[SS80]

Before I get into my ownership review, I want to thank Ashwin Prakash for his detailed thread on his CT100. It was an eye opener indeed.

I have owned and used close to 12bikes in the past, 3 of them were new and the rest were used ones. Having clocked close to 2Lkms till date, my last ride was a Royal Enfield Electra.

The Need:
Due to the corona outbreak my overall bike usage this year was very low at around 8000kms for the Electra since its purchase last November (2019). Now as offices start to reduce WFH requirements, my wife has to travel to office that’s about 33kms from home.

She was using her Wego and sometimes I used to pick up and drop, till she recently had a fall and the scooter is at TVS service center for insurance claims & it’s been over a month. Now her office has relaxed the covid norms and this meant that 6 people now travel in 12 occupancy Tempo Traveller.
Hence I started the drop & pick up 3 days a week for the last 2months.

Electra simply put is a machine for Leisure Riding and not commuter friendly. Horamavu to Airport and back is close to 72kms. So with a riding of 150kms I used to be so tired (vibrations) that my love for the bike started to fade slowly. Then when I read Ashwin’s post it made perfect sense, “If you need a commuter bike, buy a commuter!”

I purchased Electra when it was 62300kms on odometer and when sold it was almost 69xxxkms
Parts failing and coming lose was a common issue, not to mention the galore of wiring issues & oil leaks. This was a 2012 UCE model, but still it was a pain to maintain.

Wish list:
New Bike only
Geared vehicle
Mileage – 50kmpl is sufficient
Reliable – Highest priority
Cruise at 70kmph – Not really interested in sprinting /triple digit speeding as such
Disc Break
Tubeless Tires
Self Start
100cc bike preferred – cheaper spares on the long run.
Metal Carrier at the back (so the laptop bag can rest & pillion would find it easy)
Fuel Meter (Absolute need – coming from a RE bike)
Chassis has to be a complete box shape and not end mid way. Most bikes where the engine is a part of the chassis (like Victor/star city/XCD) tend to vibrate a lot. This is one area where Hero always excels with the dual down tube cradle design of chassis. CT100/110 has a Single Down tube chassis, but still its one whole box/closed shape, that helps in reducing vibrations.

Shortlisting:
1. Splendor Deluxe – 78K on road Bangalore
Dropped this as too expensive with no tubeless tires/ carrier at the end

2. Radeon – 83K on road with disc brake, hate TVS for purely the vibrating machines they make. Even the Apache 200 vibrates! So dropped it after 1 test ride.

3. CT100B – Not Available anywhere (may be due to BS6 rules)
4. Platina H gear – Too pricey for a 100cc Bajaj & most likely this will flop (like the Pulsar 125/ XCD135), hence spares might be hard to find on the long run.

Finally was about to book the CT100, the on road price difference between CT100 and CT110 was about 2300INR, booked the CT110 purely for that extra 10cc (silly greed I know) & luckily Bajaj offered a Diwali Discount just hours before my invoicing and that gave me a cash back of 1500. So in total I paid only 800INR extra for the 10cc over the CT100.

Delivery:
I exchanged my Electra and swiped 10K on credit card and closed the deal, the only freebie was a tank cover & 1L petrol. The Registration Number itself took over 10days to arrive & now I am waiting for the HSRP plates to be ready that takes another 5days at least. So took a print out of the number plate and laminated it, fixed it on the bike and using the bike for now.


That's my Electra, last photo clicked before handing over the keys.


Yours truly, waiting for the sales guy to take the bike home.


One of my best friend cum cousin, fueling it for the first time. With just 400INR petrol, the fuel meter shoots past 1/2 mark.


This is Bajaj's trick to beat BS6. Unlike Honda, TVS, Yamaha (almost all other manufacturers), Bajaj does not provide a full fledged FI system here. They removed the AF screw and replaced it with a Solenoid. The ECU sits below the seat & a few sensors are placed. Just to recap, this is a bike with Electronic Carburetor - no fuel pump, no fuel injector, does not idle at high rpm when started, has a fuel tap, but no choke, as the carburetor has a auto choke facility (so bike starts with choke everytime)

Worst case scenario if the ECU fails, rather than replacing it, I can dump it and get a new carburetor and ride away with a smaller bill in hand.

