Motorcycle Mayhem Of The Week: 2018 Gixxer SP & SF SP Launched, Benelli India Ownership Changes, Dani Pedrosa’s Retirement And More

Interesting developments in Indian two-wheeler space:

The Indian two-wheeler market witnessed some interesting happenings in the past week. Benelli’s ownership changed hands from the DSK Group to Hyderabad-based Mahavir Group. The move came in after DSK went bankrupt because of its real-estate arm, leaving existing and prospective customers in a cloud of uncertainty. However, the current sales and service will continue to function while Mahavir Group works towards setting up their infrastructure, which includes establishing a manufacturing plant in Hyderabad. You can read all about the latest development here.

In a bid to make its entry-level faired motorcycle, the Kawasaki Ninja 300, more affordable, rumours have it that the Japanese bikemaker is planning to launch a heavily localised one. If Kawasaki actually does it, the bike’s ex-showroom price is expected to go down to Rs 2.3 lakh to 2.6 lakh! This puts the motorcycle squarely against the KTM RC390 and TVS Apache RR 310 in the price segment. The Yamaha YZF-R3 and the Benelli 302R on the other hand would remain much more expensive propositions.

Get latest updates on
the automobile community

Login Now

Suzuki Motorcycle India launched the 2018 iteration of the Gixxer SP and the Gixxer SF SP last week. Both the motorcycles come with single-channel ABS as standard apart from refreshed graphics. Here are their pricing and other details. In the scooter segment, the Japanese brand’s upcoming product, the Burgman Street, started arriving at dealerships ahead of its launch on the 19th of this month.

Honda launched the 2018 CD 110 Dream DX in the country. The motorcycle features a rear luggage carrier as an option, apart from a new colour variant. Here are its pricing and other details.

Royal Enfield’s Classic 500 Pegasus online sale in the country was reportedly delayed because the demand was so much that it crashed the brand’s website! Here’s what happened.

News from the global two-wheeler market:

In the two-wheeler space abroad, Aprilia and BMW Motorrad are working on the 2019 versions of their litre-class motorcycles. No matter how much you exploit physics and push the machines to their boundaries, there’s always room for improvement. At least the manufacturers seem to think so, as the 2019 Aprilia RSV4 is set to get a new powerplant that’ll push the power figure north of 215PS as opposed to the 203PS unit in the current bike. A new chassis may also make the Aprilia lighter by 5kg, in addition to improving its stiffness. Here’s are all the details about the upcoming motorcycle.

As the Italian bikemaker is upping its game, German marque BMW Motorrad also went back to their drawing board to make the legendary S 1000 RR even faster around a track. Apart from a new, more symmetric design, the motorcycle will feature a counter-rotating crankshaft. You can read about how it improves the dynamics of the motorcycle here.

In the small-ish capacity motorcycle segment, Yamaha is reportedly working on the next-generation YZF-R25. The upcoming motorcycle seemingly gets a new R1-inspired styling, just like the YZF-R15 V3.0. This means, its platform-sharing elder brother, the R3, may also carry over the update, complete with upside down front forks, linked monoshock at the rear, and a digital gauge. Here’s what Yamaha is seemingly planning.

In the world of high-octane MotoGP, Dani Pedrosa announced his retirement in the next season. The 32-year old Spaniard cited having ‘different priorities’ in life, and will end his MotoGP career with this year’s season.