Which city? I have scheduled one for tomorrow but I did not get any message…
For a moment I thought it’s delivery intimation.
Thanks for the info… Following reviews closely
Went to Test Ride this morning and here are my views:
Let me start with good points:
- Keyless Entry (Key remains in your pocket)
- Charging 5A Pin and form factor (very small)
- Centre Stand
- Side foot rest for ladies
- Pitch (sound~frequency) of Horn
- USB Charging port
- Chetak brand.
What I did not like
- Dashboard is not bright enough for day.
- Front Storage box cover feels very plastic
- Storage box for helmet is small. Cant hold full face helmet.
- No sound alert for turn indicator
- Acceleration from zero was just average. I felt it is like any average scooter.
- Handling of scooter on road was average. Did not feel so secure on road. At lower speed (say below 5km), I did not get hang of smooth riding (may be I am new and used to Ather)
- KTM showroom guys did not have any knowledge of scooter. For everything he answered me saying, I should refer Chetak website (for price, for app, for subscription, for battery replacement etc.)
So needless to say I could not check many finer details.
Overall I would say, it is an average urban scooter. Is it really cheap? I doubt as there are ++ to be added to ex-showroom price. Quality is yet to be determined over the period of time. Plans are not known yet.
6 Likes
Seems good! not many negatives when you compare a regular scooter. Especially with premium look and feel.
What this will do according to me
Anyone who is cost conscious moving from a ICE commuter scooter and not ready for new concepts of ownership will pick up a chetak.
Anyone who wants a performance scooter or a new age tech / connected product and moving away from the ICE counterparts like the SRs and Ntorq will go for the Ather.
WinWin for electric mobility.
We end up paying nearly 20k to 35k more for extra performance in ICE, Why not in electric bikes with the added benefit of Tech.
1 Like
Hello,
I also did test ride Chetak today, i want add some more different points:
- ‘Intutative step down’ mode is really amazing. Whenever throttle is twisted to close to full it automatically switches to ‘Sport’ mode(I didn’t hear any beep though)
- Steering maneuverability is very light & sleek didn’t find heavy with pillion
- Head turner like Ather. Thanks to distinctive retro look. Even a strange auto-rickshaw driver curiously asked me about scooter name/price(wish Bajaj could have given name or atleast logo) he really liked the design and told me buy:)
- While going on down slope I saw ‘Battary’ icon so I guess scooter was regenerating energy when accelerator fully closed
- Headlight throw & spread is very good
- True range is close to what have promised considering test scooter driven in both modes
For our test scooter it was
Trip meter reading = 58
Range remaining = 35
True Range is 58+35 = 93 KM(Extremely happy:))
Attaching photo for reference.
Almost all cons @rajeshkav mentioned are correct.
Other points: - In my case KTM showroom have separate guy appointed by Chetak & he have good knowledge about battery cells, its replacement cost etc
- Delivery of Premium variant will start at the end of Feb or starting March & for Basic variant it will be before May not sure
- Not able to swap orders or change colors or variant. Need to be extra careful while booking
Overall I really like the scooter. Overall fit & finish of scooter is superb. I have booked ‘Citrus green’ basic variant but unfortunately it
was not on display. I think only two colors (Blue & Red & silver demo scooter) in all KTM showrooms in pune.
Need to submit all required documents by person or online. Scooter will be delivered on priority those who submit & complete documents first.
PC wifey
4 Likes
How did you find the stability? Any pull to the left or something like that?
Frankly speaking i haven’t noticed any left pulling. Even I asked my wife too.
Stability is very well maintained in straight line.
2 Likes
Took a Test ride of the Chetak today afternoon.
What I liked:
- Good retro looks in nice colours
- Centre stand and less leaning side stand
- Side step for people wanting to sit one side.