Planned mods for near future:
1. Change the rear grab rail to the metal one found on CT100 base model
2. Swap to tubeless tires
3. Horn Upgrade to Dual Disc Horn with Relay
4. Reduce Seat Height a bit if possible

Initial Impressions:

It’s a big relief that I don’t have to wrestle 180.xxkgs every day. It’s light on handle, easy on brakes and far easier to filter in traffic. The headlight although is only the standard 35W bulb, the reflect design is brilliant and lights up dark roads really well. Lesser gears translates to lesser shifting and particularly the 3rd gear makes this bike a bliss to ride, 20kmph to 60kmph you can stay in the same gear.

Till now covered about 60kms only and happy that I made the right choice.


The bike feels better on bad roads, than on tarmac. The knobby tire pattern, helps a lot.


The first 30kms was a mixed environment of good road, bad road and at times no roads too. The bash plate given works well in keeping the dirt away from engine and chassis member.

Fast Forward 2 months and now bike has covered about 900kms & one oil change done at 500kms & honestly I don't regret this purchase in anyway.
The only modification done till now was the addition of a steel carrier from the older model CT100. Tried a lot and could not find a new one from nearby stores and Bajaj service centers, hence picked up one from the junkyard and oh boy, its so convenient for the pillion to rest the laptop bag on it.



What I feel now is:

Pros:
Feels robust & well put together
Fantastic suspension to absorb everything on road
Mileage seems to be better than bullet (honestly I am yet to measure it)
Headlight throw and focus is good even with stock 35W bulb
Can cover about 75 - 80 kms easily in one day
No fuel pump, no need to maintain 3ltrs fuel always
Tyre thread pattern is good, ample grip even on jelly and bad roads

Cons:
The bike is smaller than most bikes sold in the country (same size as splendor)
No tubeless tyre although has alloys
Weak horn (needs an upgrade)
The rear grab handle is useless, the good old steel carrier would have been more useful.













Fast forward to April 2021

Bike has completed 2800kms till now, most of it was to & fro airport.

Observations so far
The ride quality is good and everything works as expected. The front brakes are performing better than the initial days.

Apart from oil changes, chain tightened once and greased - that's the only maintenance I have done. Totally opposite to what I faced with Electra. The switch to 20w40 oil instead of the 10w30 mentioned on service manual, is totally worth it. Previously when I was on 10w30, the right ankle used to get hot as engine too was running hotter than expected.

Simple modifications done till now.
1. Added a horn relay and now is a dual disc horn
2. Swapped the useless grab rail with old ct100 steel carrier
3. Fabricated a big, tall backrest and is holding good for over 1000kms since it's install

Pending mods
Tubeless Tyre and valve
Should get the rider seat width increased by 2 inches, as seat width is less than desired.

Currently wife has work from home option, but once that ends, we may prefer to travel to office one way on own transport, if that happens the bike will clock another 2000kms/month for a few months.

I will upload a few more photos tomorrow with the backrest too.

[neil.jericho]

SS80, congratulations on your new Bajaj CT110. What was the total on road price for your new bike? Exchanging the Electra was a very good decision considering your usage.

It looks like you did the first service yourself. Besides the heat, was there any reason to shift from 10W30 to 20w40? Is this a popular change for Bajaj CT100 / 110 owners?

Also what mileage are you getting for your motorcycle?

Look forward to more updates on your thread.

P.S - please do ask your cousin to get a better quality helmet. The one in the picture looks like it will do more damage to him than save him, in case of an accident.

[SS80]

Thanks Neil, yes he has now switched to a full face helmet. On road price was 69,xxx for this variant, with alloys and self start. The Ct100 with spoke wheel and only kickstart was priced 63,xxx

Yes I skipped going to service center entirely and it's all DIY maintenance. The first thing I noticed after switching to 20w40 is that the bike feels much better post 60kmph and vibrations too are reduced. However if the bike is parked for a few days and when we start, although it starts with a single kick, it will not idle smoothly and tends to switch off. This issue disappears once the engine has run for a few minutes.

So planning to switch to 15w40 from next time. Now due to lockdown next 10days bike won't be used, but expecting to cover about 2000kms in June, purely airport runs.

[Raghu M]

Congratulatons SS80, that's a simple and crisp review. I used to drive the first generation of CT100 - the Boxer CT. It was my first bike and was just awesome. With a mileage of over 70kmpl, it was an amazing ride. The overall comfort and suspension was simple and very commuter friendly. Good luck with the bike, wish you many safe kilometers of blissful driving.

