Friday, December 28, 2007

Kinetic Flyte – the review


Some one asked me to write a review on the Flyte because he wanted to know if it’s worth purchasing. So here goes…

If you are looking for a practical scooter which should help you shunt from office to home and home to the market place, effortlessly, and without lightening up your wallet by much, the Flyte makes brilliant sense. Given, of course, these destinations are in striking distance of each other.
On the practical front, the Flyte offers comfortable seating- the seat, handlebar and floorboard relation for an average Indian (read 5’9” – 5’10”) is bang on. The seat itself is quite agreeable for short sprints.
Then of course you have the huge loading area under the seat which can house your full face helmet, fabric jacket, gloves, mascara, eyeliner, hair drier and all the extra stuff today’s man loves to carry around. Get the helmet and jacket out and there’s place for your shopping bags. Furthermore, there are hang hooks, a mobile charger which can also double up as your i-pod power source.
Front fuel filler, a SYM trait and borrowed by Bajaj for the slow selling Kristal, is another practical touch, as is the key slot guard.
Furthermore, build quality and the fit and finish; two areas which you’d agree Kinetic hitherto has failed miserably to deliver on, thankfully, is top class on the new scooter. The tie up with SYM sure seems to have had its plus points!
The panel gaps, though present are even and as good as on the so-called benchmark scooter, the Honda Activa. The switchgear works well too and is easy to navigate, even on the move. The visibility is good too, and the Flyte is easy of manoeuvre through congested traffic, thanks mainly to its smaller dimensions.
The engine in question is SYM’s 8bhp 125cc engine. But it doesn’t feel like it at all, especially when compared to 7bhp somethings 100cc scooters already available in the market. Not that it feels anaemic or even lethargic; in fact, it motors around effortlessly, be it getting off the mark or overtaking, but it just doesn’t fit the 125cc psychological performance grade. It feels more like a faster Scooty Pep rather than feeling like a faster Dio. Which honestly, it should.
It is overwhelming refined though - there’s hardly any variomatic judder and even with the throttle completely wrung open, moving close to 80ks, there aren’t any uncomfortable vibes that might numb your hands or behind.
To boot, the Flyte is endowed with well sorted ride quality – it isn’t back breakingly stiff nor is it wallowy like the older Kinetic Honda. It just goes about cushioning the rider and the pillion with plush-ness so far uncharacteristic of scooters sold in the country. And is almost perfect for our interior roads.
It, then, does everything you’d ask from your everyday runabout scooter pretty well. So should you buy it? Given its price which is significantly less than the Dios and the Activas and comparable to the likes of the Peps and Kristals, absolutely! It just won’t help you with your hep image if you are a guy, that’s all.

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