First things first, this is NOT a rant just on the pricing of the CBR650F, we all kinda knew Honda is no KTM. Although I do feel they are asking for a premium of some 50k over and above the premium they think they deserve for being a Japanese dick of a company, but more on that later.
This is a rant about the condescending, patronizing tone of Honda’s marketing campaign surrounding this completely unnecessary and grossly overdone Revfest. It appears that Honda still thinks this is 2005, that we are still a motorcycle-starved nation of wannabe bikers who would be excited about the Hornet 160R, even though everybody knows it’s just a Unicorn with a fancy name.
This is a rant about the disrespect motorcycle companies constantly seem to dish out to motorcyclists.
This is a rant about the childish, idiotic way the entire festival of stupidity was managed.
Let’s me question the logic of organizing this Revfest in the first place, and then question the way it was executed, with as much decency as possible.
Why Revfest?
Why did Honda feel the need to spend crores on basically launching one overpriced bike, and a bunch of other overpriced sticker jobs? I have no fucking clue. As much as Indian biking scene might have advanced, we still have a giant chasm in the middleweight motorcycling section, and the CBR650F fills that gap in every possible sense.
- It’s an inline-4 bike
- It comes with ABS
- It’s faired
Even if Honda had spent ZERO money on marketing, and just randomly started displaying the bike at their showrooms, people would’ve drooled and masturbated day and night outside, and the word of mouth would’ve spread faster than Syphilis at an orgy. You have a product that everybody wants, you have a product that’s absolutely unique in the market, you have a product that you don’t need to sell.
It would’ve made much more sense if Honda, rather than going ape shit on this utterly useless exercise in pissing the shit out of their prospective customers, had given a discount on the 650F, if only an introductory one for a few months.
I am a marketing guy, and although I may not be too good at it, I can say for sure that somebody at Honda needs to be fired.
Why THAT Revfest?
Alright, let’s assume there’s an overzealous intern at Honda who gets too much attention from her seniors, and her decision to make a bike launch into a college fresher’s party is accepted, why did nobody think of the way the whole concept was executed?
1. Why the fuck did you distribute passes for the Revest, when the bikes were to be launched, prices shared, pics plastered all over the internet half a day before the event was supposed to begin? That’s like Tweeting naked selfies of you at a whore house in the morning, while you text your girlfriend to come down that night for a romantic dinner.
2. Why did the security around the venue made me feel like I was entering an active nuclear facility under an imminent bomb threat? Guards at the entry gate, then guards at the second gate who check your pass, then guards at the third gate who tear your pass, put a band around your arm, then send you through a metal detector, then ask you to remove your wallet and phone and then finger bang you until they are happy, and then guards at the fourth gate who check your band again and ask you not to carry any eatables or water inside. This was easy for me since I was carrying no bag or cameras or shit, I can’t even imagine how hyper they went on people who did.
To top that up, once you entered, nobody allowed you to get out! It took me a good 15 minutes of shouting at random people to find out how I could escape that Guantanamo of mental torture. Add to that the physical torture of nobody letting me take a leak, and I was pretty tired pretty soon of this brilliantly fucked up festival of dickishness.
Although I wasn’t carrying a helmet, it appears that a few bikers who were managed to get told by the security to keep those helmets outside, on their motorcycles! On a bike launch, where bikers are expected to show up, you have the balls to tell them to keep their costly helmets unsecured on a dusty dark ground 200 meters away from the venue? That’s like throwing a rave party at your house and then calling the cops on anyone who shows up.
Let me give you an example of how anally stupid their security logic was. You could get a bottle of water just outside the third gate, but you couldn’t take it through that gate. However, once you got through the third gate, you could again get a bottle of water over the barricades, which you then couldn’t take through the fourth gate.
I now know whey they didn’t allow anybody to carry shit near the stage. I would’ve thrown my bottle right at the face of that idiot presenter, just after he asked me for the 4th time if I was excited about the Hornet.
3. People came to see the CBR650F, and they got to do that for precisely 10 seconds. I’m not shitting you! The dude rode onto the stage, turned around, and left! He tried to revv a bit, but it’s a Honda, and the retarded DJ didn’t know when to keep the volume down.
