POWERFUL TOP 10 FORGOTTEN MOTORBIKES OF INDIA

There are a bunch of bikes that you may have never seen, or even heard about. We bring you ten such bikes
, in what’s a blast from the past.

10.Hero-BMW Funduro 650

Did you know that Hero once sold India’s “first” real ADV bike, in the form of the Funduro 650? Yes, this bike was priced at a princely 5 lakh rupees back in 1996. By Indian standards, 48 Bhp was a lot of power that this bike put out, but it bombed. The reason is easy to see. The market simply wasn’t ready to afford a motorcycle that competed with the Maruti Esteem in terms of pricing.

9.Rajdoot RD175

The Rajdoot RD175 is a very simple and rugged motorcycle that still enjoys a fan following in rural and semi-urban India. Known as the Doodhwalla bike, the RD175 featured a single cylinder, 175 cc two stroke engine and a 3 speed manual gearbox. Simple to fix, the bike motor put out 7.5 Bhp.

8.Royal Enfield Mini Bullet

For those who found the 350cc Bullet too heavy, Royal Enfield came up with an alternate: the Mini Bullet. The smaller bike featured a 200 cc two stroke engine, and was intended to rival the upcoming Indo-Japanese 100cc two stroke motorcycles that were soon to be launched. The Mini Bullet never really took off, which explains why you may have never heard of, or seen one.

7.Royal Enfield Bullet Diesel

Royal Enfield did sell a diesel version of the Bullet by combining the Bullet’s chassis with a Greaves diesel engine. Extremely frugal, this engine delivered about 65 Kmpl. Performance was very relaxed though, with the bike making just 6.5 Bhp.

6.Yezdi 350

Ideal Jawa could never really match Escorts-Yamaha and its RD350, but the Indo-Czech motorcycle brand did try hard. The Yezdi 350 was one such effort from the Mysore based bike maker. The Yezdi 350 featured a two stroke parallel twin petrol engine with 21 Bhp on tap. It was no patch on the RD350, and wasn’t really bought by those who wanted to go fast.

5.Kinetic GF170 Laser

The GF170 Laser was the most powerful bike that Kinetic ever built for the Indian market. The bike was powered by a 165 cc four stroke petrol engine with 14.8 Bhp-14.2 Nm. A five speed manual gearbox was standard on the bike, and so were 4 valves/cylinder.

4.Royal Enfield Fantabulous

Royal Enfield wanted a pie of India’s scooter market, and the odd-ball Fantabulous was born. The scooter never really took off though, and few know about it. The Fantabulous featured a 175 cc Villiers 2 stroke engine with 7.5 Bhp on tap. It also got a self starter.

3.TVS Supra

TVS Motors was one of the first companies to get out of the gate and begin producing affordable and reliable 100 cc Indo-Japanese motorcycles in India.  The Ind-Suzuki AX100 was the first such vehicle. Then, the Yamaha RX100 came along, promoting TVS to bump up outputs of the AX100. The Supra was born, with the same 100 cc motor making 11 Bhp, the same as the output of the RX100.

2.Bajaj Boxer 150

Bajaj built the Boxer 150 to sell it mainly in the African markets. To see if India’s rural and semi-urban market will warm up to it, the Boxer 150 was launched here, but it never really took off. The bike still represented the best that the Boxer brand offered.

1.Royal Enfield Fury

Royal Enfield’s short lived tie up with German bike maker Zundapp saw the Indian brand building the Fury, a 163 cc two stroke engined bike that was meant to compete with the Yamaha RX100. The Fury used a hydraulic disc brake, a 5 speed manual gearbox, and a hard chromed cylinder barrel.