Traffic delays, reaching somewhere on time are still not the concern of many of the Urban parents, who are hell bent on not allowing their teen son to own a bike. Reasons are simple, overspeeding in zest or simply to show off.
But some youngsters like myself, who manage to convince their parents that they will be utilizing it as just a mode of transportation, need to be careful in the choice of the bike they select. I opted for a yamaha SZ-R and in the 3 years that I have owned it until now, it has hardly given me any trouble. Since my main concern was mileage, safety and sturdiness, SZ-R fit the bill perfectly.
In addition, it made my parents believe that since the bike wasn’t smart looking, so our son wouldn’t be cracking any stunts out on the road; yet from my personal opinion it has that well balanced niche look to it. Red and Silver combination looks really smart on the road. The avg run of my bike is usually around 15kms a day so I do not have to end up refueling my bike every alternate day as this bike gives a minimum of 40kms/litre fuel consumption.
However, for people who travel on an avg 50 kms a day, this bike is quite a handful not just on the mileage side, but also on the size of the tank itself. The usual tank capacity of almost every bike in the same price range and with a similar engine capacity come with a 12 litre tank. SZ-R has a 14 litre tank capacity, which means a 3 litre reserve than the conventional 2 litre reserve in the other bikes.
Although, I do agree the makers oversell the bike by claiming it gives a mileage of over 65kms/lt, which is not the case. I have noticed that when the bike is perfectly serviced, the maximum mileage you may get out of the bike is around 50kms/lt and there was a time I could not get my bike serviced for over 9 months, yet it gave a mileage of 40-45kms/lt.
So if you are expecting some sensational economy, which many bikes in the price range may provide, SZ-R does not fulfill those expectations. Yamaha, although initially launched the SZ series with the SZ-X bike, SZ-R was an advanced bike in this series. The difference between the ex-showroom costs of the SZ-X and SZ-R, is approx INR 10, 000; but trust me, for the amount of features that you get with SZ-R, it makes the cost difference totally worth it.
The following are the enhancements in the SZ-R over the SZ-X:-
The best feature of the SZ - R in the SZ series, is the disc brake on the front tire. It is the most essential thing for a bike and thus makes this bike really cost effective.The electric start, has till date been flawless, thereby not requiring a standby kick start, which again is a feature in most of the other bikes in the same range. This just shows the confidence that Yamaha have in their quality. Hence, it ticked all the correct boxes in terms of safety as well.
It’s not fast in terms of straight line speed, but it sure does have a really good acceleration, which is really needed, especially on the mumbai roads. For the price, look and safety SZ- R is the best buy and for all the apprehensive parents out there, this bike is perfect for your child, as it does not have the massive 0-100 in 5 seconds thing, so he will remain grounded. However, it all comes to how much does your child value his life. If he does his part of riding it safe then SZ-R does it’s part of keeping him safe!