[silverado]

They could have been more imaginative if they really wanted to ridicule RE.
RE's have come a long way and have been more reliable, but have also become common.

Gone are the days when RE was a novelty to own.

[abhishek46]

Originally Posted by Latheesh

OT
Ad says RE guys - "For years we marched as one, stuck together through ups and downs, and keep the tradition alive" with a trademark RE thump in the background. But looking at the speed and the way Dominar guys riding (wrong side) in the ad - They won't live long to do any of it. Not to mention the fake Dominar engine note! That sounds like a super bike.

Good Observation.
Even though I am no fan of REs (thanks to their legendary reliability), I did not find this AD to be neither innovative nor pleasing.

Lastly, fake exhaust notes are a serious turn off.

[VW2010]

I loved the ad. I have owned an RE for the last 12 years and it will only continue to live with me in my life, my sons and hopefully his. Having said that, these bikes are way behind modern bikes on quality, performance and what they offer for the money you pay.I will get a 390 in a wink, but I know I love my elephant inside the city. My elephant serves me really well, but I love a cheetah for anything that requires riding more than 5kms. RE is just painful for long rides. It's just slow.

[PrasannaDhana]

Originally Posted by VW2010

I loved the ad. I have owned an RE for the last 12 years and it will only continue to live with me in my life.

+1

I love the ad too. I also have owned a CI Standard 350 from 1986. I bought it in 2006 and sold it in 2007. I liked the bike, but it is a completely boring and lazy bike for a guy like me who rides fast.

I dont think bullets fit in any specific purpose now. You want to cruise & tour- the CBR 250R and Dominar 400 are way ahead and above any bullet in making your tour interesting and eventless.

You want to have fun in the city, FZ25/Duke 200 can do that flawlessly.

You want to have fun on the highway/ go around corners, close your eyes and get the N300/390 twins.

Bullet 350 is the modern day splendour. Every Jack and Joe owns one.

No offense to bullet owners. I dont think bullets get ridiculed more than KTMs. We should learn to take a joke!

[Urban_Nomad]

Its a great ad IMO, and the resentment shown by some folks here is quite understandable. Its quite similar to the outrage displayed by many a desi folks when Maria Sharapova in an interview simply mentioned - "I don't know who Sachin Tendulkar is". Its irrational, rather stupid but you kinda know why its there; and even expect it

IMO, Bajaj or anyone else interested in riding motorcycles; has a right to take solid digs at RE. I should know, I owned one for around a decade. It was an AVL Thunderbird and while it did not leak oil profusely - its performance was utter crap

Horrible brakes, numbing vibrations post 80, footpegs that dragged if your lean angle was more that 5 degrees (I had to replace the footpeg rubber covers once at least every 2 - 3 months) etc etc.

I think people's infatuation with this "motorcycle" is not just because of the aspiration value (built from a time they saw a macho hulking Enfield for the first time); but its a rather easily achieved aspiration - at least for most of the urban working class

I request the members not to take my comments personally. My view on motorcycling is a bit different. I own a Duke 390 and love that bike, but I love it as a bike ONLY ... nothing more. Its not my "baby", a kid I need to nurture, my partner, my love ... whatever. I haven't named it and don't intend to either. In case someone is wondering - No, I didn't name my RE either

To me, bikes are a medium that allow me to do something I really love - Riding; plain and simple. To me, "falling in love" with your motorcycle is as ridiculous as a painter falling in love with a paint brush, or a chef going head over heels nuts for a frying pan. To me - its all about the act of riding a motorcycle that brings me happiness. A good motorcycle for me is what allows me to enjoy riding in every form possible. It should lean as far over as I dare, go as fast as my skill allows me to go, not burn a hole in my pocket for its upkeep etc etc

An Enfield does none of that for me. As far as my requirements go - Its utter crap! That said; I understand the passionate love sonnets people write in the name of this antique contraption

[adrian]

Originally Posted by Urban_Nomad

IMO, Bajaj or anyone else interested in riding motorcycles; has a right to take solid digs at RE.

Agreed. They have a right to take a dig at Royal Enfield, the company (in that case the punch line should have been "Don't make/breed Elephants").

But they have no right to dig at the riders saying "Haathi math palo". It is a personal choice. Bajaj may have made a great motorcycle. Kudos to them. They can advertise on what all advanced features they have to offer and for sure they will get their customers who want reliable and technologically advances motorbikes.

But, Why make fun of others personal choices. I and many others like the Bullet the way it is. I am contented with what it has to offer and loves to get my hands dirty while maintaining it. You can call me a cave man or a frog in the well for that.

[jayantvs]

Originally Posted by adrian

But they have no right to dig at the riders saying "Haathi math palo".....
....I and many others like the Bullet the way it is. I am contented with what it has to offer and loves to get my hands dirty while maintaining it....

