Bike enthusiasts, who had a tough time getting a glimpse of 2-wheelers belonging to Austria's top sports bike maker KTM at the Auto Expo, will be delighted to know dat its Indian partner Bajaj Auto is launching the bikes through a local assembly line.
The locally built vehicles would be available at cheaper & attractive price tag
Bajaj's 690 Supermoto and 690 Duke would be
assembled at the Chakan plant in Pune. The Pune-based auto company is also planning to build Ninja 250 bike, another high performance bike, with its long time collaborator Kawasaki.
Bajaj Auto managing director Rajiv Bajaj, said, "Our Chakan plant is the most technologically advanced plant in the country. We have the ability to assemble most products at the Chakan plant."
The alliance has also promised to work on joint platforms, which would be used for Indian and overseas market. Both companies are looking to develop high performance, water cooled engines for a 125cc to 180cc bike and a 250cc bike.
The bike, despite being locally assembled, would be quite expensive for the Indian markets. But It would still be cheaper compared with the imported variety. The 690 Supermoto, 690 Duke and Ninja 250 would be brought to India as completely knocked down or semi knocked down kits.
Bajaj's strategy of assembling its partners' high capacity bikes is aimed at keeping the costs down and making the vehicles more affordable for local consumption, according to experts. A quid-pro-quo would be that Bajaj's product for the international markets would be marketed and sold through the outlets of the same partners.
Bajaj's 690 Supermoto will be launched by the middle of this calender year, along with RC8 motorcycle, which would purely be an import.
Last year, the Pune-based company acquired 14.5 per cent direct stake in KTM through its 100 per cent Netherlands-based subsidiary Bajaj Auto International Holdings BV.
The company has now hiked its stake to 20.89 per cent and Rajiv Bajaj has been inducted on the KTM board. The cooperation agreement between Bajaj Auto and KTM covers product development, technology, vendor sourcing and distribution.
I was unprepared for my unglamorous drive down Route 29 this morning. While I had my lunch and bottle of water, I didn't bring a bazooka to take one less unsafe crotch rocket rider off the road.
Long before the gluttony of traffic lights slows 29 south, traffic was flowing well for 6:45 in the morning. As usual, most of the cars were traveling just above speed, but close together. Driving the same road with the same people everyday allows such a level of comfort.
I was in the middle lane, just cruising along, when I heard the revving of a crotch rocket. I checked the rearview mirror and saw no single headlight. Then I checked the left mirror, but it only showed a line of cars and trucks. In the second it took me to turn from my left mirror to my right mirror, the biker was tailgating a utility truck in the right lane.
Newsflash...you don't have the right to make a 2-lane road into a 2.5-lane danger zone.
My front right bumper was caddy corner to the truck's back left bumper. Normally this isn't much of an issue because we're in different lanes, but this idiot on his bike had aligned his front tire with mine, keeping all of 2 feet between him and the truck in front. There was so little space between the corners of my car and the truck and not much room between me and the car in front that I didn't think the biking fool would cut in front of me.
Of course he did.
He crotch rocketed in front of me with about a foot to spare, tailgated the car in front and then swerved to the left lane, promptly cutting off another sedan before speeding ahead. I took my foot off the gas after the amateur rocketeer made his move to avoid showing my brake lights and scaring the crap out of the driver behind me.
I know that not all sport bike riders are dangerous and dumb on the road, but it's a safe bet that there are more crotch rocket riders making unsafe maneuvers than riders of touring bikes like a Harley, or god forbid a Honda. Perhaps it's a small minority of sport bike riders, but they still need to exercise caution.
I would love for my passive road rage to find a legal way to destroy these riders and their bikes. How about flipping them over with a stick in the road, then running them over with Big Foot, and finally blowing them up with any weapons found in Grand Theft Auto. Until then, these dangerous riders will continue to get themselves killed/injured and cause plenty of accidents with their unsafe lane changes.
Though my car's position didn't allow it this morning, I will back off and give these asinine riders their space because it's clear they value their time, safety, and lives over everyone on the road. Until it's legal to carry a bazooka in your car to blowup unsafe crotch rocket bikes and their riders, it didn't make sudden and unsafe lane changes and didn't ride the shoulder or between lanes while everyone else sits in traffic.
The Duc waiting for its new owner to ride it home
Tonight I sold my 2000 Ducati 900SS, which I purchased just a year ago, on June 8th. It was a good bike and never game me any problems during the 1700 or so miles I rode it, and I might have kept it if it wasn’t for my new interest in riding dirt and the fact that the 900SS just wasn‘t that comfortable to ride and most of my day rides are at least 300 miles or more.
The 900SS has pretty much sat since the winter and whenever I had an opportunity to ride the pavement, I either chose the ST3, for it’s long distance capability and hard luggage for securely storing items on the bike when unattended or I chose the 954RR for the shorter rides, a fun bike and a very comfortable bike. I guess I just realized that I’m already set with the three bikes, a dual sport, a sport touring bike and a sport bike. I will definitely miss the sounds of the dry clutch and that sweet sounding CF exhaust. I will have to get an aftermarket exhaust for my ST3.
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Above are some of the pictures I used in the "for sale" ad, such a clean bike, looks like new
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