- Intuitive kickdown mode is nice. Irrespective of the mode, turn the throttle fully and it shifts to sports mode. Helpful in overtaking
- Metal body in the rear half
- Very Silent
- Keyless entry
What I didn’t like:
- Plastics on the front half are average and not put together well and inconsistent panel gaps.
- Boot not deep enough. can fit a half face helmet at best.
- No fast charging
- There is a lag in acceleration when the throttle is turned.
- Imbalanced ride at slow speeds.
- No user controlled regenerative braking.
- Top speed of 60kmph. enough for crowded city roads but in Bengaluru, on roads like the 2 elevated roads and NICE road it will be boring and may even be dangerous.
- Right indicator button on right side and left indicator on left side. Very confusing and takes time to get used to.
- Buttons for everything and buttons don’t give good tactile feedback.
- Almost all buttons have 2 or 3 functions.
- Sales guys mostly know nothing.
I had scheduled the test ride at 4PM and went there at 2PM. There was a display vehicle and 2 customers looking at it. Test ride vehicle had gone out and I was told to wait. By this time, the sales guy was asking me many questions of my Ather 450 I gave him a short demo ! 
I also took a look at the display scooter and it looks like a fatter Vespa in general. I liked it because they’ve not overdone and spoilt it like a faschino. One thing in the design is that there are Chetak logos literally everywhere. inside the headlamp, on the mirrors (mirror is also shaped like it), on the handle bar, on the hook in the seat, inside the instrument cluster, on the Engine cover…everywhere!
Side view
Rear View
Headlamp - Chetak logo
Handle bar - Chetak logo
Mirror - Chetak logo and Chetak logo shape mirrors
Seat hook - Chetak logo. Press to pop out, press to lock in
Motor cover…notice the Chetak logos
In 10 minutes my turn came and I sat on the vehicle. On asking, the sales guy quickly told what all the buttons do. Then I asked him to show me the key and he took it out of his pocket. That’s when the person who went for a test ride before me, the sales guy and I understood that even without the key, the scooter can be driven. He told it can’t be started though. I took the key and pressed the start button. It switched on in Neutral mode. I pressed the D button and a small beep told me that the scooter is on. It starts in Eco mode by default. D also toggles between the Eco and Sports modes. I pressed the D button to change to sports mode. I took out the scooter in reverse mode (Long pressing R button) and it works well as it is supposed to. there is a continuous beep during the reverse move. Pressing D will switch to forward gear.
There is a traffic signal immediately after the showroom. After the signal turned green, I gave it a twist and the scooter accelerated well. No sudden jerks like the crappy Okinawa (not as smooth and linear as my 450 either). It was quicker than all the 100cc scooters around me. It reached a top speed of 60kmph in good time. The scooter is very silent but at higher speeds, it does have a feeble humming sound.
In stop and go traffic, there was a lag/delay before torque delivery starts. When the throttle is rotated 5-10 degrees, there is no response and then afterwards it starts to accelerate with a small jerk. It is not a well balanced vehicle because of which it is not good to ride at slow speeds in city traffic. However it was not too bad either. It was similar to the Scooty pep that my wife once had. This is mainly because most of the weight is on the left side of the scooter (motor, brakes etc). Ather has spoilt me in this point. Also the ride overall is too bouncy - blame the single shocks in both front and rear suspension setup which are very soft.
Swingarm mounted Motor
Single suspension like the activa
I changed the modes but the differences between the 2 are very less IMO. Intuitive kickdown mode is nice. Irrespective of the mode, turn the throttle fully and it shifts to sports mode…helpful in overtaking. This is also indicated by a beep.
Midway into the ride, I stopped for some pictures. pressed the power button and it switched to neutral. Pressed again and nothing happened. Long pressed it and I got a warning triangle light on the cluster. I didn’t understand how to completely switch off but because of the warning light, I didn’t try anything else. pressed the seat opening button and the front storage cover opened up. this is where the charging cable is placed and a first aid kit and USB port is located. I closed it and long pressed it to open the seat. Again there is a continuous beep when the seat is opened. It could just about take in my half face-helmet. A full face helmet won’t fit for sure. The charging plug is below the seat.