People then shouted “Once More!” and the presenter responded “Here’s the bike again…. from Delhi!”, and you could see a pixelated, slowly buffering video of the bike from 1700 kms away.
How could they do that! You have the fucking bike sitting backstage, just put it on that slowly rotating turntable and then let it be there! It’s not made of ice that you have to put it back in the freezer. What was the logic behind launching the bike that morning, then trying to keep it a secret by evening?
The rest of the 3 hours were wasted on some Japanese guy speaking in a stereotypical accent, Akshay Kumar smiling awkwardly, and the music that was there. To be fair, Agam and Benny Dayal did a rather awesome job at Hyderabad, which sadly meant that the most interesting part of the evening had nothing to do with Honda or a motorcycle.
Why that fashion show?
I think Marquez’s repeated crashes and Pedrosa’s repeated bad luck have created some kind of an identity crisis at Honda. Let me make it simple for you people at HRC, you make motorcycles, not clothes.
But fuck that! Honda has partnered with GAS to create a new line of “Riding Gear”. Alrighty, sounds good.
It sounded good only until that first batch of girls wearing mini skirts and weird chains around their waists showed up.
Really Honda? Riding Gear?
Not only was there no place for a damned ramp walk in a motorcycle launch, it was absolutely not worth wasting some 40 minutes on! I was like OK, this will be over soon, don’t worry, but all I got was wave after wave of awkwardly dressed models with crazy hair and dark spots around their eyes like someone was punching them everytime they went off the stage.
Did that somehow make me feel better about Honda as a brand? Not really! Did it make things interesting? Maybe for about 30 seconds, before I wanted to splash the water from the bottle I didn’t have straight on every models face, and then sit down, hold my knees and cry.
Why 15 in 15 bullshit?
Apparently Honda at some point announced they’ll launch 15 bikes in 2015. I don’t remember when that happened, because that’s not news. Tell me when you’ve launched something, don’t bother me till then.
But the problem here is that 15 in 15 is complete bullshit, it’s more like 5 in 15, and the rest 10 are stickers.
Not only is Honda confusing itself with an apparel company, off late their R&D department seems to be less focused about improving their motorcycle lineup, and more about creating the latest type of most heinously ugly stickers that they can then paste on a 5-year-old bike and claim it to be new.
Stop shitting yourself Honda.
The CBR150R hasn’t been updated in ages. The CBR250R, although the first proper affordable fast bike in India, has seen ZERO improvements since it was launched. Duke 390, that was launched in 2013, has been updated more times than the entire lineup of Honda, combined, since the beginning of their India operations.
If you couldn’t improve the bike performance wise, you could at least bring that dual headlight version to make us feel a teensy bit better? But no, what you thought would be a better idea is to add a fucking ugly star sticker to an already ageing bike and then try to sell it off as new and exciting.
That’s like making your grandma wear a new dress and then trying to pass her off as your girlfriend. You HAVE to realize how amazingly embarrassing that is, for everyone.
The CBR650F pricing
Honda is known to overcharge for its bikes, for no apparent reason. When the CBR250R came, there was nothing like it in the market, so people paid whatever Honda asked. With time, you got the KTMs and Hyosungs and the Kawasakis, but Honda sat with fingers shoved down its ears going “La La La La La”, refusing to hear the truth that their bike was a dirty old hag in a market of shining young dudes.
For some reason, Honda isn’t inclined to play the volume market. For me at least, Honda is NOT as prestigious a brand as say Ducati, so I don’t see what ego they are attempting to satisfy. I’m sure there are a lot of intelligent people making the market strategies that Honda is implementing, I just can’t understand why they aren’t learning from their past blunders.
The 650F would’ve been a superbike killer at ~6.8 ex-Delhi. It has the looks, more than enough power, and ABS, but at the 7.3 price point, you have just so many other options.
