All You Ever Wanted to Know About What CC in Your Bike Means

The engine is a critical element in the mechanical functioning of a bike. It impacts almost everything associated with it, from the performance of the bike to the insurance premium tag it carries.

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This article discusses some must-know basics about two-wheelers for you so that you can make a judicious decision before buying an appropriate bike insurance policy.

What is the Meaning of ‘CC’ in Two-Wheelers?

Your bike’s engine is built with a combination of chambers that are used for the combustion of fuel in a cylinder. The amount of fuel mixed with air and burnt in a single stroke defines the cubic capacity of the engine’s cylinder.

In other words, CC is the abbreviation for Cubic Capacity in a bike. You can also refer to CC as the cylinder capacity of your two-wheeler. Its associated number defines the volume of your bike's engine's chamber. The higher the number, the higher the capacity of the cylinder would be, which means that the larger would be the chamber of the engine be.

A larger chamber allows the engine to produce more power as more amount of air and fuel can be combined in the chamber to generate power for the vehicle. This increased compression of the fuel and air in the chamber gives out higher output for the bike in terms of torque and horsepower.

Please note the engine capacity is different from the cubic capacity (CC) which refers to the process of the engine completing one cycle using the combined capacity of all cylinders installed.

Impact of CCs on a Bike’s Performance

Different bikes come with different amounts of cubic capacities equipped with their engines. The least amount of capacity a bike is installed with is 50cc and it can go all the way up to 2000cc on sports bikes as well as some tourers.

The performance of your bike is directly proportional to the cubic capacity of the engine. As it was discussed earlier, increasing cubic capacity would mean a higher output given by the engine, hence resulting in better performance. Here, performance is referred to as faster acceleration by the bike, better power to weight ratio, as well as the ability to achieve high top speeds. Hence, all performance bikes come with higher engine cubic capacity.

Impact of CCs on a Bike’s Cost

Simply put – the higher the cubic capacity of a bike's engine, the higher its price will be as you'll get considerably more performance from a 350cc bike than from a 100cc bike.

Moreover, since increasing engine CCs induce better bike performance, it becomes important for the bike’s overall mechanical strength to be improved too. Hence, a higher performance bike would need to be made mechanically stronger as well, by equipping it with improved better aerodynamics, brake pads, exhaust systems, suspension as well as quality materials that won’t quickly wear and tear at high speeds.

All of this would involve higher cost, hence a high-performance bike is always costlier than a day-to-day runner.

Does the Engine’s Cubic Capacity Affect the Insurance Premium?

Now that you have understood how the engine's cubic capacity has a direct impact on your bike's overall performance, mileage and how much output the engine will produce concerning torque and horsepower. It is now important to note that the same has a considerable influence on the insurance premium of the bike.

Many factors influence the insurance premium of a bike and the cubic capacity of the engine is the most prominent of them all.

There are 2 types of bike insurance policies you can choose from, for your bike: Third party-insurance and comprehensive insurance.

Impact of CCs on Third-Party Insurance

Third-party liability is the minimum requirement established by law for all types of vehicles in India, including two-wheelers. This type of insurance covers you only against damages caused to a third party, injuries to their body, or even an unfortunate accident resulting in their death.

The premium rates for a third-party bike insurance plans are determined by the IRDAI. Certain slab rates have been defined by the official regulator based on the engine capacity of the bike. Following are the most recent and revised slab rates for two-wheelers:

ENGINE CAPACITY	REVISED RATES (Rs.) FOR FY 2020-21
Not exceeding 75cc	506
Exceeding 75cc but not exceeding 150cc	769
Exceeding 150cc but not exceeding 350cc	1,301
Exceeding 350cc	2,571

Impact of CCs on Comprehensive Insurance

While third-party insurance rates are standard prices across all insurers, it is not the same for comprehensive insurance.

Different premium prices for different comprehensive insurance policies are mainly because of the difference in the Insured Declared Value (IDV) of the bike. Another major driver of the premium rates in this scenario is the component of Own Damage (OD).

For a third-party insurance plan, the premium is mainly calculated based on the cubic capacity of the bike's engine. However, this is not the case for a comprehensive bike insurance policy which takes into account other factors in addition to the cubic capacity of the engine.

Make sure that you check all the factors before buying a comprehensive insurance policy so that you don't end up paying a higher premium for coverage you don't even want.

Other Factors that Affect the Insurance Premium

Now that you have understood how the cubic capacity of a bike’s engine significantly impacts insurance premium rates, it is now important to have a look into the other prominent factors that play a determining role as well:

Model type and make: Luxury/premium/performancebikes will always carry a higher premium tag, while it will be on the opposite for daily use bikes. The higher premium cost for such bikes is attributed to the fact that not only will they be expensive to repair but will also carry a higher risk on the road

Year of bike’s manufacture: As vehicles are depreciable assets and their value decreases over time, the year of manufacture directly influences the insurance premium. As the bike's value decreases over time, the insured amount also reduces.

Geographical location: The location where your bike is registered also matters as the risk of riding in a tier-1 metropolitan city is a lot more when compared to rural areas and tier-2 cities

Conclusion

So, there you have it - all you ever wanted to know about the mechanical basics of a two-wheeler that has a direct influence on the bike's insurance premium.

All in all, not only is engine CCs a differentiating factor to be considered before buying a bike for daily use or recreational touring purposes, but they also carry a recurring premium price tag.

So make sure you keep these factors in mind before buying your next beloved 2-wheeler in order to save yourself from unwanted future costs.