The love people have for old motorcycles is tough to describe — some say it’s a feeling you may not experience unless you’ve ever owned a Jawa or a Yezdi bike.
The Roaring Riders Club is an exclusive club for the owners of Jawa and Yezdi bikes in the city, people who love the unique putt-putt of the bike so much, they will do anything to keep that reassuring sound alive.
Desikan Devarajan, a member of the club, said while 130 bikes had been registered, the total number of these vehicles in the city could be around 160.
D. Ezhilarasan, who owns a Yezdi since 1970 is so attached to ‘antique’ bike that he never rides any other two-wheeler.
Mr. Ezhilarasan’s passion for the bike inspired his software engineer-son Muralidharan so much that he went ahead and purchased a 1969-manufactured Jawa and went on a trip to Leh along with his friend.
Mr. Muralidharan said: “Though the Jawa or Yezdi is not supposed to be a trekking-kind of bike, I had a successful trip to Leh covering around 1,500 kilometres.”
Owners of these unique double-silencer vehicles face the tough task of finding a mechanic, supposed to be very few in numbers, to maintain them.
S. Sekar, one of the few such mechanics, has a regular clientele of 50 such bikes in his workshop located at Ice House. The 49-year-old mechanic said the main problem was getting the spare parts for these vehicles, but at present, spares were available from local manufacturers.
The members of the club would be coming together to celebrate International Jawa Day on July 10, with road safety as the main theme.
