Since Ather 450X is launching on 28th Jan, I don’t think you will even go for test ride 
High expectations from Ather
3 Likes
Hello All,
Today i took unplanned small test ride of Bajaj Chetak here in Pune @KTM Bundgarden showroom. First impression was really good feels premium.
Here are some Pros:
- Bike is tremendously smooth. Zero vibration
- Suspension setup is extremely comfortable. Seat cushioning adds extra comfort
- Super silent even i tried to accelerate hard in Sport mode I barely heard Motor noise
- Brakes are OK not to great does not give much confidence
- Foot board is large enough & handle does not touches to my knees when turning or riding(My height is 176 cm/5 ft 9 inch)
- Bike easily climbed avg parking Incline without much efforts or any additional throttle input with pillion rider
Now some Cons:
- You will not get accurate feedback about how much throttle is opened. Specially in ECO mode bike slowly gets speed as per throttle input except Sport mode.
- Dials are difficult to read in direct Sun light
- I feel 95KM range is not true range. Even showroom executive told u will get 85KM in ECO. For this bike it was showing 74KM range left with 90% Battery remaining.
- I didn’t used/know ‘intuitive step down mode’
- Under seat storage is inadequate
- No Fast charging
- Bit heavy due to all metal body. Balancing in slow speed with pillion might be circus
Attaching some photos for reference
Note: This review is totally unbiased and i haven’t driven any electric bike before so at some point i might be wrong. I ride petrol bike everyday so there is chance of exaggerating of some points. The color of bike for this is not for Sale it is only use for Demo.
17 Likes
I booked 450 threee months back but still not get delivery.I observed one thing in all forum threads,there will only talking rather than fast delivery. Ather has to make fast delivery with in one month of booking,it applies to 450x also otherwise only talking and satisfying.
the reason for that is their current factory, which doesn’t have great capacity, once the new factory comes up things will change, and that’s why they expanded everywhere.
But there is a limit for everything…
Had a brief look at Chetak today.
•The build quality and paint quality seems good.
•The buttons were a little tacky and I’d rather have conventional ones over these.
•Display is just okay, nothing special about that.
•One huge mistake Bajaj did was to give it a 3 pin socket (Ather has CCS socket) which renders it not able to charge at public charging locations without an adaptor,in fact I don’t know if such adapter (3 pin to CCS) even exists at all.
• Under seat storage seems shallower than Ather. Wouldn’t fit a full-size helmet.
• Sorry to say but design resembles a famous Italian brand which is either cool or absolutely terrible,depends on how you look at it.
•Couldn’t take a test ride as it was hot outside. 
Overall a good proposition economically,but they’re pricing Premium one for ₹1.2l ex showroom. At that price point I’d go for Ather anyday.
2 Likes
First of all, Ather doesn’t have a CCS socket. It’s a proprietary design. A 3 pin industrial socket design for the Bajaj Chetak is in fact a very good move. There are many charging stations setup by the Government, local administrative authorities, and others and all these have that industrial scoket (3 pin blue connector). Bajaj can do away with setting up fewer charging stations.
4 Likes
oh… Good to know. But is there a way to use the charging station setup by others with Ather… is there an adapter available?
That’s the most common type plug, its just a 3 pin server type/desktop power supply/ appliance connector IEC C15/16 which is very common and It looks similar to the C14 used in desktop computers but C15 is rated for higher temperature used in EU appliances.
While ather uses a Plug similar looking to CCS, their pin have the wrong layout, expect fire works if one connects a ather to a CCS charger or vice versa. Ather chargers atleast the public ones additionaly have a standard 16a AC socket to charge, other EV which have oboard charger.
Chetak accepts AC in and has a onboard charger
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Below are 2 posts showing a DIY Industrial-Ather adaptor. One by @Rahul and another by @abhishek.balaji. Rahul has shown a charging station set up by a government agency I suppose. BESCOM has setup many of these of it in Bengaluru. Abhishek has shown his scooter being charged in a common charging point of an apartment complex.
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Ah my bad! It does look like a CCS! I hope all manufacturers (including Ather) switch to an universal charging plug (CCS/CCS2 is most popular if I’m not mistaken,even Model 3 will have CCS2 for European cars.)
there isn’t a standard defined for bikes/scooter yet. As hemanth told before, the design of bajaj allows charging at any bescom location. The thing with Ather is that, doing a plug for industrial socket to 15A still means you are charging with portable charger and it is going to be a slow one, meaning you pay lot of money for charging less. Unless of course, you go to an ather charge grid, it’s not going to be fast anywhere.
The Chetak does not have fast charging capability. It just uses the AC socket to charge, like it would do at any other 3pin socket.
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I have test drive for Chetak this Sat 1st Feb, Whitefield at 11am. Anyone else with similar booking?
1 Like
Yes I do have. But in PUNE:)
Great…I just hope they don’t come up with excuse and ask me to reschedule…my TVS test ride was my 3rd booking.
If you frequently charge is DC fast charger battery will degrade fast…