[stallmaster]

I think among the current crop of in-production motorcycles, the Jawa Perak looks SUPER sick and unconventional. The distinctive low-slung long wheelbase, solo seating styling of the Perak makes it absolutely unique and one-of-a-kind, literally.

The next segment bobber is Triumph Bonneville, which costs a bomb.

The Perak urgently needs some design refinements from Jawa to make it a classic. Maybe a parallel-twin engine, better QC-fit&finish, guerilla marketing will make it a worthy contender against RE.

[aqualeo2040]

Originally Posted by ArTigor

Attachment 2141270

Forget the Sooraj/Taurus, I am interested in that beast in the background.
It also came in a nice off-white color. Looked fab and oh! Boy! what a Road presence!

[RavSam]

Originally Posted by MJ144

But then Suzuki worked it's magic and I see a plenty of them on road. (Not as many as the Suzuki Access though. But the low numbers compared to the access, I think it's more to do with the price (8000 rs ex-showroom more than the Access) and not the looks.)

It sells because it's very comfortable. Probably next to Ntorq. You have to ride it to experience it. It also looks great in white. The only reason I didn't buy this is the rear 10 inch wheel. And yeah, those plain jane alloys. Meh.

[SedanGuy]

Another one that pops to my mind is Pulsar 200 SS. The design was definitely unconventional. Its overly designed and wont age well for sure. The rear lights are the worst design element on them. What were the designers thinking here

Image Credit: Various sources from the internet. Copyright respective owners.

[H Karter]

Here's some from Hero Puch stable:



Long before Aprilia pioneered 14 inchers; this petite beauty was my scooty crush!



This had the Engine weight added to the unsprung weight along with the rear wheel and carburetor mounted inside the frame. The steering was also pivoted from only upper side. Nonetheless it was also my junior college aspiration.

[vinmechanic]

How can we forget Kinetic GF Laser ? While we were out for bike shopping, my friend was leaning towards getting one. I had to convince him how bad of a choice it would look like few years down the road.

[evil_grin]

Almost 2 decades ago when I was in high school and got my first bike, the only two contenders were the newly launched bikes: LML freedom and the Yamaha Libero. The Libero was the superior bike because of the smooth engine but I couldn't digest the ghastly headlights. So I bought the Freedom. A sale lost just because of bad design.

[ishan12]

Originally Posted by vinmechanic

How can we forget Kinetic GF Laser ? While we were out for bike shopping, my friend was leaning towards getting one. I had to convince him how bad of a choice it would look like few years down the road.

Attachment 2141693

I personally found the GF laser to be rather a beautifully designed motorcycle for the time. It was a really sleek and proportionate deign specially with the exposed silver frame and looked cool in red. At the time when many other manufactures were coming out with products to get a chunk of the 150cc pie that Bajaj was enjoying, this one was one of the better designed products aesthetically.
But I believe it was unfortunate that this was from the kinetic stable and poor mechanicals and after sales support meant that none of their products could see any glimmer of success.

[clementw]

My first bike was the Fiero and in the contest between the Fiero and the Pulsar, the former won. I warmed up to the bike and loved it till it was with me. However the lights never grew on me till the end. It may be the reason why it was outnumbered by Pulsars back then however on the road both were pretty well matched, though Pulsar may sneak ahead on outright speed. Eventually I went for after market round light with slim indicators from Coimbatore that made the Fiero look radical and very cool. I retained the original assembly and gave it to the buyer as an option should he want to switch back to stock.

So its not about looks but what appeals to you, the bike appealed to me with eyes closed.

[srini1785]

Originally Posted by ishan12

I personally found the GF laser to be rather a beautifully designed motorcycle for the time.

It was a brand labeled Hyosung bike. Kinetic just pasted a label and yeah, it was a good looking bike. There was also one more bike from Hyosung which Kinetic marketed. Remember this :



A few of them are still running here in Bangalore.

[ishan12]

Originally Posted by srini1785

It was a brand labeled Hyosung bike. Kinetic just pasted a label and yeah, it was a good looking bike. There was also one more bike from Hyosung which Kinetic marketed. Remember this :

Attachment 2141924

A few of them are still running here in Bangalore.

Yes, the 250 with its twin cylinder engine and upside down golden forks were something we had never seen in India before. I remember as a kid watching it on one of the automotive shows in the news channels (Wheelocity I guess) and it was such a drool worthy bike back then. Also, there was a 250cc cruiser called Aquila also launched through the Hyosung-Kinetic partnership.
If I am not wrong there was a GF 125 also.

[vennarbank]

For me, the Suvega [a moped which can be overtaken by Cycles] and something iremember being referred as mini bullet. It is from Enfield and it is 150cc/175cc, not sure. it looked like a toy, makes hell of a noise.

[haria]

Originally Posted by Emvi

Over the years we have all seen two wheelers with unconventional design/looks plying on the roads.

One quirky bike/moped I had was Hero Puch 65cc

It used to give me a phenomenal mileage - around 75 to 80 KM/L REGULARLY which was amazing those days.

had a nice peppy engine and could easily haul couple of people even uphills

But also had many many irritants

If you park this bike in rain, then God help you. It will just not start... I have managed to hurt my ankle multiple times kicking this in rainy weather. When parking outside (during rainy season), I used to cover the engine/spark plug area with a plastic cover.

The handle lock was in a super awkward position, bang in the centre - below the headlight. In the initial days, I had to even flash a torch to see the keyhole properly. Also, the heropuch key used to come with a built-in small led light!

Gears were awful - and used to slip so often. There were many such bug bears. But still this has a special place in my heart - my first bike :-)

Images: Taken from the internet.

[speedmunster]

Originally Posted by Pri2

Does anyone remember the Royal Enfield Explorer. It looked like the malnourished twin of the existing bullet back in the day. One of my relatives had it and I was always fascinated by it.

I remember this one. I used to see an explorer in college in red colour. I remember the Zundapp branding on the engine and used to wonder what was that about till I found out much later about Zundapp's German origins.

[dinu2506]

The BSA Bond GT50 was a rather unconventional bike during the 1980's. It had a puny 50cc engine that used to have more show than go. Used to make lot of noise. It was extremely difficult to launch the bike in the first gear and you really needed to rev hard else it would stall. It had a mono-shock suspension for the rear that was a rarity. I had owned one for 4 years during the 80's. Though not a great bike, it was unique with the yellow colour, 4 speed gearbox, lot of sound and looks of a bigger bike. Dont have a photo of my bike, but here is one from the net, a beautifully restored one.