Bikes priced slightly higher than CBR650F:
Kawasaki Z800 (~7.5 ex-Delhi)
Ducati Monster 796 (~8 ex-Delhi),
Triumph Stree Triple (~8.1 ex-Delhi)
Bikes priced lower than CBR650F:
Kawasaki ER6n (~4.8 ex-Delhi)
Kawasaki Ninja 650 (~5.3 ex-Delhi)
Benelli TnT 600i (~5.2 ex-Delhi)
Benelli 600GT (~5.6 ex-Delhi)
Ducati Scrambler (~6.4 ex-Delhi)
Ducati Monster 795 (~7 ex-Delhi)
The argument can be made that the CBR650F is the most unique bike ever to make our shores. It’s the the cheapest 600cc+ bike with ABS, the only sports-tourer with ABS under 14 lacs, the third cheapest inline 4 behind 600i and 600GT, and the third cheapest faired tourer behind Ninja 650 and Benelli 600GT, but the problem with that argument is that it’s the only thing that even remotely justifies the price tag, and that’s not enough.
By pricing the 650F over the 7 lac mark, Honda has opened the bike to comparison against a much bigger segment of bikes. For example, the Benelli 600i is a brilliantly priced machine, the only bikes that you can compare it against is the ER6n or the Ninja 650, and it’s really easy to make that decision. If you want Japanese reliability and refinement, go with Kawasaki, if you want Italian character and rush, go with Benelli.
That choice with the CBR is going to be one difficult bitch.
I’m tired of motorcycle companies treating Indian bikers like kids. Triumph fucked up with their fake performance figures, Bajaj overdid their RS200, both visually and marketing wise, with that appalling “Leave track racing to amateurs” tagline. They also pulled some major bullshit with the 200 and 150AS models, which are both nothing more than old bikes with projector headlamps. And now Honda has joined the party with this pointless little charade.
I think motorcycle companies feel like they are doing some kind of ehsaan on us by bringing in these big bikes, and that would’ve been true some 10 years ago. Now you have plenty of choice if you have the money, but bike manufacturers don’t seem to get it.
The Indian biking scene is matured now, even though the infrastructure isn’t yet. Now is the time to establish yourself as a company that cares, a company that respects, and a company that believes. If you keep treating your customers like shit, you better be ready for when it hits the fan, and if I got your message from last night correct, then yes Honda, fuck you too.
P.S. If you were looking for a useful article about the CBR650F and are disappointed by the shitty ranty one you just read, check this out.
Seriously. Honda are taking Indian customers for a ride, just because people are buying the Activa and the Dio, and money is going into their coffers.
Imagine, no engine kill switch on the CBR150R?! My 6 year old Apache RTR160 has an engine kill switch, and it’s half the price!
🙂
Can’t HMSI see these reports??? Are they ignoring the Honda fans or are they unaware of this?? Someone should let them know…..
They don’t give a shit. In a country where people are still buying the medieval CBR250R like it’s the hot shit, why should they care? Indians love being ignored and sadistically raped in the ass.
I expected them to launch a bike under 200cc with ABS. All they have come up with is a change in the fairings and stickers. Some how I feel these companies see Indonesia as a more matured market.
Do you think RTR180 ABS is good? I see some strong observation about the vibration making numbness in hand and foot? I want to buy a bike with ABS. Unfortunately Duke 200 is non-ABS and recently launched RS200 Bajaj is a single channel besides I hate the design.
I like RTR180, although there are some bad reviews of the effectiveness of its ABS system. Why not 390? You get slipper clutch too.
My first choice was Duke 390 CC. For its ABS and nakedness. But it is like buying a cow for a glass of milk. I will be doing long ride only occasionally. I want the bike mostly for city ride – to and fro office.
I found 390cc and 50 cc don’t make any difference in stop start city traffic. But like to go for marginally higher CC because in India other riders give – respect and peace – for another vehicle / rider only if it is of decent engine capacity.
Also, in Duke 390 KTM, I am concerned about the radiator heat, the heat from the exhaust to the foot (2016 KTM to have normal silencer) and the mileage. I am averse to faired bikes. So RC is out. I feel I will loose interest in the Duke 390 after say 1 or 2 months owing to its mileage and leave the bike mostly in the corner of my house.
