I bought my Gladiator Type SS bike from Monarch Yamaha, Tilak Road, Pune, Maharashtra on the 30th of May 2010. It’s a blue colour bike, one of the two new variants that recently arrived in the market. The other new variant comes in red & black colours.
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Mileage
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I’ve driven it 320 kilometers until now, partly in the city and partly on highways, and I’m getting around 55-60kmpl. I’m expecting the mileage to increase after the first servicing. I drive at 40-55kmph as the bike is in the running-in period. The bike doesn’t vibrate, atleast till 55kmph; I don’t know about higher speeds yet.
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Handling/Riding Comfort
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The riding posture is very comfortable, atleast for my height which is 165cm. The back remains straight and thus there’s no back pain problem.
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Seat
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The seat is very nice, soft and comfortable. I think Gladiator has the longest seat in its segment.
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Gearbox
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The gearbox is quite smooth and gear ratios are optimally designed. There’s no false neutral problem. The clutch lever is easy to pull.
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Brakes
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The front disc brake is awesome and the brake lever is very easy to pull. I pull it with just one finger and that’s enough to bring the bike to an halt instantly.
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Electric Controls
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I feel that all the switches are comfortably placed - the starter button and the kill switch are on the right hand side and all other switches namely the headlight on/off switch, the headlight dipper switch, the side indicator switch and the horn button are placed on the left hand side. This is obviously correct as the right hand is always engaged in holding the twisted throttle and if some switches that are required while driving were located on the right hand side, it would not be quite comfortable to use the right thumb to press a switch while holding the throttle in a steady position.
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Electric Parts
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The headlight is okay; not very bright, but good enough to enable you to drive comfortably at night. The horn is quite loud.