What can we possibly do with the infuriating and constant rises in fuel costs? Well, we can all go out and buy a Bajaj, that’s what. They claim they have the most economical motorbikes in the world, so we devised a severe test to find out if their extraordinary claims are correct. If so this will indeed be “fuel for thought”.
When I was a mere “youth” my dad used to tell me that underground oil reserves were nothing more than very old dinosaur pooh, which over millions of years liquefied and is now one of the most valuable commodities on the planet. Er, what? This stinky piece of information gave me an instant dislike and confusion with regards to dinosaurs because surely their vile secretions couldn’t power my dad’s car to work without the smell normally accompanied with matter from the bum? Well many years later on I was taught the process of refinement using crude oil and the “pleasant” smell of petrol was revealed and diarrhea filled dinosaurs weren’t necessarily the reason behind my dad’s disturbing theory. Sometimes my dad was indeed full of s***, bless him.
But he was right on one count though regarding the astonishing value of this thick liquid from the bowels of the earth. If he was alive today I think he would also have T-Rex sized bowel movements on how expensive this “free” natural resource has become, just like we do, right? Yes I know it’s expensive to get and there are transportation costs and all the other brain washing garbage that we get fed on a daily basis but NO WAY should greedy governments and dudes beginning with the name Sheik dictate prices as they see fit to keep THEIR banks nicely full of pooh, er, I mean cash. Only we take the toll and these fraudulent excuses for human beings should be shoved down the pipeline as fast as the oil comes out, rant, rant, etc.
When I came to South Africa over ten years ago petrol was between three to four rand a litre, now it’s over R12! WTF! Now on my calculator that’s close to a 400% increase. NO other country I can think of in the entire world has had a fuel rise of that thievin’ amount! Apparently it keeps us in line with the rest of the world, yeah right, more like it keeps the SA government’s collection/fleet of expensive German cars in line with the rest of the world. And of course they’ll also have a taxpayer’s fuel card to fill them with, all for YOUR benefit?
Anyway, enough “finger pointing” for one day because what can we do about it? Let me tell you – NOTHING AT ALL! Sounds negative but strikes, blockades, protests on the highway etc, etc, have no effect because we simply can’t do without fuel no matter what the cost, and “they” know it. That’s the price of modern civilization I’m afraid but we can certainly use less, far less, which eventually (sorry), brings me onto the incredible claimed economy figures from Bajaj.
If you’ve never heard of Bajaj, from India, you most certainly will in the future. This massive - and I mean massive - company is the third largest motorcycle manufacturer in the world, and because of this they’re rich, very, very rich. Bajaj now own 47% of KTM and make the 125 and new 200 Duke with more to follow. They also produce the Kawasaki Ninja 250 and according to some have even put in an offer to buy a fat stake in Kawasaki motorcycles as well. If you’re wondering how big, how about worldwide sales (in over 50 different countries), of over 4.5 million units a year? That’s roughly 12,500 per day, yes per day! So you can imagine their production line spits off bikes like a Coca-Cola bottling plant. And their bikes are impressively made with innovative features and dashing looks, no wonder they sell so many.
In South Africa Bajaj is distributed by South African Motorcycles (SAM), who are the astute businessmen behind Jonway and Gomoto scooters to name but a few of their products. So they certainly know a good product to retail. Check out www.jonway.co.za for their complete range of cost effective two-wheelers if you’re sick of spending too much on gas too.
We were given three of the Bajaj range to play with; a very cool looking Pulsar 135 LS, a delivery type 150 Boxer and their top-of-the-range Pulsar 220, costing a mere R13,499, R10,499 and R23,499 respectively which is not bad eh? All brand new and never been run in but they certainly were at the end of test.
I decided to choose the cute 135 LS to carry the can first, literally. The poor little red bike was ordered to carry Damian and Derick from Venture Sports who are identical twins, well nearly, for many laps. This cheerful cheeky couple are “rumoured|” to weigh around 250kg combined (bike weighs 122kg!), or equivalent to a three-horned Triceratops (no relation), and they were subsequently instructed to visit the loo before riding commenced as we had enough “fuel” for the day already thank you.