Great to see such passion for RE, I respect that I think you should not be taking the "haathi mat paalo" comment seriously, it is just a marketing gimmick and someone who knows what the Haathi is capable of shouldn't be bothering about such comments. For that matter RE also had a tagline "Everybody gives way to bullet" in an older ad, I did not take offence in that since I do not own a bullet.

I am a bajaj bike owner and would definitely want to get an RE thunderbird in near future. Only thing keeping me away from this is that I rarely go out on a bike ride and I would not be able to give it as much time/effort as a typical RE enthusiast would do. For people like me they would want a hassle free bike which help them go from point A to point B.

The problem what others are trying to point out is not with the bike but the manufacturing quality even after so many years I have seen people who have faced a lot of problems after owning an RE but would still go for another RE if given a choice.

BTW I too liked the dominor ad and would definitely like to see if RE comes up with a response.

[sandeepmdas]

I would love to see the glee mood inside the offices of both Bajaj and it's ad agency. An ad so successful it now has its own thread in Team-BHP! Bajaj was always good in launching some very memorable commercials and that's that.

I am not a biker, never enjoyed riding and I don't know anything about Dominor, but I bet RE will thump on till electric bikes kill it circa 2030. Just my2c.

[neil.jericho]

I cant help but thinking we are all missing the wood for the trees. The real story here is how Bajaj's marketing division has really messed up the positioning of its flagship motorcycle and is desperately trying to pump some life back into the product.


I did a little bit of research and started off on the Bajaj Dominar Facebook page which appears to be run by Bajaj themselves. Bajaj initially started off their ad campaign with a Dominate the Night theme with test rides scheduled all the way up till midnight. On paper this would have been a great idea because
1. It highlights a strong feature of the bike which is its really bright lamps and
2. It allows the salaried target audience to make time after their working hours to take a test ride.


Lets look at some posts from their Facebook page from late last year and early 2017. Bajaj was pushing the #NightTestRides in their posts.

They created a video as well with the same theme dominate the night theme that impressively has 20,340,834 hits on Youtube.


Then they had owners share their pictures which the FB page admin then shared to all its followers (as of now its 225,910) with the #NightPictures. Here's one from April.

And another one from June.

So one would think that Bajaj had nailed it and dealers would be laughing their way to the cash counters. Lets look at the sales figures from the May 2017 two wheeler sales thread on TBHP. I couldnt find a more recent one though that would help prove or disprove my theory. For their flagship product that everyone was eagerly looking forward to, Bajaj dispatched a grand total of wait, what?

Lets look at Royal Enfield's sales numbers for the same period.

Cut to June 2017 and an obviously under pressure marketing team at Bajaj suddenly changed their complete advertising pitch to Go Hyper riding. Wait, so what happened to the #NightPictures? An about turn this early in a products launch is as clear cut an admission of the brand manager and marketing team's failure as anything else. So how do you create a buzz about a product that has been Bajaj's (not KTMs, mind you) lowest selling model for the first few months of this year? Try and tear down its opposition, that's how. But wait, there's a twist.


I honestly dont even recall the biking brotherhood video that Adrian shared but if 11 months ago Bajaj was positioning their Avenger as equal to the Classic 350 then that's a head scratcher. Here's what the narrator says in the Bajaj biking brotherhood advertisement
" A day to forget our differences, to ride alongside, through roads and offroads, ups and downs, wet and dry. Today, today we ride as one."


Now jump to the Go Hyperriding advertisement and at the start, we saw a bunch of hipster riders with the narrator saying
"For years we marched as one, we've stuck together, through ups and downs, and through twists and turns, we keep the tradition alive...."


Wait, what? First Bajaj says that their owners are part of this biking fraternity with their Avenger and then they turn around and mock these very own owners along with Royal Enfield (and I suppose Harley Davidson as well)? My head hurts but then again I probably have spent more time typing this post than the marketing boffins at Bajaj have in their knee jerk reaction.

So ask yourself, is the joke really on Royal Enfield? Or on confused Dominar owners who dont know if they are supposed to tell their friends that their bike is supposed to be for night riding or hyper riding or hyper night riding? Or is it, most cruelly on Bajaj Avenger owners who are now being made fun of by the same manufacturer that sold them their bikes?


P.S - Before you respond with a "The Dominar is a halo product and isnt supposed to sell in large numbers" theory, I think we can all agree that Bajaj didnt spend all this time and money to develop a motorcycle that sells only 3000 units a month.

P.P.S - Ive owned a first generation Bajaj Pulsar for years and currently own a Royal Enfield Continental GT. So I have a fair picture of what owning products from both companies entails.

