[Zinda]

I dont find the ad offending. Doesn't add any points to Bajaj except sales because their technical growth is defined as launching Discovers, launching pulsars with 20cc increment with each model and #of sparkplugs!

Coming back to the Ad - Yes I can understand the kind of "turn-off" it must be for the RE riders, but no mercy for the company. Maintaining the legend is great! Kudos!! But moving with time is also equally important.

Afterall does it really takes so much to improve on brakes, vibration, electricals etc? I was on a lookout for apt replacement for my 12 years old Avenger recently, and main reason behind I did not buy the Classic Chrome 500/Thunderbird 500 is that I wasnt clear whether the Bike Vibrates or its a Vibrator which can move as well!!

My wrists never complain during rigorous sessions of Bench-press & Dead-lifts in the Gym, but they were not comfortable on ~12kms of test ride on a bullet. Maybe my seating or grip, I agree, but the bike isnt kind to wrists for sure. Disappointed, headed towards Bajaj's showroom and gave my money for a Dominar.

Again, no offences to the owners - this is for the Company. You are making fat profits since years now but still you continue selling leaking machines and half baked products like the Himalayan. Does Classic 500/TB 500 really deserves 2L+ price tag? Is ABS so difficult to include, atleast as an option?

Retro/Legend is highly related to form-factor which can be retained, but no one would complain if major issues can be fixed forever and a bit of tech can be introduced. Learn from Triumph!

[bikerzindia]

Bajaj are good at making fun of others but when it comes to them, they don't take any criticism. In the recent Ride for Independence advertisement, they showed a lady biker riding without proper helmet & riding gear so as soon as I commented that, they disabled the comments altogether. Now after 4 days they have enabled it. Also attaching my tweet which I sent them. Also in the brotherhood advertisement, we don't see the Riders wearing safety gear. As a company promoting biking & riding, I think they should promote safe riding at least when they show touring and riding on highways. We can overlook the city riding advertisements to certain extent but not the touring ones.

Mods please delete if this is not the right forum to post this. Thanks.

[ArizonaJim]

Like them or not, Royal Enfield has, over the years, become a treasured symbol to many of the people of India whether they ride motorcycles or not.

When a company decides to belittle something that many identify with, they risk a backlash from the people who witness the derisive comments or in this case, the advertisement.

The feeling may be, "The best Bajaj could do is to knock India's best known motorcycle in the name of trying to sell their own newcomer**? That's a rather petty thing to do. I don't know that I'll ever own a Royal Enfield but Bajaj's ad puts them at the bottom of my list."

** Over 60 years of Royal Enfield production in India makes all of the other currently made brands "new comers" in India.

[VinodDevil81]

Both these brands are not churning out exceptional machines and there is nothing that makes their machines stand apart from the competition in terms of build quality and reliability.
So, it is better that they don't resort to this indirect sledging, because neither of them is better than the other.

Both have their own sets of horror stories and when one of them resorts to just sledging its rival without trying to improve its reputation in quality, they are only exposing their own weaknesses more.

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

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.

Exactly.
Dominar may be Bajaj's best offering till date, and Bajaj may be really proud of its marvelous feat of producing such a remarkable bike.( remarkable by Indian standards. )
They have every right to be proud of that.
But they have positioned this bike very very awkwardly.

It was their greatest mistake to market Dominar as a competitor to RE bullets.
Which RE Fan boy or prospective RE buyer would get attracted to a bike like Dominar just because it has a comparable engine displacement as that of RE? What were the Bajaj people thinking?

On paper, Dominar may have everything superior to REs, like bhp, torque, 0-100, top speed, handling and what not.
But who is considering all these tech-specs when they decide to buy an RE?
It's just an aspirational thing to own an RE.
Something that has more to do with emotion than logic.
And for something to have an aspirational or nostalgic value at a later point of time, it should exist for a greater period of time, either as old vintage pieces or brand new ones that still retains the old looks to a great extent.
RE ticks both those boxes, and sadly Bajaj cannot even dream about that right now.
Legacy is not something that can be built within 4 months.It takes years to do that.

With their abrupt dis-continuation policies and short-life cycle product models, it is hard for Bajaj to achieve such a feat at least in the near future.
Only the Pulsar brand has lasted for these many years.

