Story of a Biker !!

Let me start the story of biker with a quote dedicated to bikers :

"You're the guy that'll be sneaking out of your bedroom at three o'clock in the morning to look at your bike."  ~Paul Teutul, Sr., American Chopper, "Billy Joel"

"Safety is a cheap and effective insurance policy" - unknown

With the inspirational  words mentioned above let's start with the story.. its a story of biker and its mine. why i am writing this ? well there are 2 things which reasoned me to write this , first its always good to remember the past coz, it teaches us our mistakes in the past and let us know where we stand now w.r.t it and memories are which keeps us living more..and wanting more and more.
now the 2nd  part of the reason is simple, i have some spare time this weekend :)

let me start with time when i was just started my collage days, its around 1997 or something, i had just joined for diploma in electronics and the collage was very near to my home around 3km and my everyday mode of transportation was bicycle. and the only two wheeler in our home was Bajaj M80. I  used to take my dad's M80 sometimes  outside just to get a ride and as most of the time it was with my dad.. i didn;t get the chance to take it to collage or outside for long.  hence my biking started from here, and as i was suppose to concentrate more on studies [i am not topper, i has to study a bit more to get first class] and time passed like that only, and i finished my Diploma with just first class :)

now i was faced with choices in life, either go and find work or join Engineering , well i choose to join Engineering and due to my Diploma i had to enter Eng in Diploma quota which is 5% and due to my not so good marks i ended in Engg collage near world famous place called Hampi. well good thing is its just 200km from my home and bad thing is its just an avg collage, again the mode of transportation is purely by bicycle :D.
And in whole collage except few local students everyone use to bring bicycle, and exception was girls who use to bring just launched scooty or something like that it was in some 2001 time frame. and ofcourse not to forget to mention that boys chasing on there bicycle girls, who are on scooty. ..ha..ha.. its common site we use to see everyday. And there first time i rode my friends FIERO and its my first bike ride and it lasted just 3km , but the first experience is always very much impacting. and after 3 years i finished my ENGG and not to forget its on bicycle :P.

I shifted to Bangalore for job hunt and in couple of months i got job in Chennai and i had to shift to Chennai. it was new place and i didn;t knew anyone there and as time passed i made good friends in company and outside.
As i was away from home all i did was to roam around town and watch each and every movie whichever language it may be to spend time with friend. And Here i come across my second time encounter with Bikes :) , my team-lead has this splendor which i use to take out frequently, and i loved the bike feel even-though i was barely a experienced rider that time, infact i was  not even close to commuter. but this lack of experience led me to small accident well its not big but its really stupid one.
 when i took my team lead bike i didn't check the breaks which are almost gone and the bike had only front brake, and that time Chennai roads were excellent condition than Bangalore. so i just went to ECR road and banged another motorcyclist head on. and that guy fell on road but me controlled some how and was on bike. all surrounding autowalls come and checked that guy and asked me some info. after that we both apologized and matter was over. [i found Chennai ppl very helpful during my 1 year stay, may it be common ppl or auto/taxi ppl, infact there is one story on the helpfulness of ppl there with me, bcoz of which i landed in good pay job]

Later i shifted to Bangalore with good salary and due to my office was almost 20+km i needed bike. and when i started finalize my choices there was a huge craze for pulsars that time, as just that new pulsar series released with lot of gismos and all my frnds were going ga..ga.. about it, and most of them brought it too. while i always go with product which matches my exact requirements and that time my main requirement was big mileage and costs very less to own and maintain. and finally i brought my first motorcycle with my own money and it was the Mighty Bajaj Platina 100cc  :p.

And hence started my biking life :) and i was happy commuter customer and was enjoying every bit of it and not to forget that my friends alwasy use to pick this topic to tease me that i got platina instead of pulsar like them. and they use to show the power of pulsar and that time my only weapon was to show the 70kmpl mileage :D.

now you have got through my story halfway , thanks for your patience , i know you guys got bored without colorful pics, don;t worry here in next half i will try to put more pics :)


my first touring on bikes started soon after, but the first one is not on my bike, here it goes .. one fine day me along with my roomates woke up early on Sunday and decided to visit hogenkal on bikes.
we took 2 splendors and 4 guys started our journey towards hogenkal which is 180km one way and started ripping the bikes around 70kmph high speed. and after reaching our destination we spend good amount of time there and headed back the same day, if i want to put that in single line... but ...wait..wait.. story is not over.. now is the fun part.

while coming back none of us had enough cash and we decided that splendor gives 60kmpl mileage as told by showroom guy [oh,.yeah..true saints of mileage predictors] and we took only that much money with enough for food and some extra + ATM cards. and due to lack of touring experience and preparedness we all stranded in middle without fuel for one bike, and as mobile network was not reachable there was no communication with other bike and no money for fuel and no fuel pump for 10km and no ATM till next city. ie..Hosur and its already 9pm night. had no option we pushed the bike for 10km and found one petrol pump. and after lil bit of request the petrol pump guys filled our bike with 100Rs petrol and on assurance that we send the money through MO [can you believe it]. and by the time we reached Bangalore the other bike waited us for long time and they head searching for us, and luckily they found the same petrol station and got our news and after paying the due amount to them behalf of other bike they come back and we reached room back around 2am midnight. and that day both splendors done a good 350+km distance. :)

from that point onwards i had around more than 30 trips on bike, with the distance ranging from 50km to 200km on my bajaj platina 100, and always enjoyed the ride despite its low power and capacity and it never stranded me anywhere be it raining or climbing hills.

