“I remember very well my first ride on a bike about 30 years ago. We had bought a brand-new Yamaha 550 XT, a 550-cc, one-cylinder off-road bike with a fantastic acceleration that was a recent release at that time. The publicity slogan was, ‘Ride the Bull’, and the experience was exactly that. Rough, tough, no self-starter, but with a high fun factor. I learned to ride it in a gravel pit. A hard school, but very effective. Of course, I also had to go to the driving school. I was very lucky to get a good teacher. He had the ambition to teach me how to ride a bike, not just how to move one. Later on, I underwent several training courses, which helped me a lot to improve my skill and gave me a lot of self-confidence too.

“My next bike was a BMW 800 GS with a two-cylinder Boxer engine. Much heavier, but much more comfortable for long rides. This one was followed by a Honda 650 Dominator and the last motorcycle I owned in Germany was a BMW F 650 GS, all of them off-road bikes. I preferred this kind of bikes because they are lighter and more manoeuvrable than street bikes or choppers – perfect for rough and narrow roads. Unfortunately, they are not available here in India.

 

“I lived in Munich, which is very close to the Alps, and therefore I did a number of wonderful rides through the mountains to Austria, Italy, Switzerland and France – sometimes with friends, sometimes alone. I rode on all kinds of roads, also unpaved passes through snow and ice, and I enjoyed all of them. Now I am living and working in south Kerala. More than three years ago I bought a used Bajaj Pulsar 180 which I still possess. On that bike I got used to the chaotic Indian traffic and rustic roads, especially to the left-hand drive rule in India. One thing that really shocked me (and still does) was the rude manner of many people. One of the basic things we learn in Germany is politeness when participating in road traffic. Give way to others and try your best not to bring yourself or others into dangerous situations. Here in Kerala it seems that many drivers don’t obey traffic rules and drink-driving seems to be normal. In most European countries they would immediately lose their licence for a long time and get a severe punishment. Nevertheless, I love to ride bikes. It opens my heart and my mind. A few weeks ago I made a one-week trip to the Kerala mountains, up to Munnar, Marayoor and Thekkady, mostly on small roads. I drove through the tea plantations and rainforest, saw wild elephants passing the road in front of me – fantastic! Even though I was alone, I enjoyed it immensely. Often I have been asked whether it is boring to drive alone. Boring? When I ride on my bike I don’t need anybody else. Of course, in the evening and during the breaks it makes for greater fun if you have someone to share the experiences. Maybe next time?

 

 

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Dr Angelika Weber, a German lady with a passion for motorcycling, has been living and working in ‘God’s own country’ for the past three years following her marriage to an Indian. She recounts her experience of riding an Indian motorcycle and coming to terms with our chaotic traffic after nearly 30 years of owning and riding various bikes across Europe.

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It is not every day that a budding automotive designer gets a chance to do a project for a national company that has established itself among the best in the country. Satyajit Kulkarni is one such lucky chap who got an opportunity to showcase his designing talent by being part of a team of young designers who represented a top design institute.

TVS Motors, one of India’s well-known two-wheeler manufacturers, wanted to see what potential the young generation had in terms of designing and styling a different genre of bike that is unseen in the Indian market. TVS wanted Satyajit and his team to design and conceptualise a bike that would represent a new style of biking in the Indian market. They came up with a Supermoto concept. Now, Supermoto is a genre of biking that mixes three different kinds of riding surfaces together. A Supermoto bike is so designed that it can handle well on tarmac, rough surfaces and dirt. Internationally there are championships that are held on such bikes and there are purpose-built tracks that provide the above mentioned surfaces to race on.

 

 

TVS have a rich pedigree in circuit racing and motocross racing. Therefore, Satyajit and his team narrowed down on a Supermoto bike for this project. The concept has all the typical traits found on a Supermoto bike. The USD forks seen on the concept are very similar to the ones found on motocross bikes. However, these are thicker than the Motocross USD as they have to perform on tarmac as well as dirt. A Supermoto bike uses wheels that are smaller in diameter than those on a motocross bike because most of the time these bikes are used on tarmac. However, the tyres used are bigger than those found on off-road machines. This is due to the high use of such bikes on tarmac and less on dirt. And keeping that in mind these youngsters have shod the concept with such wheels and tyres. The handlebar is also wide just like a competition Supermoto bike. The suspension of the concept is also a bit lower and stiffer than a motocross bike’s because it makes the bike handle better on tarmac. The overall design of the concept is very much on the lines of a Supermoto and we hope TVS seriously considers building such a bike in the near future.

 

This concept is based on a liquid-cooled, 250-cc, single-cylinder, four-stroke engine, which is the preferred choice of many manufacturers as it is simpler to built and easier to maintain and costs less than any other configuration. The exhaust design is also sleek and minimal. However, it should have been placed in a higher position than it currently is. The tank and front fender are typical Supermoto and the high, short seat also fits perfectly into a Supermoto’s portfolio.

 

Besides Satyajit, the team that worked on the concept included Ajay Chaudhary, Varunjeet Bhinder and Madhur Illa. Ajay was responsible of sketching out the concept and it was Satyajit who rendered it in 3D. These youngsters worked very hard on this concept which was also their fourth year project for transportation design at the DSK International School of Design. This concept clearly portrays the highly creative minds of these four students, who proudly call themselves ‘automotive designers’ today!