My own Top 10 motorcycles from India which do "not" have the best styling..
Forword: Although styling is a matter of personal taste.. and in most cases lies in the eyes of the beholder. But one can't argue against the fact that a bike has to look good from "every possible angle".
One might not agree with me, but posted below are my "Personal top 10" bikes which have a little bit of problem in their styling or in some cases totally bad styling. Please do not get offended if you happen to own one of the motorcycles mentioned below.
10. Bajaj pulsar 220 DTS-Fi (2007)
Even though I myself own a Fuel Injected Pulsar 220 DTS-Fi, I am not shying away from calling a spade a spade. Although the bike looks good from the front and rear and three quarter view, when viewed bang side on, the fixed half fairing appears as an after thought. The shape of the front fairing and the tank is not in proportion to each other.
But the visual appearance of the bike has improved after the 2009 Pulsar 220 DTS-i (carbureted) version got the all back theme (engine, alloys finished in black) which has helped keep the visual impact tighter.
09. Yamaha R15
I know there would be many R15 fans who would be surprised at seeing the R15 in this list. But then like the Pulsar 220 DTS-Fi, even the R15 is not totally proportionate. If the Pulsar 220 had its front fairing as the visual weak link, the R15 has its rear portion as its sore point.
The relatively thin/slim rear doesn’t gel with the beautifully styled front fairing. I have known many of my friends who have not bought the R15 just because of the rear portion.
08. Hero Honda CBZ Xtreme (2006)
I couldn’t believe my eyes when Hero Honda decided to label this new bike with the CBZ name when it was launched in 2006. Compared to the original CBZ (1998) this new bike was looking to me like a bad dream.
In 2009, Hero Honda did come up with some color and sticker changes on the CBZ Xtreme which has made the bike palatable and easier on the eye now. The use of matt back paint/sticker on the side panels and the red colored rear end tip; now break up the visual monotony of otherwise plain plastic surface.
07. Hero Honda Karizma ZMR
Basically the fuel injected Karizma ZMR is based on the carbureted Karizma R with a full fairing slapped on and a different looking rear portion.
For the "full fairing" crazy, deprived Indian biker, the bike might seem to be like a "Superbike"; but I personally don’t understand what kind of category the Karizma ZMR falls in. The closest category for the Karizma ZMR could be a Sports Tourer, thanks to its upright and comfortable ergonomics.
But take a look at the shape of the headlamp, and the "Hayabusa" inspired "ZMR branding on the side of the fairing. Sigh..!!
06. Hero Honda Glamour
Ok, leave the criticism out. But can anyone tell me what’s “Glamorous” here..??
05. Kinetic Velocity
Looks quite like a Hero Honda Glamour clone to me, and one definitely designed by a Chinese firm. The bike no longer exists.
04. Yamaha Fazer (125 cc)
Bike enthusiasts who have been following the Indian bike scene will remember that the first bike from Yamaha India to get the Fazer name was a 125 cc model. The Fazer was the model from which the Gladiator / SS 125 originated, but had funny looking headlamps.
It was touted to have insect like headlamps. But hey.. I don’t like riding an insect.
03. Bajaj XCD 125 / TVS Centra
The concept and the fate of both the bikes were almost same. Developed to return the best fuel efficiency (read 100 kmpl), for the lowest price tag. Result was that styling was probably neglected. Lives of both models were short lived.
02. TVS Fiero
I can’t find anything good to talk about the Fiero’s looks. Come to think of it, the 150 cc Fiero was pitted against the handsome Hero Honda CBZ and the “Definitely Male” Bajaj Pulsar. Despite having the best engine and gearbox, the meek, weak and confused styling of the Fiero totally let it down.
01. Bajaj Byk
Launched (and soon discontinued) in the early 2000’s, I still don’t know what the BYK was about in terms of styling.
Related Posts
- Best Looking Motorcycles of India: My Top 10
- The "Ugly Ducklings" of the Indian Motorcycling world [Dec, 2006]
- Bajaj Pulsar 200 Vs Hero Honda Karizma.. Who has the Best Looks..?? [May, 2007]
- Size of the Yamaha R15 [Feb, 2008]
- Mahindra Mojo: Part 2 [Styling] [Oct, 2010]
Disclaimer:
This is to remind that the Views or Opinions in the blog are entirely mine unless explicitly stated. The Views and Opinions published in this blog should in no way be related to any other person or organization associated -- directly or indirectly -- with me.
16 Comments:
this list more agreeable than "best looking" one...
good one.. esp. about XCD and centra.. and of course fiero...
suzuki heat also looks shit..but not as shit as all mentioned here..
