Bajaj Freedom 125 First Ride Review - Time To Leave Petrol Behind?

Does it do enough to convince commuters to switch to CNG?

Words: Priyadarshan Bawikar

Photography: Kamesh Chauhan

Bajaj Auto made history by launching the world’s first CNG bike. Now the Freedom 125 isn’t some petrol to CNG retrofit, but a brand new bike built to run on CNG from the get-go. It also gets a small petrol tank, and the bike can run on either fuel a the flick of a switch. We rode the Freedom 125 for about 300-odd kilometers over a couple of days, and here’s our experience of riding a CNG motorcycle for the first time.

Design

The Bajaj Freedom 125 looks like nothing else on the road. The tiny fuel tank, the exposed trellis frame, the tall handlebar, the flat long seat and minimal tail section make it look like a proper Supermoto bike. But in the Freedom’s case, it’s a pure matter of form the following function. Every design decision has come from a need to neatly package the CNG system. The trellis subframe (much like you see on KTM Dukes) is there to provide a protective cage around the CNG tank, which sits under the seat. And to accommodate the 12.5-litre (by volume) CNG tank, the large single-piece seat doesn’t have the traditional scoop for the rider section, and end up being tall and flat, like you would find on a dirt bike. Even the rear wheel is 16 inches in diameter, compared to the standard 17/18-inch wheels you find on traditional commuter motorcycles. 

Bajaj has also added some visual flair to the design in the form of an oblong-shaped headlight and plastic fork covers, which end up making the conventional telescopic fork look like an inverted fork. The Freedom badging on these fork covers with one of the ‘E’s in the Indian tricolour looks superb too. The bike is available in five really nice looking colours - Caribbean Blue, Ebony Black, Cyber White, Racing Red and Pewter Grey. Overall, thanks to the colour selections and good build quality all around, the Freedom 125 looks like a really premium motorcycle.

Engine, Mileage, Performance

The Freedom 125 is powered by a 125cc air-cooled engine which can run on either CNG or petrol. It produces 9.5PS of max power and 9.7Nm of torque. Bajaj says that these output figures are identical in both petrol and CNG modes, but while riding, there’s a distinct difference in performance when you switch the bike from petrol to CNG. In our tests in petrol mode, the Freedom 125’s 0-60kmph acceleration was 7.85 seconds, which is on par with 110cc bikes like the TVS Radeon. In CNG mode, the 0-60kmph acceleration was 8.28 seconds, which is not too far off from the petrol time, but in the run up to 80kmph, petrol mode is quicker by about 3 seconds.

But while the Freedom is not a quick bike by any means, it is extremely smooth. At city speeds, it’s smooth enough to almost feel like an electric, with no vibrations whatsoever. Even on the highway, the Freedom can comfortably cruise at 80kmph in 5th gear without any vibes. Beyond that though, you’ll start feeling a buzz in the foot pegs. It’s tractable too, which means you can easily ride at fairly slow speeds in high gears. In fact, we were able to pull away from 25kmph in 5th gear without the engine bogging or juddering, or even having to use the clutch.

Bajaj claims a fuel efficiency of 102km/kg in CNG mode and 65kmpl in petrol mode, theoretically giving the Freedom 125 a range of 330km if you use the full 2kg and 2 litre capacities of the CNG and petrol tanks respectively. However, in our tests we were able to get 85km/kg from CNG and about 55-56kmpl from petrol. This was of course in mixed riding conditions and while shooting the bike as well. So there were lots of times when we were riding with full throttle. If ridden calmly, we believe that the Freedom could easily go 100km per kg of CNG. That would mean a running cost of under 1 Rupee per kilometer when using CNG.

Switching between petrol and CNG is really easy as well - just flick the switch on the left handlebar, reduce or increase the throttle, and the bike changes modes in an instant. There’s a very slight hiccup or “jhatka” when the switchover happens, but it’s only for an instant. While the Freedom is quicker and more fun to ride in petrol mode, the small 2-litre petrol tank is meant to be used as a reserve system to get you by until you can refill the CNG tank. The CNG tank can hold a maximum of 2 kg of CNG, but that depends on the CNG pressure available at the pump. If the pressure is low, the tank will accommodate less, like in our tests, we were only able to fill 1.63kg of CNG from a pump near our office, and about 1.75kg from a different pump.

Handling & Ride Quality

At 147kg, the Freedom is a slightly heavy bike for a 125cc commuter. And you can feel a little of that weight when moving the bike in the parking lot. But once you start riding, you don’t notice the weight as much and it actually feels very easy to change directions. That’s because of its higher centre of gravity thanks to the heavy CNG tank under the seat. The TVS Eurogrip tyres on offer have decent grip and even on wet roads, they performed well. The only slight issue we faced was during braking. The top-end Freedom we rode came with a 240mm disc brake at the front and a 130mm from at the rear with a combined braking system. When braking hard using the front brake, we observed that the front tyre tended to lock very easily. This can be a bit scary, but if you use both brakes together, you won’t encounter this issue.

The Freedom 125 comes with a conventional telescopic fork at the front and a linked monoshock at the rear. The front suspension setup is a bit soft and can bottom out when going through really deep potholes. The rear, on the other hand, feels a bit firm, but the moment you are riding with a pillion behind you, the ride quality just becomes plush. Overall, on most roads, the Freedom rides quite well and should provide you a comfortable commuting experience.

Features

The Freedom 125 gets a fully digital negatively-lit LCD console which displays a speedometer, gear position indicator, clock and two trip meters. That’s all it will display in petrol mode. But switch to CNG mode, and it shows a fuel gauge for the remaining CNG in the tank, instantaneous CNG mileage and an average CNG mileage for each trip meter.

This console also comes with Bluetooth connectivity to display incoming call and message alerts, and it also has a one touch call answer button on the left handlebar. But we couldn’t test these features as we couldn’t get any of our phones to connect to the console. This console’s real party trick is its ability to to change its angle. You can choose between two angles by just undoing a thumb screw on the left side of the console, changing the angle to match the other hole, and putting the screw back.

Should You Buy The Bajaj Freedom 125?

The Freedom 125 is the first time any company has made a CNG motorcycle. For a first attempt, it actually works really well, and thanks to its high efficiency when running on CNG, it offers really low running costs. Plus, the sheer smoothness of its engine and comfort will keep a lot of commuters happy. That said, its performance isn’t on par with other 125cc bikes, and while its starting price of Rs 95,000 seems attractive, if you want a front disc brake, LED headlight and Bluetooth connectivity, you will have to pay Rs 1.10 lakh (both prices, ex-showroom Delhi). 

Now you can get the top-end TVS Raider 125 for less than that, and the Raider offers a TFT console, turn-by-turn navigation with voice assist, and much more performance. However, when it comes to running costs, the only way to ride for less is to go electric. So in that sense, the Freedom threads a perfect line between regular petrol ICE bikes and EV bikes. The only thing that remains to be seen now is whether India’s CNG infrastructure can keep up with the Freedom 125 and maybe even other CNG bikes hitting our roads in the near future.