[Abhishekjp]

Guyes
Is anyone aware of any cruiser bikes launching in india in 2010 in 400-600 cc segmant in the price range of 3-4 lakh.I am really not sure why do we have bikes belonging to an extreme ends.Either we have 100-200 cc or 1000cc or more. Not sure why the bike makers are not focusing on the mid segment (400-600 cc) bikes.Best example would be honda shadow 400cc.

[Mr. Nobody]

mostly only the race replicas get sold in india. cruisers are relatively harder to sell here . the HD's will sell as they are truly a big american brand and indians love anything american .

below 800cc cruisers or any bike need homologation and its a tedious process that manufactures hesitate against . even the Ducati moster 696 is yet to come on road though ducati claimed it will be available at launch.

[aargee]

Agreed, it will be long before any manufacturer will start selling 400-600CC segments; What I feel is (may be right or may be wrong), start selling the top end models first targeting to the creamy layer of people in the society, then target the upper middle, then middle & this is the pattern I guess & as they target the people, the price also comes into picture.

A wild guess will be, atleast 5-6 years from now (provided we survive 2012)

[Beast_of_Burden]

Originally Posted by aargee

Agreed, it will be long before any manufacturer will start selling 400-600CC segments; What I feel is (may be right or may be wrong), start selling the top end models first targeting to the creamy layer of people in the society, then target the upper middle, then middle & this is the pattern I guess & as they target the people, the price also comes into picture.

A wild guess will be, atleast 5-6 years from now (provided we survive 2012)

There is a yawning gap in offerings between ~1L(ZMR,R15, C500 et al) and 7L(HD sportster) with the exception of the Ninja250. If you were to add the volumes of all the manufacturers making bikes priced > 1L, it is a miniscule portion of the total pie. It just doesnt make economic sense to offer bikes costing much more than a lakh rupees when the volumes are so pathetic. First, the market needs to show that it can move large volumes at prices greater than 1L. But given the nature of our commuter-centric market, that will not be happening any time soon. A classic case of freakanomics IMO. India probably is the largest market for low cost commuter bikes for certain reasons, it will be a long time before there is a market for bigger bikes for the very same reasons.

[aargee]

IMO, a company like HD would've not entered into India without testing thinking all this; several years back we only had M800, Omnie, Esteem, Amby, Fiat probably & the price ranges were like what you're saying between them & consider the scenario now? You've the price & they've the car.

Again from the same motorcycling segment, we'd all the two wheelers priced from around 8K to 15K basically the moped segment & the bike segments were from 35K to 55K & beyond that good old RE & after that nothing. Atleast now, we see more powerful bikes for the same price of what we used to pay 10 years ago & all the more we see in a different price segments.

What I mean is we will also have low cost commuter bikes in addition to all the bigger bikes but it takes its own sweet time, say probably in 10 years we can see the scenario as what we see for car - you have the price, they have the bike.

[Technocrat]

Hmm The Aquila did sell in good numbers & therefor I firmly believe that a 400-600 cc reasonably priced Cruiser should sell well too.

Why no company is thinking on those lines is anybody's guess.

[Abhishekjp]

Yes . i used to love Aquila a lot till the time i landed in Korea.In Korea that bike is used by the hotel suppliers with huge carrier attached to it.But i hope manuafactureres like Honda and yamaha who are already catering this segment (400 to 600 cc) will enter this market.

[gthang]

Guys, dunno if all of you know the significance of Harley entering the Indian market. It is thanks to Harley that we have all the superbikes (except the Kwack Ninja 250 and Duck 696 Monster) in India now. Ever wonder why the below 800cc needs homologation clause?

Many may not be aware, but GW (Bush Jr) had a major role to play in this. His govt convinced (arm twisted?) Indian govt to allow import of superbikes (remember the Harley for Mangoes story?), but one of the holdups was that India did not have any emission and other norms for large capacity bikes. Indian govt conceded by accepting EU norms for >800 cc bikes because the smallest Harley bike is 883 cc. It still took Harley a couple of years to come to India because they were trying to convince the govt for further reduction in taxes. In the meanwhile, other manufacturers, who had cheaper offerings in the litre-class, set up shop, and started selling their superbikes. So, now all the "Dhoom" fans can have a Hayabusa of their own.

So, for all of those out there waiting for a reasonable 400-600 cc bike, unless the manufacturer takes the effort in homologating to Indian standards, which can be very difficult and expensive, and can cost effectively sell with taxes added, you can keep waiting. Only bikes to have gone through this process are the Kwack Ninja 250 (should sell in large enough numbers to recover) and the Duck 696 Monster (relatively expensive and a low volume bike by design anyways)

But the litre class is turning out to be very interesting, albeit expensive arena, with some new bikes planned on the horizon like the Yamaha FZ1, and Honda VFR.

[aargee]

Originally Posted by gthang

which can be very difficult and expensive, and can cost effectively sell with taxes added, you can keep waiting.

^^^True;
Its like filling a jar first with stones, then sand & then water; that way the jar can hold all the three of them without spilling.