Bicycle Shopping

So we went today to buy a bicycle for our cook. I could have bought one of those cheap models but decided to get something I can use sparingly.

However, I was totally disappointed. Things have not changed much in the last 10 years. My dad bought me a cycle when I was in class 8 I think and I went to the same shop today. None of the bikes under 3K price tag were inspiring.

Then there were these geared ones offering as many as 16 gear selections. However, it is a well known fact that these are not repairable and if things do go bad, the cycle becomes a pain to use.

In the end we bought a medium level model which I think was overpriced but still better looking compared to the rest in the category. However, it is not exciting enough for me to take it for a ride.

Bajaj Pulsar 200

A dude at work bought this bike after much thinking and research. He decided to go for this bike over Bajaj Pulsar 180 and the Hero Honda CBZ Xtreme.

I have driven it for some time and I think I am impressed. Performance is awesome. It has no kick as the company has only given self starter (the only bike in India to have this feature I think). Tires are tubeless (another unique feature?).

One minor hassle is that the side stand is tough to open when you are sitting on the bike as it comes in between the foot rest (which is a bit too far behind) and the main stand.

Another minor issue is the fact that the main stand seems to have excessively flexible springs and they bounce down enough to hit roads on bigger potholes on our Gurgaon roads.

But, I do love the switches which come with their own illuminated backlights. Very nice tough indeed. The bike looks awesome and I would love to get more rides on it over longer distances!

Utter Frustration

It is disappointing when you get a fine for driving at speeds of 63kmph and 65kmph. This is when the traffic cops let people who with absolutely no common sense drive on the road. People who causes traffic jams and people who cannot drive a bicycle and are driving motorcycles which they bang into your rear bumper just because they are stupid enough not to apply breaks at a proper time.

If I was at fault, I would have banged the car in front of me. I did not. Why the hell do I have to pay Rs. 5000 for the bumper an asshole banged into because he had no real sense of how to drive a bike on the road?

Phoolish People

A couple of days back I went to a petrol pump early in the morning. I was kinda freaked to see the dude at the station smoking a bidi standing besides the pumping station.

If that was not scary.

I was driving near my house and two dudes were driving alongside on a bike. The dude on the back was carrying a LPG cylinder. And he was smoking. And the cigarette was just like 5 cm away from the nozzle.

I tried hard but due to traffic I could not get away from those two people. They were some of the scariest moments of my life.

Hero Honda: CBZ Xtreme or CBZ Fusion?

One commentator on my blog rightly said that Hero Honda should have named their newest CBZ version as CBZ Fusion rather than CBZ Xtreme considering it’s more like a fusion of design elements of other bikes already present in the Indian market. It looks like a combo of Hero Honda Ambition and TVS Apache to me.