Hi Y’all...
After a year and a half of reading informative/interesting reviews in this site, i have finally decided to pen one.(I am not making any claim here that this one’s gonna be interesting or informative).One of the main reasons that has prevented me from writing a review, apart from laziness, has been the fact that I have not owned any product that I think is worthy of a review.Not any more-my avenger deserves some print praise.
My poor suzuki samurai after years and years of abuse finally said enough is enough and just refused to start.After the friendly neighborhood mechanic presented me an with an estimate that rivalled the original cost of the bike, i had decided that it’s probably a good time to buy a new bike.(The streets of chennai has made the idea of owning a car rather less appealing).My main criteria was-1.Stability 2.Comfort 3.Decent power and 4.Economy/Mileage(c’mon-did u guys even think I was different??) Since I am not 20 anymore-i had decided to rule out the pulsar twins/unicorn/cbz and karizma.As comfort and ride quality scores high in my requirement, the only logical choice was a cruiser.This had narrowed the field to Thunderbird, Enticer and Eliminator/Avenger.My selection process was made somewhat easier by the fact that Yamaha had discontinued Enticer’s production recently.After test riding both the Thunderbird and Avenger, i nearly chose the T-Bird for sheer ride pleasure.But the thoughts of crude oil prices skyrocketting swung me to the side of Avenger, and I hav’nt regretted my decision ever since. I purchased a black Avenger on the 12th of June.I’ve done about 500 kms until now.There are about a zillion great reviews about the Eliminator in this site-so I am not going to get into any detailed technical description of this bike, except mention the 2 main differences between the Avenger and the Eliminator. 1.Bajaj has replaced the kawasaki 175cc engine on the eliminator with a slightly modified pulsar 180cc engine, and 2.This engine change has helped them price it much more competetively at Rs 66, 650(chennai on road price) as against about 90, 000 earlier.To know more about the technical specifications of the Avenger check out this link.https://bajajauto.com/avenger/index.htm
From my perspective, it is an extremely stable(the fat rear tyres makes a maruti 800 wheel cringe with shame), scores on safety(the front disk brakes and rear drum brakes brings the bike to an almost instantaneous standstill), extremely bright headlights(the best I have ever seen in any bike) makes night riding less of a hazard and more of a pleasure, and has been giving me abt 48kmpl mileage.The riding stance is a relaxed/streteched out posture not unlike sitting in a car, takes a little while to get used to.This riding posture coupled with excellent suspension makes long drives a breeze and ensures that your back would actually live as long as you do.Added to this is the 16.5 horses of power that the pulsar 180 dtsi engine churns out and voila-the whole package is irresistable .
Coming to the disadvantages- The lack of a fuel gauge indicator and engine kill switch.The fuel guage problem can be circumvented using the tripmeter provided to keep tabs on when the bike’s going to run out of gas, but the absence of engine kill switch is dismaying.Added to this , is the fact that the ignition switch is located below the speedo and to the left side of the bike, rather than on the head unit as in regular commuters.This makes switching off and on the bike at traffic signals rather painful.I personally found the handlebars lacking in imagination.Instead of upswept harley type of cruiser handlebars, the avenger comes with a rather plain looking T-shaped handlebar.Even though, they are wide enough to aid good handling, they lack the charisma of an upswept handlebar. The only problem I have had until now was with the indicators, and that too the very next day after the bike was delivered.The problem was speedily resolved though, and the bike was fitted with a fresh set of indicator switch.
My recommendation as an owner-if you are looking to buy a cruiser-look no further.Go and get one ASAP and you won’t regret it.