All you budding racers out there, this one is a great news for you all. Numerous Asian riders are now even closer to realizing their dreams. Yes, we are talking of the dreams of racing in international championships. Two Wheels Motor Racing (TWMR) and Honda Japan recently introduced a new class of racing in the upcoming season of Petronas Asia Road Racing Championship. The new class – Asia Dream Cup can be seen as a scholarship program for as many as 21 budding riders from different parts of Asia and Australia. 16 riders will be chosen from from Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Japan, China, India, Philippines, Australia and New Zealand and 5 will be taken from other parts of Asia to complete the grid of 21.The bike that will be raced by the amateurs is the Honda CBR250R. The reason to opt this bike is that the baby CBR is as close to the Moto3 spec bikes as it can get. The new class of racing in Petronas Asia Road Racing Championship will serve as a nice platform for the young riders to graduate from street racing to 600cc, Moto2 and Moto3 class.

Coming to the prizes, the grand prize for the top rider along with two other selected riders will be a chance to test ride a Moto3 spec bike with a probability of getting selected for the 2012 Moto3 as a wild card entry.

Great Britain’s division of Suzuki  recently unveiled the new Inazuma 250 at Motorcycle Live, UK’s biggest motorcycle show that was kicked off at NEC in Birmingham. The word Inazuma has a Japanese origin and translates to lightning. This very bike was earlier launched in China under the name GW250. The Inazuma boasts of a parallel twin 248cc engine, with modern styling that traces its lines to the B-King and GSR models and targets at riders that are looking for a user-friendly, fuel efficient machine with fresh and innovative looks. The Inazuma’s freshly designed liquid-cooled, twin cylinder engine is mated to a six-speed transmission which is said to have a great low-mid range performance and combined with the frugal fuel injection system, it offers its rider a good control and efficiency.

Factor in the addition of a new and robust frame, hydraulic disc brakes, high quality fit and finish and a full-function instrument cluster that even reports riding efficiency and the Inazuma seems to be a very upmarket and high quality offering at a nice price.

It is still not sure when and if the Inazuma / GW 250 will come to our shores and under what name. A display at the 2012 Auto Expo is what we are wishing for.  If the Inazuma / GW 250 is launched in India it will have to battle it out with Kawasaki Ninja 250R, Honda CBR250R and the new Hyosung GT 250.

The premium segment seems to keep getting hotter for us!!

Representative picture of a parallel twin engine (not the actual Bajaj engine)

For all of us who have been perennially cribbing about the lack of a performance bikes in the country have a reason to smile. If we have to believe our sources in the component industry based around Pune, Bajaj is in the final stages of developing an all-new 250cc bike for India. And before you drop your heads in dejection after knowing the cubic capacity, let us tell you that it’s going to be a parallel twin, so the performance should be comparable to the Ninja 250, at least on the paper.

The details are still sketchy, but the information suggests that this engine has been under development for quite some time now and we should see an all-new performance flagship machine rolling out of Bajaj’s plant sooner than we assume. The powerplant propelling the bike will be a 250-cc, parallel twin, four-valve per cylinder liquid cooled engine. Bajaj management’s initial thoughts were to create a new sub-brand for the new flagship, as the Pulsar brand was getting old, but eventually the new bike was decided to be called a Pulsar only. The work is in progress on various different components of the bike, and by the look of it, it seems that a fair bit of performance engineering has gone into this project.

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Representative picture of a beam frame chassis (Not the actual Bajaj chassis)

We cannot be sure about the figures, but typically, such an engine should be good for a power output of anywhere between 27-30bhp and a top whack of a genuine 160km/h. ‘But what’s new about it’, you may ask, as the Ninja is already delivering that sort of performance. Well, the difference in going to be the price. In all probability, the new machine will be priced below Rs 1.5lakh (with Bajaj, it may be even less) and will most likely herald a new era in the Indian performance biking.
Our reports suggest that an all new aluminium beam frame (yes, that’s the kind of stuff you get on superbikes) has been developed for the project by virtue of which, the new bike will outclass its existing Pulsar siblings in the handling department by a humongous margin and will most likely set a new benchmark in Bajaj family of bikes for handling. We just hope that this time around Bajaj have decided to opt for a mono-shock on the bike, that too an advanced rising rate link-type unit.

Expect the new bike to have all the goodies available on the Pulsar 220 DTS-I and more. Front and rear disc brakes, clip-ons, projector headlamp, a new digital instrument console can safely be expected to make an appearance on the bike. With the new Pulsar, Bajaj will also adopt a new, completely fresh design philosophy for the brand, which will be more contemporary and fresher. Going by the looks of the Pulsar 135, we can be sure that it’s going to look extremely good.

