Naza Blade

What's a superbike licence when you toot around town in a scoot wearing a bright red hemispheric scoot helmet? It doesn't help placing your arse further back towards the pillion's seat, foot on the rear pillion footpeg and body leaned forward, trying hard to imagine that it's a superbike you're riding instead of a 100cc scoot! I'm in urgent need of a naked bike which has the excess horsepower, the hoarse grunty vroomy exhaust note, and that flat slab of morbidly obese rubber!

And so, I decided to skip today's swimming session with the guys and went to check out some big bikes in town. The first shop I went had a yellow Naza Blade NB250 (a rebadged Korean-born Hyosung Comet 250) selling for a cheap RM8800. Tempting! It was 15-month old, but upon closer inspection, the bike looked like it had been severely thrashed. The paint work looked suspicious, the original fuel tank sticker was missing. The rear tyre was bald, and the odometer clocked a staggering 30,000+ km! In freakin' 15 months?!!

I then scooted to another huge bike shop, and spotted another Blade 250, which looked sparkling new. The friendly boss by the name of Ah Sin told me that it's a 2-year old bike which had clocked some 8,000 km. It was in a superb condition. The price offered was RM9,800, but I managed to bring it down to RM9,000. If it wasn't for the metallic royal blue Naza Blade 650 that was seducing me all the time while I was chatting with the boss, I would have paid the downpayment for the 250!

The Naza Blade NB650 is a brand new bike, and at RM25,917.25, it is in fact the cheapest superbike in Malaysia. Naza Bikes has no intention to hide the fact that this is a rebadged Hyosung Comet 650, as both are very similar with minimal mods. The Comet is selling very well in Australia and Europe, thanks to its lower price and good overall package.

This is a naked bike, sans fairing or any other plastic shroud. There is only one colour available, metallic royal blue. This 647cc Korean 4-stroke, twin-cylinder V 90° DOHC 8-valve engine is liquid cooled and runs on two 39 mm Mikuni carburettors. It kicks out 79 hp at 9,000 rpm with torque rated at 68.1 Nm at 7,200 rpm.


Suspension wise, the Blade has a pair of inverted (upside-down) 41 mm Daesung adjustable forks. Though the name is not that convincing, Ah Sin assured that it performs as well as it looks. The rear has a steel swingarm with a Daesung monoshock. Stopping power is provided by a pair of steel discs at the front end (300 mm) and a single smaller 260 mm single disc at the rear end.


Chatting with Ah Sin was fun! We talked a great deal on big bikes, and particularly on the Blade 650. He said that the Blade 650 is a good beginner's bike. That middle-age bugger kept talking on and on bout bikes, and I was too interested to leave, it was almost 7.30pm when I left his shop. Would definitely go to his shop again to bug him! On purchasing the Blade... there's another obstacle... MY MOM!