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.

The Off-beat approach - Blaze effect

Suzuki though isn’t the only manufacturer trying to find a foothold for itself by getting into virgin territory. Kinetic did the same with the Nova 135, but the scooter didn’t exactly succeed. It has now got a good break with the Blaze nonetheless, with the so called ‘maxi scooter’ catching the fancy of the young and show off sort. Here again, the numbers are of little significance; particularly if you see what she, the Blaze, has done for the Kinetic brand. Suddenly, Kinetic is back on every body’s antenna, and buyers are now awaiting more of the gorgeous looking scooters from the Italjet brand.I must mention here though, that even though the Blaze looks great and has more than adequate performance, she continues to be plagued with quality issues – then be it regarding the fit and finish, build quality, or even the mechanicals.

Off-beat vs herd mentality

We hear, read and witness a new launch every other day now. While some introduce completely new, exciting offerings (if not breathtaking); some choose to launch rehatched versions of their sometimes best selling, and sometimes slow moving models. But what goes on behind launching each of these offerings; what’s the thought process; what’s the game plan? Though, it’s impossible to get it entirely spot on, unless of course I were a company insider, here’s an attempt to make sense of some product strategies.
There are largely two ways of going about deciding a new product– a) Let’s call this one herd mentality - dive into a segment which has been witnessing great growth in the recent past – double digit, triple digit growth rates and the like – backed up of course with million page market research report indicating (actually shouting) that the concerned product category has immense potential, and will continue to grow for… well, ever.
And b) The ‘off-beat’ approach - enter virgin territory; create a new niche; spawn a new segment; etc etc…
But both approaches have their set of problems.
‘a’ for instance is a crowded place (remember ‘herd’); the competition here is intense; under cutting the only mantra; better value-for–money proposition, a prerequisite. So, if you are Hero Honda, Bajaj Auto or even TVS, it’s okay to take this approach. After all, the three have had reasonably good numbers by their sides, as well as success, at some level or the other. As a result are better equipped both mentally and financially to take a hammering if their products were to fail.
We have seen the three at it as well, and pretty often. Bajaj tried to knock off Hero Honda in the 100c segment, Hero Honda on the other hand tried the same on the former in the 150cc plus segment. As for TVS, it tried to outdo both in both these categories. The outcome though is been more or less the same on both counts – HH continues uninterrupted in the 100s while Bajaj and TVS have had to make do with relatively smaller, but sumptuous helpings. While in the 150cc plus, Bajaj is still king, with TVS and HH managing just about okay sales.

However, if you were a new entrant to the market, or have been battling miniscule sales, much like Suzuki and Yamaha respectively, and obviously Kinetic, it’s best to take the ‘off-beat’ approach.
Here’s how it helps. Creating a new segment, or a sub segment, first, takes the competition away. It also helps the maker get noticed, as it gives the company something new and different to harp about. All the manufacturer has to do then, is to convince buyers, the new product category actually makes sense for him. We have seen a few examples of this ‘Off beat’ approach, and I’ll list them for you in the subsequent posts.