P.P.P.S - Royal Enfield is running a business. They arent the only motorcycle manufacturer in the country. All dealerships offer test rides and as a potential buyer, you are free to take a test ride and make a conscious decision on whether you want to buy a bike or not. Royal Enfield isnt forcing anyone to part with their hard earned money. People nowadays know what they are getting into when they buy a Royal Enfield. In this day and age of social media, its not that difficult to research on a particular product and make a wise choice. Royal Enfield's motorcycles rock some people boat. They dont for others. Lets live and let live. Last I checked this was team-bhp.com where we could have informative discussions on brands and products. If we all loved the same motorcycle or brand we would instead be on bajajdominar.com/forum/ or herosplendorproclassicisthegreatest.com!

[sriramv.iyer]

Originally Posted by jaganpec2002

Agreed. I own a Classic Chrome and have driven 45K KM in 4 years. The comfortable cruising speed is 80-100 and beyond that it vibrates like hell. Braking is very average. I agree with the advert too that it doesn't corner well. There is always oil seepage and the Service centre said it will be there nothing can be done. If not used for a while battery drains. Pushing it in case of a puncture is a tedious affair. All agreed.

[ .. ]
When on a open highway do I feel underpowered? - Yes everytime.
Wish I had a better engine so that I can cruise easily at 120KMPH - Yes everytime.
Did bikes like Dominar/Mojo/Duke 390 cross my mind for an upgrade - Yes everytime.
Will I put my money on them if I ever decide to upgrade - Not a chance.

This is a laundry list of complaints against Bullet

Owning a Bullet is similar to iphone(Not necesserialy as reliable and efficient as an iphone). You have loads of Android advertisments on how good and how better they are compared to an iphone but still "If you don't have an iPhone, well, you don't have an iPhone".

I have owned every iPhone from iPhone 4. They are amazingly engineered products, but priced very high. I wouldn't compare it with any RE product

They are certain things that pull your heartstrings. Bullet is one such thing.

Will there be oil seepage in 750CC RE? - Hell Yes
Are brakes going to be average? - Hell Yes
Are lights going to be average? - Hell Yes
Vibrations going to the there? - Hell Yes
Will I upgrade to it? - HELL YEAH.

It is not rational, not justifiable and doesnt make sense either. But I just dont care.

RE brand is built on such loyalty.

I ride a KTM D390 (2017) and was one of the first to own the 2013 model as well. I also used to ride RC390, GT650N, Karizma (launch version), YZFR15 and also a Bullet 350 (CI) with a thump (also just finished a 350 km ride on a borrowed Triumph Street Triple) - I have also briefly used a Classic 350 and Classic 500.

Of all the bikes that I have ridden, the Bullets annoy me the most. You have listed almost all problems in your post above.

I feel that the problem is with people who are blindly loyal without questioning the manufacturer and say things like:

"If you don't have a Bullet, well, you don't have a Bullet"

This is how it is going to end

• In the short / mid term, a lot of people will buy RE products.
  
• The fanboys will keep the bikes for long. I guess this will be 5% - 10% of the RE customers (may be I am wrong).
• The rest will be disillusioned - There will soon be a deluge of used Bullets (I'll use this term for all RE Products, despite knowing that I'll be grilled for that) - Three of my friends have sold their Bullets within a year of purchasing
• This will bring down the used market prices (which is already happening) and new ones won't sell.
  
  We know what happens from there.

I don't know why fanboy's blood doesn't boil when a bike that one paid 1.77L of hard earned money - leaks, shudders, breaks down - But some random guy on the road shows a thumbs up everything is forgiven and forgotten.

I am not targeting you by any chance - I am just venting my frustration of a company which has built a great platform squandering all opportunities to take to next level by sheer negligence.

Originally Posted by Ry_der

Your whole post is summarized in the above lines. REs may be unreliable, impracticle, niggle prone but the satisfaction of owning one can not be described in words. Its more like a kid, who needs attention, throws tantrums but you only love it back.

Its not a machine you own, but a kid you nurture.

Keep thumping !!

With friends like these, RE doesn't need enemies

[adrian]

Originally Posted by sandeepmdas

I would love to see the glee mood inside the offices of both Bajaj and it's ad agency.

Not with all the trolls they get on Facebook. As a Malayalee you must already know. Wish I could post them here but all are in Malayalam and are super fun.

Originally Posted by neil.jericho

.

Lets live and let live.

That is what I am also trying to convey, but for my poor communication skills.
As a matter of fact we have a Splendor in our ride group.



Ride and let ride. Why stomp on others foot.

Loved the way you did the analysis. It has brought me peace. Thank you.

