Team-BHP - Fun & Interesting Trivia on the Indian Car Scene

Quote:

Originally Posted by tharian (Post 3415671)

Yes, it was the Matador which had a FWD. The F305 and F307.

Towards the end they introduced a model called R307 which was a RWD and looked like a FWD version on stilts.
The company also sold a 3 wheeled pick up van the size of a Tata Ace .

Members in Bangalore may also remember a set of Matadors which had a modified rear axle which had dual tires on them that used to be parked for hire at the end of Brigade road in the 90's.

These are not user modified Matadors, I heard they sources a new engine from Mercedes and were trying to sell a 6 wheeled version which failed very badly

Quote:

Originally Posted by VinodDevil81 (Post 3415956)

yes..but if I remember correctly, the disc on CBZ was optional.It was available with a 130 mm drum up-front too,with a lower price tag and there was a considerable demand for this variant too. I think it was the pulsar that made front disc brakes standard on mainstream 150cc + bikes in India. Please Correct me if I am wrong.

Yes..that is correct.The first gen pulsars (both the classic and 1st Gen DTSi) had 18 litre fuel tanks. Even the Bullet didn't have such tank capacity. I own a 1st gen DTSi with such a massive tank. I have never done a tank full in these entire 11 years of owning it. 10 litre is the maximum that I have ever filled.:)

With the first upgrade of the DTSi series, Bajaj downsized both the tank and the rim size.

yes..that was a major design flaw on an otherwise superb bike.Used to be so annoying to fold the right-foot peg everytime before kick-starting the bike.
And Electric start was not a standard feature then.

But I remember,the same issue was tackled in a very simple and clever manner by TVS, by just giving an angular bend to the kick-lever.
I think it was on Apache or 1st gen RTR- can't remember the exact model and year.

Similar issue was there in Current Karizma too, but its not much affecting now days since electric Start was standard on Karizma, which was not there in CBC (Not sure optional was added in first model)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wanderers (Post 3421233)

Hamara Bajaj Tumhara Vespa

Bajaj Chetak was the Indian Avatar of Italian Scooter Vespa.
Bajaj made this scooter under technology collaboration with Piaggio, the makers of Vespa.

Today's Piaggio India (Vespa) is their third successful attempt to establish itself in Indian Market.

After Bajaj, Piaggio had another joint venture with LML, which lasted till late nineties.

Rather the fourth attempt by Piaggio to gain a foothold. I am adding the 1980's Vespa PL 170 to your list, made by A.P. Scooters Ltd (APSL). APSL was manufacturing the Allwyn Pushpak based on the Vijai Super and was doing rather well. It was perhaps the second best selling from the Vijai variants after the Super.

APSL decided to manufacture the PL 170 and as the Vespa XE waiting list was too long, many customers having faith in brand Vespa booked the PL 170. The scooter was lean and frail, had a 125 cc two stroke engine and the joke doing the rounds was that "Vespa 150 ko Malaria ho gaya aur yeh abhi PL 170 ban gaya". (means "the Vespa 150 has suffered a bout of malaria and has now become the PL 170.").:uncontrol The PL 170 was OK though, but was underpowered.

Another proxy attempt by Piaggio was through the Narmada 150, made by Gujarat Narmada Auto Ltd (GNAL) . Fit and finish were extremely poor. It was readily available but few buyers ventured to buy one. :Shockked:

The sub 150 cc scooters that came from Europe bombed during the 1980's being underpowered.However, the Japanese tasted mega-success with the Kinetic Honda, a 100 cc two stroke, that became very popular with the young and old alike, especially with the ladies and senior citizens.

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TVS Victor, the bike advertised by Sachin Tendulkar, came in 2 variants. Victor GL and Victor GX, for 100cc version. Victor GL had all forward 4 gears and Victor GX had Hero Honda like gears. It was quite a fun when GL users tried GX and subsequent confusions happened in traffic. TVS had done this to attract bajaj bike customers using GL and hero honda customers using GX.

After these two, a 125cc version followed, Victor GLX. My cousin in pune had that, it had Hero Honda like gears and starting problems.

Quote:

Originally Posted by GTO (Post 3414938)

• Sitting on the fence with regards to Airbags & ABS? This should help you make up your mind: More people die of road accidents in India than anywhere else in the world. Trust me, you can use all the safety equipment you can get on our deadly highways. Maruti used to offer ABS as a Rs. 20,000 option on the 1st-gen Swift (VXi / VDi variants). Shocking that the number of customers opting for the same were in single digits (% terms).

Maybe it's got to do with our strong belief in afterlife!

Cheers,

Quote:

Originally Posted by turbodude (Post 3449524)

TVS Victor, the bike advertised by Sachin Tendulkar, came in 2 variants. V
After these two, a 125cc version followed, Victor GLX. My cousin in pune had that, it had Hero Honda like gears and starting problems.

I had Victor GLX and liked it very much! The disc breaks, added power and fuel efficient engine (nice exhaust note)! Though, I didn't had problems with the starting the bike though (even on cold winter mornings)..

Quote:

Originally Posted by ku69rd (Post 3417891)

Yamaha RX 100

Not sure if this has been added but here is one thing I can recall. RX 100 was probably the first bike to let you kickstart it even when in gear (of course you need to hold the clutch for it). I found it an awesome feature when I used to ride it (borrowed from someone in my building). Back in the 90's.

Quote:

Originally Posted by skyrocket003 (Post 3481201)

I think Yezdi had this feature. However, I do not remember this correctly.

Quote:

Originally Posted by skyrocket003 (Post 3481201)

Not just RX100, all 2-stroke bikes used to let you do that. IND-Suzuki AX100, Kawasaki Bajaj KB100 RTZ, were the other Japanese 2-stroke bikes.

Quote:

Originally Posted by skyrocket003 (Post 3481201)

Not sure if this has been added but here is one thing I can recall. RX 100 was probably the first bike to let you kickstart it even when in gear.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sourabhzen (Post 3481276)

I think Yezdi had this feature. However, I do not remember this correctly.

Yes, the Yezdi had it too, the later two stroke Jap's had it too. This was never advertised as a feature that set it apart from the competition until probably Honda came up with their ad for Shine/Unicorn with the 'Primary Start' IIRC.

Quote:

Originally Posted by skyrocket003 (Post 3481201)

For RX100 fans...

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Here's another bit of trivia. Probably the only MUV sold in India with a full & proper truck engine was the Tata Spacio (stripped down Sumo). If you closed your eyes and a Sumo Spacio drove by, you'd think it was a 407 truck :Shockked::Shockked:! The Spacio also had round headlamps (regular Sumo had them rectangular).

Loud noise & super limited revv-range aside, the 407 motor brought amazing torque, fuel-economy & durability (IIRC, Tata offered a 3 lakh kms warranty on this engine).

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Image Credit - www.saintclassified.in

On a related note, came across this 15 minute video on the 407!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mglETq4Mhg8

Now that you mention it, recall a funny incident. I was at Patna and wanted to book a Sumo for hire (private plates).

Parked were one Sumo & a Spacio. The guy who was dealing wanted to push the Spacio and then I had to mention, that if you think I do not know the difference between a Sumo and a Spacio then you are wrong.

Not only he rented it out, he charged Re. 1 less per/km from the standard fare.