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Two-wheeled Evolution

A sea change has taken place between how motorcycling used to be perceived 25 years ago and how it is seen today. Back then, motorcycles were seen as a cheap mode of transport to travel from point A to point B. Now things have changed to such an extent that bikes are seen as a lifestyle with riders showing off their fancy riding gear alongside their superbikes.

The manufacturers are also doing their bit by organising motorcycle festivals. The first manufacturer to hold a motorcycle festival was Royal Enfield with “Rider Mania”. Now it is “Motoverse”. Then came the India Bike Week (IBW), which was started in 2013 by 70 EMG. At that time, only Harley-Davidson used to support the event and they are present even today but other manufacturers like Hero MotoCorp, Bajaj Auto, and KTM are also there at this event.

Not to be left out, TVS started their own festival when the dynamic Vimal Sumbly took over as the head of premium biking. Now the manufacturers have begun using these festivals to launch new premium products.

What I noticed during my stay in Goa was that there are a few riders who bring motorcycling into disrepute by riding fast and dangerously within the city. Enjoy your bike outside on highways, but do not make a nuisance of yourselves and give biking a bad name. All they seem to be doing is cause eyebrows to be raised, not to speak of the possibility of hurting themselves.

Then you have those “mobile phone riders”. They barely possess the necessary riding skill but always have their mobile phones stuck between the shoulder and the ear. Needless to say, this not only imperils their own life, but is verily a hazard to other road-users. The police should come down heavily on such riders and confiscate their mobile phones.


Aspi Bhathena
Editor

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A Far Cry from the Star of Yore

Finally, I got an opportunity to ride the BSA Gold Star and, at first glance, it was a bit of a let-down considering what the Gold Star stood for in its heyday. At that time, it was a premium brand from BSA motorcycles. The original Gold Star was one of the best looking motorcycles of that era with a completely aluminium engine with big fins for the cylinder block and cylinder-head and a nice chrome swept-back exhaust bend pipe. This bike has none of that; in fact, the exhaust system is swept out instead of back and the engine, clutch cover, dummy timing, and pushrod tunnel are painted instead of being buffed aluminium.

The engine is based on the Rotax engine that was used in the BMW F650 Funduro. The engineers at Classic Legends have worked on it extensively to mellow it down from the original bike’s performance in order to make it more tractable, for it to be able to run a high gear at low speed. In doing so, the engine has lost the punch that one would get from a big capacity single-cylinder engine. This was done to compete with the twin-cylinder Royal Enfield and pander to the Indian customer who likes to plod along in third and fourth gears in the city. In the process, the bike has lost the fun factor of a big single-cylinder. The chassis, suspension, and brakes are well sorted, though.

The TVS engineers have further improved the RR 310. They have used all their learnings from their racing programme to further improve the performance of the RR 310. Now they have taken it to another level.


Aspi Bhathena
Editor

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Revival of an Icon

Last month, on the country’s Independence Day (15 August), Classic Legends, who make motorcycles like the Jawa and Yezdi, launched one of the most iconic British motorcycle brands: BSA (Birmingham Small Arms).

During the post-War era and up to the early 1970s, BSA was one of the most popular motorcycle brands in the world. They had some popular models like the Shooting Star, Lightning, and their most iconic model, Gold Star, which is the model they have launched in India. The original Gold Star came as 350 and 500 singles; this one is a 650 single-cylinder.

The Gold Star was a performance bike of that era; in contemporary terms, you could call it the Ducati Panigale of the 1950s and ’60s. We have not had the opportunity to ride the new Gold Star as yet, though.

This was the first time we saw the Royal Enfield GT Cup race at the Madras International Racetrack and the shift to a different venue was a welcome change. The track has changed a lot since I raced there for the last time in 1999. It has become quicker by at least four to five seconds a lap after resurfacing and the pits are well appointed with all the basic requirements. The riders did good lap-times of one minute 56/57, but what was shocking was that none of them was riding on the correct racing line and these boys have been racing for more than five to six years with Honda and TVS. Both Honda and TVS have been running their racing programmes for a long time and have some very good racing bikes but they have not been able to teach the boys how to select the correct racing line. If they are not capable of riding on the correct line on their home circuit, what hope do they have to succeed on international racetracks?

Aspi Bhathena
Editor

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A Memorable Milestone

This month, we, at Bike India, are celebrating the 19th anniversary of the magazine.

In 2005, when the management of Next Gen Publishing were preparing to launch a new magazine in the automobile space, they made a tough decision to publish two magazines: a car-only magazine, Car India, and another dedicated only to two-wheelers, Bike India. This call was taken at a time when all the other automotive magazines published in the country at that time were—and even today are—automobile magazines that cover both cars and two-wheelers in the same issue. Next Gen Publishing is the only publishing house catering individually to two-wheelers, cars, commercial vehicles, and automotive components through separate magazines.

Last month I was in Barcelona, Spain, for the first ride of the new Royal Enfield Guerrilla 450 (you may read the report in this anniversary issue on page 40). I experienced no pain or fatigue even after spending nearly seven hours in the saddle. The reason for this is that I grew up riding bikes like the Norton Dominator and my brothers the Laverda 750 SF whose clutch was very heavy.

There are several back-end workers like the copy desk editor and designers who never get the credit for putting the magazine together. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the entire editorial team and the marketing team for their hard work day in and day out.

Finally, I would like to thank all our readers and the manufacturers for their unstinting support over the past 19 years.


Aspi Bhathena
Editor