Yamaha RX-Z is and old bike
from the stable of Escorts. Being a Yamaha product, one of my close
friend bought it 3 months back. His main concern was the maintenance
incurred with the most new generation high-performance bikes, likes
of, CBZs and the Pulsar’s. Its a two stroke bike, so we can easily
forget about the mileage it provides, but we do look forward to the
its pickup.Yamaha had launched a RX-G, 4 gear version, in
the year 1997-98.
But the one I drove was totally different. Looks
wise, it had a very sporty look. It now comes in 5-gear mode,
Constant Mesh. And has the new arrival of Disc
Brakes to the Yamaha Bikes, even Enticer has Disc’s but Enticer
was launched recently.This friend of mine is a real Speed
Maniac and is one of Biggest admirers of Yamaha. He had an RX100 for
nearly 12 years, and people, those who drove RX100 swears by
it. This must be the reason I thought he didn’t go for Pulsar
180cc. Because in all sense of terms it has more power. Any way I
haven’t driven Pulsar 180cc, still, so can’t comment on
it. So coming back to our RX-Z, I tired today in early
morning foggy conditions of Delhi. I emphasized foggy, as I couldn’t
test it for high speed. First and foremost, it may look a bit small
in height, but it has the perfect sitting posture for guys with long legs. I being 5’11’’ found it quite comfortable. The sound of Yamaha if you know what I mean, is still magnificent. It roars as you pump on more fuel. I’m currently riding a Fiero so I’m well versed with high pick up. But this bird has some power on the pickup front. It just flew, I didn’t even know and I was at the peak of 3rd gear and I was doing 60kmph. It would have hardly took 5secs, and I WAS taking each gear to its maximum. At 4th gear it got very smooth. I wanted to take it to the next level but the visibility was very poor. But I instantly knew this bike could do 120kmph. Its not the max speed, but the way it reached max speed, that’s quite astonishing. Its a 14bhp bike. The disc brakes provided are quite good, better than CBZs, for sudden stoppages.We had the kick start version and the kick was very smooth for a new vehicle. The best part was its suspension. Under usual circumstances a Horse is a better way to describe a high performance bike rather than a bird. But its suspension really did make it fly, so smooth. Front suspension is the usual Telescopic Fork and rear is also Coil Spring, Swinging Arm kind of, but still it was very comfortable. And remember he bought it on Yamaha’s No Maintenance Policy. Such a Perfect Bike, but remember, Nothing Is Perfect. The overall balance of the vehicle is quite poor considering all other bikes in the high performance category. CBZs is absolutely magnificent, and Fiero’s is very good. The Rear Tyre is Very Thin. So Very Low Traction with Ground. And it doesn’t have a great mileage, 45kmpl, don’t expect more. But it has ideally suited 12 ltrs fuel tank, ’cause of the fuel consumption. The 132cc hears low, for a high performance bike, 150cc feels good to hear.Priced Rs. 56000 Delhi on roads, quite costly.But I heard recently that Yamaha have real good high performance bike in the pipeline, so I say why don’t you wait for it. Its better to be safe than sorry. And could anybody who have driven both Yamaha RX-Z and Pulsar 180cc, give me a piece of their mind.And last but not at all the least, Don’t Drink and Drive