On Friday 18th May 2007 at an auspicious moment with the moon in the 7th house and the sun in its neighbour’s, I rode out of Bangalore Miller’s Road Suzuki on a Suzuki Zeus, black 125 cc, electronic start, alloy wheels, drum brakes . . .
**Mandatory Warning**
First I must warn the reader that during the course of this review I shall be harking back and forth to the HH Splendor, my trusted ally since 1998 and those born with a congenital aversion to Hero Honda may please look the other way when I speak of the Splendor and have a nimbu pani or bheja fry or entertain themselves with other elevating sports and pastimes.
**R&D**
My research for a 125 cc electronic start bike was more or less restricted to reviews on Mouthshut and a few enquiries with vehicle owners. The other 125ccs I had contemplated were Honda Shine and Super Splendor. Yamaha did not figure at all, due to the absence of macho in my persona. But Shine I had to discount as a guy who owned a Shine said it was a good bike but he would prefer I go for a Unicorn, which showed a distinct lack of enthusiasm for his Shine. Moreover there was the height angle. I am just a little under six feet. About 6 inches under six feet. And the Shine appeared to be made for the taller Indian.
**Knock-out Round**
So now Super Splendor and Suzuki Zeus were in the reckoning. I did get to test ride the Super Splendor at their dealership besides the Lingarajapuram fly-over. That’s an experience worth recounting.
**Around the world with 8 drops**
After a somewhat extended wait, the person in charge got one of his guys to fetch me a bike for a test ride. Along with the bike, he brought an inverted bottle containing a yellow liquid with a tube attached to it like the kind you see in hospitals. After inserting the tube in the appropriate orifice, the mechanic sat in the pillion holding the bottle and we went for a test ride in the side lane adjoining the showroom for a distance of approximately .001 kilometers on the onward journey and another .001 kilometers on the return voyage making a grand total of .002 kms. After the expedition the pillion rider took an appraising look at the bottle as Morarji Desai might have inspected the tumbler after a dainty sip of his numero uno.(Those of you not familiar with the adventures of the great man, get him on google, just type “Morarji therapy”.)
With the kind of space these guys offered I don’t think I went up even to the 3rd gear and the ride was no great shakes, more or less same as the Splendor, and the attitude of the guys - as if they were *afraid* I would *buy* the bike - surely turned me off.
**The moment of truth**
But the test ride of the Zeus was definitely a better experience. To begin with the mechanic behind me was no Morarji fan and the distance we traveled was slightly greater.
The pleasant whirr of a finely engineered machine did impress me. And the decision was made.
**End of Part I
**An blinking exclamation mark inside a red circle says that my review cannot go beyond 7500 characters. How do you make a computer screen understand that your review is less than 7500 characters. Its really tough. You must try it some time. So the rest of the review will appear in Zeus is a breeze - Part II(in the other Zeus category) because it doesnt seem to be accepting it in this category. All in all, I’ve made a fine mess of it. Hope you do enjoy it.
Cheers
George