To begin with you have quite a friendly motorcycle for something that displaces 300cc. The low seat height, the low centre of gravity, and the friendly and linear power delivery help.
So be it pottering around in the city in stop and go traffic, or thumbing it alive early in the morning because you ran out of bread, or be it just riding to work, the 42 doesn’t require planning regarding time of day or road surface or the route one might take. You get on and ride. And it’s mostly hassle free. Plus, the exhaust note sounds nice when pottering around at low speeds.
And when you open the taps, there’s enough grunt to keep even the enthusiast in you interested. It gets off the line with vigour. The ride-ability through the gears is progressive, if not exactly very strong. And, it doesn’t mind getting to three digit speeds and sitting there either. It might not sound as good right at the top, but it’s acceptable.
What’s more, it feels home even around the twisty stuff. Yes, it’s not the quickest to drop into corners. And it also doesn’t enjoy quick direction changes. But, dial things back just a couple of notches and the handling on the 42 is surprisingly good. There’s decent cornering clearance for the average Joe. And the grip and feedback from the MRF tyres don’t leave you wanting either.
The 42 also doesn’t wallow or buckle too much when leaned over, even over wavy or bumpy roads. And because the power delivery is so predictable and linear, one can give a fist full of throttle at corner exits and not worry about a thing.
Braking again, works for the bike – the bite isn’t too aggressive or mushy, and it returns good feel as well. So one can confidently lean on the brakes entering corners. But again, when ridden at least two notches below maximum commitment!
On poor roads, over bumps, through potholes, or even over undulations, the 42 won’t leave you cursing, or holding your back or behind in pain post the ride. We won’t term the ride quality as plush – and through a seriously deep pothole, it can end up hammering your back. But for the most part, the ride remains predictable, reasonably absorbent, and it is nowhere close to back breaking.
Add to it the tubeless tyres, and one can finally explore roads, no roads, gravel paths and the like without having to worry about removing the wheels, flagging down another motorist, and finding a tyre shop in the middle of nowhere.