Bajaj Freedom – CNG Motorcycle Review

Bajaj recently launched the World‘s first CNG powered motorcycle – the Freedom NG04 in the Indian market. The new CNG motorcycle comes in three variants with a starting price of INR 95,000 ex-showroom. The Bajaj Freedom is not just a CNG bike with an add-on kit, but Bajaj has built the motorcycle from the grounds up and almost everything on the motorcycle is new and has a specific purpose.

For example the trellis frame, that Bajaj developed especially to accommodate the CNG fuel tank and also to keep it safe in event of a crash. The Bajaj Freedom CNG bike has passed 11 stringent safety tests which includes a head-on collision test as well as a 10-ton truck run-over test. And thanks to the trellis frame which encompasses the CNG tank, the tank position as well as the tank pressure remains unchanged.

Now, we got the chance to road test the Bajaj Freedom CNG motorcycle in the Indian market bringing you all the details, so you can make an informed buying decision.

Powering the Bajaj Freedom CNG is a 125cc, air-cooled, single-cylinder engine that is made to run primarily on CNG fuel. While the brand also offers a petrol option which is easily switchable using a button on the left hand-side switch cube, the petrol fuel is only for limping home, says the brand. To make the Freedom start and run on CNG alone, the brand had to make the engine more robust than a regular 125cc engine. The engine on the Bajaj Freedom CNG comes with larger cooling fins than normal as the dry CNG fuel offers less cooling characteristics than petrol. In addition to this, the oil jets on the inside of the engine are larger and comparable to a 200cc motorcycle to help keep the internal moving parts well lubricated, cool and reduce wear and tear. The engine produces 9.5 PS of power and 9.7 Nm of torque matched to a 5-speed gearbox. On CNG fuel the Freedom returns a mileage of 100 km/kg and on petrol the bike returns a mileage of 65 km/litre.