It gave me first lession - it doesn't matter which bike you buy or have what matter is the happiness you get from it and the love between you and your machine. and if it matches your desires then its the best bike for you in the whole world.

Life was going on with its pace along with my bike, and one day while browsing in office i stumbled across something ..something alien and which gonna change the commuter in me to a pure biker. it was 2008 jan and Yamaha just showcased its comeback weapon .. the YZF-R15 the beast or beauty call it anything on your convenience. but my first look at the bike bowled me over and right that instance i decided it was my next bike. and then started exciting session of following the bike news almost every day online. and i booked it in march itself same year . finally the day arrived when the bike launched officially, and the day i got my bike which i can't forget.

The good ppl of Yamaha took us to some 5 star hotel for launch event and arranged a good lunch and a vibrant function that day. and by the time i got my bike it was midnight 3am and showroom in Bangalore was over-working due to the demand and still open for handing over the bike and sorting issues with customer who payed and booked much early. and due to only few bikes reached showroom it was kayos there with so many ppl fighting with showroom ppl.  once i got bike  i was instant celebrity in my office and frnds  b'coz of this bike. and along came criticism also.

many stated teasing, saying paying a lakh of money on bikes is waste and many even commented saying that why to pay so much for plastic bike and bla..bla.. and once again my lesson of buying bike of my choice and requirement payed off as this time i was looking for some power with good looking bike. and that time price was huge if considering 1 lakh for bike , still i ignored all those words and got the bike and started my official association with online biking communities and long trips/rides. and i never looked back from that point and now completed around 50,000km on my R15 and again it never left me stranded anywhere it always given support and i happy and it was also happy running.

 

Lesson learnt : Even one buys worlds best bike which fully covered with gold plating, your not spared of criticism. so its always wise to buy according to your capacity and desires

as with any other bikes, accidents are bound to happen, and here also i met with an accident with my R15 during initial days. as i was new to that much power and speed i crashed it near hogenkal [agian same spot as mention above] and fractured my wrist and had avoid riding for 2 months due to it. and as soon i got back on bike first thing i did was brought riding gear . . full set with good helmet :)

Lesson learnt: with more the power and speed you should have more patience and always keep a check on your right wrist :)

now after almost 5 years with my R15,  me and my bike happy and recognized by my frnds both online and offline [ especially my R15 back seat cowl :P]

just a year back i wanted to upgrade to next level. I wanted a bike which is more powerful than R15 and have good stability and striking look. And with all these years association with R15 and around more than 9 times racing in R15-championship in MMRC race track, also with  past experience,   my requirements are more refined this time and this time i wanted a special machine , which should have racy look and erganomics with super sport bike feel and riding position and should be within 300CC . well why 300CC ?? its simple i want to have a bike which easy and economical to maintain and i should ride it more freequently and should not burn big black hole in my pocket.

so started searching the dream machine and started saving, due to IT industry boom i was able to save the money for the bike in less than a year. and with only available options of either CBR250R or Ninja 250R or Hyosung GT250R. it was thought  call for me , as i did massive research on each bike and each fared well in some areas and lost some points in some other areas. and then began brainstorming for finalizing the choice.
as i respect every bike, it was tought call while i liked more CBR than Ninja some unknown reasons, but still i was felt something missing. and ninja with its sports position it came some what close to my requirements but still i was not feeling happy. now left GT250R and i liked many of its areas and also quite dissapointed in few lacking points of it.

took test rides of all the bikes multiple times and in every ride i was eager to find its strength and its weakness.

Thanks to many xbhp and BB members with which i discussed my intentions, from all of there advice and recalling my past experience and my requirements i was able to finalize my choice.

thanks to aargee/trust_vishwas/Phani/Santa/Dirty/Bharat/Billa/Remo and lot of other countless frnds who helped me to realize my requirements and need. finally i brought my 3rd bike and this is also purely on my requirements and for my happiness and it was Hyosung GT250R :)

Lesson learnt: Its always good idea to listen/discuss with others about your intentions/goals but ultimately its you, who should evaluate and decide. instead of blindly following your instinct or going with others decision.

and thus my biking life rebooted, and here is the new start with new bike ..and exploring and riding for new destinations.

Hope you people like my story .. and it is a biker story :)

plz leave a comments :)