[silverado]

Actually not Off-topic though it may sound so, Bajaj should have shown those RE riders who like to rev their bikes hard and ride like KTM Dukes in traffic.

RE was never made to race on streets, but there are few people who do that in traffic. Also I cant figure out why would someone like to ride a RE in bumper to bumper traffic to office on daily basis!

With Dominar and all that heat dissipation thing, it should be showcased as more all-round bike which can be used for daily grind.

This is not a RE vs Dominar post, but just trying to think of other ways in which this AD could have been done.
And I agree that the AD looks a bit like a desperate attempt from Bajaj.

P.S : Have owned a 1972 RE for 2 years which I struggled to maintain, eventually gave it back to my uncle who still owns it.

[prasadee]

Originally Posted by jaganpec2002

Agreed. I own a Classic Chrome and have driven 45K KM in 4 years. The comfortable cruising speed is 80-100 and beyond that it vibrates like hell. Braking is very average. I agree with the advert too that it doesn't corner well. There is always oil seepage and the Service centre said it will be there nothing can be done. If not used for a while battery drains. Pushing it in case of a puncture is a tedious affair. All agreed.

But still there is some better feeling when you drive it. Only a person who loves driving and travelling can relate to it. May be it is like riding on an elephant - ROYAL . It is not rational, not justifiable and doesnt make sense either. But I just dont care. "If you don't have a Bullet, well, you don't have a Bullet"

This is such an awesome post. Thanks for sharing the thinking behind riding a bike and feeling like a king. I have ridden bullets and Harleys, and I have never understood the underlying thinking. In the 18 years of owning Hondas I have never had one - that dropped a drop of oil, I have never had one - that had anything fail. Not even a light bulb.

Anyways, riding a bike itself is not rational. So ride on!

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by neil.jericho

I cant help but thinking we are all missing the wood for the trees. The real story here is how Bajaj's marketing division has really messed up the positioning of its flagship motorcycle and is desperately trying to pump some life back into the product.

For their flagship product that everyone was eagerly looking forward to, Bajaj dispatched a grand total of wait, what?

So ask yourself, is the joke really on Royal Enfield?

I think we can all agree that Bajaj didnt spend all this time and money to develop a motorcycle that sells only 3000 units a month.

An absolute gem of a post!

You're right. And I've been wondering about this ever since I noticed the numbers for Dominar in the sales threads.

It's a fantastic product at a good price, no doubt. But have they really, and I mean really really, botched up the positioning by targeting the cruiser segment? I feel so.

Royal Enfield riders would have never migrated to Dominar. The only chances they have are with Bonneville based Bajaj's in the future, or perhaps well engineered Jawa models that look and feel the tradition combined with modern technology and reliability.

Instead of positioning the Dominar as the next generation of Pulsars, they tried to go after a wrong crowd IMO. And are getting very desperate at it, as you rightly pointed out.

[adrian]

Originally Posted by sriramv.iyer

Of all the bikes that I have ridden, the Bullets annoy me the most.

Three of my friends have sold their Bullets within a year of purchasing

I don't know why fanboy's blood doesn't boil when a bike that one paid 1.77L of hard earned money - leaks, shudders, breaks down - But some random guy on the road shows a thumbs up everything is forgiven and forgotten.

Just some one help me understand the scenario.

Mr.X is a Bullet lover. He knows about the drawbacks of his machine and take the plunge and enjoys the motorcycle within the limits it offers. He enjoys the lighter things in life ...like an acknowledgement from a fellow enthusiast.

Mr.Y is a wannabe Bulleteer.

Now from centuries it is passed on as a hearsay, written in forums and public blogs that 'ROYAL ENFIELD BULLET IS A WHITE ELEPHANT, UNRELIABLE, WILL DROP ITS PARTS ON THE RUN' and all the like.

More over he has this friend Mr.Z who has ridden high tech bikes and occasional Bullet motorcycles and has come to the conclusion that Bullets are utter crap. Based on this personal decision he has invested in a high tech motorcycle and is happy with it. Being a nice friend, he warns others not to invest in a Bullet as it will bring sorrow and pain with it.

Despite the warnings Mr.Y takes the plunge and buys a Bullet and finds that he had put his hard earned money in the wrong place.

Now my question is why Mr.X's blood should boil and go on to stab the manufacturer for the personal (wrong) decision made by Mr.Y , despite all the warning in this tech savvy world?

Mr.Y can address the company and move to a consumer court if they fail to address the issues. Several riders are doing this now a days.

As Neil rightly said in his post - no one, be it RE or its riders are forcing you to part your hard earned money on a Bullet. It was your personal decision and that makes you responsible. It is like someone who has burned his tongue drinking hot coffee putting the blame on the guy on the next table, who is enjoying hot steaming coffee.