High chair, clock tower, rolling stoppie, superman … They are names of exclusive bike stunts says A. Sathyaraj. “I can just go on, there are hundreds of tricks that can be performed on a bike.” Sathyaraj is a third year visual communication student of GRD School of Communication. He is an avid biker, a national champion in wheeling and drag racing, and has performed a whopping 400 bike stunt across the country in the last six years. “Right from my childhood I was fascinated with bikes. I started riding when I was 12 to prepare for racing and got hooked to wheeling and stoppie stunts. On my 17th birthday my father gifted me a Pulsar and that was a starting point to bike stunts,” he says.
In 2007, he set up the Throttlerz School of bike stunting with his friends Biju, Padmaprasanth, Vinod and Loganathan, who are into professional bike stunting.
“As a group, we have performed over 200 shows. We conduct shows for bike makers such as Hero, TVS, RDR, and KTM during their new launches. At Throttlerz, we have about 20 bikes for training students, mostly youngsters. Sometimes, middle-aged men approach us to learn stunts so that they can perform for their kids. We politely turn them down as it is risky and one can’t learn it overnight,” he says.
While all the members of the group are under-25, Sathyaraj is the youngest. He picked up most of his biking and wheeling stunts from YouTube videos. “During weekends, we practise rigorously from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. It’s an extreme sport, very risky but gives you the thrills,” he says.
However, safety is given top priority. “We wear safety pads to protect our body from head to toe. We wear sturdy helmets, safety jackets, chest guards, knee pads, shin guards, riding boots and gloves,” he says. Sathyaraj himself has suffered a fracture of leg and finger bones. “One has to be physically active and go for jogging and exercises regularly. Six to seven hours of practice is compulsory.”
The biker fondly recalls his experience with German free style biking champion Chris Pfeiffer at CODISSIA. “He has been a world champ 15 times. He gave us useful tips as he performed stunts on his BMW 600 cc bike. It was a thrilling experience,” he says. Another noteworthy moment is their show at the Auto Expo in Delhi. “More than one lakh people gathered to watch us perform. They sat on trees and terraces of the auditorium and cheered us on as we did wheeling and stoppie stunts with a trans-roader bike.”
The biker says there are a number of mechanisms of saving fuel during such performances. Idle lock is one of them. “We fix the throttle at a standard speed, lock it and then perform wheeling, circling and stretches. One should also maintain an optimum throttle speed for wheeling.”
Sathyaraj’s immediate plan is to buy a 600 cc bike, become a cop to fulfil his parent’s and brother’s wish, and then go on to become a world champion in free style biking and stunting.
“Though age is a deterrent in such sport and is suitable only for the young, I draw inspiration from Chris Pfeiffer, who is a champ at 40. A fit body, mind and confidence matters the most. One has to understand the bike like a partner, relate to it and then proceed. I’m in a relationship with my bike,” he smiles. Visit: www.throttlerz.com
DAREDEVILRY
High chair:Wheeling with both legs on the handle bar of the bike
Clock tower:The biker stands on the handle while the bike is in motion
Rolling stoppie:The back wheel is off the ground while the biker controls the bike only with the front wheel
Combo stunts:While the bike is in motion, three or five people jump on to the seat, stand up on the petrol tank, jump on to the handle and back to the seat. Then they repeat the cycle, all on a moving bike.
Free style stunts:Move the bike in circles and perform free style stunts
Die close:With one leg on the handle, another one on the petrol tank, the biker plonks himself over the head light and moves the bike
Superman:On a moving bike, the biker on the seat holds the handle and jumps and is suspended in air for a fraction of a second
