Bajaj Freedom 125

The Bajaj Freedom 125 CNG is the world’s first CNG bike. It has been designed to run primarily on CNG, but can also run on petrol as a backup. The Freedom 125 promises much lower running costs thanks to the lower cost of CNG compared to petrol.

What is the price of the Bajaj Freedom 125 CNG bike?

The price of the Bajaj CNG Bike starts from Rs 95,000 for the base variant and goes up to Rs 1,10,000 for the top-end variant (both prices ex-showroom Delhi).

How many variants does the Bajaj Freedom 125 CNG bike have?

The Bajaj CNG Bike comes in three variants - Drum, LED Drum and LED Disc. Both the base Drum (Rs 95,000) and middle LED Drum (Rs 1,05,000) variants get a 130mm drum brake at the front. The Drum variant also gets a halogen headlight, while the LED Drum variant gets an LED headlight. The top-end LED Disc (Rs 1,10,000) variant gets an LED headlight along with a 240mm front disc brake. All three variants get a 130mm drum brake at the rear. The mid LED Drum and top-end LED Disc variants also get an LCD console with Bluetooth connectivity for call and message alerts and a one-touch call answer button on the left handlebar. The base Drum variant gets a more basic LCD console with no connectivity options.

Which is the best variant of the Bajaj Freedom 125 CNG bike?

We would recommend the top-end LED Disc variant purely for the fact that it gets a front disc brake, which offers better braking performance, and hence is safer to ride.

What is the mileage of the Bajaj Freedom 125 CNG bike?

Bajaj claims that the CNG bike can travel 102km on 1kg of CNG and in petrol mode, can deliver 65kmpl. In our tests though, we got about 85km/kg from CNG in mixed riding conditions and about 56kmpl with petrol.

How much CNG can you fill in the Bajaj Freedom 125 CNG bike?

The 12.5 litre (by volume) CNG tank on the Bajaj CNG bike can hold a maximum of 2kg of CNG. However. how much you can fill in the tank depends on the pressure available at the CNG pump. To fill the full 2kg in the tank, the pump needs a 200bar of pressure. That said, Bajaj assures us that even if the pump pressure is 160bar, you’d still be able to fill 1.85kg in the tank.

Is the Bajaj Freedom 125 CNG bike safe?

Bajaj has conducted some 11 safety tests (apart from the standard regulatory ones) to ensure that the CNG bike is as safe as possible. Some of these tests included dropping the bike from a height, crashing the CNG bike at 60kmph head-on into a 1.5-tonne car and running a 10-tonne truck over the bike. In all these instances, there was no deformity in the CNG tank, and it was able to maintain its pressure perfectly.

What are the colours of the Bajaj Freedom 125 CNG bike?

The Bajaj CNG Bike is available in 5 colours - Caribbean Blue, Ebony Black, Cyber White, Racing Red and Pewter Grey.

Which colour is best in the Bajaj Freedom 125 CNG bike?

In our opinion, the Caribbean Blue colour of the Bajaj CNG bike looks the best, as the blue tank contrasts wonderfully with the grey and white panels.

Is the Bajaj Freedom 125 CNG bike better than an electric bike?

In terms of running costs, the Bajaj CNG bike will cost you approximately 80 paise to 1 rupee per kilometer. This is still high compared to electric bikes, which cost somewhere in the range of 20 paise per km to run. That said, most good electric bikes are much more expensive to buy, costing between Rs 1.3 to Rs 1.5 lakh. Also, over 5-6 years, electric bikes’ batteries tend to degrade and lose their charge holding capacity. This is not the case with the Bajaj CNG bike. However, Bajaj tells us that the CNG tank on the bike will need to be recertified every 2 years, and while the company will do that for owners, any cost of parts replacement in the process has to be borne by the owners themselves.

Should I buy the Bajaj Freedom 125 CNG bike?

If you want a good-looking commuter that is smooth and very cheap to run, then the Bajaj CNG bike is a great option.

What are my alternatives?

For a similar price to the Bajaj CNG bike, you can get the TVS Raider which offers more performance and features as well. You can also get the Hero Xtreme 125R which offers more performance and improved safety with single-channel ABS.