Enfield Bullet - Should it evolve and How?

With the Pulsar craze changing the mindset to strive for more powerful bikes and the booming economy improving purchasing power of the youth, I think we are very close to moving from 100/125 CC phenomenon to more powerful bikes (upwards of 300 CC) phenomenon.

Now with the shortly to be launched Pulsar 300 cc, the shift of mindset will be even faster. Bike makers are taking advantage of this new future demand forecast. Bikemakers are finally daring to come close to the till now untouchable 350 CC.

Where Royal Enfield rules the roost...

Is there finally an atttempt at encroachment towards the enfield fiefdom?

I own one. I vehemently used to deny that.

But with digital odometre/speedometer, digital fuel gauge, digital trip metre, indicators for air filter condition, engine temperature, battery voltage and Oil level (Pulsar has all these !!) combined with a 350 CC engine makes me think again....

Consumers are shifting to technologically more advanced bikes and now with this emerging trend towards 300 CC and above bikes, it is high time that Enfield builds its high walled fort with custom made canons !!!

Its the question of keeping alive or saving the pride that an enfield owner derives...

I am not worried as such but just being in a mood to forecast the worse... the worse is Enfield Bullet needs to evolve to save its skin.

But how do you evolve from an Enfield Bullet? So much heritage, so much ego, so much resistance to change (both from consumer & bike maker perspective)..... what do you do !!!

Let me start my campaign to arrive at ideas of how should the Enfield Bullet evolve to a new avatar keeping its integrity, lineage, and everything subjective and objective about bullet alive....

I invite comments from all of you to bring about a positive change to bullet, a positive commercially viable evolution for Enfield Bullet.... lets see what comes about....

Remember the first Pulsar 150 !!

I recently saw a Bajaj Pulsar that seemed for a second something not pulsar. Is that really a Pulsar, I thought?

It was a Pulsar. The Pulsar without the wiser and the meters jutting out. The first model which revolutionised the bike market and relaunched Bajaj as a new modern age bike maker.

Immediately the second thought was "when was the Pulsar launched in the market? I dont see these anymore already. Was it 2002? "

I kept my observation for the next week or so. And it is really a fact that in Mumbai roads, one does not get to see too many Pulsars without the wiser. It simply vanished.

It took only 5 years for one model to completely vanish from the roads. I see more Yamaha RX bikes than the revolutionary Pulsar without the wiser!!

What happened to all those bikers who bought Pulsar in plenty in 2002 and 2003? I am not sure when the wiser came into the Pulsar but it was surely not till 2003...

Did they graduate into four wheelers? Is Pulsar the stairway to a Maruti? Even if we agree to that, those pulsars must have been sold to second hand buyers. They cannot simply dissappear.

Is it that Pulsars are not durable? Do they become junk in five years???

UTI Bank is still UTI Bank in Goa

Just been to Goa on a workshop... had a lovely time... good weather... Goa is getting ready for the season.... most of the shacks and some of the bars were closed for renovation.... they were changing for the better..... lot of energy and newness was beginning to be seen........

However, UTI Bank was still UTI Bank in Goa...
All the UTI Bank ATMs that I saw in Goa are still UTI Banks.... the irony is that when I came back to my room... their ad snippet was playing on the TV... so much for a 360 degree campaign... look at the article attached....

http://digital.agencyfaqs.com/perl/digital/news/index.html?sid=18802

Is it a wrong media reporting or irresponsible PR from the desk of AXIS Bank...