[Magnaspectre]

Just read an article on Zigwheels, which said that sales of bikes over 500cc have doubled in 2012 compared to the previous year. This is great news for us bikers. For once, I too contributed to this number and hoping to do the same this year too

Here's the link to the Zigwheels article: http://www.zigwheels.com/news-featur...in-2012/16217/

This year too, a good number of premium bikes are expected to come to our doorsteps. Some under 500cc and others over... Hope, the manufacturers do continue to see this and launch good products our way.

Of the Indian manufacturers, only Royal Enfield has been trying to do something. Case being, the new Thunderbird and the upcoming cafe racer. Hope to see Bajaj and the TVS-BMW combine to unleash some magic. (Dual- purpose bikes? MY wish )

Other than Harley, no foreign manufacturer has tried hard of establishing themselves here. Bajaj, seem very disinterested in getting Kawasaki here in a big way, not sure if it’s since they have a big stake in KTM?? It seems they giving Kawasaki a step-sisterly treatment.

As well as the remaining of the Japanese Big Four, they have a few good big bikes here, but none in 400-800cc range. This is the segment I believe is the perfect cubic capacity range for India.

Triumph has shown promise and do hope to see them here (hopefully soon). Also, looking hopefully towards Piaggio, to get Aprillia and Moto Guzzi here in a big way...


What are your thoughts??

[apachelongbow]

Its true. Finally Indian bikers seem to have a wide array of performance bikes to choose from. There are a lot of born again bikers (me included) who can plonk in a few lac cash or opt for EMI schemes and buy a big bike. These were the same set of people who have cut their biking teeth on Rx100, Cbz, Pulsars in their youth, then got jobs, got married, moved on to sedans and now in their 30s and 40s, have the time and money to return back to recreational biking.

We should see interesting times ahead. RE as usual is trying to establish a place in the premium biking segment with their new 500 cc and 535 cc engines. The Cafe racer reportedly puts out about 38bhp!! They are also working on a 750cc parallel twin concept which we should see in about 2 years. The fact that there is an average waiting of 8 months on all RE models with each bike costing between 1.2 to 2 lac is a sign of growing buying power.

Bajaj has wisely used the Kawasaki and KTM leverage to firm their position in performance biking space. The upcoming Duke 390 and 690 should be hot sellers. The new Ninja 300 has pushed up the 250cc benchmark again.
Harley has correctly tapped into the affluent biker section and groups of Harley's riding out of Mumbai every Saturday morning is a testimonial to the growing Harley sales.

Hyosung has got really good products in their new cruiser and the 250cc bike. Their sales too seem to stabilize and on the growth path since they cut of ties with the useless Garware company.

I agree that 250-800cc range of engines and the price range between 1.5 lac to 7 lac is ripe for picking for any bike maker in India. This section is recession proof and is actually growing when sales in other segments have shrunk.
If any manufacturer has done their homework right, they must look at two new but growing categories, namely the Enduro/Dirt bike segment and the power scooter/maxi scooter segment. If some one can tap into these segments with a 400c dirt bike or a maxi scooter, they might be richly rewarded.