The best they could have done was to launch it as Pulsar 400 itself, which was their original plan.

Rather than this futile and desperate attempt to lure RE buyers, they should have marketed is as their modern flagship successor to the Pulsar series.

Later,if they wanted a share of RE buyers, they should have plonked this same engine to the Avenger's frame and launched a fully loaded Avenger 400 for that purpose.

It would have saved the poor Dominar of this identity crisis it is facing right now.

But who knows, if nothing works out, Bajaj may do that any time.
They wouldn't hesitate to discontinue any product even if it is only a few months old. They have mercilessly done that many times in the past.
So it doesn't take much time for Bajaj to come up with a 400cc Avenger and a new Pulsar 400 and then discard the Dominar altogether.

Come on Bajaj! that would make much more sense, rather than these childish attempts to get a share of RE's pie which you don't deserve at all.

If RE decides to take revenge and make a smart ad targeting Bajaj's weaknesses, I believe that would be an instant hit and the impact would be much more than this ad.

N.B -I didn't mean to offend any Bajaj fans here.
I am a also a Pulsar owner and not an RE fan.
But I still like the old bullets, and feel that the newer ones are not real bullets.Period.

[Mik]

The RE Non-RE folks have got one more issue to rant about :-)
In terms of the concept, I think this ad is brilliant. RE fanboys will not be reasoned with or swayed by far superior modern machines so why not pitch an ad which reinforces the perceptions of the Non RE-fanboys. A modern machine which leaves behind the 'elephant-esque' RE far behind.
The execution - is average. Just not in the league of some of their legendary campaigns.

There is something beautiful about riding REs at 60kmph on a straight road or even in mild gravel (since its very stable). It is the bulleteers (of all engine types and generations) that I cannot stand. Unfortunately, I seemed to have attracted the worst kinds in my various travels.

Disclaimer: Have suffered through an Electra for 6 months and have had reasonably blissful trysts with 3 other 'plastic' bikes (220fi, KTM 390, CBR 250)

[naveenroy]

Bwahahahahah. Hahahahaah. I love it when any other company trolls "Royal" Enfield. Lovely ad. Btw, like someone had commented, Bajaj isn't trolling RE riders here, it is trolling the elephants. Only the elephants. Bwahahahahaha. :

Yes, look at my signature - I owned an RE - not one of those "cast-iron" "beasts" that would run as long as you "lovingly maintained" them but a Thunderbird. Ah the joys of having a bike that would not start in the morning, a bike that had smoke from burnt wires and broke down. A bike that had to be towed for said break down. A bike that cost so much to maintain. Only after buying a Honda did I realise the real joys of having a machine that I could trust blindly!

And I was also part of a "Bullet" club - but am glad that my club members never looked down upon other "plastic" bikes. And many of them have now upgraded to better bikes too. But I have met many RE bikers who always have only bad things to say about other bikes. It has always been a bad experience to ride with such people. But hey, nothing we can do about that. I somehow compare RE riders to Harley riders here in the US.

Anyways, all said and done, I would not trust an RE bike - that is just me. I have been burnt and would not want to be burnt again.

[Ry_der]

It seems that only those are prefering 'Better' bikes who, at some point of time, had a bitter experience with RE bikes. It is essential to mention here that every RE bike doesn't have quality issue. As a brand RE is milking its demand unethically but RE is not alone doing so, every brand in india is milking their demand. We get substandard vehicles from some of the world's leading automobile makers. Our cars are stripped down/Detuned version of those being sold in EU/US market(except Skoda/VW). You all are aware of the Harley Street 750 rear brake issue.

But I am not trying to justify REs poor quality. I think there should be stringent norms for quality control in every 2/4 wheeler brand currently being sold in india.

[androdev]

Originally Posted by bikerzindia

Bajaj are good at making fun of others but when it comes to them, they don't take any criticism. In the recent Ride for Indepe seendence advertisement, they showed a lady biker..

This from a company that ran "definitely male" campaign! Post hamara Bajaj, they have no identity.

[docsr]

Meanwhile, in the Times of India today,Et tu Mahindra
While the 2 wheelers sling mud on one another, the 4 wheelers are not far behind.

