Dr. Vigneshwar Ravisankar's brother bought a Bullet and jazzed it up; the general surgeon was totally unaware of it. “While he served as house-surgeon at Pondicherry Institute of Medical Sciences, my brother Venkateshwar saved his stipends for this strikingly beautiful bike as a surprise gift for me. At that time, I was doing my residency at St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital in Manhattan,” says Vigneshwar with gratitude.
“I regularly connected with my parents on Skype; they knew what Venkateshwar was up to, but did not breathe a word about it.” To carry out a laundry list of modifications, Venkateshwar travelled to Chennai mid-week, during the course of the Bullet-to-chopper project. To impart the 1984 Enfield a cruiser's look, the frame has been lengthened by two inches. The lengthy seat has been dropped for a shorter one. The shock absorbers that replaced the regular ones give the bike a low profile, which is accentuated by the Enticer tyre in the rear. The tank has been enlarged to a capacity of 22 litres, with the petrol mouth shifted to one side.
“Arul — a graphic interface designer and a common friend — gave the bike black and silver-grey flames after running through an exhaustive mental list of colour combinations and checking out the shortlist of dual colours — which was anything but a short list — with multi-media tools,” says Vigneshwar.
Venkateshwar worked with many experts for the perfect gift to his brother. Luckily, all of them delivered the goods. Vigneshwar is all praise for the ingenious hammer-and-wrench work of tinkerer Umapathy. He is particularly impressed with the way the bike's rear had been modified: the number plate and a LED-based taillight are on an attached piece of metal. More than anything else, Vigneshwar is happy his brother showed he cares.
