To some, they are just motorcycles; two-wheelers of the loud, obnoxious variety, which, frankly, all look the same. Try telling that to the many motorcycle enthusiasts in the city and they will, possibly, roar with incredulity. And believe us, there are many such enthusiasts; in the words of one avid biker: “just about every man who owns a motorcycle or wants to own one.” Agreed, riding bikes does amp up the cool factor and oozes testosterone too. But what is it that men find irresistible about motorcycles?
Engineer Jerry Philip, 28, whose “one love” is his Bullet, christened ‘Shobha’ believes that it’s a man thing. “Just like a boy looks forward to his first shave, riding a motorcycle seemed like a dream you wanted to hit sooner than it would arrive, and then you do it before you are supposed to anyway. My interest in bikes started from the time when I rode on top of the gas tank with my elder brothers. Even after having accidents where we lost some skin, I couldn’t stop imagining the day I would get my own motorcycle. Finally, when I was in college, with seed money from my brother, I had enough to buy a used Royal Enfield. The Bullet is never about the specifications, but at cruising speeds nothing else could sound or feel more right.”
The internet too is rife with decidedly sexist quotes on how men consider their motorcycles as their best friend/ sibling/ confidant/girlfriend all rolled into one, likening riding bikes to everything from being free and happy to being adventurous and being in love! ‘Four wheels move a body, two wheels move a soul’; ‘Love is when you like someone as much as your motorcycle’; ‘For some of us there is therapy, for the rest of us there’s motorcycles’… we kid you not! Closer to home too stories abound, of how a reporter begged angry protestors to beat him up instead of his prized Bullet; of how tears flowed from a college student after an accident, not because he broke his arm but because he broke the taillight of his Kawasaki; of how a techie exhausted an entire month’s salary just for a “performance enhancing” piston for his Fury; of a retired grandfather of three who decided to “live a little” and buy himself a Harley and so on.
City-based lawyer Prabhu Vijayakumar, who owns five bikes and stables another two for his friends, says: “Automobiles and animals are more trustworthy than humans. Bikes are an integral part of life, an extension of my life, rather. If you have a horse or a dog, won’t you bond with it? It’s the same with bikes.” The 39-year-old, who is known among his peers as ‘Parakunna vakkeel’ (flying lawyer) for zooming in and out of the court on his motorcycle, has even named them as El Diablo (a CBR 600), Tweety (a 1966 Suzuki A 100) and so on, with his favourite being a 1984 model Yamaha RD 350 named Nosseratu. “I started riding motorcycles when I was in my teens and after several years of dreaming about bikes I bought Nosseratu in 1995. It’s as if the bike understands me. When I ride I feel good, I can clear the cobwebs in my mind and regain my fighting spirit,” adds Prabhu.
Businessman Kiran Josepherson, 27, who has a liking for Yamaha sports bikes, is of the same opinion. “I’m an adrenalin junkie and ride bikes for the thrill that you just won’t get driving a car. These days it’s nigh impossible to enjoy the ride on city roads because of traffic. So, a bunch of us bikers sometimes get-together early in the morning, to ride on remote, long stretches of road on the outskirts of the city. I have also done several long distance trips to the metros on my bike,” he says.
While some enthusiasts enjoy collecting and riding various kinds of bikes, others have particular favourites that they collect. Pharmaceutical manager Sreejith K.S., for instance, owns 10 different models of Yezdis, motorcycles which now have cult status among enthusiasts. “They are not the best with mileage, giving only about 30 km per litre, but even when I started out as a medical representative I used to ride only Yezdis. I just love the look and feel of them,” he says. The 39-year-old has even ridden a Yezdi Roadking, all the way to Kargil and Khardung- La pass on the Indo-China border and back – twice, a journey that even the most adventurous bikers don’t attempt on vintage bikes. “I wanted to prove that vintage bikes too can motor on what is known as the ‘world’s highest motorable road’. Every where I go on the Yezdis, people compliment and admire the bike. In fact, I am planning my next motorcycle trip to Kargil in 2017, for which I will start investing in a chit fund, come January!”
Indeed. The kind of money that these enthusiasts spend on their rides is mind-boggling, often blowing thousands of rupees for modifications that seem innocuous – things such as ‘adding after market air filters’, ‘adding grunt to the exhaust note’ and ‘enhancing the suspension’, which they assure us is “necessary” to improve the vehicle’s looks, handling and performance, or, in the case of vintage bikes, to retain the originality. Automobile service engineer Abraham K. Joseph, 27, spends almost all his salary on his three vintage Yezdis (a Roadking, CL II and a Deluxe). In fact, he actually “rescued” the three from scrap condition and rebuilt them from scratch. “Bikes have a soul. They are like my siblings. It was only when I started earning money for myself that I began indulging my passion for motorcycles. The Roadking is my dream bike and my heart bled when I saw it and the Deluxe languishing in the sun and the rain at a house. I persuaded the owner to sell it to me. The classic, I brought off a school teacher in Kannur. More than the money, it’s the effort and the time that I spent on the bikes that’s more important,” he says. Abraham plans to join Sreejith on his next trip to Kargil. Live free, ride free!
