Rearset's Annual Motorcycle Awards: List One

Design of the year
iPhone

One more year has passed, and nope, the design of the year award, once more, swings over the motorcycles' collective heads and lands squarely in Apple's lap. What a lovely, lovely, looking instrument.

Performance motorcycle of the year (tie)
Pulsar 220 DTS-Fi & ...

I whole-heartedly, totally without cheek confer this rather prestigious award on the Pulsar 220 DTS-Fi. I think the Pulsar 220 is a stormingly good motorcycle. From the Bajaj family, all told, I don't think there has been a single motorcycle that could be accused of being more at ease with itself, and of being more than the sum of its parts. Super job.

Now, why is this a tie? Because, I don't think the P220 has as much performance as it should have – both for the money, and for the displacement. It'd be easy to say 25 bhp is better than 20 bhp, but what I mean is that I would have been happier if the motorcycle felt more muscular on the power delivery front. Powerful enough to justify the Rs 15,000 over the P200.

You want muscular feel? My second pick for the award, and I'm sharing the goodies on this is the TVS Apache RTR 160, the first barely-legal motorcycle in the country. May there be more. A more aggressive motorcycle than the RTR we have not had in quite a while and that alone is deserving of an award. Hey... there's an idea.

Naked Aggression of the year
TVS Apache RTR 160

Well, I've already said most of the it. The TVS Apache is easily the most aggressive of all Indian motorcycles and you've got to love it for that. The engine's very-much race bred and feels it. The chassis is a rabbit being chased by a predator but with far more ability. Direction changes are lightning quick, almost borderline unstable when you string them together. But it looks great, goes really well and personally, I think it's the right size for a 150cc single. The competition's a bit large, no?

Deserving bike of the year
Suzuki Access 125

This is the scooter that should have stolen all the twist-go thunder. It had a nice engine, superb build quality and all of that. But that Activa-clone style...

Scooter of the year
Kinetic-Sym Flyte

I want Kinetic to drink more of whatever the chaps from Sym are drinking. After the promising, but ultimately flimsy Blaze, comes the normal, but for a Kinetic, stonkingly good scooter. Japanese build quality, a solid quality feel, superb handling and ride quality... I love that scooter. Wish it had 10 more bhp

Bike of the year
Bajaj Pulsar 200 DTSi

This is the sole serious award I hand out. And this year, my Bike Of The Year is the Bajaj Pulsar 200. In my book, this is easily the most sorted of all of the Pulsars, and feels absolutely great to ride at any pace you choose. Stunningly good looks – especially given the ultra-insistent family resemblance – complete a very muscular, modern, fresh looking package. And for the performance, the price is hard to argue against as well. More like this, please.

Read about last year's winners