R15 in the list ? you've the worst taste ever.
thanks to payeng dude. yeah even the same thing done with yamaha fazer 125cc. in early 2004 yamaha came up with promos like changing the bikes scenario in india with (truly yamaha) tag i thought yamaha will come up newly developed superbike like fazer in india,at that time i eagerly waited for that bike but yamaha disapointed with its awkward design..(truly disapointed) and i bought the newly launched bajaj discover 125(es), i partialy satisfied with its bold design done by bajaj some of the parts matchs with its younger brother pulsar even in terms of performance also..
fiero i dont know wat kind of design it is, in my view the engine with more boxy design and of course i like the tag line of suzuki (fire the imagination).
about glamour even super splender is better in terms of looks but 2007 glamour looks good with its black styling engine, alloys wheels,disc brakes,standard self start with multicolored body graphics till present updated version of asfs glamour...
i dont like r 15 (leave the performance) because of its tiny rear portion and thin tires,in this days even 125 cc bikes got big tires(100/90) like pulsar 135, stunner, and flame, that why i moved to fazer 150....
zmr is a flop series bike after one and half year i seen hardly 3or4 bikes, better than zmr i surprised to see more than 9 kawasaki ninga's are roaming in and around the vizag city.
i apologize if i hurt someones favorite bike. anyway comments are welcome................
r15 should be 1st nd zmr 2nd ... cant u see or what ?
@lali see this is not a debut competition so number is not mandatory here.... just i posted my opinion thats all.
Bajaj BYK - the ugliest bike!!! So very true. Wonder what Rajiv Bajaj would think of that bike!
It takes a lot of honesty to count your steed in the list of NOT SO GOOD LOOKING BIKES!! Hats off Payeng Dude!!
@eliksir : I'm not sure if you own a R15 or not and so your frowned reaction, but Payeng has also counted his own bike make into the list!! So, I won't say is taste is worst.
Where is the yamaha FZ and HH CBZ(base model) in the list???
R15 on no 9 in NOT the best styled bikes. Disappointing.. yet, true to some extent. I believe i have to learn living with that now (or maybe book a CBR 250R soon ;) )
Pls dont curse BYK... it was bajaj's endeavor to make the cheapest bike of India. Alas! they failed terribly unlike TATA Nano. But in our world guys, good deeds should always be appreciated!!
i'm extremely sorry friend to say you that,this listing and all is absolute foolishness and is a kind of show only.
first of all you must understand that,all those bikes that you listed above fall in different categorie,some in 100 cc category ,some in 1500cc categotry etc.. and another major thing is that you or only looking on to the appearence of the bikes and not performance and not bothering about that why the vehicle is designed in such a way,for eg you said that the rear portion of R15 is very bad but bro the rear of r15 is designed in such a way to increase thje performance and the rear tyre of r15 is specially designed for it.so plz recognize evey thing about two wheelers then do things like this and never waste your time by making foolishness like this.if my friends see this they will slap you sure.
@Ananthu,
:-)
By the way, how old are you and your F.R.I.E.N.D.S..??
I know you might be disturbed,but sorry,it's not about the matter of age,plzzz understand that first.Age process gives mentall ability but the angle of looking does'nt matter that all.
@Ananthu
:-)
ppl..
everyone does something for a purpose.. Yamaha designed R15 like that for the performance reasons..
mainly if you have a larger tyres on your bike you'll surely get a lower mileage.
ppl pls don't go for such vague evaluations..
know everything before you buy a bike.
Yamaha R15 is one of the best made bike till now..
R-series bikes are known for the racing breed.. and Yamaha has taken a lot of care building the machine..
yet it tried its level best for designing a machine like a R-series bike..
the shorter tail is given for the performance reasons to reduce the air drag..
so nothing bad about R15.
its quality is best.(if you had maintained it well)
and it looks and performs like a racing machine..
Thanks..
@Anon above,
the above post was just in terms of looks..
The performance of both the original and the new R15 Version is identical, but the new R15 is one of the best styled bikes of India in 2012.
the new R15 Version 2.0 shows how bad looking the original R15 was in terms of styling.
yamaha r15 v 2.0 is the ugliest bike that I have ever come across. In fact most of you would be puzzled by this but if you look at this bike in real, you would know what I am trying to say. The bike looks like a cheap Chinese plastic toy with its substandard quality of plastics and if you look at the rear end of the bike carefully, you will also notice how disproportionately the raised split seat looks in comparison with the overall contour of the bike's design. The front end of the bike is rather too low in comparison to its butt which seems to be raised way too high than its fuel tank. The pillion rider feels like they are on top of a house chimney or something like that. I don't criticize the split seat design but the way it has come out is not at all appealing.
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