Improving a good original by ironing out the quirks.

The Fiero was the last complete product designed by Suzuki for its erstwhile Indian partner. The original Fiero debuted in early 2000 and while there was nothing wrong with its 150cc four-stroke engine, it surely raised eyebrows as to the style direction it exhibited as also the way the chassis and suspension engineers had gone about their task. With bikes like the Hero Honda CBZ plus the Bajaj Pulsars showing what 150cc bikes should sport and deliver, it was evident that the Fiero was in urgent need of a revamp sooner rather than later. However, TVS had big plans for its foray into the large Splendor-Passion class with its own wholly-developed Victor and it preferred to lavish the time and effort on this product which as everyone knows has taken the fight to the best-selling Hero Hondas like no other. On top of that, TVS and Suzuki were engaged in making their separation as painless as possible and one of the terms in that regard specified that TVS continued with Suzuki products virtually unchanged till May 2002. As such the company preferred to just chug along with the Fiero while it maintained a scorching pace with the Victor.

However, once the cooling off period had elapsed, the Fiero was brought in for a complete makeover. When the original Fiero came on to the market, there was only the Hero Honda CBZ in the premium 125cc plus segment. Today the segment boasts the likes of the 150cc/180cc Pulsars plus the 133cc Ambition from Hero Honda and surely TVS had to come up with a bike which met the minimum requirements for this class.

It is here that the think tank at Hosur thought differently to come up with a large machine. A bike which would, not only be devoid of the shortcomings of the original but also sober and subdued in profile to present a very comfortable upgrade for many from the 100-110cc class to step up to. A line of thought which Hero Honda espoused with its Ambition and a fact of life which was not lost on Bajaj Auto which cannily slipped in a 143.91cc Pulsar 150 while the larger 178.61cc Pulsar 180 hogged the limelight. So now that everyone knows the raison d’etre of the new Fiero F2, it will be easy to comprehend the method behind the madness in crafting this super commuter.