Second rider was our resident Isle of Man, man, Clinton. He can drink fuel on any bike nearly as quickly as he consumes Red Heart rum so he was the man for the biggest Bajaj Pulsar 220. Resembling an underfed Raptor, Clinton should be able to bite away the kilometres in a frightening fashion, which he did. I was therefore left with the workhorse delivery bike, the Bajaj 150 Boxer. My body is thin at both ends and fat in the middle so my Diplodocus dimensions should suit the upright Boxer and thankfully I was constipated due to an overdose of muffins on the way to the track, so a primeval nappy wasn’t necessary.
The track we chose was Midvaal which is a pretty circuit covering 2.5kms and modern facilities are present if needed. Well worth a day out with your bike or car if you want some hassle free fun and exciting action. Give it a try, it’s cheaper to play there than other circuits too. The idea was to run all bikes flat out to see the maximum amount of petrol they would use, obviously they will use far less when ridden “normally” so this will be a worse case scenario type test.
The twins were off first and we laughed like hyenas smoking weed because the little red bike was basically scraping its engine on the floor with a quarter-ton of flesh hiding its dimensions. The brilliant Bajaj 135cc engine has four-valve head technology and two spark plugs with digital ignition and a good old carb’ to feed in the gas. This spunky little motor pulled the lads around easily and never complained, did smell a bit hot though with its brand new engine working excessively hard, and even the brakes never faded away, truly impressive don’t ya think? After 50 kilometres (20 laps) or so the twins had enough and required fueling themselves, and how much fuel did they use, have a guess? Just over a litre is the answer, incredible, and with a restrained twist of the throttle on the road and less Triassic mass to haul around you could probably add another 20 - 30km or so. Now that’s how to save fuel and nothing in its class will ever get close to that figure. No wonder they sell so many. Run it for a year, leave your car at home, for a relatively short journey that is, and it will pay for itself before you know it.
This encouraged Clinton to excitedly fly out the pits on his 220 and go through the same routine. His engine though is a much bigger 220cc single-cylinder four-stroke, oil-cooled, with only two-valves. Interestingly Bajaj used to have this bike fuel-injected but they swapped back to a carb’ because it gave better economy. The Pulsar 220 is a quality product for sure with its classy instruments, excellent fairing and smooth five-speed gearbox but, to me, the price is a bit too steep because the 135 LS isn’t that much slower, handles better, looks better and you could nearly get two for the price of one 220. But then again there’s no substitute for cubes and if you were the size of an extinct giant walking lizard perhaps this would suit you better. Flat-out the bigger engine obviously guzzled more petrol and returned just under 30km per litre, still pretty amazing for an on-the-stop 250!
Finally I had the pleasure of the 150cc single cylinder, two-valve Boxer, again with that fuel-sipping patented Digital Twin Spark ignition, found on all three Bajaj bikes. This constantly maps the ignition and timing to give not only greatly reduced emissions but also better throttle response and that enviable and superb economy. The 150cc is designed for economy more than the others and it is a very basic motorbike with only four gears (all down), to propel it along. The front drum brake wasn’t anywhere near as good as the 220 and especially the 135 but then again for only 10 Gs, what do you expect? It is particularly comfy though with a thickly padded seat and a bikini fairing to keep the wind off, helping to reach an indicated 115km/h down the long Midvaal straight. My fuel consumption was the best in this test working out to be just over 60kms per litre and, like I said earlier, you could get much more if you don’t ride like the throttle has stuck open, if you know what I mean?
So to wrap it all up I will agree with Bajaj in saying they have the most economical bikes by far in its class, which is some achievement in our thirsty greedy new world of today. They certainly make sense to the rest of our planet and 4.5 million people a year can’t be wrong. How much more recommendation do you need for ***** sake! The 135 LS is my favourite by far and for R13,499 it’s for free. It looks the best, goes the best and I’d actually have one in my garage just to let people have a go and be astounded by the consumption figures. Perhaps then Bajaj should coin the phrase “Even a little pooh goes a long way”, then again maybe not?
