1. I bought a Bajaj Avenger in Dec 06 with the intention of doing an ALL-INDIA MO’BIKE SAFARI [a 15, 000 kms trip over 3 months] after putting it through some modifications [rear disk, ABS, sainless side-boxes, rear luggage-rack, etc]. As the bike exited the workshop late, I was forced to postpone the trip to next year [Feb-May]. In the meanwhile, I did a trip on it from Cochin to Bangalore and then locally to Tippu’s Palace at Nandi Hills and then onwards to Chikmagalur and places around - it was a great trip. However, during the ride, I found that after an hour and a half, due to the highly uncomfortable seat, my rear-end started aching and after 2 hours, I had to stop for a longish break to to cool off the tender area! I now plan to change the cushions of the seat so that they are a little more easy on my’butt’! Some brainiacs read this as riding posture and commented upon it saying that they had no problem of posture - proves the saying "Some guys have theiir brains in the wrong place" !
2. The one good thing that I found on the trip was that I got an astounding 58.5 kms/ltr on my return to Cochin. Top-up was at Reliance bunks - the cheating has still NOT started at their places!
3. Within about 2 months of the purchase and in spite of NO rains and giving the bike a’rubdown’ every time I got home, I found that the chrome cups of the turn-indicators had started rusting. Now that we are into the monsoons, the rest of the chrome has rusted so badly, that I think I’ll have to trash the bike after my trip next year; all this in less than 5 months after purchase and claims by Bajaj [at their Customer Meet] that they do NOT have any problems of rusting on the bike in the Bombay area! **As of October, ALL the chrome parts on the bike have rusted, EXCEPT for the silencer, the tank light-console and the front-shockers!
*My wife had warned me that I was going to have this problem, but, I went ahead and bought the bike on account of the trip.
4. The other hassle that I experienced on my trip was that from noon to around 1400 hrs [2 PM for the civvy-street guys], the reflection of the sun off the chrome petrol-tank cover-cum-console is so bad, that one has to move once head from side to side [like a boxer] in order to see what’s coming up front. At times the dazzle is so bad that it is DOWN-RIGHT DANGEROUS.
5. The Avenger also has the same problem that my Pulsar 180 has - it falls into NEUTRAL when one shifts from 1st to 2nd gear. Bajaj is well aware of the problem and had promised to put a modified, [new-design] gear-system on my Pulsar, a promise that they have yet to keep despite a lapse of over one year. I pray they will be kind enough to do me this service on BOTH my bikes sometime in the NOT TOO DISTANT future! And let them not tell me that it is a self-created problem, cause I’ve been riding bikes from 1968 and have NEVER had this problem before on ANY bike! Incidentally, I’m now 62 years [young?].
6. I am of the opinion that the shape and looks of the Avenger are mis-matched, in the sense that the head-lamp doesn’t match with the rest of the body, specially the tank. Then, a cruiser is meant for LONG trips and definitely requires TWO trip-meters. The present speedo is reminiscent of WW II vintage. What the bike need is an all-new digital speedo console [though not a must] with dual trip-meters. In addition, except for the wine-red color, the rest of the colors on offer, are, to my mind un-inspiring.
7. I had written an email, as a feed-back on the Avenger to Bajaj many months back, but, it appears that my report was assigned to the waste-bin! They never even bothered to acknowledge it.
Also, in the process of looking for sponsors for my All-India Safari, I happened to contact Bajaj. Here’s what they said - " If you do this safari, your 5-year warranty will no longer be available". I replied that I would see them in court! **Obviously, they have NO faith in their own product!
*For the record, I used to be a fighter-pilot and an instructor and am a lover of bikes!
Wg Cdr [Retd] Dennis Lawrence