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