Hot in the world of 2 wheelers
Vespa 946 Scooters are cool. They are quiet, quick and very, very retro. And the coolest, 'retroest' one is built by the makers of the original Vespa. This Vespa 946 takes its cue from first Vespa from 1946. The super curvy scooter has a 125cc engine with 150cc following soon. Don't be fooled by the retro styling, it's all high tech underneath with double disc braking coupled with a two-channel ABS system. The fuel injected 3 valve, 4 stroke, air cooled engine gives out 11hp and offers 155mpg, which is impressive. There's extensive use of aluminum, making it very light. It's not cheap though, at an equivalent of almost 8.3 lakh taka. But then, that's a whole lot of style for that money.
Aprilia Caponord 1200 Tourers aren't seen much in BD cause of one main reason. Tourers need to have a lot of juice and we are officially limited to 155cc. Meh. This is the latest from Aprilia, boasting a large 1197cc V-Twin engine. Aside from the usual techno gadgetry of engine mapping and traction control, this also gets active suspension damping and cruise control.
MV Agusta Rivale 800 Styling can't get any more aggressive and futuristic than this. And we're not complaining. This is art-work, something we think Da Vinci would have penned instead of the Mona Lisa if he was in this century. The powertrain is taken from the insane race prepped F3 and Brutale 800. That gives it 125 hp, backed by 60 ft.-lb. of torque at 8600 rpm. Add to that the standard ride-by-wire throttle, traction control and selectable power mapping.
2014 Honda CBR300R Just released in China, an emerging automobile market, this is Honda's new 'beginner's' bike. Yes, in BD beginners don't get much more than 100cc. But 250-300cc is considered the right amount for starting these days in the rest of the world. This comes with a single cylinder 286 cc engine with max power of 30.3 hp @8,500 rpm and max torque of 19.5 lb/ft @7,250 rpm. Priced at $4200 this should make for a cracking entry-level bike. And the Fireblade reminiscent looks don't hurt either.
KTM Duke 125 Bajaj Auto hiked its stake in Australian bike manufacturer KTM from the 14.5 per cent it bought in 2007 to about 48 per cent now, investing Rs 1,200 crore. This is promising for bike enthusiasts in BD because KTM makes some seriously cool bikes, one of which falls within our weird bike import restriction on anything above 155cc. Anywhoo, the Duke 125 looks to be immensely fun. Brilliant chassis design, lightweight, and offering world-class standards in equipment for a bike of this class. It's the first of this class to offer ABS braking mated to an engine that pumps out 15hp @10500rpm. Liquid cooling, six-speed gearbox and forced oil circulation ensure the bike is ready for race and stunts alike. It's priced at 1 lakh rupees plus in India. Check out the videos to hear how this sounds. It's unlike any 125cc we've seen here. Expect more than 4 lakh taka f it comes to our shores.
Hero Honda Karizma ZMR Hero Honda has shown a brand new version of its performance motorcycle, Karizma and ZMR, which is mostly the same as the old bike. Karizma ZMR is the higher tuned version of the regular Karizma. Both have a 223cc engine but the fuel injected ZMR produces 19.7 hp and 19.7 Nm torque. It's basically a cosmetic redesign, unfortunately, the design being a mishmash of way too many bikes. Those vertically piled headlights flanked by the horizontal ones are too much to take in.
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