or foreward) and four up(or back).

Given its age it started on a single kick.the very first thing  noticedd was the phenomenal accelartion that this bike posssed. my last fleeting glimpse was the sight of my friend Norten saying "dude you got the...."i would assume that he said bike but i was a little too far away to hear him.

My chosen route was for the test was an area about 5.5 kms from my college it was a stretch of high way that was narrow but brilliant to ride on. the bike displayed high levels of stability even at fifty km plus i could only go about sixty five kmph because some truck had dumped huge lumps of soil in a rather strategic manner.

For a ten year old bike his speedometer was still in intact  and in working condition. In a vague attempt to be a little scientific i tried to do a zero to sixty test the timing that  got was somewhere between fifteen to twenty seconds but I'm sure given the way i did it (analogue wrist watch) I'm must be pretty far away the actual timing .

Power to weight ratio

It's power weight to ratio is pretty brilliant it has a 14 HP engine and weighs around a hundred kilos which makes its very light and zippy and stable at high speeds.

Seating stance

In all fairness its a commuter motorcycle with conventional foot pegs and upright seating position.

Acceleration

Known to everyone as pocket rockets , just one wring of the accelerator gave me a glimpse of why it has this name, one website that i visited said it goes from 0-60 in just four seconds i don't know how true this actually is.

Engine

Large amounts of torque and mainly in the higher RPM range you have to whip the accelerator to get a rocketing start and get real feel of how powerful this engine actually is.

Mileage

its two stroke nature limits it to around 30-35 km pl on a good bike,riding like your in a moto gp race would push you down to around 27-30 km pl.

Braking

Drums on the front and back push you to have a brake in advance style which means that the faster you go,the earlier you have to brake.

Instrumentation

single speedo gauge with with kmps output.

Ride quality

its a nippy ride with its RPM in a higher range this means you have to go faster to see its real potential and levels of handling.

My Ride

I covered a total distance of around 10 kms both ways. Smooth roads, warm April air and a fast motorcycle is a mind blowing combination. I even tried some professional move by sticking my arms and knees in a specific manner the results were quite good.

This bike embodies the spirit what passion motorcycling was at one point of time. the total harmony of the man and his machine,responding to every sound and moving in perfect timing as well as adjusting himself to every situation

In the end i would like to say this is a brilliant motorcycle for its time it was a god and a demon it will always be one of the bikes that defined our bike heritage. 

  

motoring is my passion

This is basically my second blog,but this one I'm dedicating this blog  only to motoring and everything related to it. I will admit honestly that i cannot drive very well because i have very little road experience when it comes to cars but i love them. as of now biking is my passion and i can ride any bike you give me ill be putting up bike reviews and tests that i have done if you have comments,objections,new discoveries or basically anything to say your more than welcome