Mahindra storms into bikes with 300cc Mojo and 110cc Stallio

At last, here comes a bike, which is truly Indian, is powerful, is sporty and above all, to an extent, is sensibly priced. What the Bajaj's and TVS’s were not able to do is done by the relatively new-entrant in the two-wheeler market, the Mahindra's. Mahindra scripts a new chapter in the history of Indian motorcycling with it’s new launch, the “Mojo”. The wraps were officially taken off the bike by the Vice-Chairman of Mahindra Group, Mr. Anand Mahindra.

What immediately strikes you on seeing the bike are the retro twin circular headlamps and the "shiny yellow" coated twin frame tubes. Except for these two completely controversial 'love-it or hate-it' design themes, the rest of the bike looks to be good but the final verdict on design can be given only if a few more shots from different angles are released or if it's seen in the flesh. Details like 320mm petal discs up front, dual exhausts, inverted front shocks, gas charged mono shocks at the rear and the huge 17 inch wheels with 150/60 tires at the rear will make sure that the Mojo turns heads when being driven on road.

More impressive are the technical specifications of the bike – 292 cc, four-stroke, four-valve, double overhead cam, liquid-cooled, single-cylinder engine controlled by electronic fuel injection, churning out 25.8 bhp of power and 24 Nm of torque. I guess, with the above specs, the Mojo will take the title of "The Fastest Indian" from the erstwhile Bajaj Pulsar 220 DTS-i. Less impressive is the price, though. At Rs 1.75 lakh, it’s priced a wee-bit higher than what was expected and you would be able to lay your hands on the gorgeous Royal-Enfield Classic 500 for a lot less money.

But what Mahindra has done is just set the precedent, which will make Bajaj and TVS come out with their own higher capacity sports bikes. And if they manage to do in the 300cc segment what they did with the Pulsar and Apache in the 150cc segment, then its we the customer who wins the battle and this could end up being the next big thing for the Indian motorcycle industry.

And let's not forget, Mahindra also launched a blink-and-you-miss-it kind of 110cc commuter bike, the 'Stallio' at the event, which would make Mahindra a volume player in the bike segment and for which Aamir Khan would be the brand ambassador.