9 THINGS TO KNOW BEFORE BUYING A USED MOTORBIKE !!

Not everyone can afford to buy a new motorcycle in their fist year of joining a job that pays them on the basis of a fresher who has just entered college finishing their high schooling and it is also not always about new bikes being better than the used ones. Blame the perception here for an instance.

In India although used bikes doesn’t strike the right chord with the buyers as it’s mostly seen negative, there are several instances where a used bike has proven itself a lot worthier for the money spent on it rather than a shiny one parked in the showroom waiting to be rolled down the ramp. 

The First and foremost thing being the bike itself that takes the centre stage, it is better that the buyer is on his own in inspecting the bike himself for the loop holes and definitely not rely someone who he hardly knows.Some very important pointers to look out for when buying a used motorcycle in your own local region that you belong to;

• Check the Papers of the vehicle, which to be very specific will be the Registration Certificate and the Insurance papers are valid and have not expired which in a case of an exotic like a Jawa belonging to 1970’s might not be which can be compromised at buyers own risk. Make sure the registration certificate carries the correct engine & chassis no. that is punched onto the bike. As this makes sure that the bike isn’t suffering from illegal issues and ensures that the piece of love that you’ve been looking for is pretty legitimate.

• Call up the Insurance agency the bike is registered to and with the help of a little Rapport that you create instantly with them, try and track down if any major claims/ accidents have been registered in the name of the owner or in the registration no. of the bike. This will make sure that the owner is not pushing you a troublesome salvage bike that might have its own legal issues once bought.

• Avoid a modified Motorcycle as modification in India is not as clean as it is seen abroad. Also modified motorcycle can also be a sign of an abused motorcycle that was modified from its original state to take some amount of abuse for whatever reason the owner did it with. Also modified motorcycles will be a Cop/ RTO authority magnet. It’s always better to be subtle than to shout out crying for unwanted attention.

• The frame, forks, engine casings and the fuel tank are the most expensive parts housed in a motorcycle excluding the engine itself. A detailed inspection of the above said things will save you a lot of money in terms of maintenance as damaged forks or fork oil seals or even a leaky tank that leaks once the kick stand is on will again drill a hole in the pocket after the deal is closed that puts a lot of financial pressure to the potential buyer.

• After the bike is visually inspected and when you’re satisfied, proceed to firing the engine. For a safer side, request the owner to start the bike. Keep the bike idling in stationary position. Listen to the engine idle, sharp ears and a good knowledge about Motors will be of a great help. If not pls. call your best mentor in the Automotive field whom you can trust with their decisions and rely them for the final verdict. In general, make sure the bike doesn’t let out too much of exhaust smoke in case of a 4 Stroke and if does, be prepared to look out for other options as a damaged cylinder kit will again cost you thousands additionally.

• If everything goes alright with respect to the engine idle, request the owner to rev up a little and inspect the same. If ok, ask the owner for a small test drive and pls. be polite to take him along if he insists as he would also feel that you are a complete stranger to him. Mutual respect is sincerely advised in this case.

• If something goes wrong or if you feel something is wrong during the test ride, pls. feel free to ask the owner about the same. With the answers given by the owner one can be clearly judge the intentions of the seller. Either it should be a legitimate sale or pushing off a rusted piece of metal.

•  The final stage being the owner and the negotiation part, make sure the owner feels as important as the vehicle itself that you’ve been looking out for. With that kind of feeling subjected to, the owner of-course will be very co-operative in answering almost any question that you throw at him right from the free services availed to the last repair and accident history carried out recently.

• Coming to the negotiations, make sure you enquire the local market price with respect to the year of manufacturing before you offer your deal. Be very polite in the offers and please avoid low balling as much as possible as most of the owners who have kept their machines in spanking conditions wanting to sell do not part them only because of the need for money. They might look out for better homes to put their long trusted steed in.

TWO MOTORBIKES WITH SAME CUBIC CAPACITY BUT DIFFERENT MILEAGE !!! WHY ??

You might have noticed that motorbikes having same cubic capacity gives different mileage. For Example,Bajaj Platina has cubic capacity of 100 CC and it gives mileage of 104 kmpl,on the other hand Hero Splendor is also having same cubic capacity but it gives the mileage of 81kmpl.

It is mainly because the bikes like Platina has been made keeping in mind mileage.Parts are light to keep bike weight low.Carburetor is tuned to extract mileage though it puts a strain on engine which you can judge from harsh engine note.If you race it will shudder as it puts strain on engine.Also it gives Low torque, low BHP, and leaner air fuel mixture. Tyres are slim for less friction with road.All this saves you petrol but at a high maintenance cost & low resale value.High maintenance cost can be curtailed with regular servicing but if you give less petrol to engine then wear & tear will be more anyway.

FORD FREESTYLE TO BE LAUNCHED ON 26TH APRIL 2018:TECHNICAL DETAILS YOU NEED TO KNOW !!

Ford has just pushed back the launch date of the Freestyle hatchback-based crossover from 18th April to 26th April, 2018. The reason for the delay in the launch of the Freestyle may be due to the fact that the facelifted Mahindra XUV500 is launching on the same day, and the first drives of the Tata Nexon AMT are also scheduled for that day.

The Freestyle is the rugged version of the Figo hatchback, which sports black honeycomb grille, faux silver skid plates, beefy front and rear bumpers with black body cladding. The ground clearance of the Freestyle is up by 15 mm as compared to regular Figo Variant.It also gets sporty suspension set up over the regular Figo variant.

ENGINE SPECIFICATIONS:

Ford Freestyle will be powered by a new 1.2-liter Ti-VCT petrol engine tuned to give out 95 bhp of power and 120 Nm of torque. The diesel engine, on the other hand, will be tried-and-tested 1.5-liter unit producing 99 bhp and 215 Nm of peak torque. Both engines will come mated to five-speed manual transmission. Ford claims the Freestyle petrol variants will give 19.0 kmpl fuel efficiency while the diesel variants will come with 24.4 kmpl mileage.

The Freestyle will be offered in four variants – Ambiente, Trend, Titanium, and Titanium+ and six color options – Canyon Ridge, Absolute Black, Moondust Silver, Oxford White, White Gold and Smoke Grey.

Based on the KA platform that it shares with the Figo hatchback and Aspire compact sedan, the Freestyle is a very important vehicle for Ford, and is one of the biggest launches of this year. The Freestyle is supposed to be priced at Rs. 50,000 more than the Figo, variant to variant. This puts the Freestyle’s starting price at the Rs. 6 lakh mark.