I love to buy KTM Duke125 CC – for ABS and for its nakedness. But Rajiv Bajaj decided himself that Indians won’t buy such products. (My feeling is Bajaj brand will be gone if he markets 125 CC Duke in India and he knows that) The price of Duke125CC is not an issue. Sadly Bajaj wont allow KTM to bring to Indians 125CC Duke. [It is my view that many of these CEOs have no idea of the market – one good example is TATA Nano marketing.]
Duke 200 CC is fine but it comes without ABS. I saw an Indonesian review in You tube. A small fall due to a stray dog and the kind of damages it brought. Luckily the fellow was in full riding gears.
But it is surprise news for me that RTR ABS has issues. I read only about the engine vibrations and the riding posture. I am also surprised that there are no recent reviews of 180 RTR ABS available. TVS marketing is very poor. Also like Honda they should go for launching products before it is available 3 or 4 months ahead in order to hold the purchasers. It will also helps purchasers to arrange finance.
Right now waiting for the festive season when TVS may launch its 200 CC RTR with ABS or who knows an improved RTR 180 ABS version.
You are right about the Duke heating up like shit, it hates city riding. 200 is good for that, but then no ABS.
Ha Ha , super liked. Honda president comes to India to unveil sticker upgrades, nothing more degrading than this. But i think India management to blame for this fiasco. These bunch who are ignorant of the market conditions, They are the one telling HQ that India needs sticker upgrades not tech.
Yes, that’s where I think the problem lies too.
Hahaha.. At least they didn’t put a ghoonghat on the 650! This sounds like the worst bike launch ever
It was.
Started reading. Then got put off by how terrible this article is. No offence, but more people will take you seriously if you write like a balanced, mature person and not like a hormonally angry, whiny college kid.
u wont comment like this if u were there at the event place. event was for real bike lovers and the way Honda treated their fans is just pathetic
Nobody taking me seriously is the whole point!
You’ve made some great points. But there’s only so much ranting you can do before it kills the objectivity of your article. A little restraint goes a long way. As a biker, I’d love to see someone who matters at Honda read your article and fix their retarded mentality.
I do…I was there in the event.I completely agree with ur points. i experienced and think same like what u narrated. None of the bike was there to see more than 10 sec. even we came with pass, security checking was like an airport and barricade kept a way behind the event place and surrounded by security guards.VIPs at the front sitting on chairs and we the real bikers were blocked by securities and standing till the end of event. it was like film award night where stress passers are blocked by guards.
YOU SPOKE MY HEART OUT………………..WAY 2 GO…..
Yep, we are to blame too.
The price is too costly indeed..The price for CBR650F here in Auckland is 12495 dollars which is equivalent to about 5.4 lakh INR and Bikes are considered to be quite costly in Auckland unlike the US market . So where does that leave India ?
This leaves India fucked in the ass!
It’s our useless political class ass raping us. We pay more in taxes than some European buyer, and compare in purchasing parity, we pay a lot more and get precious little in return.
nobody i know has said it this straight and perfect ………. thanks man i was thinking i was the only one complaining
AK : u mind if i try to somehow reach this article of urs to the heads of the hondas….i hope they understand cuss words to realise the exact message been sent though 😉
Be my guest!
This is the Major reason i steer clear of each and every product by Honda, Made In India and for India. The Feature list the bikes have, would have made me droll 10 years ago but today all those things are run of the mill features. And am not even talking about CBR650R here. Lets leave that bike out of the question. Just check out the pics of Honda Hornet. The switch buttons on the handles look so dam cheap. And there is literally nothing on the right hand side handle. They couldnt even throw in an engine kill switch!!! That push start button looks like it was lifted from a modern bike, from 1990s. Also one thing i would like to highlight here dear Author. India is a country of Brand Loyalist. And in last few years, Honda has managed to make themselves a name and they are able to sell any kinda shit under that name. Even if the product is below par, to the market. Let me give you a brilliant example of this. Few years ago Suzuki introduced a bike called GW250 Inazuma. It was perhaps the only Twin Cylinder commuter performance bike in the market. The other twin cylinder was Ninja 250. They over priced that bike by a lakh. It sold in only double digits. They reduced the price by a lakh, few months down the line. But it was too late and they had to discontinued that bike. That bike was a quality product which had riding modes. But they didnt have a brand image like hondas to make it sell at a price they wanted to.
