New Gladiator from Yamaha

Did I surprise you? Probably :)

 

Alright, Yamaha has discontinued Gladiator. So, is it good or bad? Depends on how Yamaha views the situation.

 

Here's a perspective. 

 

Gladiator has been around for quite some time. Few years, to say the least. Biking fraternity knows Gladiator. Why? May be coz of marketing, may be coz of blogs, may be coz of the fact that it comes from Yamaha. There could many more reasons.

Looking at it from purely a business point of view, the brand Gladiator seems to be present in prospects' minds, even if not favorably. In today's world, marketing is unarguably the biggest challenge and perhaps the biggest cost. I am asking, can Yamaha leverage this brand 'awareness' equity?

Of course! Few reasons to my claim and a couple of solutions.

The brand name GLADIATOR is very good. People can have views on the 'degree' of goodness but they can't deny that it can be a good motorcycle brand name.

 

Coming from Yamaha, the name GLADIATOR has the potential to carry forward all the attributes attached to the brand Yamaha in India. You agree?

So, the name's taken care of. The awareness of the name is also taken care of. Now what?

Try imagining a 300cc kind of cruiser with the name Gladiator.

 

Try imagining a naked 250cc (or even a 150cc with a good big tank :)) with the name Gladiator and coming from Yamaha.

To my mind, the second offering might fit better. Importantly what it could do is save Yamaha the hard part of marketing coz the name is already there in people's minds. It will also match the actual product with the already established name and therefore, find it easy to get people to accept the bike.

The thing is if a Hero Honda Hunk (I don't deny it's a decent bike) could sell here, a 250cc naked Gladiator would rock. Besides, aren't Gladiators often imagined naked, if we go by the Hollywood movies :)!

The Gladiator who never was

The Gladiator never fought. People didn't give it a chance. You know why? Coz the body didn't do justice to the name it carried.

To just explain in simple words, imagine the bike FZ16 with the name Gladiator instead of the name FZ16. In all probability, you will find it agreeable. 125cc bike with that kind of form just couldn't cut as Gladiator.

Amazing Yamaha Gladiators

That's Planet Yamaha, the Yamaha showroom in Ahmedabad.

I was in Ahmedabad in early May. And after checking an ad about the launch of R1 and MT01 in Ahmedabad, I decided to visit the Yamaha showroom. Not for booking, just out of curiosity :), of course. Inside I was hoping that R15 might also be on display. It wasn't. Though the biggies were there. And alongside there were these new Gladiators.

I must admit, I was nothing less than thrilled after having seen these Gladiators. Immaculate in fit and finish. Even earlier I didn't think that a Yamaha bike is worth comparing to the others in the category. Not to say that other bikes are bad, but having driven Yamaha RXG135 for 7 long years, and having driven Fazer for a while, I was convinced that other bikes (no matter what the sales say) might not match up in performance.

True to my thinking, very soon after having checked the new Gladiator when I checked the TVS Flame, I rubbished all comparison between the two. Even the Honda Shine or Hero Honda Glamour (or whatever) or Bajaj XCD do not compare to the Gladiator. If it's performance and style, it's the Gladiator. Surprisingly, apart from XCD, even if it comes to fuel efficiency it's the Gladiator that takes the cake. And at the current price-point, definitely Gladiator is the best 125cc bike, if you are considering buying one.

Yamaha line-up is a visual delight

Picked this picture up from the Yamaha website. The website remains as hopeless but these bikes look ravishing standing in one line. Starting from left, the bikes are Gladiator Type SS (Stylish & Sporty), YZF-R15 and FZ15. While the first is an improvement of the current Gladiator, the other two are 150cc bikes modelled on two of the best (also big) global bikes of Yamaha, R1 and FZ1. Late, really late but eye-pleasing nonetheless.

From what I've read in Bike and on 2wheelsindia.com, the R15 is expected to redefine what we call performance bikes. Here's a picture from one of the posts on Payeng's blog.

Payeng is 5'5". Comparing the bike's build with Payeng's, the two seem to be a good match :). So, is it a small bike for the average Indian male? Some comments on Payeng's blog suggest that readers do think it's a smallish bike considering what all it promises in terms of performance.

I have some thoughts. If we look at Yamaha RD350 and Yamaha RX100, the two performance bikes of yesteryears, both had a rather naked look. RD350 had twin cylinders, packed 32bhp power and yet wasn't really as big. RX100, the same. The tyres weren't really fat. Reason, the broader the tyres, the more it takes to propel the bike and therefore loss in pickup and loss in fuel-efficiency. The narrower the tyres, the better the concentration of power to propel the bike (Forgive me for not using the technical jargon. This is the best I can explain. Hope you are getting it). Of course, the tyres can't be cycle-like! :)

So, why does one need broad tyres for YZF-R15? Are we gonna take really close-to-the-ground turns on racetracks at 100mph or what?

There have been comments on the size of the bike too. It is said that the wheelbase is lesser than the likes of Pulsar, Karizma, etc. Does the length of the bike matter so much? Perhaps not. In fact, it's the sitting height which matters more. If it's too high it can affect handling since your feet might not touch the ground comfortably; if it's too low it might feel more like a cruise-bike instead of a sports-bike.

So guys, just chill. I would rather reserve my judgments until the time I take a ride on R15. As far as the specs and the styling are concerned, I think the bike excites. Let it come out on the roads. Then we'll discuss the rest too :). What say?

Thanks Payeng for getting the bike closer to us through your blog.