In today’s era, the Indian motorcycle industry has no dearth of different genres. From cruisers and naked sports to simple commuters, name it, and you have it. However, the majority of Indian roads still feel like an off-road obstacle course, thanks to potholes and weirdly-designed speed bumpers that scrape your belly 364 days out of 365.
Problems are several with our streets, but we feel the solution lies in one segment of motorcycles, i.e., the adventurer-tourers. As of now, the adventure-tourer segment in India begins with the KTM ADV 250 and Suzuki V-Strom SX. However, the number needs to go down.
Same place Electronic City Phase 2 near Fruit market.@INCIndia @INCIndia @RGWayanadOffice @DKShivakumar Near Gold Coin club.. the road opposite to MBT Hyper mark is killing people with Back pains.. please help pic.twitter.com/vy97WnLGMJ
— Sivakumar Raju Chiluvuri (@ChiluvuriSiva5) October 12, 2023
Given India is still a price-sensitive motorcycle, majority of Indian riders only have one motorcycle in their garages. It does not matter whether they use the motorcycle for daily office commutes, highway rides, or a trip to the bazaar for groceries; one motorcycle is bestowed with all the duties.
There is no problem with it because we have adapted to the situation. However, take a deeper look, and you will realise that riding a commuter on long highway tours is challenging for both the rider and the motorcycle. On the other hand, riding a cruiser on our streets for an everyday commute is not comfortable.
So, for those who only rely on one motorcycle, the safest bet is an adventurer-tourer.
Forget the engine or performance; focus on the suspension setup and ground clearance of adventurer-tourers. As mentioned above, Indian roads are full of potholes and unnatural speed bumps. Therefore, an adventurer-tourer is the most comfortable ride one can pick, thanks to the genre’s suspension setup, which is meant for taking hits coupled with good ground clearance and spacious seats, both at the front and rear. Not to forget, be it daily commuting or highway rides, an adventure-tourer is capable of doing all. One motorcycle – the jack of all trades.
Moving on to adventure-tourers, we have middleweights and big ones, ranging from the V-Strom SX to the Honda CRF1100L Africa Twin Adventure Sports. There’s no issue with these motorcycles, but as we have heard, big is not always better. As mentioned in the third paragraph, India is still a price-sensitive market, which means even today, not many can afford to spend INR two lakh on a motorcycle.
The bigger adventurer-tourers are worth INR 7 lakh or above INR 10 lakh—not everyone’s cup of tea. Even the Suzuki V-Strom SX starts at around INR 2.15 lakh, which is still beyond the reach of the average Indian household.
Therefore, the majority of Indian motorcyclists need smaller-capacity adventure-tourers.
The need of the hour is an array of small adventure-tourer motorcycles. For example, our neighbouring country Bangladesh has access to the Zontes ZT1550-U1 and Aprilia Terra 150, two adventure-tourers in the 150cc segment capable of handling everything. On the other hand, Brazil has access to the Honda NXR-160 and the Yamaha Crosser 150.
Not to forget, even India had the Impulse from Hero MotoCorp, a 150cc off-roader, which was India’s first off-road, but in 2011, Indian riders failed to understand the concept. Sadly, the motorcycle never did well and was shelved. However, in 2019, Hero launched the Xpulse 200, which has taken the market by storm.
Despite demands from Indian automobile enthusiasts, motorcycle makers in India have turned a deaf ear and are only expanding the streetfighter and fully-faired sports motorcycle segments. However, there’s hope that India will soon have off-roaders or adventure-tourers in the 150cc segment. After all, makers often delay but deliver. For example, the Himalayan 452 is likely to have spoked-tubeless tyres, a demand the Indian riders have been making for ages.
