The Performance Cruiser. Review on Bajaj Avenger

What do you get when you put the Pulsar’s efficient & tweaked 180cc engine in the frame of the 90000 Rs Kawasaki Bajaj Eliminator? Well for starters you get a brand new price tag which has reduced by 30000Rs. Then you have the increased performance which can even put the Royal Enfield Thunderbird to shame, increased mileage which can put up a good fight with the 125cc Enticer(now out of production), & obviously the ubiquitous Pulsar roar which replaces the meek exhaust note of the Eliminator. Helping the Avenger’s cause is the new advertisement which has brought newfound excitement in the biking circles which we never had since the CBZ & Pulsar ad of yore(the old DTSi one). So lets start with the basics, shall we?

DESIGN- Five years hence, then Avenger(essentially the Eliminator) is still the neatest looking cruiser you can buy today. The beefy front end, wide handlebars, small headlight & the front tyre fall beautifully in proportion. The bike has a kicked out look with it. The teardrop fuel tank, the rear fender, & the over blown megaphone are all small details that make even a 180cc cruiser look so good. In keeping with the cruiser theme, equipment levels have been kept to a minimum. Forget the Tachometer or even a Fuel gauge, all you get is a Speedometer & tell tale lights (which are on the tank). The Avenger has now occupied the once empty space of the “PERFORMANCE CRUISER” segment. The ergonomics are perfect too & you tend to sink into the seat rather than hop onto it(as I do on my Pulsar), & lean back naturally into position. Just what you would expect & want from a cruiser.

ENGINE & GEARBOX- The original Kawasaki engine on the Eliminator was a gem but was needed to be imported & that accounted for the high price of the Eliminator. So what did Bajaj do? The 180cc engine of the Pulsar 180 was placed in the Avenger. A smart move indeed. That lowered the cost considerably.

The 180cc engine has been tweaked, so that it could be suited to a cruiser. The power figures have gone up by a very small figure too. The engine has all types of modern technologies, which makes the engine a very efficient one. The engine revs freely & from any speed (well almost). The engine is refined & the power delivery was as smooth as silk. The bike retains five gears, but the original gearbox was pure Kawasaki. But I found the bike to have some gearshift problems…………..typically Bajaj. The clutch is also not too smooth in its operation.

PERFORMACE- What do you expect when yo are powered by a 16.7 bhp 180cc engine? You expect nothing but fireworks. But not on a cruiser. Blame it on the additional weight & fat tyres but the Avenger just does not matches the Pulsar’s performance. But obviously the performance is way better than the Eliminator’s. But the top speed has been compromised with. On an open stretch of road the Avenger did not go beyond an indicated 115 kmph. The performance part did not have any problem but the braking part did. Whenever I tried to brake hard the front tire skid. Now I don’t don’t know if that was a problem in my friends bike or it was generalized.

MILEAGE- Rejoice all you people who are forever interested in mileage. It gives my friend a consistent mileage of around 50kmpl in all conditions(he drives like he used to drive his splendor). But when I blasted the bike’s nut off while riding, the bike returned 38 kmpl. Not bad.

HANDLING- Nirvana lies in the mountains(now that’s what shown in the ad too). Here the Avenger should be found completely at home. Notwithstanding the fat 130 section rear tyres there is one slight problem, the long wheelbase makes the bike feel a tad heavy while turning. So in high traffic this prove to be a handful. The bike has beautiful handling capabilities. Also you feel at home driving this motorcycle. Blame it on the “SOFA”(referring to the wide seat). It relaxes you to such an extent that you feel that your destination should never come & you could just sit a while longer.

VERDICT- There is no denying the fact that the Avenger is a real cruiser, but you have doubts when you see the price tag. 60000Rs. That’s it. That’s it to own this seksy cruiser, which by the way I like more than my neighbour’s Thunderbird (which has quite a lot of problems breaking in from time to time). The bike is perfectly reliable & you could expect it to last for ten years atleast. Bajaj has realized the potential of a rightly priced cruiser at last.

Plz drop in your Comments & Ratings.