Every month, the same bikes dominate every Indian motorcycle publication: the latest Royal Enfield, the newest KTM Duke, the updated CB300R. These are fine motorcycles. But the Indian market has five bikes right now that are delivering genuinely exceptional ownership experiences to a fraction of the buyers they deserve. If you have been following mainstream … Read more
Here is a fact about car safety in India that most buyers find genuinely surprising: some of the most popular, best-selling cars in India score 0 or 1 star in crash tests. And some cars that do not top the sales charts score 5 stars. Popularity and safety are not the same thing in the … Read more
When petrol crossed Rs 100 per litre, a 40-litre tank fill suddenly cost Rs 4,000. For someone driving 1,500 km per month in a car getting 15 kmpl, that is Rs 10,000 per month – Rs 1,20,000 per year. A 20% improvement in fuel efficiency saves Rs 24,000 annually: the cost of a decent holiday … Read more
The Indian monsoon is genuinely beautiful from a window. From inside a car with a leaking windscreen, corroded electrical contacts, and brake pads not checked since last October – it is an expensive nightmare. I have seen three cars rendered total write-offs by a single Mumbai flooding event whose owners thought the water was shallow … Read more
At 28, I owned a Honda Shine and commuted 18 km each way to work in Pune traffic. At 31, I bought a Maruti Swift and made the same commute. I can tell you definitively which was faster, which was cheaper, which was safer, and which made me happier on a Tuesday morning in July … Read more
I have owned a Classic 350 for four years. Last month, I spent three days riding the new Guerrilla 450 back to back on the same routes – city commuting in Pune, a highway stretch to Mahabaleshwar, and some ghat section riding. I came back with an opinion I did not expect to have. Here … Read more
Two weeks ago, a close friend stood in a Tata Motors showroom in Nagpur for 45 minutes, switching between the Punch EV and the Tiago EV brochures, unable to decide. He called me. I told him to close the brochures and answer three specific questions first. He drove home in the right car. This comparison … Read more
I have ridden over 45,000 km on Indian highways across 19 states over eight years. I have had breakdowns in the middle of Rajasthan at 2 AM, been caught in a flash flood in Meghalaya, navigated the Atal Tunnel in a blizzard, and ridden through Chennai in 44-degree heat. Every experience taught me something about … Read more
A neighbour bought a three-year-old Honda City last year from an online listing. Looked perfect in photos, drove smoothly on the test drive, priced Rs 80,000 below market. What the photos did not show: it had been in a significant front-end collision, the airbags had deployed and been non-professionally repacked, and the chassis had a … Read more
I have spent money on at least 40 different bike accessories over six years of riding. About half are still on my bike or in regular use. The other half are in a drawer. This guide is the result of that expensive education – 10 accessories that have genuinely earned their place on every ride, … Read more