I have very strong feelings for this bike. My liking went up continuously for the past 3 years owing to factors detailed below.
Initial Cost
This bike costed me 26K when I bought it 3.5 years back at chennai. The current price is Boxer AR in Chennai is 32K. By far the initial investment is 40 to 50% lower than any popular 100 cc bikes. The savings in initial cost will allow me to buy my second bike 40% earlier than other bikes.
Fuel efficiency
Lets face it. We do a great service to ourselves, Nation’s Oil pool deficit, Environment and Global Energy reserves if we use a fuel efficient bike. This bike initially gave me 75 Km per litre and after 3 years is now giving me 65 Km pl. The advertised 91 kmpl was not achievable by ordinary people like us.
Pollution
Another reason going for a 4-stroke motorcycle would be pollution. Boxer is one of the most non-polluting vehicle you can see. The CO ppms are lesser than that of splendour. I misplaced the emission certificate I got 2 years back (When TN Govt forced every bike rider to have one those times).
Pick Up
The 7.5 bhp 100cc Engine gives just enough pick up to take you out of stiff traffic conditions (When the lights go green). I realized, I am not in Sholavaram race course or some F1 track. I am in some stupid road which carries helluva lot of traffic where changing gears is a luxury.
Handling
This bike is light to handle. The balance perfected in the bike’s design is good. It allows you to take sharp corners and you can also lift it when taking out of crowded cinema parking lots or railway station parking lots. Gear box design is excellent. Never faced any problems in frequent shifting of gears.
Maintenance
My bike has gone around 45K Kms and the following are the maintenance I did.
Service (100 Rs) and Oil (150 Rs) once every 5000 Kms
Replaced distributor coil (450 Rs) sometime in 2002 after having run 30K Kms.
I feel these are tolerable.
It is not comfortable to take this bike on frequent long trips outside cities. The fact that it is light makes you concentrate on driving at highways enhancing fatigue.
Happy Biking,
Ram