[yogeshnaik]

Dear SS80, It’s an informative and precise review. These bikes give what is basically needed and I am happy that you have conveyed your experience on the vehicle.

Heavy bikes cannot be used to bring vegetables from the market, need a backpack to carry, hence I was thinking for a Platina or this one for the basic necessities that it provides on the go.

Thanks for the honest review.

[abtyagi]

Nicely articulated review. Thanks for sharing. I doubt any commuter motorcycle has so far received such a review.

On the other note, commuting to BLR airport and back on motorcycle is brave. I dread it even in the car, or sometime if I ride that side it’s the most uncomfortable part of the ride.

Looking forward for updates on this thread.

[whitewing]

Congratulations on your ride, wishing you safe miles ahead!

Can you please post the pics of the following mod?

Originally Posted by SS80

3. Fabricated a big, tall backrest and is holding good for over 1000kms since it's install

Looks like this is helping you out riding such distances on a daily basis.

[pugram]

Originally Posted by SS80

However if the bike is parked for a few days and when we start, although it starts with a single kick, it will not idle smoothly and tends to switch off. This issue disappears once the engine has run for a few minutes.

This is the same behaviour I have with the Platina 110 4 speed. It needs to be driven atleast alternate days else will harass you for the first few meters of ride till the engine warms up.

I also have the same vibration issue and have been sticking to whatever the SVC is providing. Maybe I will also try with the 20w40 oil and see if the vibrations are arrested.

[SS80]

Here are the pictures of the DIY backrest. Planning to make something that looks much more decent in future. For now this is serving its purpose well. Some of my friends too have sat here as pillion (people north of 80kgs too) and find it good.

I have an old arc welding machine and basic power tools, hence managed to fabricate this one on my rooftop shed.

The whole thing is made in 3 parts - L shaped metal structure, the bottom plate that sits below carrier and finally the cushion part. Except for the cushion and cover, rest all are pure DIY. This can be removed anytime by unscrewing 2 Allen key bolts. No permanent damages/changes to actual bike.

[AZT]

Nice review and DIY. I think your signature at the bottom needs an update now Haha

[SS80]

Almost a year since I last updated the thread, bike usage has been minimal as I bought a hero lectro cycle for short errands and wifey no longer works at airport.

Decided to put some kilometres on it, as it's been more than a month since I even switched on the bike.

Did a Horamavu-Kolar-Mulbagal round trip this evening and yes it feels good.it was raining pretty badly and not sure if some connector is wet, but the check engine light is now always lit up, got to check tomorrow in the daytime to see if any coupler has water ingress or lose contact.


Start of the trip reading.




Chai break at a NHAI nest tea stall.

[SS80]

The check light issue was sorted at an FNG with a blue tooth scanner and it has not come up again ever since. Modified the black rest to a much lower height just enough to support the pillion and at the same time, does not fowl with their thighs while they get on and off the bike. The bike's battery went dead as almost nill usage since the last long ride, connected it to a good old APC desktop up and has charged well.

It's shocking to see such a small 4ah battery on a bike that has self start.

[SS80]

An update after a long time, the bike has clocked 7300kms approx and has remained trouble-free, requiring just oil changes and chain tightening.

Decided to clean the brakes for the first time in the last 2.5 years, lots of black dust, but the brake shoe wear is less than expected and rather looked fresh to go.

A simple DIY on a weekend and the brakes are slightly better. I do feel that the brakes have gone weaker than before (when new), just not ready to modify or add a disc as such.

Did a few short trips around Bangalore recently, to Nandi hills, Chilkkaballapur etc except for the narrow seat, the bike is simply superb.

Planning to get the seat modified to accommodate my rear more comfortably. Will post pictures once it's done.

[Castro Gunner]

Hi SS 80. It is nice seeing your DIYs and your cherishment towards the machine.
What is the mileage that you are getting? Is this the best in terms of efficiency?

[KPR]

Kawasaki Caliber is what I remember from seeing the rear image of this bike. What a wonderful bike that Caliber was! Is it the same engine of Kawasaki that Bajaj is giving us Indians? BTW I ride a CT125X. How blissful it is to ride such bike in traffic and towns.