10 vintage motorcycle ads from your dad’s younger days

Two-wheeler advertisements is not a new thing in India. Even during the infancy of the two-wheeler industry in India, manufacturers came out with brilliant ads, some of which are now considered a classic. Celebrity brand endorsements were also pretty common as they are to this day. Today, let’s take a look at some of these vintage ads that were popular during your dad’s younger days.

Feroz Khan – BSA Falcon GT-50

During his young days, Feroz Khan endorsed the BSA Falcon GT-50, a two-stroke bike. The actor with a cowboy-ish charm was seen in an advert promoting the bike which was powered by a 49.93-cc Motomorini engine with a 4-speed gearbox. This two-stroke motor produced a maximum power of 4.6 Bhp and weighed 71 kg. Many collectors still have the Falcon in their collection and it is not an easy bike to find now.

Dino Morea – Hero Honda CBZ

Model turned actor Dino Morea was a well-known name during the early 2000s. He, along with Lara Dutta, endorsed the first generation of CBZ motorcycle in India. The video above shows the ad in which both the celebrities featured together. Talking about the bike, the Hero Honda CBZ is often referred to as the bike that kick-started the affordable performance motorcycles segment in India. Even the Pulsar brand was launched after Bajaj saw the success of CBZ in India. To this date, the has many loyal followers in the country.

Sachin Tendulkar – Bajaj Sunny

Back in the day, Sachin Tendulkar used to endorse the Bajaj Sunny. The Sunny was a small-capacity scooter that was introduced in 1990 and was primarily targeted at young people. An endorsement by the Master Blaster helped in generating attention towards the bike. The Sunny was powered by a 50-cc 2-stroke engine churning out 2.8 Bhp of power. The tag line of ‘Ride the red hot super looker teen machine’ directly reflected Bajaj’s target base.

Aamir Khan – Hero Puch

Hero roped in the famous actor Aamir Khan for the endorsement of the moped Puch. To let you know, this popular moped was actually developed in collaboration with the Austrian company ‘Puch’ and hence that rather unconventional name. The Puch was powered by a 64-cc engine that made 4.15 Bhp of power. The moped was available with 4 variants which included an automatic, a 2-speed, a 3-speed and a sporty version called Turbo. Its tag line was ‘Now you’ve got the power’.

Salman Khan – Hero Honda CD 100

Salman Khan was roped in to endorse the Hero Honda CD100 before he gained the superstar status he is known for today. The company’s famous tagline – ‘Fill it, Shut it, Forget it’ was first used on CD 100. The bike was launched in 1985 and went on to be a very successful product. Powering the bike is a 97-cc 4-stroke engine giving out 7.4 Bhp and 7.2 Nm.

Kapil Dev – Bajaj Champion 4S

The Champion was among the many two-wheelers Bajaj brought to our shores in collaboration with Kawasaki. It did fairly well during its lifetime and was made popular by the World Cup-wining Indian captain Kapil Dev who was chosen as the brand ambassador for the Bajaj Champion 4S. The Champion 4S was powered by a 100-cc Kawasaki engine with R.A.C.E technology. The bike had an output of 7 Bhp and 8.1 Nm.

Sunil Gavaskar – Yamaha RX100

The RX 100 is a cult figure in the two-wheeler scenario of our country. The bike was endorsed by an equally well known celebrity in the form of Sunil Gavaskar, aka the ‘Little Master’. During its reign, the RX 100 was the fastest accelerating 100-cc bike in India and is still known as one of the best bikes to have a joyride in. The RX100 was powered by a 98-cc 2-stroke engine that churned out 11 Bhp and 10.6 Nm. It is now a collector’s pride and well-maintained units sell for quite a high price.

Rajdoot

Rajdoot bikes were made in India by Escorts under license from Yamaha. It was among the most popular as well as powerful bike of its time. Speaking of which, the bike was powered by a 347 cc, air-cooled, torque induction parallel-twin motor that offered a maximum power of 30.5 Bhp along with a peak torque of 32Nm. The motorcycle could hit 100 km/h from standstill in less than 7 seconds and had a top speed of 150 km/h.

Kinetic Honda

The Kinetic Honda was India’s first two-stroke automatic scooter and was very popular among the scooter buying lot. It was aimed at the youngsters but was in fact bought by people of various age groups. Powering the Kinetic Honda was a 98cc, 2-stroke engine that produced a maximum power of 7.7 bhp and a peak torque of 9.8 Nm.

Yezdi 250 Classic

The Iconic Yezdi 250 Classic is still loved by enthusiasts around the country. The bike was powered by a 248.5 cc, 2-stroke, air-cooled engine producing a peak power of 12 Bhp. The engine uses a 4-speed manual gearbox for transmitting the power to the rear wheels.