ON THE RIDE:
The 50 cm long, and 20 cm wide seat is generous and well padded, with a cusp in front which gives it a sporty look. The 13.7 litre fuel tank (FT) has ample capacity. It also looks ample. The knee recesses in the tank enhance looks, though personally my riding style is knees akimbo, rather gripping the tank. The handlebar (HB) width is a good 70 cm without including the end pieces and 77 cm with the end pieces. I like wide handlebars, though this is a matter of personal preference.

You mount the bike, shove in the ignition key, make sure that the EKS is not in the 'K' mode, and turn the key. A red light (RL) comes on the dashboard. Aha! You forgot to retract the side stand (SS). So you lift up the SS, and RL goes off. Thumb the electric starter button and the engine fires. The huge chunky silencer produces a beat, which is a beat to beat all beats except Bullet.

Pull in the clutch, toe down into first gear and open the throttle, the bike takes off. Travel through the gears and ease yourself into the city traffic, the bike stays with the city traffic at any speed - in any gear you please. I usually please myself into fifth asap. Economic reasons you see, since staying in fifth leads to maximum economy. Ambling along in traffic crawling at15 kph (1500 rpm) even in fifth gear produced no bucking, no jerking nor any chain snatch. If the traffic started increasing speed and you wanted to keep up, you still would not need to downshift, not unless you wanted to take off real quick and run away. The torque curve is that flat.

Power-wise however, things start happening after 5000 rpm. From 5000 rpm to 7000 rpm the power increases from 5.5 BHP 9.5 BHP in a straight line of slope 45 degrees, a uniform increase of ONE BHP per 500 rpm. Only when you ride beyond 5000 rpm do you feel the surge of power. The most effective utilization of BHP in this bike takes place between 5000 rpm and 7000 rpm. Even beyond 7000 rpm the power still goes on increasing, up to it max. of 12 BHP at almost 9000 rpm, but the surge between 5000 and 7000 is more than the increment between 7000 and 9000. This is mathematically obvious, since the 2.5 bhp increase in power between 7000 and 9000 is from 9.5 bhp to 12 bhp, that is 0.625 bhp per 500 rpm as opposed to 1.0 bhp per 500 rpm between 5000 and 7000 rpm.

I have not done zero to sixty, stopwatch test and braking distance test myself. The company claims zero to sixty in 7.48 seconds and braking distance from sixty to zero at 13.5 metres. The top speed claimed by the company is 100 kph, which I have achieved (and exceeded) many times.

The ride quality is very good and braking is excellent. The disc in the front does a great job. Handling and roadholding is very good too, though personally I would like more rubber on the rear (say 100/90 rear tyre). Given the power, chunk and general get up of this bike, a fatter rear would enhance appeal greatly, though fuel average would drop by @ three to four kmpl. Inspite of much thrashing on bad roads, there is no sign of any leak from the front forks and the crankcase is absolutely dry - not even a speck of oil anywhere. I am very much a (K)night rider, and the excellent headlight power and beam quality endeared me no end. Low beam for slow, city riding, to show Pune's famous potholes and hi-beam to show the road ahead safely almost up to top speed.

While the seat looks good and feels good, it did not jell with me. I do not like seats with cusps because I do not like somebody else to define where and how I sit. I said so in my reports on the CBZ and Caliber as well, both of which have cusps. If I sit in the cusp, then the "handlebar-seat-footrests-gear shift lever-foot brake pedal" geometry becomes pre-defined for me by somebody else. Therefore I am forced to adjust my body geometry to suit somebody else's presumption of my body geometry. I don't like it. If I sit more aft on the seat, then my damn CG goes up a couple inches, which isn't very healthy for cornering. Call it a mental block. But give me a flat, old RX 100 type seat any day, and let me be free to slide my ass fore and aft on the seat to suit my fancy without raising my CG, which raises my BP(=blood pressure).