Mahindra Mojo long-term review: After 9,327km and 6 months

It was literally on the 11th hour that I got the call from the office. I'd be riding to the racetrack in Coimbatore with Rishabh and Rishaad. The ideal scenario would be for me to take my personal KTM 390 Duke, but sadly she was due for service and there just wasn't enough time to get it done. Luckily there was the saviour parked in the office, Lijo's Mojo!

Naturally, the big difference was the long and heavy feeling compared to the Duke. But soon I was enjoying the Mojo through the twisting roads to Pune. Once I regrouped with the other two outside Pune, we hit the NH4 towards Coimbatore that would remain straight almost the entire way. Here, the Mojo cruises comfortably between 110-120kmph. The 300cc motor has a very good midrange that makes overtaking easy at highway speeds. The only thing holding us back was Rishabh on his little Gixxer that couldn't do much more than 110kmph. Rishaad on his litre-class Suzuki GSX-S1000 would occasionally get bored and blast off into the distance, and I'd use the opportunity to stretch the Mojo's legs as well. Despite making five times less power, the Mojo was never more than a few minutes behind and it was a good excuse to take a break while we waited for poor Rishabh to catch up!

About 500km down the road, we decided to put the Mojo's exhaust muffler tips that Lijo had removed because the bike was way too loud and droning on, even more vocal than the GSX-S1000! It took a bit of tinkering to get the left one in, and we had to use a hammer as the outer rim on the exhaust was slightly bent. The muffler is jammed in there is not really a concern because we have no intentions of taking them out again! With the baffles back in, the Mojo made a sweeter noise that was actually a pleasant partner on the long ride.

Putting the Mojo's muffler tips back in needed some force as the outer exhaust rim was slightly bent

Good luggage mounting options

On the highway, I was getting a consistent 30-35kmpl. Couple that with the huge 21-litre tank, and the Mojo has a range almost double that of my Duke. On the second day, we had a long 900km ride to Coimbatore from Belgaum and left before dawn. The Mojo led the way. Its powerful twin headlamps are doing a good job of lighting up the road ahead. For a highway bike, this is great but there are some issues too. The soft seat is comfy on shorter trips, but it gets quite painful on five-hour plus rides. The riding position is a little strange too with the forward set footpegs, and it makes standing on the pegs to stretch a little harder than normal. My back was not very used to this, and after 14 hours I arrived at Coimbatore with very sore backside. A dog running across the road outside of Bangalore was a reminder that the brakes could use more bite, and ABS!

Next month we'll let you know more on what the service costs and experience have been like.

Mahindra Mojo

Acquired: November 2015

Total mileage: 9,327km

Last report at: 3,977km

Fuel: 345 litres

Economy: 27kmpl