The news should bring a smile on the faces of not only all the Pulsar aficionados, but on every performance bike enthusiast who has been yearning for a reasonably priced performance machine. Stay tuned, we will bring in more info as it emerges.

Related links

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War of the 250s is about to begin!

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Bajaj Pulsar 220 – first ride review

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may launch new Apache with a 220cc mill!

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We wanted to do it with a twist. The most obvious thing any auto mag would want to do with the ZMR as soon as it lays its hands on the bike is to pit it against the Pulsar 220. At Motoroids, we don’t quite get thrilled by such straight logic, so the idea was discarded at its very conceptual stage. We have, however, kept the thought for later when everyone else would have tried their hand at it. We shall do it, but with the Motoroids touch at a later point.

The Karizma, as even my dog knows, is a great touring bike of India. With 33bhp on tap, good ground clearance and a comfortable seating position, the Ninja, looks like a formidable sports tourer too in a newly emerging segment in the country. And the Hayabusa, as even the bedbugs in my cot know, is the ultimate sports touring machine the world has ever seen. The price tags are Rs 1, 3 and 13 lakh for the three machines respectively. So how much is the real world difference in their times if you were to do a 500km trip? We thought we’d give it a try. But unfortunately, that’s not what this report is about. This is a standalone review, and for the lip smacking comparo we just talked about, you’ll have to wait till the November issue of Motoroids2 e-mag hits your inbox. So register now.
So is the new ZMR any good? Well, yes and no. Let me explain.

Introduce Papa’s Pappus to the new ZMR and they would have their mouth open in awe. They would study hard, cut their furtive porn time, think less about the Sizzling Sally who they stalk and make sure that Papa buys them one when they eventually manage to pass. Being honest, to an average Joe, the bike’s got presence – tonnes of it. But for a seasoned set of eyes, the mass bias is a little too much towards the front. Look at the ZMR in profile, and it somehow looks skinny from the rear, and a tad too heavy from the front. But then again, craning necks and turning heads is a phenomenon wherever the new flagship HH goes, at least for now. So the self-proclaimed design critics like me may just shut up.

The Green Goblin has us smitten, here’s why…

There is no denying that the Ninja 250R has lived up to its promise of delivering unparalleled performance to the bikers of this country. Superbikes aside, the Ninja is by far the best performing, the best looking and the dynamically the most accomplished machine in the country today. The angular, sharp, fully faired styling makes sure that you’ll witness people picking up their dropped jaws wherever you go. In lime green, the bike is nothing short of a visual festival. Unlike the R15, which pioneered the genre of full-faired bikes in the country, the Ninja doesn’t look slim or puny from any quarters. It’s a well-proportioned aggressive looking super sport bike that’ll easily pass as a superbike to the untrained eye.

Get astride and the Ninja will make you aware of its power advantage right from the word go. The ascent of the speedo needle to the ton-mark is easy, and the bike will accelerate swiftly to the 140km/h after which the thrust gets a little subdued. Stay right there though, and you’ll soon see the tacho needle hovering around the 13k mark and the speedo indicating 160km/h. Unlike most other Indian bikes which pant and puff to cross the 130km/h mark, the Ninja can happily cruise at 140km/h provided you have the space on the road. The low-end torque isn’t particularly strong, but doesn’t give you a reason to complain either. The bike starts pulling after 3000rpm, but mid-range is where the spunk really is. After 8000rpm, the 250R really gets into its element and the tacho needle travels quickly to the 12000rpm mark, after which the revs again take some time building up.

Around the racetrack the Ninja shines with its sure-footedness and poise. The sporty suspension setup allows you to throw the Ninja around with disdain, the brakes provide brilliant bite and feedback, the rubber provides ample grip to lean hard and there is enough power at hand to make a fast exit after the apex. The Ninja is probably not as rider friendly from the word go as the R15 owing to its heavier weight and sportier stance, and takes slightly more time before it turns into one of your limbs, but once you get acquainted with it, it’s as accurate a point-and-shoot tool as one requires to keep improving his time with every passing lap.

While we love the visuals and the riding experience of the Ninja, we do have some grouses. Price is one, but then enough has been said about that aspect. There isn’t a fuel gauge on the bike, which means if my brother steals it and parks it back after a 100km ride, I’ll be stranded in the middle of nowhere on my Sunday morning ride to the hills. The exhaust note doesn’t do justice to the speed of the bike. One wants to listen to some sweet music that gets louder as the speed increases. The Ninja is too muffled. It’s fantastically smooth too, so there are no vibes either to make up for the lack of sound. Not that it’s always a bad thing, but for some it just may be.

Simple yet effective instrumentation

All in all, the Ninja has the goods. Buy it if you have the money, and make some poorer souls like ours envious. We just wish we had some more money to spare.

Amit Chhangani