Jun 27, 2016 06:49 PM
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I needed a push too, which I got when my wife found a job at Gurgaon. The change of workplace from Noida to Gurgaon at first seemed to be a Godsend, but when we came to know that her office does nt provide transport options, the joys vanished in thin air.
A puzzled me put up a query in Tbhp inviting some very helpful suggestions. We pondered over the options available and finally it was decided that we ll buy a bike which I can use to pickup and drop her to and from the office. Thus the'Push'
A brief recap
I was not much of a bike guy, after my very disappointing experience with Kinetic GF170 Laser. Yes you read right, I had bought that bike once! The initial joys had quickly evaporated when I started facing service issues and spare parts availability problems. Our Swift which came home after some years transformed me fully into a Car Person and my love for two wheeled things disappearing almost completely. The probability of going back to two wheels seemed very slim.
That was until very recently when one of my colleagues was scouting for a bike which made me take a look at the current biking scene in India. Soon the love rekindled towards things on two wheels but was not sufficient enough to push me into buying one. A push, which came much later bundled with necessity.
What Bike?
Now that the decision was made to buy a bike, we were very sure it should nt be a normal plain jane commuter. Requirements kept on changing as we scouted for options. Initial requirements stressed on good mileage decent power, which gradually tilted more towards power than mileage. Looks had their importance and also exclusivity. Then the comfort came into picture as we were moving from a car to a bike.
Finally, all that mattered was Comfort, Looks, Exclusivity and decent performance. Mileage was pushed out of the equation and suddenly we seemed very happy with a 35ish mileage as long as other things are taken care of. One thing we were not sure off was the Budget. Although we had put a cap at 70K initially, we realized our requirements may not be met at that price point. So we decided to stretch it as and when we find a worthy contender.
Suggestions came pouring in from all quarters. Fazers, FZs, Unicorns, Karizmas and many more were looked into and were rejected. Of course my wife had a soft corner for the Pulsar. For that matter even I had a liking towards it. When the GF170 had come home years ago, many had advised us to go for the Pulsar, which was just beginning its illustrious carrier. Gradually as the Lazer fell apart due to lack of spares and an indifferent service back up, and finally gave up, I had a feeling in the back of my mind, if I had gone with a pulsar then, it would have still been by my side. Hence the soft corner.
But a major drawback for me was its ubiquity on the roads and hence did nt qualify for the exclusiveness criteria which my wife was willing to overlook.
All this while I had the Avenger in mind, and slowly pushed the idea of buying one to my wife.
Avenger for me had some advantages. Its ride position giving a more upright stance that transformed into a perceptibly comfortable position for many. Then the fact that it is a looker and our roads are not exactly filled with them, so gives a bit of exclusivity too. The 220 cc motor seemed to have sufficient grunt to keep me happy too. Yes it did'nt seem very flick-able, but I m not normally in a hurry as am not really the boy racer kind. The bike for me had to be a comfortable cruiser capable of upping its ante and getting past 100 K occasionally. But quite understandably much of its useful life would be spent traversing straight lines at 60-80Ks.
It had a very strong competitor in the Royal Enfield Thunderbird. While the RE is in a different league all together, it fell out of favour due to its price which at over a Lac was above our already stretched budget. The waiting periods did nt do much help either.
Luckily wifey was impressed and more importantly was willing to look beyond the Pulsar now. Time to check out the Avy then!
Test ride and dealership experience
"Bajaj Probiking showrooms which used to sell the P220 and Avenger earlier have now been converted to KTM stores and will be selling only Dukes and Ninjas", said a news report. Bajaj website though still listed them as Probiking stores and still said P220 and Avy are available there. I shot a few mails at the email addresses of the Probiking outlets given in the website. All of them bounced back. I called up Bajaj customer care and the most disinterested customer care executive ever, answered the call.
"Sir all outlets sell avengers now." She said/
I said "I know that, what I wanted to know was that do the probiking stores still sell them?"
"Yes sir they still sell"
Off I went to Vasant Lok Probiking to check out the Avy. A KTM South delhi board welcomed me at the outlet and I could see only the Dukes. On enquiry, I came to know the news article was indeed correct. Pro biking outlets are now KTM Stores and sell only Dukes and Ninjas. Dont know what the customer care Exec was thinking?
Next, I called up Dewan Bajaj Dwarka and asked if they have a bike for test ride. The lady at the store said, "Sir, we dont have the bike now, but if you make a booking and pay the booking amount, we can arrange one in two days."
I was surprised and asked, how they expected me to make a booking without a test ride? At that she said, she ll get back to me in half n hour. But that call never came.
Come on Bajaj don't make me hate you even before purchasing your bike.
Couple of more calls and a day later, I finally recieved a call from them to come to the showroom and check out the Avenger.
Off we went to check it out. The test ride would have to wait as somebody else had taken the vehicle apparently.They had a red one on their upper floors which we checked out in the meanwhile. I took it off the stands and sat on the riders seat. First impression was'extremely comfortable'. Next got my wife to sit on the Pillion seat, which according to her was quite comfortable even after considering its lesser width. The back rest helped matters further, as the height seemed just perfect for her.
The ride comfort however could only be confirmed by the test ride which was getting further delayed. As we had other appointments to take care, we decided to leave the place as the test ride could be taken the next day too.
Our choice of colour was blue and the showroom did nt have the colour in stock. But they expected fresh stock to arrive at night so the possibility of getting my hands on one the next day were pretty bright.
Next day I was pleasantly surprised by a call from the dealer saying the bikes have arrived and there were two blue bikes available. As there were quite a few people who had asked for the avenger, if I hurry only then I could lay my hands on it.
"Fine enough" I thought and hurried off. They indeed had recieved stocks and many new fully covered bikes were kept outside the showroom. The showstopper was not surprisingly the latest Bajaj rockstar, the 200NS.
My eyes however were fixed on a covered Blue Beauty parked outside. Was it possible, I am looking at my next bike here?
Without wasting time, I asked for a test ride. My main aim was to check ride quality and the ease of maneuverability in traffic. From the first impressions there seemed to be sufficient power on tap though I really did nt push the bike to its limits. The ride seemed a bit stiff, but not bothersome. Did nt really feel too clumsy in the traffic either. Nothing that could be termed a deal breaker.
So the Avenger it is then.
Rest of the buying experience was uneventful and I was just going through the motions dreaming about my beauty.
I got a helmet and a bike cover for free with the bike. Helmet as expected does nt seem to be of any use, would be buying a DOT certified one soon.
