Last month I was on a vacation to my home state of Assam. Posted below is the motorcycle scene in Assam as seen and understood by me over the years..
Foreword: The following is my observation of the changing motorcycle scene of Guwahati and also a few towns of Upper Assam like Jorhat & Dibrugarh.
Hero Honda Splendor/Passion models are passé/history in Assam..!!
For most Indians that I have met, the North Eastern part of India is shrouded with mystery.
The most common stereotype for my home state of Assam is that; "It is on mountains", "The weather is chilly", "The people there wear clothes like the extras which danced behind Kareena in the song “Yeh Ishq hai” from the movie “Jab we met”..!!
The North East is surrounded by hills ok, but Assam is actually a “valley” which is surrounded by hills (the neighboring states). So essentially Assam is not hilly but on Plains. It has got a good Summer + Monsoon (May-July) and a normal Winter (December to Feb).
The motorcycle scene in Assam (over the years)
Assamese people seem to have a penchant for dimensionally big bikes..
I have observed that compared to the rest of India the Assamese people have got a mind of their own. Models that have not been best sellers in most parts of India have sometimes found love and affection here. But one thing that has stood out is that there have been no particular models which continue to be best sellers for 10-25 straight years.
Posted below are the highlights of the Assamese taste in motorcycle as observed by me over the years:
2005-2006: I had not seen as many LML (Lohia Motors Limited) motorcycles (LML Adreno/Energy, LML Freedom, LML Beamer/Graptor) in any other part of India as I had seen here in Assam.
2007: I had noticed that the preference for the (quirky) CBZ Xtreme was visibly more than the Pulsar 150/180 UG III (Upgrade III) models [read about this here]
2008: The 125 cc Hero Honda Super Splendor which hasn’t been the best seller in most parts of India was slowly becoming a very popular model here in Assam.
So how is the current motorcycle scene in Assam in 2011?