A super bike i owned

A super bike i owned

While I’ve never been a fan of motorcycles that sip rather than burn away their fuel, I have to admit that I’m quite intrigued with the Bajaj Platina 100 ES. Bajaj claim that this little 100cc motor will sip on one litre of fuel for the better part of 97 kilometres, inching ever so close to the 100kmpl mark. Since most motorcycles give a higher figure on the highway mileage run, we might actually cross that magic mark – this test should be fun
The new Platina does get a slight tweak in the styling department with a new set of decals but the basic design still reminds us of the Wind 125 it’s based on. There is a bikini fairing with an almost flat line running from the tank to the end of the rather long seat. There is a small change to the side panels but overall the look is much the same as the Platina 100The ES in the name stands for electric start and aside from this, the feature list is typically short. There are alloy wheels, drum brakes and a twin pod instrument cluster that consists of a large speedometer on one side and a fuel meter on the other. It retains the extra long 29-inch seat for comfort or to carry a large load, as these motorcycles inevitably doThe engine too has received a number of tweaks and the displacement has grown to 102cc and it now features the DTS-i and exhaust TEC technology from its bigger siblings. The outright power figure remains the same 8.2PS at 7,500rpm but torque has received a 0.55Nm boost growing to 8.6Nm and now peaks 500rpm later at 5,000rpm. Bajaj has also strengthened and optimised the frame that has allowed it to shed an impressive five kilograms and shortening the wheelbase by 20mm. Ground clearance has increased to a healthy 190mm which should help keep the engine dry in the rains and safe over really bad roads.