Bajaj XCD-my first bike
Hi.well
I’m a girl who loves bikes like crazy so when I knew that my loving
father was going to buy me the all new Bajaj Kristal I almost had a
heart attack.well now wait a second my dad is a full blown bike
enthusiast and has owned BSA, Norton, Triumph Thunderbird to name a
few, so I felt it was kind of an injustice to end up with a teensy
light non geared scooty thing.(no offence intended) listen I had an
activa during this time and I love activa too.!so there was a
19 yr old girl acting like a baby just because my dad was dragging me
to planet Bajaj to buy the Kristal.sob sob no I mustn’t cry I told
myself. “Dad”, I said meekly, “if you are buying a non geared vehicle
why don’t you buy the Honda Dio its much better than the Kristal”.my
dad looked at me and gave me a glare that told me to sit quietly from
now onwards and only open it when asked to or else when I die.we
finally reached Planet Bajaj at mumbai-pune road and my dad told mum
and me to sit at the customers lounge and there I was thinking, “oh
well something’s better than nothing”. I was sitting and looking at
the pulsars there and drooling at them and then I saw a bike and my
first thought was pulsar ka chota bhai lolzzz.well the looks were
sleek and good but I felt it was too slim and short to take anyone’s
weight well(especially mine he he he).well my dad told me that all
the formalities were over and he had paid for the vehicle and I just
had to sign the papers. I was in such a sad mood that I signed the
papers without reading it properly wherever the sales associate asked
me to. Dad then asked me to go at the back to the garage with the
associate to take a test ride of the Kristal(grrrrrrrrrr).I gave the
associate the dirtiest look I could muster and went along with him with
my parents towing along.I saw a Kristal parked in front of me and
thought it was the same one I’m supposed to take a test ride of.but
then the sales guy said that here is the bike and told me to take a
round and I gave him a blank look because he was pointing at a Bajaj
XCD, I told him that why should I take a test ride of an XCD when I was
going to buy a Kristal?he gave me a bigger blank look and I looked
towards my dad and mum and they were giving me wide smiles and I
sweetly gave them an angry look and then my dad came over and said
fooled you ha ha.oh my god I realised what had just happened, my
dad had roped in everyone to play an ultimate prank on me and I happily
fell for it.I ran to my dad and hugged him and he told me to go
ahead and try the bike. I sat on the XCD and started the bike and it
started smoothly I put it in first gear and accelerated slowly and it
started moving ahead smoothly and then I put it in second gear and the
gear shifting was a smooth transition.I fell in love with the bike
immediately.
The bike was brought
home after two days my bike was amongst the first XCDs in pune roads as
we had purchased it the day it was put for sale at the showrooms I
guess it was the 8th or 9th of October.Though I was a bit disappointed
that it had drum brakes instead of disc brakes I put it aside I talked
to my dad and asked him why he gifted me a lower cc bike and he said
that “I want you to start with a lower cc bike so that you learn to
love and respect your vehicle and know each and everything about it
including maintenance et all”.he said that he wanted me to get
familiar with a lower cc bike and then he would upgrade me to higher cc
one mostly in a years time.I took my bike to my weekly meeting of my
bike club in pimpri.The club which I am a member of is called
Absolute Insane Riders which has been running since the past two year
or so.We will be completing our second anniversary in Jan 2008.Our
members include people of all areas united with passion of true
biking.We go for long rides and some of us are also into stunting and
drag racing.Well everyone loved the bike and said it had good power
and also awesome mileage.I must add that that it doesn’t give 109
kmpl as said so by the company, I think it gives me around 60 km/h in
the city and though I haven’t gone on a long ride out of the city area
yet I have heard it gives around 70 in the highways.To get a good
mileage one must keep the XCD at a constant speed of 45-50 km/h.The
first few times were a little weird as I would reach the fourth gear
without realising and then try to change it into a higher gear as the
speed was slow and then realise that there were no gears left. Those
were some funny and frustrating moments. I like the spunky look of
the XCD with its spoilers near the tank.though the LED light is
something to work on I don’t know why Bajaj put an LED light that looks
like a deformed version of the new pulsars and looks as if its been
squeezed from the sides.But I guess it adds to the freakish look of
the bike and also adds appeal to it.The all-black engine plus black
alloy wheels makes the XCD one good looking bike and I have got lots of
compliments for my bike as of date for its looks.The brakes are not
that strong though and I will be writing a letter to Bajaj regarding
the brakes and clutch which are faulty in my opinion.whatever its
faults I love my bike though and its a great city bike and light and
spirited enough to help me avoid traffic by zipping through congested
areas.The power is also good so it picks up speed soon and the
digital speedometer is also good though it shouldn’t have been
designed so plainly and basic looking. All in all, I would suggest that
if you are looking for a good city bike in the 125 cc range with
pretty good mileage and sexy looks then go for Bajaj XCD, I promise you
wont regret it.And though it looks slightly smaller than the pulsar
don’t forget good things come in small packages.ha ha.happy and a
safe biking to all. Don’t forget to wear helmets.This is Urvashi
Patole signing off.Would like to thank Satadal Payeng for giving me
an opportunity of writing in his wonderful blog.Check me out in the
December issue of ‘Bike India’ magazine.