On 15th august 2014 I called Rohini Suzuki, Baruipur, Kolkata if the new gixxer had arrived or not. They said there was one only for test drive, deliveries will only start from next month. So I went to their showroom for the test drive on 17th. There was this white Gixxer standing outside the showroom, I fell in love with the look of the bike instantly, the colour, the silencer pipe, the fully digital display and the chiselled tank made me glance at it again an again.
The owner of the showroom a guy in his mid-thirty’s came upto me and enquired who I was what help he could be to me. I said that I had called for the bike and I was there for the test drive. He gave me the keys and we went along fro a test drive. I was truely amazed by the bike for a few reasons. The acceleration was very linear and not abrupt that will catch you uncomfortable. The gear shifts were butter smooth, better than all the bikes I had ever ridden(discover 135, Pulser 150, Rx 100, FZ-S, tvs victor, hero xtreme, hero honda passion, honda dream neo are the bikes I have ridden). This was the best gear box I had ever experienced. The road I had test ridden the bike was NH, smooth without any undulations so cant really comment whole heartedly about the suspension, though it felt like sitting on a couch for as long as I was on the bike. It felt the makers were concentrated on making a good comfortable street bike rather that a cornering extravaganza with rock hard seats. That doesn’t mean the cornering was bad, it was agile and sure footed. The rear 140\60 section tyres did the trick. I was taking turns like I had only previously taken on the FZ before and no other bike. But the experience was better than the FZ as the power doesn’t come abruptly. The braking was very progressive and there is a gliding sensation to the braking, it wont stop the bike as first to squeeze your balls in an instant. Forgot to mention the bike was ultra light and very nimble in traffic and gives you a impression of sitting on a larger 250cc street naked.
Now for the sore part of this review. After that I went into the showroom with the owner. He said to me the bike would be around Rs 85000 which he wasn’t sure as the company had not declared before that. I was impressed by the bike so I said when can I get my hands on the bike if I booked one. He said I could get one only the next month on 10th or 11th but not before that, maybe a couple of days latter. So I booked with Rs 5000 and was asking for other issues like service and spares. He said that suzuki service is pretty cheap and would be around Rs 200 for the free services and around Rs 500 for the paid services after that. I asked him what sort of mileage the bike was giving, he gave me and absurd estimation of 62 kmpl. I rubbished it but he was adamant about having got so good a mileage. I took it to be around 50 which was still good for such a bike. He said that I should come to him for service in the future which I was not very comfortable about as his service centre was about 58 kms from my house(imagine the total service charge then including the petrol I would burn for the service). I was more comfortable to go to the service centre in Howrah, which was still 30 kms away from my home and the closest. Just then a man had come enquiring of the Let’s scooter to which query the showroom owner responded himself. He also added that with the let’s scooter the man would get a few freebies such as a body cover, a cleaning cloth, an ISI certified helmet, three free polishes, mirror set. I certainly asked him what would I get with the Gixxer(I expected some goodies too as the Gixxer was 30000 more or less costlier than the let’s) but to my surprise he said there was nothing free on the Gixxer apart from the mirror set. I got disappointed but only a little. After taking the booking reciept was walking away from the showroom before having a final and thorough look at the bike before I left. On minute visual inspection I found out that there was rust in the nuts and bolts of the front handle bar and some rust on the joint of the front suspension. I was shocked to see that a bike less than a month old had rust on it. I again went in the showroom with an intention to cancel the booking then and there as was not confident about the bike’s quality. I said what my problem was to the owner of the showroom. He said that the bike had been travelling throughout west bengal for the past month for training of mechanics, and had been opened up and put together several times. I ate up this excuse for then but when I came back home I saw my old Rx-100 and realized that there was no rust anywhere on the bike though it is a 20 year old bike and it also had been opened up a few times and has been subjected to repeatative abuse for the past 20 years by it’s three previous owners without much signs off ageing. I instantly decided not to go for the bike just yet as Gixxer was yet to be tested or tried by anybody. I went back to the dealership in a couple of days and cancelled by booking.
Am waiting for some expert reviews on the bike by some reputed tv channels and auto magazines before thinking about buying the bike.