[slamnos]

I feel it is perfectly fine for any brand to do such ads, in India consumers have not experienced ad wars much, but globally its very well accepted.

In fact the fans are more involved during ad wars and it makes it viral without the brand having to do much.

Yes the brand at the receiving end may get offended, but it all depends on how one replies back.

Bajaj here hasn't portrayed something which is unknown to consumers, they have only made exaggerated and made it humorous. Honestly only such ads are remembered and registered for a long period of time.

Way to go brands

[TejasKinger]

Originally Posted by docsr

Meanwhile, in the Times of India today,Et tu Mahindra
While the 2 wheelers sling mud on one another, the 4 wheelers are not far behind.

Well, Mahindra isn't the first to this party. Tata if I'm not wrong, had put up a Hexa advertisement that read, "Takes you anywhere, no compass required."

[payeng]

Difference in Bajaj, Tata and Mahindra's approach:

Bajaj hopes to piggyback on a famous brand's recall (the single cylinder thump is a clear unabashed giveaway)

Compass/Jeep marketing guys will be amused at the "free" publicity for the Compass.. Thanks to Tata and Mahindra (for the time being).

Beats me to understand what Tata and Mahindra marketing guys are hoping.

[marcussantiago]

Bajaj making fun of Royal Enfield is like the owner of a hot hatchback laughing at SUVs.

You can't even really compare the two. They're meant for completely different riding experiences and priorities.

Royal Enfield is practically a religion. The guys that love their Enfields do so not from any sort of logic or sense, it's completely a heart-versus-brain issue, and the heart won. I'm not even saying this as an insult, it's just a fact, I'm sure you Enfield guys in this thread would agree. No amount of arguing or facts will change your mind about how much you love your Enfield, am I right?

And I say this as someone who rides a KTM. I owned two Enfields, and just never "got it" and switched to a Duke and never looked back. I love my KTM the same way Enfield guys love their Enfields. None of you can convince me that KTM is inferior to Enfield in the same way that I cannot convince any of you that KTM is better than RE.

What IS annoying, however, is that I truly love cruisers, but cannot afford a Harley or a Triumph yet, and I cannot stand how unreliable REs are. So while I'm happy with my KTM I do wish I had a big lazy cruiser with plenty of torque on tap that I can load up with luggage, park my wife on the big comfy rear seat and go road tripping like I've always dreamed of.

So hopefully Bajaj's partnership with Triumph will produce a mid-range cruiser that the Indian market is sorely missing. I would be so happy to ride a cruiser with an engine sized in that sweet spot between 300 and 800 cc, and at a budget that won't bankrupt me

[Dodge_Viper]

This might be off topic, but help me understand this. I see comments "Enfields leak oil", "Enfield parts fall off". Do every bike coming out of production line face this issue?

I haven't seen a single drop of oil from my Enfield. Neither the other 10-11 Enfield owners from my group. None of us have seen any parts fall off. We rode from Mumbai to Ladakh and back and didn't see any part falling off. Not even a loose nut. I am not denying the fact that it has vibration issues and utter lack of basic safety features, but somehow I need to understand how every Enfield leaks oil and parts fall off. Is there any statistical data? Or just mob mentality?

P.S: I am not a "Royal Fanboy". I loved Enfields from childhood and bought one. Enjoying it past 2.5 years. Soon planning to upgrade to KTM. Why so? Is my Enfield giving any issues? No. Just how I liked Enfield, I liked the new Duke. Old one? No. Hated it to the core. When a Duke passed by, felt the neighboring rickshaw sounded better.

It boils down to "personal choice". I like it, I buy it. I don't like it, I will stay away.

[r_nairtvm]

Originally Posted by Britishbangers

Guys,

I don't think the add was aimed at RE, look further, it could be the heavy weight cruiser plodders, that can't handle corners, low power to weight ratios and have a nice excuse to turn petrol into sound.

Just my 2 paise...

BB

Agree with you on this.

Just look at the attire of the guys sitting on the elephant - I for one would definitely associate with an "American Brand" well known to us more so with all the group ridding signals being used by guys sitting on the elephants

Best Regards & Ride Safe

Ram