Indian Motorcycles expands its network in the country by launching 6th dealership in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.

Indian Motorcycles are making steady growth in India in spite of having heavy competition from Harley-Davidson. The company, which is owned wholly by Polaris Industries Inc. have expanded their footprint by launching a new dealership in Gujarat. This will be the 6th dealership the American motorcycle brand has set up in the Indian market. The dealership will showcase the entire range of Indian Motorcycles which is located in the core of Ahmedabad city of Gujarat.

The expansion of dealer outlets is a strategy worked out by Indian Motorcycle to have a strong network base encouraging bike enthusiasts wherever they are. The dealership has been designed as per Indian Motorcycles’ global standards with a complete after-sales support team providing a long-lasting relation with the Indian motorcycles owners. With the trend of owning a premium motorcycle on the rise, Indian Motorcycles seems to be playing their cards well which could help to boost their sales figures.

The showroom will have an area of 3,000 sq ft which will allow a spacious display of the entire range of Indian motorcycles currently available in the Indian market such as Indian Roadmaster, Indian Chief Dark Horse, Indian Chief Classic, Indian Chief Vintage, Indian Chieftain and Indian Scout models.

In the current market, Indian motorcycles compete against the Harley-Davidson range of motorcycles and the Triumph Rocket III roadster.

Courtesy : Zigwheels

A back of the grid start for Rossi in the title-deciding Valencia race,saw him losing the championship to Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo.

Valentino Rossi would have been immediately black-flagged if his Sepang MotoGP clash with Marc Marquez had happened in Formula 1, reckons Bernie Ecclestone.

Rossi was given three penalty points on his licence for taking Marquez out of the Malaysian Grand Prix amid a bitter feud between the two.

Added to a previous penalty point for blocking in San Marino GP qualifying, that triggered a back of the grid start for Rossi in the title-deciding Valencia race, where he lost the championship to Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo.

The latter was among those arguing Rossi's penalty was insufficient, and Ecclestone believes F1 would have acted more assertively in such a situation.

"Rossi would have been disqualified for sure," Ecclestone told Gazzetta dello Sport.

"Or he would have been shown the black flag."

Other F1 figures were split on Rossi's actions following the Sepang incident.

While Sebastian Vettel was adamant that "Valentino did absolutely the right thing", Felipe Massa said "I am a big fan of Valentino but he made a mistake".

Ecclestone described MotoGP's late-season controversies - which extended beyond the Sepang collision to a row over whether Marquez was helping countryman Lorenzo's title bid despite them being in different teams - as "a warning for F1".

He added: "I'll give you an example: let's suppose Ferrari is en route for the title and Mercedes block them with one of their customer teams, what would happen then?"

Rossi seriously considered an F1 move in the mid-2000s, completing several tests with Ferrari in 2006 before committing his future to motorcycles.

He has also dabbled in sportscars and rallying, and will take on factory Hyundai World Rally Championship driver Thierry Neuville in this weekend's Monza Rally.

Ecclestone believes Rossi was wise not to pursue a mid-career change of discipline and to stay focused on MotoGP.

"In bikes he was at the top as far as importance and earnings are concerned, while in F1 he would have had to start from scratch," he said.

"He did the right thing in not switching."

Courtesy : Autocar

The new Ducati XDiavel has been voted the Best Looking Bike at the 2015 EICMA show in Milan. 6,910 attendees of a total of 11,369 participants voted in favour of the XDiavel

The new Ducati XDiavel has been voted the Best Looking Bike at this year’s EICMA show in Milan.

Over 61 per cent of visitors and attendees at the Milan Motorcycle Show voted in favour of the new Ducati in the ‘vote for the best looking bike and win it’ competition organized by Italian magazine Motociclisimo.

As many as 11,369 EICMA attendees participated in the competition, with 6,910 people voting in favour of the XDiavel. The votes were counted on Sunday, November 22, at the Motociclisimo stand and Ducati Design Center Director Andrea Ferraresi received the award on behalf of Ducati.

