[Ripcord09]

Bajaj Freedom 125

What you'll like:

• A concept that can possibly revolutionize the market! Rising popularity of e-commerce and bike taxis makes a big business case for a CNG bike
• Well-engineered product; not a half-baked afterthought. Nicely calibrated CNG system
• Well-kitted for the segment. Features include LED headlamp, alloy wheels with tubeless tyres, digital instrument cluster, connected features, etc.
• Simple yet modern design language that will blend well with a variety of demographics
• Very easy to ride in the city
• Comfortable ride; tackles average broken roads effortlessly

What you won't:

• Highway performance is mediocre
• Missing safety features such as ABS
• Many Indian cities & towns don’t have CNG pumps. Queue for CNG can be long in metro cities
• Cost cutting in a few areas such as the buttons for the instrument cluster, indicators, etc.
• As a global first-of-a-kind product, long-term performance and reliability are unknown
• Priced at a premium of ~Rs. 15,000 to 30,000 compared to competitors in a very price-sensitive segment

Review Link

Honda SP 125

Ownership Review Link

Hero Super Splendor

Launch Discussion

Bajaj CT 125X

Launch Discussion

Hero Glamour

Launch Discussion

Honda Shine 125

Launch Discussion

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[Joe367]

Shouldn't it be compared to the 110CC bikes based on the power figures. Also it is directly aimed at people looking for fuel efficiency above everything else.

[BullettuPaandi]

Voted for Bajaj Freedom, but I'd want to wait for at least a year. If I'm in an urgent need for a bike, I'd pick a Shine or Splendour from the used market, or anything with enough resale value, and wait and see how reliable the bike turns out to be, how CNG adoption is around my area, etc.

As Joe367 has pointed out, I too think this bike should be compared to the 100cc segment, despite the asking price. Assuming a 10% lower mileage than the claims on both CNG and petrol, this bike would average about Rs.1.27 per km; for reference, it'd be about Rs.1.7 for a bike that runs 65kmpl. I haven't factored the service costs in, but I think it's safe to say that it'd offset the premium price with lower running costs, in the long run. ABS is the only sore miss, in my opinion.

[amit_purohit20]

I have a Platina 110cc, 5 gear disc brake model. Its super smooth engine is very good to drive till 55kmph. It's also a good vehicle if you drive on highways and do not drive at speeds above 60 kmph max. But the engine lacks low end torque miserably. My 20-year-old Victor has better drivability with a 4-speed gearbox than Platina. I need to change very few gears in Victor whereas in Platina it's a common practice to drop two gears in traffic situations and still it would take a long amount of time to pick speed as compared to Victor. In short Platina lacks punch and is not fun to drive at all. It struggles on inclines, speed breaker and while climbing flyovers if on higher gears whereas Victor will do it easily.

If I were you, I will not opt for any 125-cc model other than Shine because in the list it's the only vehicle which is selling in good numbers, read parts availability.

In reliability Honda and Hero are nearly the same. Infact Hero has better plastics than Honda. On 3rd number I would opt for TVS Raider.

Please take test drive of the vehicles to assess their drivability. In 100 cc I would opt for Splendour

Bajaj CNG bike should only be opted when kms/litre matter a lot.

Always opt for disc brake models. By the way Platina has excellent disc brake better than my Apache RT 200 model!

[RD410]

Voted for others. My choice in this segment is Hero Xtreme 125R. Hero nailed it in terms of design and engine. It looks really good and has the street presence of a 160cc bike. It's engine has got better useable performance than Raider and it's the only engine in the segment to feature a counter balancer, which makes it smooth throughout the revv range and enables it to hold higher cruising speed. And it's exhaust note is also pleasing, silent at idle, gets throaty when revved out. Doesnt sound artificial like the Raider's exhaust note.

I wont buy the Freedom CNG just yet, because it's a fairly new technology in the 2 wheeler space.

Originally Posted by amit_purohit20

My 20-year-old Victor has better drivability with a 4-speed gearbox than Platina.

Not just your bike, every version of Platina is like this. Because Platina is and always has been primarily tuned for maximum fuel efficiency. In case of the H gear version, the H gear / 5th gear is an overdrive which again makes the tractability suffer in city traffic. Splendor, Victor, etc have much better useable torque with shorter gear ratios and feels like a tractor in comparison.

[RD410]

Originally Posted by Joe367

Shouldn't it be compared to the 110CC bikes based on the power figures. Also it is directly aimed at people looking for fuel efficiency above everything else.

In my opinion, not really. Because torque. That 1-2 Nm of torque advantage that 125cc's have over 100/110cc's make for better tractability and higher cruising speed. For eg. I use both a Dio 110 and Activa 125. The crusing speed for Dio is 60kph, while the Activa 125 can cruise calmly at 80kph, that too with a pillion! Same for old Hero Honda Glamour which had only 9hp, but was very calm doing 80+. And from a commuter POV, more torque means you don't feel the weight of pillion while riding in city. Bajaj Freedom CNG already has more torque than 110cc's in CNG mode itself. So it should have atleast 10 Nm torque in petrol mode, which is not bad. But it's heavy weight of 147 kgs may play spoilsport.