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Yesterday was a hectic day. The whole day passed thinking about how to make work the small RC car I am currently building with my friend Naren. At last we decided to give a pause. I packed all the parts into a bag in the morning around 2 a.m. As usual I woke up at 9:30 and surprisingly my father who used to shout every time kept cool today. But another argument soon sprung up as I reminded him about bike that he had promised. I had wanted him to purchase a bike for me. With a lot of difficulty I had convinced him to do that. I thought I won the war, although, the real problem lied in the c.c. rating of the bike. He told he would not get me a set of wheels powered by a 150c.c mill. This is because of an illogical relation between safety and c.c. that he had assumed.That is the case with every Indian family. This connection holds well; but my point is this is not all about safety. I wish an India of 150c.c. bikes (at least). But I am in a country of misers who know to compare only the fuel efficiency and talk other economics stuff. We don’t really appreciate the ride quality and handling of the machines we use every day. Ok, now we have something to be happy about. At least all these bullshit comparison involves 125c.c bikes nowadays. But the Indian mindset made the manufacturers make these wheels unable to compete with legendary previous generation models Suzuki Max 100R, RX100 in their performance. And even worse happens here is the wrong selection of 125c.c bikes. We will now have race with the top four 125c.c bike makers Suzuki, Hero Honda, Bajaj and Yamaha.


Suzuki has really failed to produce a good successor to MAX100. The product line is not very impressive nowadays. Even a Suzuki fan would not be totally convinced with any of the models. Though all of them are powered by nice engines and have smooth gear box and a not so bad efficiency, they don’t really have the appeal to make the owner proud and all of them lack performance. They also fail to meet the efficiency requirements of the greedy Indians.


Splendor NXG is the next contender. Other than the 125c.c engine it is the same old engine that powered the original splendor. I can’t find anything great with the design too; some lipstick work by Honda has given it a suffix. Still the looks are dated and the styling uninspired. But it has got the bloody mileage. I don’t want to talk about glamour. But these two are the best for misers. But the Honda’s shine has a better overall ride than these too but has no Hero Honda logo on it that the Indians look for.


Then, our HAMARA BAJAJ comes. I must say Discover is an overall very good design and one of the very few bikes which have no big negatives. But it is succeeded by XCD, I must say. For me It is not an impressive bike at all (but for the add). But BAJAJ knows the technique and has given what a MEAN biker needs. People are brain-washed by the features, but the only nice thing is the LED lamps and the length is less making it easy for cities. The digital instrumentation is not at all tweaked and an ugly bulge on the fuel tank further spoils the already mean look. Again, there are a lot of other small futile efforts to improve its look. The key success is that a 125 gives 72. Don’t forget that they all come at the cost of performance.


Like many other people I also have a habit of saving the best for the last. Yes, I am going to talk about the great YAMAHA. But I must say this manufactures has failed to live up to the international image. But the Gladiator shows the shape of things to come. One of the things YAMAHA bikes fail to do is to give an Indian mileage. But gladiator has touched 70 marginally lower than XCD. It gives nice accurate handling, nice engine, good performance, a smooth gear box and loads of comfort and decent looks. We know YAMAHA bikes will give them always. And it comes with nice stopping power too with a set of front discs. I am not very happy that it has not touched the sales figures it deserves. People say it is pricey but remember you cannot ignore the discs in the front. For me Gladiator is the best offering in the segment though it is also the heaviest of the four.


I again come back to safety I was talking about in the beginning. It is not only speed that matters. Though Gladiator is by far the fastest, it is the safest. It has got the best stopping power. The accuracy in handling makes you drive exactly where you want to. It provides you the stability and the confidence to drive. The gear box makes your shifts effortless. In all these departments it does much better than other bikes.


So if you are a miser go for the hero Honda. If you just want to be different from others go for SUZUKI. If you just want a better look than Honda and so called features and planning to ride only in small streets full of traffic and also lazy of filling tank regularly then go for XCD. If you have a passion for biking and some grey matter, you are bound to choose an all-rounder. That is none other than Gladiator.