Ducati presented a total of eight new bikes at the EICMA show – two Ducati Scramblers (the Flat Track Pro and the new Sixty20, the new Panigale 959, the Multistrada Pikes Peak edition, the new Multistrada 1200 Enduro, the XDiavel, the new Hypermotard 939, Hypermotard 939 SP and Hyperstrada 939. Ducati has also added the Monster 1200R to the 2016 range, first unveiled at Frankfurt in September 2015.

Courtesy : Zigwheels

The Honda CBR 150R and CBR 250R get refreshed graphics; remain mechanically unchanged.

The Honda CBR 250R has been launched in two variants – the standard bike and one with the Honda Combined Antilock Braking System. It also gets a new set of stickers and refreshed colours – red, black and white. Mechanically, the motorcycle remains unchanged from the previous version, and carries forward the  249cc, single-cylinder, four-stroke engine that makes 26.15bhp. Honda has priced the motorcycle at Rs 1,60,200 (ex-showroom, Delhi).

The Honda CBR 150R has also been refreshed, with a new set of graphics. The colours being offered are green, blue and red. The Honda CBR 150R also remains mechanically unchanged, and carries forward the 149.4 cc, single-cylinder, four-stroke engine that produces 18.28bhp. Honda has priced the motorcycle at Rs 1,23,200 (ex-showroom, Delhi).

Courtesy :  Autocar

At the top of the 2016 Bonneville lineup sits the new Thruxton, with an ‘R’ twin. What makes them special?

Just like the new Triumph Bonneville Street Twin and two Bonneville T 120s, the Bonneville Thruxton has also been thoroughly reworked for 2016, with seriously impressive hardware, apart from cosmetic changes to the motorcycle. The new Thruxtons are stunning lookers, with a dash of thrill added in.

Now, we all know the Bonnevilles were the superbikes of yesteryear. They came in to make a humble beginning in 1968, but worked hard to build themselves the image of an iconic, classic British twin. The Triumph Bonneville Thruxton too, keeps an element of retro in its design. The large round headlamp looks classic, and so does the round analogue and digital twin-pod instrument display. The handlebars have classic rearview mirrors mounted on either ends. The wheels too, have wire-spokes.

The tank has the typical Thruxton classic look, and the Thruxton R even gets a Monza-style fuel-filler cap. More about the R coming up in a bit. The Thruxton seat looks sporty, and twin exhaust pipes fit right in with the classic Thruxton appeal.

The Bonneville Thruxton R, with the racing suffix, has a few nifty performance parts thrown in. It gets stainless steel exhausts without catalytic converters for added oomph, a more aggressive, hot-cam and washable air-filter.

Apart from this, Showa big piston upside down front forks, Triumph-unique Ohlins adjustable suspension at rear, and Pirelli Diablo Rosso Corsa Tyres. The floating twin disc brakes in front have monobloc construction Brembo made calipers. Visually setting the R apart from the other one is a colour matched seat cowl, buffed steering headstock and larger section alluminum swingarm.

The Thruxtons get a four-stroke, 8-valve, 1,200cc, parallel-twin powerplant, in a sporty state of tune. It has higher compression than the other Bonnies, a lighter crankshaft and a revised airbox to push in more, to get higher engine output. This higher spec engine delivers 11kgm of maximum torque at a 5,000rpm. The torque figure made by the engine is delivered at higher rpm as on the other Bonnevilles, getting closer to its 7,000rpm redline.

The liquid-cooled engines offer ride-by-wire throttle control, and suitably styled throttle bodies that match the bikes retro character and look like carbs from yesteryears. A slipper enabled clutch is mated to the Thruxton’s six speed gearbox.

Triumph has worked to not only make the new, more menacing looking bikes look high performance, but also on making them go like higher performance machines. As a result, you find the evergreen classic look comes in accompanied by some serious technology too.

Triumph has three riding modes for the Thruxtons, ‘road, ‘rain’ or ‘sport’ to control the way the motorcycle behaves on the road. Also, you get switchable traction control and ABS for the brakes, to keep you on top of tricky situations.

Again, much like the other Bonnevilles, we expect the Thruxton to be priced close to the present day one, here in India. With a stronger engine, that has been painstakingly tuned, and with the ‘R’ version included in the lineup, ensuring new Thruxton customers are in for a treat, and can’t ask for anything more.

Courtesy : Autocar