Jun 07, 2007 04:55 PM
10311 Views
When I was in school and college I used to see big guys riding their bullets with their heads high up, wearing their aviator sunglass and at a nominal speed. I was just awestruck.
5 years later I had the opportunity of riding a standard bullet for a period of 3 continuous months. That was when I lost the impression on the standard bullet.
First thing that hit me was, well, the kick starter. I could have made a tree fall with kicks like that and the starter sometimes even back fires and hits my calfr muscle pretty hard.
next up I had to kick something else, and this time that something happened to be the GEAR LEVER. the thing is so stiff and and a bit away from the foot rest to refuse any comfort on account of gear shifts.
I put the bike on gear, and let go the clutch, the initial few seconds were blissful as the bullets pickup gave me a space shuttle feel, it was at 80 kmph that all that reversed.
The bike struggled to pick up and reach a speed of 95, and thats all it was able to do. Beyond that the bullet started vibrating a bit and hence my willingness to open the throttle further reduced.
I have the following against the bullet.
1. Bike is really heavy
2. Just a single cylinder for a 350CC 4 stroke bike is not at all an efficient configuraiton
3. Road grip in corners is not always good
4. Top speed(110 kmph) and power( 19BHP) for a 350 CC bike is not at all justified
- Bike vibrates inconsistently
5. God sake, why are the tyres so puny for such a heavy vehicle
- fuel(in)efficiency
7.stiff gear lever and kick starters.
I fully agree that the bullet is a( should be was a) cult bike. But the above are too serious deficiencies especailly when we are shelling out around 80k Rupees for a bike.
hope sidharth lal reads this article and tries to attach twins to the bullet and make it more road perfect.
Sorry to all bullet lovers!
sincerely,
an ex bullet lover
