Used Motorcycles In Md

Top-end car sales: Laps of luxury

:&Nbsp;I am 35 years old and have been investing in ICICI Tax Plan (Rs 2000/month), Fidelity Tax (1000/month), HDFC Top 200 (1000/month). I have shortlisted following for investing Rs 1000/month ineach of the funds. They are ICICI Pru Focused Bluechip Equity Retail, Franklin India Bluechip, Mirae Asset India Opportunities Regular, HDFC Equity, Reliance Equity Opportunities, IDFC Small Mercedes-Benz had a very interesting ‘launch function’ for two more variants of their cars in Delhi. In this case, the SL-350 and GL-500, a huge sedan and an SUV (sports utility vehicle), respectively—with a price tag of around Rs1 crore. So did Audi, with the new A7 sedan, as well as a couple of new variants of existing cars like the A8. BMW is expected to do the same soon with some of their biggies. Jaguar, meanwhile, continues with ‘soft launches’ of its new, big expensive cars. In all cases, there seems to be a new approach—appeal to the aspirational but undefined word called ‘luxury’—which has been the subject of more than one discussion here previously.  But, this time, Mercedes-Benz is trying something different. Their new man in India, Peter Honegg (MD & CEO), has openly declared that it wants to be seen as something other than a car for elderly people, and hopes to attract younger people with their re-jigged and refreshed variants. How they will be all things to all people, especially when sales are still in the hundreds per month on a national basis, is unknown. One thing is certain, anybody who is anybody, and is about to go to jail for corruption, is often spotted heading there in a luxury car—like Suresh Kalmadi did in an Audi. Now, whether that is aspirational or not has not been declared as yet, but it just might make a new format for advertising campaigns, or fit into the concept of free advertising.  But here’s one aspect they may have got wrong—more and more elderly people appear to be going in for cars and bikes that make them appear younger, at least in their own minds. If sales data for those who are buying super-bikes is to be believed, then it is the 40+ category of wealthy people who seem to be going in more for these symbols of youth than younger people. This pretty much leaves the younger lot trying to figure out what to buy if they don’t want to appear to be part of the older set. It now seems that monopolies, even in stolen cars, are also coming adrift.

MD Product Review: Bike Brite Motorcycle Spray Wash ...

Stuff. Downstairs, it’s everything you’d expect a gearhead’s man-cave to be. The 20-seat home theater, with plush leather recliners and the latest in audio-visual equipment is nice, but for serious wow, you can’t beat his 1500-square-foot garage. Within, crouching on immaculate checkerboard linoleum, next to massive stainless-steel tool chests, rest a pair of beautiful ’60s muscle cars and a late-model Ferrari.

The cars, of course, are cleaner than Howard Hughes’ toothbrush. How does he keep them so clean? I’m guessing professional detailers go to his house regularly, or he has his lot-monkey arrange it when he drives one of his beauties to work. Such are the perks of being in automotive sales. Or maybe he likes washing his own cars. If I had a Ferrari I’d probably take it into the shower with me.

That is not my life. I hate cleaning motorcycles, and my motorcycles probably hate me, as I wash them once or twice a year. Sometimes I forget what color the wheels are.

So Bike Brite Motorcycle Spray Wash may be a product for me. “Fantastic triple-action cycle formula washes-cleans-degreases,” promises the label. “Brings new brilliance to painted surfaces. Adds sparkle to brightwork, wheels and trim. Imparts a rich luster to vinyl, rubber and tires … biodegradable … approved by leading motorcycle manufacturers.” Holy crap! Does it cook you breakfast and buy birthday presents for your spouse also? I was suspicious of a product that claimed to do so many things at once, but I had a BMW test bike I had to return (and you do not

So I wet the bike down, sprayed the cleaner all over it, scrubbed at the greasy bits with an old toothbrush and soft scrub pad, and rinsed it off. Ha! It didn’t really work that well — the bike was clean, but not as spotless and shiny as the label promised. Oh, wait — the label has directions on it. And the directions tell you to spray the stuff on a dry bike and then to immediately rinse it off. But how could that possibly work? Smelling a Pulitzer, I decided to do some investigative journalism; pulling out my criminally filthy Ducati Supersport that I hadn’t cleaned since last October (I mean, why wash a bike if it’s just going to get rained on, right?). I spritzed the Bike Brite and rinsed it right off. It took two minutes.

The following silence was the Pulitzer committee not calling me. After a quick chamois-ing, my bike was (almost) spotless. The painted and metal surfaces gleamed. The tires and other rubber bits sparkled. From 10 feet away, it looked really good. Closer, I could see some really hard-to-clean areas the Bike Brite couldn’t work its magic on, like the greasy residue on the wheels and splash from the chain.