Rebirth. Review on Kawasaki Bajaj Eliminator

The Eliminator at the time of its launch was the drool machine for most young indian males, its looks, the finish and all that chrome came in a never seen before cruiser pakage in india. A price tag of 90+k on the road initially just improved on the aura.

But saying that the bike dissapointed is an understatement. Firstly majority of the buyers were city slickers and it just didnt serve the purpose in the city. It was too low slung and in crawling city traffic the riding position with the legs spread out was a bane. What aggravated the problem further was the engine.

The 175cc Kawasaki unit was very refined but felt too underpowered for something costing 90k. Well if youre reason is its a cruiser and power is not its intention, it doesnt have much torque too, and the riding position wasnt the easiest to keep shifting gears in the traffic. Long drives did not fare any better. The engine was prone to knocking in higher gears and needed to be revved. The rear suspension had very little travel and with a pillion up (especially a heavy one) it frequently bottomed, less said the better when one is loaded up with luggage for a vacation.

And to dissapoint you further all my pocket money went to the petrol pump, a mileage of 18/25km/ltr was appaling. The most irritating factor was the keyhole, hidden underneath the fuel tank, WHAT the f''(% is it doing there. The sales guy in the showroom tells me its similar to Harleys. well I havent driven a Harley but I know they do a lot of other things too and Bajaj had to choose the weaklink for a relationship.

Not every thing was bad though. It did turn heads and impress the girls but justifying all that money wasnt easy, and bajajs after sales experience sucked.

Then it was reborn as the Avenger, and after my earlier experience I had all the right to be sceptical. but the bike proved to be a revelation, this easily was an excellent casestudy to show the turn around Bajaj has had in the post Pulsar era.

The biggest drawback its engine was replaced with arguably Indias best motorcycle engine the 180 Dtsi and the performance improvement was evident straight away. There was decent torque and the engine was rev crazy. it was more like a 180 pulsar in a tuxedo. you can easily be ahead in the traffic and not sweat when you see an RX100 in the next lane inviting you for a drag. The reborn eliminator or avenger was fun to drive. The rear suspension also didnt seem prone to bottoming. The new reduced price made the avenger one hell of a package. The best thing was despite the power increase the fuel efficiency got better too that too by a whopping 7-11km/ltr increase. Also the dealer service seems to be improving.

The Avenger is everything the Eliminator should have been in the first place, well as they say better late than never. cant wait for my next vacation.

The moral of the story; Stick to the Avenger, Its a much better option than a second hand Eliminator, especially with the inance schemes going around.