Bajaj launched a few days back what it calls a Street version of the Pulsar 220. But what it actually is can be explained in more than one way. It can be called a faring removal job on the P220 or a P200 with a 220cc engine or a P220 with the standard Pulsar doom. The 220 S costs about 3 grand less than the normal P220 at an on-road price of Rs. 78,000. Frankly I don’t see any takers for this one, may be if they had fiddled with the doom a little.

Honda arrived at Pragathi Maiden in full force with its recently launched 110cc CB Twister, the new more sportier 2010 CBF Stunner and new 102cc Dio and a concept version of Unicorn.

out of the lot, the interesting two is the Stunner which would be launched tomorrow and the Dio which was launched a day back. stay tuned for the price and spec details

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The big and far bike for the most of us, the R1 is quite the epitome to street bikes and Yamaha does an updates it every year with innovations and technology taken right off Rossi’s M1. Likewise the 2010 model was made and launched globally and the Indian consignment arrived at the local dealers recently. The price is a little more than that of the 2009 model at an ex-showroom price of Rs. 12.5 lakh. But don’t let the slight increase in price fool you into thinking that the 2010 R1 has something new.

The engine is the same as the one in the 2009 model, so is the gear ratio, so is the suspension and so is the body work, only thing different between this and the old model is the paintjob and oh ya one more difference is that the rear suspension of the 2010 model is 4-way adjustable while that of the 2009 model is just two way adjustable. If you don’t believe me check this out. Though this is a disappointing upgrade, R1 still is Japanese biking at its best.

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Honda has just launched its first potentially high volume bike in India, the CB Twister 110cc. As is obvious, the bike will be propelled by a 100cc engine the revs up to 8000 rpm and transmitted through a 4 speed (1-down 3-up) gear box. Priced at a competitive Rs. 42,000/- it should hit the market in the soft spot.

The bike looks quite stunning (more than the self-professed ‘Stunner’, I might add) and the mileage rating of 70 kmpl is quite impressive too. It should sell like hot cakes, but the big question is will it cannibalize sales from its sister Hero Honda?, which incidentally dominates the 100-110c segment with endless iterations of the Splendor and Passion. Well the short answer is no, the Twister is aimed at the college going crowd with its bad-ass petrol tank, the exposed chain, in-your-face color schemes and all the other jazzy elements. Style and sportiness seems to be the buzz word here instead of the comfort and practicality minded Splendor. Honda is exploring new niches to help boost sales and they seem to have struck gold here, as long as the performance lives up to its promise. We have to wait for it though, as HMSI will officially launch it in the upcoming Delhi Auto Show and confirm the pricing.

The lower strata of the motorcycle market is seeing a lot of sportiness lately, what with the Pulsar dropping down to 135cc and Honda now deciding to give us a 100cc sports bike. So, exciting times ahead for the budget-biker…

Do check out the gallery and let us know what you make of it in the comments section.

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The pre-launch pictures of the 135 spurred up the expectation and from the looks of it Bajaj has lived up to it. The 135 pulsar the smallest of them all is priced at a very sensible 51k ex-showroom Delhi which on-road would cost around 58k. Though it is the smallest it is quite interesting as it has some first of its kind features.

It has the first of its kind engine with 4 valves and 2 spark-plugs; Bajaj calls it the world’s first 4-valved DTS-i engine, this reflects very well on the power produced. This 135cc produces 13.5ps of power which is pretty close to the pulsar 150’s power-rating of 14.08ps. Also it is more powerful than the Honda stunner which has a bhp rating of 11.6 which comes to about 11.76ps of power. So 135 is a clear winner in the power fight.

The other first of its kind is the digital tachometer with analogue display as in digital needle circling digital numbers. It has a couple of feature even the 150 doesn’t have, split seats and clip on handle bars. The downside is the smaller non-pulsar tank which has a capacity of 8+2.5 litres which is 5 less than the 150 pulsar. The 135 has all the other mandatory features like electric/kick start, alloy wheels, led brake lights, rear gas shocks and front disc brake.

The overall design of the bike is bold (as it is heavily borrowed from the concept Xcd 135 sprint) with an out of the box front faring design which Bajaj calls bikini headlight faring and an unconventional rear mud guard and tail fixed number plate. The plot behind the rear design to my knowledge is that you can still remove the mud guard for the sportier tire-thread showing looks and still have your number plate intact. Seems Bajaj has covered all grounds with this one. Oh ya one more thing the mileage is 65kmpl on standard Arai test.

So the Pulsar 135 may not be a pulsar but it sure is much more.

Click here for more technical details.

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We really don’t know what grudge TVS holds against the clutch (actually, it must be the terrible experience the engineers must have had testing the Apache, with this pathetic ergonomics!), but it has come out in full force against the clutch with two new offerings that promise hassle-free city riding. The real big one is the Jive, India’s first automatic clutch bike. This 100cc entry level bike has a rotary gear box mated with an automatic clutch. Though it might not be much of looker, this is a properly important bike that could well change the face of basic commuting in India. Priced as Rs. 41,000/- (Ex- showroom Chennai), it might well revive TVS’s sagging fortunes. TVS has reportedly spent a cool Rs. 25 crores on developing the technology, while that may sound like chicken feed to most major auto companies, for an ailing two wheeler manufacturer, it is a lot and represents somewhat of a gamble on TVS’s part.

The money spent on it means that it comes packed with technology, an anti-stall mechanism enables the rider to stay in high gear at low speeds without the bike stalling. Also one can go from top gear to neutral in one step and start from any gear. The practicality continues with ample under-seat storage (another first for an Indian bike!). On the back of the Jive, TVS also launched the Wego, an activa-killer so to speak, with its 110cc engine and oodles of practicality. The Wego will add to TVS’s extensive scooter portfolio along with the Scooty Pep and Streak. If one gawked at the 25 crores spent on the Jive, TVS has invested upwards of 50 crores on this scooter and has high hopes pinned on the two. The Wego costs Rs.42,500 (ex-showroom Chennai). According to H S Goindi, president (marketing), they are expecting increased sales of 40,000 units a moth purely due to these new models.

The barrage from TVS is not going to stop for some time as they plan to introduce 2 new models every year along with infinite variants of these models. Provided TVS gets the comfort factor right for both vehicles, Hero Honda and Honda have reason to be concerned as it is their market share that TVS is going for. Here is hoping the average Indian commuter will jive to TVS’s tune.

Click through for the Press Release