Inazuma was an epic disaster. I don’t know what people at Suzuki were smoking, but that ugly piece of shit was worth nothing more than 2 lacs.
I own an inazuma. It’s certainly not pretty and yes the pricing didn’t make sense. Even when I bought it. But it definitely isnt a peice of shit. I sold my duke 390 to buy it. The refinement ride quality and the sheer component quality is in a different league. Never overheats and doesn’t send a single vibe at any rpm below 10k. Daily commuting in ridiculous traffic and bad roads is a breeze. The 390 was nothing short of a nightmare in these conditions.
Ps: I bought mine in July a full 4 months after the bike was discontinued so I’m not trying to just be defensive about my purchase.
You own one, so I’m sure you know better than me about it! Nothing can be rougher than a 390, or more unrefined, but the price Suzuki asked for was simply ridiculous.
You Calling Inazuma a “piece if shit” most certainly casts a shadow of doubt over your experience or knowledge on that bike. Yes i agree it is not the best looking in the class. But an upright sitting position, butter smooth gear shifting, refined engine and the instruments and handle switches of top notch quality were its strong points. Its one of the best power city commuter bike which can be taken out for fun on weekends. It was a class above anything in the market. What failed that bikes was ONLY n ONLY the pricing.
As you might have noticed, I’m prone to exaggerations. I never got to try that bike because there aren’t enough of them around, and nobody would give me one anyways. Yes pricing with the point of failure, but that’s like the most important thing!
.Its a great machine for some who looks for relaxed riding posture and twin cylinder smoothness and extremely superb suspension for Indian roads and its built like a Patton tank.only styling was a bit odd. But its only for a person who like those kind of character of a bike. Indian mindset has to grow a lot to reach that state. suzuki does teh sales of inazuma world wide very good. yes. its the problem with indian mind set what pushed her out from indian market
Looks are mostly subjective, though Inazuma was no swan it weren’t an ugly duckling either. Suzuki was wrong on the pricing typically Marketing guy are greedy they thought an absence of a nice budget tourer plus the fact that RE sell only old crap (literally) with old benchmarks of reliability, they had a chance to milk consumers, being the internet generation consumers are surely more knowledgeable nowadays.
sorry boss…i have a correction on ur comment on inazuma. Inazuma was failed not because of brand image. how gixxer sales good if brand image works . Inazuma failure reasons are
1)indian riders always focus on VFM and bang for the buck. when they consider the price of inazuma to its power spec, its no where near to indians so called bench mark tool D390 just for 2L.
2)styling- premium bike buyers in India are 90% youngsters. most of the look for a stylish bike,mostly faired design to get noticed on road. no matter its a twin or single.
3) marketing – Trust me, even Many of the suzuki dealers didnt know suzuki launched a bike like this.Test ride/display bike/ services for inazuma was only avail in some dealers in very few cities in the entire country.
Your point for VFM dosent holds as suzuki stripped the prices by 1lac meaning buyers are actually aware of crap (marketing or otherwise) companies drop on them. Like every one knows that cbr650 is out of its league overpriced i know that so I know what decision to make, considering ninja650 is much much cheaper, 2.3 lac for ABS and higher BHP? I am not sure why I shouldn’t be considering VFM?
Had honda gone with simple formula 30K for ABS plus 30K for Honda premium I think I can still see VFM in that product. if you have to stretch the definition of VFM CBR650 is worth considering at 6.5. 7.5 Is pure ripoff.
Good day to you, Honda and Yamaha. I’m happy with my Pulsar 200 NS, and will happily join the KTM league after I start working. The number of updates on the D390 were so many that PowerDrift decided to make a second review! Too bad Honda didn’t get a piggyback ride on an Indian motor company though. KTM should be thankful in that regard.
