SUPER FASTER SPORTS BIKE

Posted by JAWWAD

Yes, they are finally here. The macho 1670cc V-twin POWER cruiser MT-01 and the slick 998cc R1 are already lazing around in Yamaha’s garage in downtown Delhi. By the end of next month, the Jap bike maker is going to announce the PRICE of their super bikes.

“We are putting in PLACE the after-sales infrastructure now. It’s very IMPRTANT to have a solid back-up in place for these bikes. Technicians have to be SPECIALLY TRAINED to SERVICES these machines because they are highly sophisticated,” a Yamaha spokesperson said.

That’s not all. Yamaha also intends to train CUSTOMERS in the skills necessary to handle these superfast motorcycles. These super bikes will be sold for an estimated Rs 11-13 lakh, and when you are coughing up that amount of money, you expect the service back up to be spot-on. Forty-five-year-old Arun Thareja, who is a super bike specialist and owns three of them, says, “People are going to go down on these bikes, so more than after-sales support, companies should be ready with spare parts like panels, indicators, panels and wind screens. And oh yes, the tyres wear out every 7,000-8,000 km, so the sales department should have a good stock ready. I think one or two service centres in each city would do.”

Even Suzuki is keen to launch their super bikes here. Says Atul Gupta, VP-marketing at Suzuki Motorcycles and Scooters India: “We are keenly studying three aspects of selling high-end bikes. One is how well can we homologate our high-end bikes for Indian conditions. Also, we are looking at what are the top cities where we see maximum sales potential and then the question of how well we manage to handle the after-sales and parts issues.”

So, companies planning to launch their top-end bikes here feel that after-sales service is what they should look into first. “We are already ensuring that Suzuki’s technical team is trained in Japan to handle those bikes who, in turn, will train our dealers in India. Training does not incur lot of cost; in fact, most Suzuki dealers have enough space, which is the biggest cost for them. But we are working out a very sound after-sales strategy for being able to sell our high-end bikes in the country,” Gupta adds.

Even Honda Motorcycles and Scooters India (HMSI) is bullish about the niche market that India offers for super bikes. Says Sanjay Gupta, senior manager, marketing at HMSI: “We will be going forward by introducing safety riding skills first. We already have simulators in place at some of our dealerships where a customer is put through various emergency situations. At present, we are putting in place the basic infrastructure before introducing the big bikes here.”

So when you have a machine that accelerates from 0-100 kph in less than three seconds and has a top speed of 300 kph, it’s imperative for bike makers to have the necessary service infrastructure in place. And who knows, on Indian roads, an ambulance service also doesn’t seem very far fetched!