Front view
Rear view
Side view
Instrument cluster
Boot… notice charging cable and scooter side charging socket (PC power socket like)
Pressed the D button and the neutral turned off and the vehicle started in the Eco mode. Eveytime we turn off and turn on, the scooter starts in Eco mode by default. Not a good logic I felt. Anyway, back on the road, I returned to the showroom. The indicator switches are really confusing with left direction switch on the left hand controls and right one on the right. It has auto cutoff but to turn off manually, we have to press the same direction again. The auto cutoff via a simple a mechanical switch on the handle probably. I found this out by turning the handle when the scooter was stationary. In Ather it doesn’t work when it is stationary as it works using an IMU sensor and software. Interestingly there is no beep sound for indicators considering they have beeps for everything else. The rear indicators light up sequentially the front one blink normally
The dash gives out all the necessary items and the layout is nice. Side stand warning is also displayed. On the downside, it is not bright enough during daytime and the glossy glass cover further spoils it by lot of reflections. One good thing I observed was when the headlight is switched on, the cluster dims down. The M button toggles between displaying the Odo, Time and Trip meter.
I came back and just 100mtrs before the showroom, the sales guy called my phone (which he could see from my licence copy that he had taken before starting the test ride). Probably he thought I ran away with the scooter!!
I asked him about that warning triangle lamp and he told told some error might be there. He didn’t know the actual reason which I later found out. It came because I was long pressing the power button with the handle straight. It couldn’t lock the scooter with the handle in that position and hence it was throwing a warning symbol. It also confirmed that the scooter can’t be turned off without locking the handle. good in some situations but bad in others.
Brakes have brake locks like a button which was nice unlike the Activa’s lever kind of lock. Mirrors are easy to adjust it’s a little too small for my liking. doesn’t cover too much. Both these items are a sad miss in our 450.
Brake lock
I asked him what was the number on the front storage lid and he told. “Sorry sir , no idea, I am seeing it for the first time”. Another guy also told the same and told “some logic will be there sir, we don’t know”. I had thought it was a unique numbering plate, but it was 2403 on both the display and the test ride scooter. I then moved on to the display vehicle and they have made a nice stage for that…moving the tab form left to right shows images of the scooter like it is scanned and features of components inside the scooter are explained. In the regenerative braking section it showed that the throttle can be rotated backwards to start regeneration (just like Ather). On the scooters however, the throttle couldn’t be rotated backwards. The sales personnel couldn’t explain that and he told just letting go of the accelerator or applying the brakes will regenerate energy.
He showed the “locate my scooter” feature in the key. Long pressing the button switches on all the indicators and beeps. helps in locating the scooter in a parking lot.
I asked him that I wanted to look at the app and he told I can download from the website. He told me that it’s not yet available though.
Display vehicle. Move that tab and it will show all features of the scooter.
Battery Cooling
Battery cooling in detail
Direct Drive
Regeneration
Steel Chassis
2403
He asked me if I wanted to book it there itself and I told that I’ll do it online. I asked when the deliveries will start and he told that Premium variant will be delivered in February itself but the cheaper Urbane variant may start from March. I asked him what range they are getting and he told they are getting 5kms less that claimed…i.e., 90kms in eco and 80kms in sports mode. He told they got the scooter last week and they were riding it since then to check this. Test rides only started today and the scooter I rode was nearing 4000kms on the ODO. I took my licence and started back home.
