Well, its been a couple of months now that I brought the Kinetic Blaze and so finally decided to try and get a review in. Of course, please note that I am no mechanic or hardcore biker so this is going to be in old fashion english(and not a course in speedreading engineering or biker jargon). Also, this is the first bike I’ve ridden so all comparisons, if any, may just end up being against a cycle!
First up, its for around 56k on road Mumbai(at least when I got it) and is currently returning~35 kmpl(that’s the Blaze FAQs by the way, based on the questions that people ask you at signals)
Now, I had made it a point to read all available material on the Blaze(including brochures, reviews in mags, Mouthshut.com, XBHP, etc.) so I was well aware of the pros and cons.
Lets check out the Pros first:
From my Point of View(PoV), there were two things going for this scoot, namely, bigger than the average(Indian) bike capacity(165 cc) and the fact that it was gearless(Don’t ask, let it rest at me having issues with gears). Some people recommend that you test ride the vehicle before you buy it, but at the time of going to the shop, I had around an hour’s worth of motorised two-wheeler experience, that too on my friend’s Kinetic Style(hope I got that name right).
And the Cons:
Two of the biggest cons are mileage and the tank size. Mind you, I am not listing them as cons because of what are the’regular’ issues people have with mileage but rather because of the fact that this combination effectively reduces the range on this bike.
The other two cons that I came up with recently are that
While the horn is quite loud, it tends to be a bit shrill(am not too good with musical terms so forgive me if I got that wrong) so you have some difficulty getting pedestrians and other vehicles to take you seriously.
The headlamp at full beam does not really inspire confidence(yeah I got that term right out of the million reviews I keep reading) while riding in the dark. Drop some traffice coming on the opposite side at full beam or even dippers and your road becomes a black patch.(at least for me)
Some issues that I have read about but have not experienced till date(thank God) is that the bike has some issues with the variator gear thing if you go around splashing in water and puddles. The other issue is that it seems that its a pain to get the back wheel off in the event of a puncture.(for this, I’m trying to get something that I’ve heard of called Slime that seems to be some sort of puncture prevention fluid that you put in your tyres)
The main learning curve on this bike is that there is no rear brake at your leg. The brakes are set bicycle style, both at the hand levers. While all reviews claimed that the disc brake version was the one to buy, it seems that that version has only just been launched in the market. As of now, there has been no news of a kit available for the’older’ drum brake Blazes.
And you require a disc brake. I’ve had a couple of instances where I’ve felt that the braking power was not really adequate. Consequently, I don’t ride too fast for the simple reason that with Bombay traffic, you have no idea when some idiot is trying to do something idiotic.
The underseat storage is good, but while reviews said that it could hold a full-face helmet quite easily, it cannot contain the AGV that I use. So check before you buy. your helmet that is, else like me, you’ll end up lugging it wherever you go(just like the Hutch pug except that you have to carry it)
Also, beware the’fit and finish’. A kid’s jigsaw puzzle looks more well fitting, but since this was not really an issue for me, it’s was not part of the consideration when buying the bike.
And now for what is probably the best part, the Seat. While the reviews called it a sofa(they called the Avenger that too, if I recall correctly), my friend who rides an old Pulsar 180 called the seat of the Blaze "butt heaven".
That’s it for now, will post updates as well as progress reports through the various servicing.
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Update 1:
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There’s a limit to the number of characters that can be put up here so I’ve added links to the updates that I have up on my blog.
First Long Ride - Link: https://eltonpinto.blogspot.com/2007/01/first-long-ride.html
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Update 2:
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First Servicing - Link: https://eltonpinto.blogspot.com/2007/02/kinetic-blaze-first-servicing.html