Timely and Tidy Update

Bajaj revived the name "Chetak" after a 15-year gap in 2020 with the launch of the new Chetak in electric avatar. The scooter got a mid-life update for 2024 and we rode it to find out how it feels

-  Charan Karthik

"CHETAK IS A NAME THAT EVOKES NOSTALGIA. Personally speaking, I associate that name with an old uncle of mine hunched over the handlebar riding around a sleepy town on his scooter with the old white-on-black number-plates, a cloud of smoke being belched by the exhaust. A two-stroke internal combustion engine with a manual gearbox, a split seat, a spare wheel, and a rear brake pedal. These are things that you cannot find on a scooter in this day and age. What you will find, instead, is an electric motor, Spotify playback, and a reverse mode. Yes, that is what evolution does to a manufacturing company (or shall I say industry?) in five decades.

First things first. The Chetak is a very elegant and beautiful scooter. In a world of aggressive Ather 450s and roundish Ola Sis, it is a scooter that sits pretty, especially in the Indigo Blue colour with those beautiful daytime running lights (DRL) up front.