The Scooter Looked Like a Warrior's Horse : Nostalgia

[gubbi]

Used to go to school and tuitons on a rickety kinetic honda. When Dhoom was released we used to race pretending its a hayabusa, good days

Kinetic Honda cannot be considered as a "true" scooter....IT HAD NOT GEARS to change!!! IMHO, Hero Puch (with 3 gears) and M80 were far better than that blasphemy of a Kinetic Honda....Btw, the M80 was the best in terms of its ability to zip through Indian traffic. Bajaj cubs had tremendous power in the 1st gear...coupled with it being light in front and 'bottom' heavy, always ended up doing a wheelie. Vespas were sort of really well balanced. Also they were the first scooters with the 4th gear, IIRC. They never wavered or shuddered at high speeds!!
As for motorcycles, Yezdi was the best, imho. Shogun was a class in itself. Powerful, but very underappreciated bike IMHO. All the others were kinda ok.

 

[Levina]

You sure missed a lot of fun then....those geared two-stroke machines with an inherent weight imbalance were ideal for a skid here and a fall there.

hell no!!
I would have never tried it. I was always very scared of falling off it.

 

[Indischer]

hell no!!
I would have never tried it. I was always very scared of falling off it.

Did you eventually go for a two-wheeler or not?

 

[Levina]

Did you eventually go for a two-wheeler or not?

Nooh!!!
Infact I havent tried anything with gears.

 

[Indischer]

Nooh!!!
Infact I havent tried anything with gears.

Not even cars?

 

[ExtraOdinary]

Kinetic Honda cannot be considered as a "true" scooter....IT HAD NOT GEARS to change!!! IMHO, Hero Puch (with 3 gears) and M80 were far better than that blasphemy of a Kinetic Honda....Btw, the M80 was the best in terms of its ability to zip through Indian traffic. Bajaj cubs had tremendous power in the 1st gear...coupled with it being light in front and 'bottom' heavy, always ended up doing a wheelie. Vespas were sort of really well balanced. Also they were the first scooters with the 4th gear, IIRC. They never wavered or shuddered at high speeds!!
As for motorcycles, Yezdi was the best, imho. Shogun was a class in itself. Powerful, but very underappreciated bike IMHO. All the others were kinda ok.

Kinetic hondas were ideal choice way back in the 90's for families where women also needed to use a scooter. Ofcourse if having an automatic transmission disqualifies it from being a scooter (blasphemy as you would say), I guess by the same logic Tesla Model S could not be called a car, or would it

 

[dray]

Kinetic Honda cannot be considered as a "true" scooter....IT HAD NOT GEARS to change!!! IMHO, Hero Puch (with 3 gears) and M80 were far better than that blasphemy of a Kinetic Honda....Btw, the M80 was the best in terms of its ability to zip through Indian traffic. Bajaj cubs had tremendous power in the 1st gear...coupled with it being light in front and 'bottom' heavy, always ended up doing a wheelie. Vespas were sort of really well balanced. Also they were the first scooters with the 4th gear, IIRC. They never wavered or shuddered at high speeds!!
As for motorcycles, Yezdi was the best, imho. Shogun was a class in itself. Powerful, but very underappreciated bike IMHO. All the others were kinda ok.

Uh!! Hero Puch!! Once upon a time people used to ride that thing also!! Nowadays people won't even buy a Ducati if they name it something like "Hero Puch"!!

They had a "Turbo" version also!!

And the turbo effect.

 

[dray]

It's photu time.

Bajaj M80, the middle-class workhorse of olden days.

Can anybody tell more about this sexy M80? I never saw this on road afaik.

And example of a real workhorse.

I don't know or care whether these vehicles below are M80s, but I had to share these photos!!

And Google threw up this photo as search result for "Bajaj M80", from which angle this fine specimen of a lady looks like a Bajaj M80!!!!!

 

[Nova2]

It's photu time.

Bajaj M80, the middle-class workhorse of olden days.

And Google threw up this photo as search result for "Bajaj M80", from which angle this fine example of a lady looks like a Bajaj M80!!!!!

Purani saman main naya josh bharne ke liye

 

[dray]

Old model Bajaj Chetak.

This used to be a style statement!!

Later model Bajaj Chetak.

People used to ride on those small tyres!!

And this is @Indischer

Bajaj Priya

Bajaj Cub: Somebody actually bought that colour!!

And these are Vespa models, very popular back then.

 

[Indischer]

It's photu time.

Can anybody tell more about this sexy M80? I never saw this on road afaik.

And example of a real workhorse.

I don't know or care whether these vehicles below are M80s, but I had to share these photos!!

And Google threw up this photo as search result for "Bajaj M80", from which angle this fine example of a lady looks like a Bajaj M80!!!!!

Drayda, that sexy bike isn't a M80. It's a Honda C100 Super Cub. Two other pics too aren't from India. Their number plates are the giveaway. That last 'M-80' sure is gorgeous!

 

[Chronos]

I used to ride a Bajaj Cub in my pre-university days, having inherited it from my dad. Remember falling off a number of times trying to do a wheelie on it. Neither was I very successful nor were the girls impressed by an idiot on a scooter.

Other than this, I've had the chance to drive a few icons of my childhood days like Chetak, Vespa, M80, Rajdoot, RD350, Shogun etc......Lambretta, Jawa, Yezdi and Shaolin have continued to be elusive though.

didn't know you had a scooter. You still partial to them?

You sure missed a lot of fun then....those geared two-stroke machines with an inherent weight imbalance were ideal for a skid here and a fall there.

Nothing beats Indian Jugaad. We call it jugaad to give incompetence a positive spin you see

 

[Indischer]

didn't know you had a scooter. You still partial to them?



Nothing beats Indian Jugaad. We call it jugaad to give incompetence a positive spin you see

Wasn't technically mine. Rode one back in my PU days. I liked the power it generated in it's first & second gear(two stroke engines have more power-weight ratio than four stroke ones). Was of immense help in negotiating traffic. But I'd rather take my chances on a bike now. Glad that I survived those reckless days relatively intact.

 

[Chronos]

Wasn't technically mine. Rode one back in my PU days. I liked the power it generated in it's first & second gear(two stroke engines have more power-weight ratio than four stroke ones). Was of immense help in negotiating traffic. But I'd rather take my chances on a bike now. Glad that I survived those reckless days relatively intact.

I rarely see bikes in New Zealand, and believe it or not, they are more expensive than cars How is the bike culture in Germany?

 

[Indischer]

I rarely see bikes in New Zealand, and believe it or not, they are more expensive than cars How is the bike culture in Germany?

Not many here own bikes either. Probably because one cannot really ride it for half the year in the biting cold. And yeah, they're pretty expensive here as well. But those who do own bikes enjoy like no one else during summers and spring.