Verdict:
It is a decent scooter with average performance. A functional commuter scooter. Nothing that can wow you apart from the Vespa-ish looks. It doesn’t disappoint you either. People who don’t care about or enjoy riding will not complain. It’ll best suit to someone like my father for whom a scooter is just a means of transport and nothing else. Enthusiasts will be disappointed though. There is no fun, no happy feeling, no emotions, nothing. It is more comparable to a 100cc scooter. with BS6, 100cc scooters will come to around 80k rupees and this is 120k which doesn’t make it really cheap. It does make up with the low running cost. A rough calculation shows that it’ll break even at around 30000kms. Chetak will also sell well…for Nostalgia, for Brand, for practicality over pleasure etc. Ather will sell for the tech, features, Ride quality and the different level of experience it gives to the rider.
Many people ask me how does it compare to the 450. I love my 450 all the more now, considering that I got it at around the same price point. As regards to the upcoming 450x…If Chetak can demand 120K, the 450x can definitely demand 160k. If I’ve to draw an analogy, I’d compare the Chetak to our Alto K10 AMT and the 450 to my GTTSI.
15 Likes
Thanks for the exhaustive review.
Does the scooter have passing light switch?
Oh, that’s quite a difference XD
No…it doesn’t. Right side has D, M, R, seat open and indicator buttons. Left side has horn, light, highbeam on off, music play pause and indicator swirches.
In the way it rides…yes.
Thanks a lot for the detailed review.
450X is not just 1.6 lakhs though. While Chetak price is on road price which includes insurance, Ather 450X price of 1.6 lakhs doesn’t include insurance which will be another ~ Rs8,000 to 9,000 extra. In addition, Ather mandates “Ather Connect” plan which costs Rs 3,600 per year extra.
Also, in states where the road tax is not waived for EVs, the higher ex showroom price of 450X will make on road price even higher.
6 Likes
Even I took a test drive yesterday. Best part was I went to showroom on a Bounce Electric Ampere Zeal. Zeal was giving top speed of 50 kmhr and for Saturday traffic it was more than enough. It is at that moment I realised that for traffic conditions Ampere Zeal is more than enough.
Coming to test ride:
Most of the points are already covered, I will just add few of my thoughts
-1. Too many buttons, short press for this, long press for that… confusion
0. Handle of Chetak is lighter than TVS iQube.
- Suspension on Chetak was hard for me compared to TVS iQube, which was soft.
- For my big body, Chetak seat was bit small, but iQube was wider.
- Chetak beeps for everything but doesn’t make any turn indicator sound.
- Regen kicks in the moment I leave the throttle and can be felt too. Same as TVS.
- Chetak makes humming sound, might be the belt. TVS has no sound whatsoever as its hub mounted.
- Legspace is very less. Handle touches knees very easily.
- It has that uncle look according to my wife.
Overall a great scooter but I find it very basic. Dash is like calculator. Not clear in sunlight. Not finding it worth for the price.
For me TVS looks and feels better than Chetak.
Will be cancelling my Chetak booking.
450x>450>iQube>Chetak>Zeal
3 Likes
Check this also - launch in March 2020.
We have Auto Expo on Feb7. Let’s see what else we have in EV this year.
The 2403 I remeber seeing it on some review video. I’m not sure about this but It stands for 2- Two Wheeler 4- 4kW rated motor 0 - Zero Emissions 3- 3kWh battery pack. Felt weird to me actually. Why would they even put that on the scooter I wonder if in the future Chetak releases new scooter variants with 2604 or something like that. Then that would make sense.
2 Likes
RIP for what logic they used while designing xD
1 Like
Question here: Do Ather charge Road Tax annually or One time just like IC vehicles?
Bajaj Chetak charging annually about Rs 400 this is confirmed by Chetak executive. He told me that as Bajaj haven’t got exact figure from Government So we have to pay every year just like how we renew vehicle insurance either by Online or at dealership.
Road tax is Bajaj’s version of Subscriptions probably 
Road tax is one time even otherwise for personal vehicles. Only for commercial vehicles, Road tax is Annual.
In Karnataka there is no Road tax on EVs and Road tax is Zero even in Tamilnadu AFAIK.
1 Like