Why 'Rock On!!' is a must watch for bikers...

Being a dyed-in-the-wool biker, all of you sometime, somewhere come across stories or movies or even incidents in your everyday life, where you can correlate them with your biking life. I’m no different and it happens to me a lot of times too. However, I somehow found the new bollywood flick, ‘Rock On’ to be one great story that a lot of bikers can correlate to.

To know why I say so, CLICK HERE!

CBR600RR: The Evolution

Hi guys,



Rash here. All avid Bike India readers will recall the CBR600RR Evolution that was featured in the July issue. For all those who missed it, the article, along with some photos has been uploaded now on the Bike India website. While I handled the intro/conclusion and inputs about the 03-04 and the 07-08 600RR, my colleague Adhish Alawani gave his valuable inputs about the 05-06 model. The story talks about the evolution of the 600RR series from Honda and how the company transformed their 'sport-touring' kinda middleweights into one of the most poten track machines ever built.

To catch the story on the Bike India website, CLICK HERE.

Fazer name revealed!

Yamaha India's R15 has taken off in a great style with great sales figures in three months of its launch. The R15's street-fighter sibling, the Fazer is eagerly awaited as well. Our sources have confirmed that the bike will be launched in September and the deliveries will commence by Oct. 2008. Whats interesting however, is that the bike is not going to be called a Fazer 150 or FZ15 or FZ150 as everyone speculated. The street fighter has been christened the FZ-16 - a pointer that the air cooled engine will be a 160cc!

As mentioned earlier, the new Yam will cost approximately 90K ex-showroom.

Movie Buff!: Hell Ride

Quentin Tarantino, the celebrated name behind flicks like Kill Bill and Pulp Fiction, is back with his latest movie - Hell Ride. The movie is supposedly a 'biker-to-the-bone' kinda flick and is inspired by the popular Easy Rider movie which was released in the late sixties. The movie plot talks about a clash two biker gangs in the western deserts of America. While there has been no release date mentioned yet, here's a trailer for all bikers to enjoy:

2009 Honda Civic: More Updates

A few days back we scooped you about Honda's plans to give the Civic a facelift. We have now got some more info regarding the same!
The list of changes on the facelift model are minor. One of the most significant changes is the new radiator grille design which now features a larger mesh as compared to the current one.
The other change is the Polygonal tail/stop light unit instead of the round ones currently found in the Civic's tail cluster.
The car will also a get new upholstery and a new Electric Blue exterior color option. The car is expected to be unveiled by this Diwali and will go one sale by December.

Fabia extends family

Skoda India is on a roll with some successful models like the Octavia, Laura and the recently launched Fabia hatch. However, the car that created waves amongst the enthusiasts was the Skoda Octavia RS. The Czech company however put the 150bhp monster to sleep a couple of months back due to the lack of demand.

But it seems that the performance hungry enthusiasts have a new offering coming their way from Skoda - this time in a diesel flavor though. The Fabia's strong chassis will soon house Skoda's trusty ol' 1.9 TDI powerplant to introduce itself in a new variant - the Fabia Sport. The car is expected to be launched by the end of this year and the hot favorite RS Yellow color will be back on the brochure. The car will also feature side skirts, a rear roof spoiler and 16" alloys.

There are three other variants on the cards as well. The first being the Fabia Greenline - tweaked version of the diesel hatch which will supposedly return better mileage. The next in line is the Fabia Combi - an estate version (no idea why Skoda wants to gamble again considering the Octavia Combi never really sold) and last but not the least, is the Fabia Roomster - the car that Skoda displayed at the Auto Expo.

Movie Buff!: Fast and Furious (4)

Universal Studios, who produced the earlier iterations of the three 'Fast and Furious' series are now ready with the fourth installment. The movie will be titled ‘Fast and Furious’ (sans the ‘The’) and will mark the return of Dom Torretto (Vin Diesel) and Brian O’Connor (Paul Walker). The plot revolves around a common enemy that the two will fight against together. The movie is slated for an American release in June next year. Considering the success of the series in India, the fourth iteration will reach the Indian multiplexes too. To kill time then, here a small teaser of what you can expect:

India Bound: Toyota Yaris Sedan

We told you some time back about Toyota's plans to launch the Yaris hatch in India. From our sources we have also learnt that apart from the hatch, even the sedan version of the Yaris is being tested for India. The car should be launched closer to the Yaris hatch's launch. More info will come as our sources feed us in...

Chevy Cruze Engine Details

Chevrolet recently released the engine details of the upcoming Chevrolet Cruze. The petrol options include 1.6-litre, 112PS and 1.8-litre, 140PS 4-cylinder engines. A 150-PS 2.0-litre oilburner from the Captiva is also on the cards for the global launch but whether it will detuned for India is a matter of speculation. The car is based on Chevy's Delta II platform and will debut at the Paris Motor Show later this year.

Game On! : NFS: Undercover

The latest installment in the popular 'Need For Speed' series is NFS: Undercover. The game sheds its legal racing 'ProStreet' history and goes back to the illegal street racing and cops chase action. This time though, they have added a whole new intense storyline to the game and with the alloted budget for each succesive NFS going higher, EA have also hired a host of popular Hollywood actors for the game. The game is expected to be released across all popular platforms by November this year. The expected price will be Rs. 1,999 and will be available across all popular malls/book/toy stores.

2008 Honda City

While most magazines are busy creating artist impressions of what the new Honda City may look like, here are some actual photos that have leaked onto the internet.

**UPDATE: Found more images on the team bhp forum. Heres a link:

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-scene/40346-scoop-all-new-3rd-gen-honda-city-caught-testing-edit-interior-pics-pg-39-a-39.html

APRC: Indians be proud!

The Indonesian round of the APRC has ended today on a great note. Its a moment of historic significance for all Indian Motorsport fans, as Gaurav Gill, became the first Indian to ever win a Round at the Asia Pacific Rally Championship.

For more info, click here.