Yamaha Gladiator RS

I wanted a bike for normal commuting (may be 15 - 20 Kms a day and with speeds of near 50 - 60). Did lot of research on net for couple of months and at last took a Gladi . A 100cc bike would have satisfied my needs, however after riding 100cc bikes for near 15 yrs, decided to go for one level up (mainly due to sluggish response of 100cc’s with 2 people)

In the initial part, I will focus more on why I selected Gladi above other 125 Cc’s.

The vehicles I had a look on before deciding on Gladi are

1) Suzuki Zeus - 52K

Pros

• very torqy engine, espessially at lower RPM

  
  




• Pretty light and hence easy to take through traffic

  
  




• Butter smooth gear shifts

  
  




• 5 gears and tacho

  
  

Cons

• Somehow didnt like the new cowl. Too big for a small bike

  
  




• Small bike and for my height of near 6 feet .. looks pretty small

  
  




• rear mudguard too big for the wheel

  
  

Ruled out due to

small size of the bike, looks from the rear side

2) Bajaj XCD - 49K

Pros

• Impressed by the pulling power at lower RPM’s

  
  




• Digital meter

  
  




• Auto Choke

  
  




• Good looks, although small in size

  
  

Cons

• only 4 gear and no tacho

  
  




• no Disc brake option

  
  




• Self start gives an impression of crudeness

  
  

Ruled out due to

-Small Size, lack of 5th gear, tacho and disc brake

• wary of Bajaj Quality

3) HH glamour - 53K

Didnt get to test drive it

Pros:

• HH reliability

Cons:

• No gifth gear or tacho

Ruled out due to

• Too costly with nothign really great in it

4) TVS Flame - 53K

pros:

• Great looks

  
  




• digital meters

  
  




• Bigger vehicle and solid feel on driving

  
  




• additional storage space in the tank

  
  

Cons:

• have to wait for 15 days for disc version

  
  




• lack of 5th gear

  
  

Ruled out due to

• TVS reliability and service

  
  




• lack of 5th gear

  
  

5) Honda shine - 57K

Pros:

• Butter smooth gear shift

  
  




• great pulling power on city drive

  
  




• Confidence building posture

  
  

Cons:

• lack of 5th gear

  
  




• too costly when compared to competetion

  
  




• waiting period of more than 20 days for the disc version

  
  

Ruled out due to

• Lack of 5th gear

  
  




• reviews where in lot of people mentioned vibration above 50 Kmph

  
  

6) Yamaha Gladiator RS and SS- 53K

Pros

• Five gears and tacho

  
  




• Bigger bike which gives the feeling of a 150cc

  
  

Good looks

Cons:

• A bit wary of Yamaha Service

  
  




• have to rev the engine to get the power output

  
  




• saw just 4-5 Gladi RS in the city of Trivandrum and so people do give looks .

  
  

Went for an RS as that looked better than SS (RS costs 300 rs more than SS, but felt better with painted engine cowl rather than fibre color).

Got a 2K cash discount on the bike (net cost of 51K) and took delivery of the vehicle the very next day. Just drove close to 100 Kms only and the initial feedback is good.

Couldnt rev the engine much as still in run in period. gear shift is smooth and the riding posture is also great. Exhaust note is pretty nice and engne comes to life at the touch of a button or a smooth kick.

things I didnt like/ would have prefered better are

• Horn is pretty feeble

  
  




• there is no storage space at all to keep documents. even a splendor had a utility box

  
  




• Trip meter is mising. Initially didnt throught this was a major requriement, but later was missing this feature pretty bad

  
  

All in all, liked the vehicle as of now, only time will tell if it is of good quality.

User experience after 1000 Kms and 2 months

Now that I have driven the bike for 1000Kms, I decided to updated the review

Did the first service at 600 Kms. No major issues, except some chain tightening and a rubber piece coming off from the tank area. No big deal.

I filled petrol twice and got an average of 52 Kmpl(normal petrol) till the first service., Please note that the vehicle was still in the run in period and didnt cross 4K rpm(the torque availability was pretty less in this less rpms - so was a bit disappointed)

Till 1000 Kms, I still maintained the bike within 4K rpm. But after the service the vehicle seemed a bit more smooth and also the gear shifting smoothness increased drastically (although it wasnt an issue earlier also). Mileage also improved and in the last check of 400 Kms, I got an average of 58 Kmpl (Bringing the overall average of the bike to 55 Kmpl).

On reaching 1000 Kms, I increased the RPM to 5K and there is drastic difference in pick up. the vehicle seems to have better torque in this area (make sense as the max torque is achieved at 6500 rpm). Pillion ride is also smooth (altough it lacks the gas shocks). after the first service, vehicle also seems to start pretty well in the mornings in just one kick (I use kick start to bring it to life the first time in the morning)

Also things that doesnt fit my expecation is the engine sound (I was of the wrong expecation to get a soudn similar to that of Rx100). While anything closer to the RX series would have been great.. this more seem like an activa engine when its in cruise.

before taking the vehicle, I was a bit afraid of the after sales support from Yamaha dealers.. But was impressed with the quality and customer experience during first service.

overall, I changed the rating of the bikes fuel efficiency to 5 (as now it gives near to 58Kmpl).

2 things that I dearly miss are the trip meter and storage space.

pretty happy to have chosen this bike.. and if the bike continues to behave like this in long run, its surely a nice choice

More updates as I clock more Kms (Now that I shifted to car for commuting the kms covering in this bike woudl be pretty less)