Before I give my review, my opinion on bike is important, so that you decide whether to read ahead or not.
I use a bike to travel to office, and roaming around the city for the day-to-day work. I don’t use it for Racing purpose or for any style competition.
Now, for the review part, I purchased this Bajaj XCD bike in July 2008. It’s been one year and 4 months and I have completed 13700 kms.
The problems I face with this bike:
the breaking system is not good. You will end up changing the break shoe mostly in the second or third service.
Back tyres are very thin. this should have been done with an aim of improving the mileage. But this is one drawback of this bike. This thin tyre sometimes skids in water / mud surface.
The bike is very much open in the back side. The silencer is placed at a distance. So when you ride in rainy season with rain water stagnant in most of the roads in India, it splashes on your trousers and also for pillion rider.
The good things about this Bike:
Light weight bike. Easy to handle this one. And comfortable for riding through the traffic. Very flexible. In case the tyre happen to get punctured or you fall down, you should be able to lift the bike and pull it for some distance. I’m not strong enough to lift or pull a pulsar.!
Nothing much happens as damage when you fall down or meet with small accidents such as Auto fellow coming in between, skid in mud, etc., I myself was stunned to see this.you hardly get a scatch on the dome or behind the rear glass. NOTHING happens to any other part.
Mileage is healthy, though as it is not what was promised. I manage to get a mileage of around 60. I feel I should have got a better one, around 70. But, one of my service, third service, was screwed by the Bajaj authorized service center guy, where it dropped from 75 to 55.
this one is very economical. The cost was only 42, 000. the final price including road tax and accessories like seat covers etc. was just below 49000. A 125 cc bike at such a price and performance is really awesome.
This is mainly a competition for the likes of Splendor. Earlier, HH Splendor was a common man’s bike - Solid and reliable. But with the times changing, people are not satisfied with the 100 cc splendor and here comes XCD 125 cc.
For the service part:
After my first three free services with Bajaj, I was highly disappointed, especially with 3rd service and decided to try it outside. And then I found Castrol Bike zone. These guys do a good job in all aspects.
My recommendation - Look out for a nearest Castrol bike zone center and start consulting a mechanic there. If you are a regular customer there, you will get a dedicated mechanic for your bike and every time you give for service, the same guy, who knows your bike well, handles your bike.
Petrol - I use normal unleaded petrol. I once tried shell and it reduced my mileage.
I ride at an average speed of 55 km/hr. At the max, I touch 70.
Others -
The folding number plate is just a style icon. I haven’t seen it folding any time.
You have to kick start the bike every morning, raise the accelerator and warm up the engine before you start. Then your ride will be smooth. Else, the engine will get off in-between, while you stop in signals.
I would also recommend to rest-ride the XCD 135 cc once, as it has wider tyres and 5 speed gear box.
Hope I covered most aspects of this bike.
Over all, A good economic solid reliable bike from Bajaj, that is really worth the money paid.