The norms and rulings regarding helmets need to be more thorough and definitive to silence the naysayersWords: Amit ChhanganiAnd we thought helmets were important. The Motoroids team was very recently enlightened by a group of anti-helmet activists (you read it right) who think it’s stupid on the government’s part to have made helmets compulsory. Joining them in the all-important fight against the helmets is a bunch of doctors who have dissected every detail of the human anatomy to find out the ill-effects of wearing a helmet on human health. Wow, now that’s what you call optimism.While it’s very easy to run down the arguments put forward by these guys as senseless, [. Giving]{a

Is the old world charm of aggressive engine braking under threat with all these new tecnologies coming in?Words: Rohit ParadkarThe December issue as the cover suggests has been a ‘clutch-less’ edition. In fact, it does not even carry Clutch Tales - our in house superhero comic strip! However all the scooters that we spent our last one month with gave me a big blow on my face and made me realise one, very very important necessity of my riding style...I’m not a hardcore tourer. I prefer my odometer ticking by gobbling corners than munching highway miles. I like approaching a corner, optimally using a combination of engine and front braking, coasting through the corner before powering

Words: Mihir GadreAutomatic gearboxes have suddenly burst onto the motorcycling scene, globally as well as locally. Honda has set the international scene ablaze with their Dual Clutch Transmission (DCT). While, back home, we have had the first taste of TVS’ very own T-Matic rotary system. The Indian traffic scenario, with its lethal combination of chock-ablock traffic and potholed roads has been dying for an automatic bike that combines the convenience of an auto ‘box with the comfort of bike’s long suspension. Actually it is pretty surprising that it took such a long time for somebody to realize the need of such a bike, even though it has been almost a decade since the Activa

It’s important for the manufacturers to make sure their test bikes are not degraded just because someone wanted to have ‘fun’.Words: Amit Chhangani How interested are you in finding out whether someone can pull off a rolling burnout on a brand new bike? Is that really what you read an auto mag for? Okay, probably you are a stunter, and would actually want to know, but then, if a magazine really tests a bike for its rolling burnout or donkey wheelie performance, shouldn’t it do it religiously? More importantly, shouldn’t a magazine at least enlighten its readers the findings of their staffers after they roasted the clutch? Destroying a bike’s cycle parts entirely, for no

Seems like the idea of frugal commuting has finally dawned onto the smug Europeans.Words: Rohit ParadkarIt’s been a year since the 2008 Intermot Motor Show in Cologne, Germany was held. And it’s been two years to an incident I’m going to narrate to you. How these two are related, is something that I’ll save for the end of this column.It was a typically pleasant October evening in Goa. I was out there, enjoying my time as a vagabond biker; checking out the varied beaches and hangouts. Since I was to be joined by a bunch of friends riding down from Bangalore, I decided to spend my time at this wonderful shack in Palolim. Since a non-alcoholic is considered a freak in a place like Goa,

Ever since the bratty little Ninja started hogging the limelight, it quickly became the star of every Indian biker’s dreams. But Bajaj jolted us out of our lucid dream when it announced the heart-breaking price tag of 3 lakh rupees. Kwacker junior is not only India’s solitary 250cc twin, but it is also the best quarter-litre bike in the world. Kawasaki is the only manufacturer out of the ‘Japanese Big Four’ to have capitalized on the 250cc sport segment, and Bajaj knows that a ‘real’ rival is atleast a year away. Once the YZF R25, 250cc ‘blade or the Gixxer 250 arrive, all Bajaj has to do is drop the Ninja’s price to match the competitor’s.Chances of getting our hands on a

MINDREVVIN' by Amit Chhangani It’s amusing to know that our two-wheeler industry still doesn’t acknowledge the power of digital media There really were no surprises as the chain of events unfolded. I expected most things to happen the way they did, and I really wanted to write about them right from the outset. Just that I wanted to wait and experience them first hand, before getting down to let you know about it. So here goes. Right from the time I got the first pangs of starting a mainstream automotive e-magazine, I knew that the idea was probably a little too novel to be taken seriously by some of my industry friends. Unfortunately our automotive industry follows convention in a

'Underbones’ a.k.a ‘step-thrus’ are generally quite popular in developing countries around the world, especially in South-East Asia. But, apart from the humble M50/80, the whole concept never really caught on in India.Step-thrus essentially are a much better bet compared to scooters, especially for a country full of broken roads, like ours. Step-thrus, in principle, are nothing but saree-friendly alternatives of motorcycles. They have bigger wheels and shock absorbers compared to scooters, and yet, also have an underseat storage like the Scooty. The ladies, no doubt, are bound to be huge fans of these machines. So then, why don’t we have a single one available for sale in India?

MINDREVVIN' by Amit Chhangani Biking is a potion that can keep you young forever. A recent ride sent me 8 years back in time... Ah, that sweet, throbby note of the punchy Fiero engine. No sound in the world is as sonorous – I can feel the pulse of the first love of my life as she breathes. As I shift my weight across the breadth of that narrow seat while riding to Pachgani, I feel like a mushy teenager, going all gooey in his heart. Someone seems to have wiped 8 years off my life. I am once again the 19 year old reckless teenage lad hanging off his bike who never had a worry in the world. There’s hardly any grip on those skinny tyres, but do I care? I am going all nostalgic as I

THE FAT BIKER by Rohit Paradkar. So what happened to all those imported that used to gather outside clubs every Saturday evening? I am as normal a bike enthusiast as you all are. I have dreamt about all those big bore motorcycles while I didn’t have a penny to buy even the cheapest commuter in town. Sighting an imported bike on the roads of this country, for as long as I can remember has been as rare as spotting a snail in a desert. But the last few years have been totally different. There are all sorts of imports, ranging from the puny CBR150 to the mighty ZX14 gathering up outside every hangout, motorsport event and even Sunday morning rides. Where did all these bikes suddenly emerge

MOTOMUSINGS by Mihir Gadre. The one-two-five Conundrum... 125s are the new 100s, they say. Well I don’t think so. The problem with the current 125s is that the manufacturers are never satisfied with just 25% improvement over a 100 cc bike. They are always hunting for something extra and in doing so they tend to just lose the plot, entirely. The Super Splendor and Glamour FI go all out for fuel efficiency. But apart from that, they don’t offer any significant upgrade over the 100s and retail for at least 10 grand more. The Yamaha Gladiator tries to deliver a good top-end whack but loses out big-time in terms of drivability. The Stunner goes for low-end grunt and drivability is no

THE FAT BIKER by Rohit Paradkar The biking culture in India is gaining popularity at an unprecdented pace. Biking in India has had a scattered past. I’m sure your uncles or elder cousins would have told you times without number about their glorious days with two stroke machinery like the Shaolin/Shogun duo from TVS or the army of RXes from Yamaha or the legendary RD350 which till date is a performance yardstick for many a enthusiast. And then suddenly the slump began. Companies like Hero Honda gave birth to the likes of the CD100. These are the kind of machines that every performance freak would be warned about by his senior comrades for the sheer way in which these fuel efficient

MOTOMUSINGS by Mihir Gadre... You did proper research before buying your bike, didn’t you? You visited different dealerships. You collected all the brochures and quotations. You even bought the latest auto-mag and compared the fuel efficiency figures, power figures, and a dozen other figures until they started swimming in your head. Finally, you made the big decision. You couldn’t have been more thorough, right? Wrong! There are a lot of things that dry numbers don’t tell you. I call them the unquantifiables. These are the things that you actually feel while riding a bike. Refinement, the most important of the unquantifiables, is a trademark of a good bike. However, refinement is