Reflections of a love struck biker

It was a different day; not the usual and most definitely a special one.

It was the day when I would be united with my love.

I arrived at the place where we were supposed to meet, my heartbeat almost skipping with the very thought of me with her. I glanced across the floor.

From a distance and from amongst the entire crowd, there she was. Her eyes gleaming with joy, looking at me, I could almost hear her say “Hello there”.

This does sound like a typical Mills & Boons novel but in fact it is a description of event that led to me being introduced to my long standing partner; my pride, glory and joy, my Silver Bajaj Pulsar 200 DTS-i.

All of us share a mystical bond with our machines which, to a certain extent cannot be explained.

To a layman and an ordinary biker, a motorcycle is nothing more than a means to get him from point A to B but to the few unusual creatures like me, it is more than just a tool for commuting.

It’s more than that, and then some. They say, “You miss something when it is not around”, and so, after spending a week at my uncle’s place in Ahmadabad; I was thoroughly missing her.

As I spent more time there, I remembered all the fun times that I’ve had with her.

The innumerable trips to my favorite set of roads, the Mutha and Lavasa ghats, all the official rides with my biking club Rubber Ripperz, all of the Sunday morning rides with Xbhp where I have literally explored her to the fullest of our potential.

In the two years that I have been with her, not once has she let me down.

She never deserted me or left me standing despite my hooliganism. She always makes sure that come what may, I get home safely and in one piece.

She has tolerated all my amateur antics when I was first learning to ride. She taught me the fine art of going around corners fast.

I have learned the virtue of being patient when riding and not being a hooligan all the time. The list is endless.

Remembering all these times makes me wonder, what would life have been like without her? Not very interesting I guess.

Remembering all of these things makes me love her even more. But just like a lover, she too has her fair share of mood swings, literally!

Her voice in the morning conveys her mood for the rest of the day. When not in the mood, she does not perform the way she should.

There have been days when I’ve felt like the power delivery was not smooth enough or that she is underperforming.

Then there have been days when she just flew like a bat out of hell. Some people say that it is impossible that something like this can happen but after knowing my bike so intimately I can gauge within a second if she’s fine or not.

Coming to the performance, to date she has clocked a speedometer indicated 139kmph on a slight incline.

The fuel efficiency figure stays anywhere between 30 to 40kmpl depending on the way I ride.

I have not faced any major problems with the engine excluding excessive vibrations which got sorted out after getting in touch with the service engineer from Bajaj.

One surprising thing about my bike is that the chain sprocket set which is notoriously known for wearing out very quickly has lasted for 27,000kms!

I guess regular maintenance does make a world of difference. Same goes for my clutch. The effort that needs to be exerted on the lever has gone up by a little bit but apart from that it is in perfect condition.

I have been using Motul 5100 15w50 Semi Synthetic oil after she clocked 10,000kms.

I also put in NGK Iridium spark plugs and the difference after the engine gets hot is noticeable. About 8 months back, I installed a 6000k HID kit on my bike.

Apart from battery drain after 5 months, I have not faced any problems whatsoever with it. I recently upgraded to a Bosch gel based battery and with it the battery drain problem has also vanished. 

I changed both the front and rear tyres at around 25,000kms with the same stock MRF Zapper C brand of tyres that came factory fitted with the bike.

I was planning to get a soft compound tyre for her but refrained from it because of the short life they have. I found that the stock tyres provide ample grip in the dry as well as wet conditions and hence went for these.

Apart from these small upgrades, my bike is in total stock condition.

As I write this, I can see her through the window, sitting in the porch, still the same bright look and I envision many more happy miles to go as I continue my love affair with her.

For sure she will be my first love no matter where life takes us.

Now…where is the next ride?!? I can barely wait!