Report: Bajaj working on a bigger bike

Bajaj, one of the world’s largest motorcycles manufacturers says they are about to take their lineup to the next level.

You don’t see Bajaj motorcycles on Canadian roads because, for now, they build basic commuter bikes for the Indian market. They manufacture about one-third of the bikes sold in India, putting their sales between three and four million units per year. Those bikes are mostly in the 100-150 cc range, although Bajaj does distribute bigger bikes from other brands (Kawasaki, in particular). They also own a large chunk of KTM, and KTM’s Indian production takes place at Bajaj’s plant.

That tie with KTM means Bajaj’s employees are learning how to build bigger bikes, and now Bajaj says that’s the company’s plan for the future. Eric Vas, the president of the motorcycle side of their business, told carandbike.com that “The next motorcycle will be a big bike, bigger than anything currently on offer from Bajaj.”

Right now, their biggest machine is the 200 cc Pulsar RS 200. The Indian press is betting they are going to unveil a production-ready version Pulsar 400 CS concept bike. That machine is based on the KTM Duke 390, and is just one more example of an interesting trend. The Euro factories, in their eagerness to gain access to cheap Asian labour or because of changing ownership, are trading away their designs to companies most North American motorcyclists have never heard of. The result is a growing number of interesting clones of small-displacement Euro bikes.

Some of those bikes (like the CCM GP450 adventure bike) have worked their way over to the North American market, but many haven’t — yet. But in an age when Royal Enfield is now producing more bikes than Harley-Davidson, it’s time to start asking if the Chinese motorcycle invasion that never happened is instead going to be replaced by an onslaught of machines from India, as the country starts to improve their two-wheeled lineup.