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Aspi Bhathena

JULY 2024

July 6, 2024 by Aspi Bhathena Leave a Comment

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Nurturing Motor Sport Talent

In India, we tend to talk a lot about promoting motor sport. Often, we wonder why there is not a single Indian rider in MotoGP or in any other motorcycle world championship representing 1.4 billion people of this country. It is not that there is dearth of talent here; it is the difficulties the government creates by banning the import of helmets and other racing gear that constitute a major reason for this scenario.

The Indian helmets with ISI certification do not meet the requisite FMSCI safety standards. Forget helmets, even racing suits and riding gear are not allowed to be imported because they come under safety riding gear.

As a journalist, when I travel overseas for an international motorcycle event, I face a problem upon my return due to my Arai helmet. The Customs officer at the airport says we are not allowed to import a helmet into the country. Then one has to explain to the concerned officer that our ISI-certified helmets do not meet the international safety standards and, therefore, one has to use a helmet conforming to those standards.

This takes me back to when I was racing motorcycles. There was a ban on the import of most goods and yet one had to import everything if one wanted to go racing. Not so long ago, one could walk into a store and buy the best helmet and riding gear. Now, however, we have gone back to the days of Licence Raj.

Consider the travesty here. Indian motorcycle manufacturers like Bajaj Auto, Hero MotoCorp, Royal Enfield, and TVS Motor make motorcycles that can take on the best in the world, but we still do not make helmets that can match, let alone surpass, their international counterparts. If the Indian economy had not opened up and the likes of Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, and Kawasaki had not come into India, there would be no competition for the Indian manufacturers and, in all probability, they would still be making the same bikes as they were in the 1960s and ’70s.

If the government are worried about cheap Chinese imports, let them put a ban on the import of cheap and flimsy helmets, but let the Indian riders protect themselves well with the right gear.



Aspi Bhathena
Editor

Filed Under: NEW ISSUE

‘Will launch the YZF-R3 and the MT-03 by the year-end’ – Eishin Chihana, Chairman, Yamaha Motor India

July 25, 2023 by Aspi Bhathena Leave a Comment

Eishin Chihana, Chairman, Yamaha Motor India, speaks to us about upcoming launches and the company’s future plans.

[Read more…] about ‘Will launch the YZF-R3 and the MT-03 by the year-end’ – Eishin Chihana, Chairman, Yamaha Motor India

Filed Under: Interviews, Latest News, News, Yamaha Tagged With: bike, India, Interview, latest, new, news, yamaha

Royal Enfield Interceptor 650 – Welcome

May 23, 2019 by Aspi Bhathena Leave a Comment

The Royal Enfield Interceptor 650 made a clean sweep of all the “Bike of the Year” awards, including the Bike India Two-wheeler of the Year Award and the Indian Motorcycle of the Year (IMOTY) Award.

RE Interceptor 650

[Read more…] about Royal Enfield Interceptor 650 – Welcome

Filed Under: BI Garage, Royal Enfield Tagged With: bike india, bikes, interceptor 650, review, Royal Enfield

Royal Enfield Interceptor 650 and Continental GT 650 First Ride Review – RE-defined

November 16, 2018 by Aspi Bhathena Leave a Comment

The Twins are finally here and we have ridden them. Here is what we think about them.


The first ride on Royal Enfield’s two 650 twins, the Interceptor and Continental GT, in the US marked the end of a long wait as well as the beginning of a new and glorious chapter in the marque’s long history
[Read more…] about Royal Enfield Interceptor 650 and Continental GT 650 First Ride Review – RE-defined

Pages: Page 1 Page 2

Filed Under: First Ride, Review, Royal Enfield Tagged With: bike, continental GT 650, details, First Ride, India, interceptor 650, latest, launch, Modern Classic, motorcycles, new, news, price, retro classic, review, Royal Enfield, specs

TVS Apache RR 310 First Ride Review

April 4, 2018 by Aspi Bhathena 1 Comment

new, bike, india, tvs, rr 310, apache, racing, sports, racetrack, red, tvs racing, first ride, review, news, latest, chennai, mmrt, mmsc

The TVS Apache RR 310 embodies the first offering resulting from the technical collaboration between TVS and BMW Motorrad. We had a first ride on the Chennai racetrack. Here is how it fared. [Read more…] about TVS Apache RR 310 First Ride Review

Filed Under: First Ride, Review, TVS Tagged With: Apache, bike, chennai, First Ride, India, latest, MMRT, MMSC, new, news, racetrack, racing, Red, review, RR 310, sports, TVS, TVS Racing

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Pulsar NS400Z – CHALA APNI

Pulsar NS400Z – CHALA APNI

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