When Honda launched cbr250r for the first time in India, it was like a dream come true that finally Japanese manufacturers have started treating us at par with our western counterparts. But unfortunately that was not going to be. And now this revfest thing has shown once again that they still treat us as a third world country; that they are the king and give us almonds in the form of bikes!!
And as far as their claim of launching 15 bikes in 2015 is concerned, I’ve seen just one bike in the true sense to be launched this year – cbr650f. Rest are either cosmetic changes or clones of the existing models with different names. So Honda, where are the rest of 14 bikes that you promised?? Or stop making false promises. We are just fucking fed up being treated like shit. And don’t think that your tomfoolery would go unnoticed by the Indian customers….
i would go for the scrambler instead of a honda with tht sort of price…
So would I, although they are totally different bikes.
Lol dude you’re so jobless
I know dude.
I think they will still go off the shelves pretty quick because ‘fairing’
Though I agree with most of what you had to say, I wouldn’t call our market mature. Most of the purchase will still be done by filthy rich bitches !!! They will hear Revfest – see faired bike that makes noise – sign the cheque and get it so I still think Honda will get away with this and sell good numbers !
And ffs Honda, just one colour choice ? More stickers coming ?
Filthy rich bitches have better options and know where to put their money. They will not get carried away by “Fairing”. This is not 2,3,4 Lakh. Pops wont spend 7-8 Lakhs to buy a bike for kid. If a pop can afford their filth rich kids have better choices apart from used liter class bikes.
Sad, but true.
The event was a joke. The security check, a shitty event and your helmets are not allowed inside. WOW! Guess Honda expected posers to come to event, not real bikers.
Helmet were not allowed? Where? I saw a few of those in Hyderabad, but I don’t know who they had to fight to get them in.
Hyderabad itself. We were getting in by 6.30. This old metallic fan kinda figure came along and asked us to put our helmets back in the bike. Was gonna go back instead of that and friend came along in a car. Otherwise wouldn’t have attended the event at all.
Fuck that’s insane!
Absolute bullshit by Honda. Cbr 650f pricing I can understand,maybe they couldn’t achieve the kind of localisation they wanted to achieve. But what’s the logic in not upgrading the cbr250r,when the new 250r and 300 are already available abroad. Yamaha have trolled Indians long enough with shitty sticker jobs and finally they’ve decided to launch the R3, now Honda wants to take up that position by rebadging and restickering old crappy unicorns and giving them fancy names.
Let’s see what R3 is, then we’ll know if Yamaha is any good 🙂
Damn good article man!!…I own a CBR 250R, and I know how Honda have screwed up even with this bike, I mean its a good one, but it has had its fair share of niggles, almost everyone I have met up with have had some or the other problems with it, be it the shim problems or the LED problem in the speedometer or the brake pads going kaput very early, and I don’t see what they meant by Honda Reliability, when they have screwed up with almost all the CBRs here, don’t know much about the 150R, though I feel it was their way of fast fix to compete against the competition favorite R15 (which they couldn’t)…I somehow feel Honda, if not all over the world, but at least in India are filled with bunch of morons as I feel Bajaj have done a lot better job with their Pulsars than these idiots.
actually on a website (not Indian) i read difference btwn ninja 300 and cbr 250 ..one s the price..ninja bein more expensive but in 3 to 4 yrs the amt u spent on a cbr for repairs etc equals to a ninja…and ninja has very superior quality so changin of parts r very less and cbr s more…
Kawasaki spares in India are priced astronomically! I think that comparison was relevant for that particular country only. It’d be like saying Duke 390 is awesome for every country, even though it’s only us that get it at a dirt cheap price and dirt cheap service.
really? whats the cost of one service for ninja 300?do u know the price of chain sprocket for ninja? if u know, just reply me back
Agreed!
