TVS Jive 110cc bike ! Reviews here and here. 50K rupees.
I bought this bike primarily for following reasons
(a) comfortable ride – bikes offer better shock absorption than scooters (perhaps because of the longer length of the absorber, and height of the bike).
(b) ease-of-use – This bike has auto-clutch technology, so its easier to ride than regular bikes, especially in urban areas. There is no need to constantly operate the clutch lever with left hand. Its taken care of automatically when accelerator is lowered. Simply lower the accelerator and change gear. In addition, “anti-knocking” and “rotary-gear” technologies also make this bike very easy to use.
(c) mileage – reviews said it gives 60 kmpl in the city and a little more on highway. Better than 40kmpl iam getting with my current scooter Mahindra flyte.
I took test drives at three dealers and liked the ease-of-use factor. Based on this, and some reviews on the net, I took the plunge. Lets see how it works out in the longer run, especially the gear box with all the new technology incorporated.
Now, a small anecdote – when I went to the dealer to close the deal (after we had finalized the total price inclusive of everything for 50k rupees), the dealer told me I will have to pay Rs 2300 extra “luxury tax” to the government because I already had one scooter on my name. I was offered some tricks to avoid paying the tax (for example, just change the format of the name, so that computers cannot detect the name match). There was zero risk on my part to do that – I was not giving any false information .. just change the format of the name. Still, my conscience objected to it and I negotiated a 50-50 sharing of the extra tax. The dealer was clearly not happy for having to shell down Rs 1150 more, but, for whatever reasons, he agreed. So, I ended up paying Rs 51150 total.
If I were to guess how many people in India would choose my route of paying the tax, unfortunately it would probably be less than 20%. People will be very happy to cut corners and provide all kinds of false declarations to save money. Iam afraid there’s a deep-rooted culture of dishonesty here in India. I’ve noticed even well-to-do people cut corners to save small amounts of money. For example, bribe a municipal corporation fellow to get tax reduced, bribe water meter fellow to tamper water meter, bribe a TC to get berth allotted out-of-turn etc. These things may appear small, but I think they all add-up to create an overall atmosphere of dishonesty. I think corruption – from smallest level I mentioned, to highest level – is the number one cause of India’s poor state of affairs.
I find it useful to make distinction between two kinds of corruption:
1. When there is a collusion between giver and taker, in order to get a mutually beneficial outcome, AT THE COST of somebody else. (bribing someone to get a work contract at the cost of someone else, bribe to get water bill reduced etc).
2. When there is no special benefit to the giver, but s/he has to pay a bribe just to get a LEGITIMATE work done. (bribe to get a legitimate municipal pass book done on time). In this case, there is no unfair advantage to the giver.
Both forms of corruption are preferably avoided, but obviously type-1 is much more unethical and harmful to society. If a vast majority of people (especially well-to-do middle/upper income people) desist from engaging in atleast type-1 corruption, there will be a vast improvement in overall atmosphere and will help to reduce corruption in the long run.
