Get Naked

While the world is leaning more towards naked supersport bikes, India doesn’t appear to be all that interested. Jared thinks the Z900 can change all that.

- Jared Solomon

It’s no secret that naked sports bikes are getting all the attention in most mature markets around the globe, but here in India we haven’t really accepted them with open arms. It’s not that we don’t have enough variety to choose from. Triumph has the Speed Triple, Honda still offers the brilliant CB1000R, Yamaha brought in the MT-09 last year. BMW, MV Agusta, Ducati and Aprilia also offer their super naked exotics, and Kawasaki always had the Z800 and Z1000 in India. So, why don’t we see a lot more naked supersports being sold in India?

The dominant segments in the premium bike space in India are mainly cruisers and supersport bikes, and the reason behind this is quite simple – India has always been a country of contrasts. At one end, you have high priced, high performance machines, and at the lower end, you have the entry-level performance bikes. The mid-level segment of performance bikes has only recently begun to expand in India, which is still a very young market for premium motorcycles. Kawasaki knows this too, and they’ve just revamped their entire Z line-up – which now consists of the Z250, Z650 and Z900.