What a retarded post. The benellis are sold in Italy and SA for 3.8 lakhs as keeway rk6. Didnt hear you whine why the same pricing wasnt met in India. Do you even know that the Benelli isnt even Italian to have a flair. Its like saying that the chinese cbr250r replica sold by Eider is better than any 200-300cc motorcycle in India. And an i4 vs parallel twin comparo is hilarious. Thats like saying the single cyl 250r is better than the twin pot 300s even if theres like a 14hp difference and the weight is the same (n650). The ninja and the z800 have a 11 year old motor and ancient frame that’s anything but sporty vs a perimeter frame. Backbone frame? Lol cd100 had one.
the Benellis weigh as much as a full size adv bike because its a jugaad bike. The Shiver 750 frame built around parallel or v twins were reinforced with extra metal to hold the r6 engine. A 240 kg middle weight 600 lmfao. Having a non adjustable USD has no benefits over a non adjustable showa standard fork. Indian buyers are idiots that they never research before purchase.
I never thought there could be someone more frustrated and angry at the Indian biking scene than me.
hahaha nailed t…!!!
Hahah 😀
I’m not angry or frustrated, just pointing out people’s stupidity. Expecting a Chinese replica maker who’s masquerading under the Italian brand that died ages ago to fool people into buying their over inflated price tag bikes which are seen as VFM because of the lack of options in the country is really hilarious. Not one person who asks why the 650F is sitting where it is has ever asked why the 3.8 lakh Keeways are sold at 5.6 lakhs in India. And i read somewhere about the USD 50mm forks vs 41mm conventional Showas and i Lol’d so hard. What’s the advantage here? Neither have any adjustability and the USD seal leak usually means a tow truck vs conventional seal leak where you can atleast ride to the ASC. Thirdly 50mm is an overkill for a 600, the first reason why there’s a 50mm fork is because the frame was designed to hold a torquey 750 vtwin but was heavily reinforced to hold the R6’s 140kg engine and thus Benelli or QJ who have zero R&D decided to upscale the fork dia to compensate the 230-245 kg weight of the bikes.
If the point that you are trying to make is that people are stupid, I couldn’t agree with you more.
Sure, Benelli is no Ducati, but it’s a bike, with an engine, and it runs. It’s surely not the best in any department, but it’s an option that many people are willing to compromise for. If the 600i had ABS, it would probably be sitting under me right now. Is it overpriced? Maybe, but it’s at least in line with what what the competition has to offer.
It should have been priced as much as a ninja 300, how is it in line with anything? If Eider motors can import a cbr 250r knockoff from china and undercut hondas pricing how cheap do you think a bike sold in far off west for 3.8 lakhs would be worth in India? Theres a whole 2 lakh premium per bike sold which isn’t even a Benelli but a Keeway from a long time ago covered in fancy fairings
Good article man
And as soon as the price list was out, anyone would’ve just gone ahead, paid 20-30k more and bought the z800
Not everyone. There are people who are still buying the Street Triple, so I’m certain there will be people who pick these up 🙂 Only time will tell how good a bike it really is, but the start hasn’t been the best.
The problem with Kawasaki is they think they’re MV Agusta.
I visitied the Kawasaki showroom first. Enquired about available models, prices, booking, test rides.
1. No test rides offered.
2. Booking amount 5 lakh ( for all bikes above 650)
3. Only 1 color choice (only Ninja 300 has 2 color options)
So I am supposed to buy a bike on faith, without test riding, with a booking amount that’s more than the down payment for other brands (with a loan) and they won’t even give choice of colors. Later they did give a few people test rides, but only inside the building’s compound, not out on the street – so you get to 2nd gear at best before you brake. And did I mention this is KHI – Kawasaki Heavy Industries , stress on heavy ?
Z1000 : 228kg
Z800 : 230kg.
Someone with a budget under 10 bigs ones looking for a big bike, the St3 being 43kg lighter, available for test rides, has 3-4 color options …starts to look better. For those not bent on 3 digit horsepower, or for racing with their buddies or those not so technically minded, 78hp is not so terribly slow after all.
PS: no, I didn’t buy the Street Triple, though it was what I intended to.
I also didn’t buy the Street Triple, although I SOOOO intended to 🙂 Yes Kawasaki has been riding on a high horse, but at least they’ve been bringing in quality shit, which is priced not too bad.
True that.