Come out of the clutches

It always is a pain to commute on a bike. Though am not the correct person to comment (I've always been a free-rider aka pillion for most of my life), there certainly is an equal amount of risk involved along with the joy. There have been attempts to make it more friendly with automatic scooters, mopeds etc. However, the consumer behavior is something which plays a major role here. Who would want to drive a gear-less scooter considered more feminine? How many of you have seen a guy driving a Scooty pep?

But, there has always been something that is behind your mind when you drive through the rush streets...clutch, gear, clutch-gear change....isn't it all cumbersome? Can I not take all these off and still retain the basic features of a bike? Yes, says TVS with its new bike Jive

Jive is the latest entrant into the 110 CC bike middle-income target, but with a change. Jive has auto-clutch mechanism featuring an innovative patent-pending technology. Then there are the usuals that come with a bike and TVS has done well to retain all of them.

Hero Honda Street came flashing to my mind hearing about Jive. Being someone who drove Street for a good 2 years, I always felt it is a bike suited for the Indian market. However, because of the wrong packaging (yeah, it looked a moped than a bike) and the not-so-good marketing, Street went out of the market as soon as it came.

Will Jive drastically change the market? Tough but not impossible. Shrewd marketing and positioning can do wonders for the brand. However, there are certain things that might prove obstacles to them.

For one, the bike doesn't look stylish enough to attract the masses. TVS could be factoring on the comfort and ease factors but will they be enough to drive sales?

More importantly, customers in this segment look at the sales and the resale value of the bikes. Splendor has always been the darling of the masses because of the resale record of Hero Honda. Will this stop Jive from claiming the market position?

It still is early to comment on the success or otherwise of Jive. But, what it triggered is a frenzy activity in the market. We could be in for a revolutionary market changing concept. Jive along!