[Joe367]

Originally Posted by Elegant

Why are we so negative here? An innovative product, and more importantly, by an Indian company. We should be proud. We all should realise, this is going to be a good success. CNG stations are plenty

Maybe because CNG isn't the right way forward. How much meaningful savings would this provide compared to already efficient petrol bike with similar power figure? 🤔 If someone could shed some light on this it would be helpful.

[payeng]

Originally Posted by five46

Bajaj should expect copyright strike from LML who had a LML Freedom Prima 125 in their lineup.

LML already closed down its ICE Business. Guess the Trademarks owned by LML has expired long back.

You have to be in the mid life crisis stage of life to remember the "LML Freedom"

[ToThePoint]

Originally Posted by amit_purohit20

Sir 2 kg is the weight of the CNG gas which the gas cylinder can hold. Please check the weight of the cylinder is 16 kg and with the gas included it weighs 18 kg.

For your kind information cylinders in cars weigh as much as 90 kgs whereas they hold around 10 to 12 kg of gas weight.

Ok, thanks for correcting. I mistook cylinder weight as gas weight in your OP.

[Elegant]

Originally Posted by Joe367

Maybe because CNG isn't the right way forward. How much meaningful savings would this provide compared to already efficient petrol bike with similar power figure? �� If someone could shed some light on this it would be helpful.

Sir, CNG burns almost without smoke and does not produce any poisonous gases. Apart from the savings and efficiency, it also helps protect the environment a lot.

[RunGaDa]

I don’t know if any one noticed. The design of the tank, the height of the seat aligning with the tank is completely wrong. Bad and horrible design. What does the rider do on braking? Break his knees or lean ahead and hit his head on the back of the truck?
I mean was is that difficult to get a regular high tank providing grip on both sides of the knees from inside?
Typical bajaj cheap skating what I see.

[Asoon]

CNG is not readily available even if the Tier 1 Cities, plus there is a long queue
I am not sure how practical it would be given the cohort they are targeting would not have liberty of time to wait and find the next CNG station

[Joe367]

Originally Posted by Elegant

Sir, CNG burns almost without smoke and does not produce any poisonous gases. Apart from the savings, efficiency, tome friendly this CNG thingy is, it also help protect the environment a lot.

I don't think they're targetting the environmentally conscious people with this bike. Because most of them would choose an EV. CNG is lot more economical in cars than in bikes because of low fuel efficiency. What guarantee do we have that CNG prices will remain like this next year? Price of CNG has already touched 90 in some places. We have a history of cng prices increasing over 30% in 6 months.

[NiInJa]

I like the innovation here, but with all things Bajaj, this product too has arrived a bit late in the market. If this was launched in 2021 when CNG price was in 40-50 Rs per kg range, this would have got a massive initial response and would have potentially killed the 100cc commuter bikes used for delivery.

It's no surprise they had to bring Mr. Gadkari to launch this bike, a subtle hint at telling the government to maintain a healthy price gap between Petrol and CNG

Today, the price difference between CNG and Petrol is just about 15-16 Rupees. Also, there is additional service CNG tanks require every few years otherwise the average drops, not to mention the mandatory CNG kit inspection. People will have to do their calculations.

Also, the USP of 100cc bikes is their easy reparability and use of 'jugaad' methods to keep them running. Just hope the average mechanic in a village running his garage by a roadside 'tapri' can repair this bike without blowing up his garage and the shop next to it.

[maheshm619]

Originally Posted by satyamkolhe

It's not going to sell much in rural setting or even in tier 3 cities since the penetration of CNG is pretty low outside of major cities.

CNG network penetration is better these days due to new players like Torrent, IndianOil Adani etc.. Even places like Phulera,Ballia,Mirzapur and many other places in rural U.P is having an abundance of CNG pumps and its on the rise. And compared to cities, the queues are much lesser.

[TheVDR]

There are quite a lot of concerns with the bike's use case. Modern market research involves market study by giant consulting groups working with big players like Bajaj. If they could find use-cases worthy enough to invest into massive R&D and production behind this bike, definitely use-cases exists and quite a lot in number.

I've found the design to be interesting and it has now been well demonstrated that design is "safe" for both the bike and the rider ( and also the X number of pillions, where X is legally 1 but....2? 3? )

My initial concern was with the range, which is in direct comparison to pure ICE scooters and not practically with pure ICE bikes. Nevertheless, range is a virtue of frequency to visiting pumps and from what I've heard, CNG pumps are going to keep atleast one re-fueling station which prioritises 2 wheelers [although this is just a verbal thing as of now].

Kudos to Bajaj to have come up with something innovative on a rather mundane ICE side of things!

[Karthik1100]

Originally Posted by RunGaDa

I don’t know if any one noticed. What does the rider do on braking? Break his knees or lean ahead and hit his head on the back of the truck?

If you say the design of the Freedom 125 is wrong, What about all the dual sport motorcycles? This design is very much similar to dual sport motorcycles except for the ground clearance and suspension angle and travel.

[RunGaDa]

Originally Posted by Karthik1100

If you say the design of the Freedom 125 is wrong, What about all the dual sport motorcycles? This design is very much similar to dual sport motorcycles except for the ground clearance and suspension angle and travel.

A dirt bike? The design is half cooked for that too. Bajaj got this to hide their inability to get all electric bike and want to market this as commuter bike, give 3 plus seats capacity inticing the youth to break law.
Where are the tires like dirt bike?
Even suspension, weight.
Dirt bikes are ridden only by rider, not even recommended for pillion.
I don’t think bajaj will even enter that niche segment.

[Karthik1100]

Originally Posted by RunGaDa

A dirt bike? The design is half cooked for that too.
Where are the tires like dirt bike?
Even suspension, weight.
Dirt bikes are ridden only by rider, not even recommended for pillion.
I don’t think bajaj will even enter that niche segment.

I am sorry, if i have failed to convey the seat design is inspired from dual sport motorcycles. Since I was telling only about the seat design. It is no where related to dual sport and definitely a commuter bike made to run at very low cost. Nothing wrong in giving longer seat for the comfort and also to access CNG tank. I am sure engineers would have worked on it a lot in terms of comfort, safety, accessibility and reliability. FYI Dirt bike and Dual sport are different segment. People who wants to break the rules will break rules no matter what. According to me this motorcycle is very good looking, well designed, very fuel efficient and reliable than EV for the segment and price.

[doga]

Great product! Well done Bajaj for bringing a novel product to the market. This could be the now Pulsar for Bajaj. However, I do note that during my recent drive to Goa and back I saw very long queues in CNG refilling stations. o CNG penetrations outside of big cities is not good. I am not sure what the government strategy is for this fuel though?

[vzvish91]

I am sure Bajaj Auto is going to hit their target with this one as well.

Now with option of CNG in 2wheelers, can someone please do an overall comparison of this bike with equally priced EV & petrol bike/scooter purely on basis of operating cost.
Other variables (like: CNG filling turnaround time, range anxiety, reliability, safety, resale, etc) can be ignored for now since these are still unknown.

I still feel that if your daily commute is within 70kms then EV makes more sense than cng/petrol options, esp if you have a rooftop solar plant at home