ZigOpinion - Is This Really a New Rajdoot 350 Bike?

Just recently, some images have surfaced on the internet claiming to show a new Rajdoot 350 cruiser bike that’s supposed to launch in India. Some “news” sites have also gone ahead and claimed that this is powered by a 350cc single-cylinder engine that promises an unbelievable mileage of 80kmpl. Not just that, but these sites have also claimed that this new “Rajdoot” will launch in India sometime in 2025 at a shockingly low price of just Rs 1 lakh.

So is the Rajdoot bike coming back?

Simply put, no! A simple reverse image search on Google reveals that the picture of the bike in the stories is a screen grab from a Pakistani YouTuber’s channel from over a year ago, where he is doing a walkaround review of some generic Chinese cruiser. Obviously the bike in this video doesn’t say Rajdoot anywhere on it. The bike has nothing written on it apart from the Lifan logo text on the engine casing. Lifan is a fairly large bike maker from China which also makes everything from scooters to small capacity adventure bikes, and also does contract manufacturing of engines for other Chinese brands. Clearly, the “Rajdoot” written on the fuel tank in an entirely unprofessional, handwriting-style font is a bad photoshop job.

What bike is it then?

As we mentioned, it’s literally a generic Chinese cruiser motorcycle. In fact, we found the exact same bike in the exact colour scheme on a Chinese B2B website called Made-in-China. That website lists this bike as “250cc class yacht yacht motor with Twin Cylinder V Engine”. This website lists the engine capacity as 126-250cc with a rated power of 19.7PS at 8,000rpm. This leads us to believe that these figures are for the air-cooled 250cc V-twin engine that can be seen on the pictured bike. And the price? Well, the Made-in-China website lists it at around USD 2100 (approximately Rs 1.76 lakh). 

Will there be a new Rajdoot bike?

Again, simple answer, no! Rajdoot was a sub brand of the Escorts group which was initially used for manufacturing the M11 motorcycle in India, in collaboration with Polish brand SHL. This was followed by the super popular Rajdoot 350, which was basically a license manufactured Yamaha RD 350. But Escorts wrapped up their motorcycle manufacturing operations in 2001, when the company’s motorcycle plant was closed and sold off to Yamaha. At the moment, Escorts has focussed all their efforts on their tractor and auto components business.

Could there be a revival of the Rajdoot brand sometime in the future, the same way we saw a comeback of Jawa, Yezdi and BSA? We think that’s unlikely, given that the Rajdoot brand doesn’t have the same legacy as the other ones we’ve mentioned.

Right now though, if you’re in the market for a 350cc cruiser bike in India, your options are basically limited to just the Royal Enfield Meteor 350.

Rajdoot 350 image credit