28 2013 Kawasaki Ninja 250R: World’s Best 250cc Bike Gets Better

Official photos/ initial details of the 2013 Kawasaki Ninja 250R

The official photos of the 2013 Kawasaki Ninja 250R was recently put up on the Kawasaki Japan Website. Although complete technical details/specifications are still awaited, I can almost hear Kawasaki saying: "Take that Honda..!!"



From whatever has been made public by Kawasaki, the 2013 Edition definitely grabs your attention. The 2013 Ninja 250R gets a complete styling makeover, addition of features and also some changes to the engine and chassis as well.

This 2013 upgrade should definitely make it to India soon. It will be interesting to note the price at which it is launched in India. Also will be interesting to note whether there would be any performance upgrade to an already potent package. Aaarrg..!! How I wish I was still single or had a higher paying job..!!

25 DTS-i Triple Spark Engine: Is it just a Marketing Gimmick

Is there a tangible benefit of the the spark plug used in the DTS-i Triple Spark engine of the Pulsar 200NS?

“Who knows? Just one spark plug could be working; the other two might just be a marketing gimmick.”

I recently came across the above sarcastic comment which was made for the "DTS-i Triple Spark" technology that Bajaj currently employs on the Pulsar 200NS. The Pulsar 200NS sports an engine that has the world’s only 3 spark plug for its single cylinder. Seriously, 3 spark plugs on a single cylinder engine? Is it taking things a bit too far? Is it really necessary? Is there really a benefit for the customer/biker? Or is it really just a marketing gimmick?



Bajaj was the first Indian manufacturer to pioneer twin spark plug engines way back in 2003. Twin spark engines apparently have a benefit over single spark engines as the “air+fuel” mixture is burnt more efficiently. Branded as DTS-i (Digital Twin Sparkplug Ignition), it certainly made a big impact. The proof of which is that a few years later both TVS and Royal Enfield also came out with its own versions of the twin spark technology. TVS put it in its 125 cc Flame model and currently all Royal Enfield models come with twin spark plug engines.

The third spark plug actually has a tangible benefit

9 Royal Enfield ThunderBird 500. Missed Opportunity?

I would have redesigned and repositioned the Thunderbird..

Royal Enfield is on the verge of launching a new and bigger Thunderbird 500 (cc) in India. It is being positioned as the ultimate touring machine. Will it be another best seller from Royal Enfield?

I actually can’t find a category for the Thunderbird..

it's confused..!!

For the record, the Thunderbird is only sold in India and not exported anywhere. Why? Because in export markets Royal Enfields are bought because of its 1940’s-50’s British bike heritage/styling. The Thunderbird is anything but a retro styled British bike. Royal Enfield seems to have put in a lot of effort in the new Thunderbird 500. But despite the efforts the basic theme/styling of the bike still is same as the current Thunderbird Twinspark (350).

According to me Royal Enfield has not totally learned from the success of its "Classic" range in India.

24 Pulsar 200NS Ownership Review (first 2,700 Kms): By Surojit Sadhu

I would like to thank Surojit Sadhu for sharing a straight from the heart ownership review of his brand new Pulsar 200NS (initial 2,700 Kms). [Find Surojit on Facebook here..]

Hello there. I am Surojit Sadhu, working as an Application Scientist in the field of Bioinformatics and currently based in Mumbai. Posted below is a detailed ownership review of my Pulsar 200NS.



Date of Purchase - 13.06.2012
Date of Delivery - 17.06.2012 (as I was away for work and couldn’t collect the bike)
Total kilometres done - till 15.07.2012: 2,653 Kms

Let me share my ownership experience with my Pulsar 200NS so far:

16 Why don’t I ever post about scooters?

Anybody who has cared to follow my blog must have noticed that I never post about automatic scooters. Here is the reason why..

The last couple of years have seen an accelerated growth of automatic scooters in India. Automatic scooters have in fact grown at a much faster rate than motorcycles. As a result automatic scooters now make up around 20% of the domestic 2 wheeler sales in India.

Popularity of Automatic scooters is an indication that India is definitely rising:

A big market for motorized two wheelers indicates a developing economy. China, India, Indonesia, Brazil, Thailand.. are examples of economies which are on the rise and it comes as a no surprise that these particular countries are also the ones which are considered the top 2 wheeler markets in terms of volume.

How “passionate” can one get with models like Activa, Access, Scooty Pep+..??

I have a theory according to which the popularity of automatic scooters over geared 2 wheelers indicates that the economy of that country is now growing to the next level. When that happens it shows that the people are now ready to forgo the high mileage associated with geared 2 wheelers for the ease of riding an automatic transmission. To support my theory I can quote the examples of Thailand and Indonesia. In the last 5-6 years the 2 wheeler buying population of both these countries has made a major shift from their traditional geared step thru models to automatic scooters.

The noticeable growth of scooters in India over the last 5-6 years just shows that India is definitely on the growth trajectory.