After riding my Kawasaki Bajaj 4S Champion for 5 years, I decided to make a change. It was not like I was dissatisfied with its performance, but I wanted to purchase something which can turn heads.
So I decided my hunt for a new bike. After riding a 100cc bike for 5 years, I thought of purchasing something which is full of power, pickup and style. I ruled out Pulsar 150, CBZ*, Fiero and Honda Unicorn as all were of 150 cc or less. I had a tough time deciding between Karizma, Machismo, Thunderbird, Pulsar 180 and Bajaj Avenger.
I thought of going on the basis of Test drive. I took the test drive of each of the bikes in the same order I have written their names. Believe me, Avenger was the only bike which stopped me from getting down. I wanted to ride more and more.
Thus I purchased the Avenger.
Going to the Pros of this power machine, the very first thing which comes to mind is its engine. It’s 178.2cc 16.5 BHP Digital Twin Spark Ignition(DTS-i) engine is a class of its own. It can deliver you the smoothness of riding a cruiser bike even at speeds greater than 90 Kmph. The pick up is excellent, you give the throttle and your bike will fly. The seating posture is a bit awkward at first, but after driving it for 5-10 minutes, you feel like a king. This posture enables you to ride for much longer times as compared to other sports bikes in the market. The headlights of this bike are a class of their own. I dont know how can such a small headlamp create so much of illumination that a small car can be ashamed of itself. Definetely it is a long distance riding bike.
I must write, that after purchasing my bike, I was not completely satisfied with its performance till the first servicing. After I had my first free service, the bike suddenly changed gears in terms of smoothness and performance. The engine was smoother with less vibrations, the pickup improved a lot, the shock absorbers were more comfortable. In a nutshell, I started enjoying my bike.
There are certain things which I would like to share. Told to me by someone from Bajaj Manufacturing plant :
Do not put engine guard on your bike. The vibrations may lessen up the life of your bike. If the bike requires one, the company will provide.
Starting problems will last till first 1000 - 1200 Kms. Do not panic, if they exist, the engine is new and your bike was delivered to you straight from the manufacturing plant.
Do not play with the silencer and rear tyre of the bike. You can do all sort of Sticker work, but the combination of rear wheel-Silencer is the one which is best suited for yor vehicle.
Do not move over the pot-holes in a high speed. This is not pulsar, its tongs are long and thus the detrimental effect is more on the shock-abs as compared to Pulsar.
And the last thing which he told me was the one I found most interesting and helpful was - ’’This is neither a racing bike, nor a sports bike. Pulsar is optimized to give maximum torque at 6500 rpm. This bike is optimized to give you the same at 8000 rpm. This means that the initial pick up might be less than the Pulsar, but the pickup at speeds of around 50-100 Kmph will be far more superior than the latter.’’
Coming to the Cons - The very first thing is lack of engine kill switch and the location of ignition switch. In traffic, it is irritating to turn off the engine y tilting down on your left side. The other thing which I donot like is lack of fuel meter. Also the pillion seat is too sleek to give the same comfort (as that of the rider) to the person sitting behind.
In a nutshell, this bike is a bike for bikers. All there, reading this review, if you have the passion for pro biking go for it. You will and can never regret.