New Bike Specifications

Yamaha celebrates Golden Jubilee in fresh new colors

June 24, 2011 by Bike India Team Leave a Comment

MotoGP grid at TT Assen will see Yamaha in Red and White themes

MotoGP paddock at TT Assen will see a splash of Red and White. Yamaha’s factory racing team will be celebrating fifty years in Moto GP with the YZR-M1 in Red and White Livery. The celebrations started earlier this week with an Expo with many of the iconic machines that have marked Yamaha’s presence in Moto GP history. The media was also treated with glimpses of the YZR-M1 in Red and White. The factory riders Ben Spies and Jorge Lorenzo were accompanied by the Yamaha Tech 3 riders Cal Crutchlow and Colin Edwards. Moto GP legends Phil Read and Cees Van Dongen also joined the celebrations.

Words: Aniruddha Mulgund

Monsoon Scooter Rally

June 21, 2011 by Bike India Team Leave a Comment

Gulf Oil to organise the 22nd edition of the annual event

Riding a scooter on hilly terrain at breakneck speed in the rain is something unheard of. Not many would risk it. But daredevils on two-wheelers have been doing exactly that for over 21 years and will continue the exercise on July 17 2011.

Around 35 motorsport freaks will ride over the backwoods of Navi Mumbai and challenge each other in Sportscraft’s 22nd Monsoon Scooter Rally, sponsored by Gulf Oil Corporation Limited. This annual event has become popular for riders of Mumbai, Pune, Nashik and its neighboring areas. Come the monsoon and all keep enquiring about the same.

The different classes for competition are Above 80cc up to 110cc – Two stroke; Above 110cc up to 160cc – Two stroke, and Up to 160 cc – Four stroke. Entry forms are available and accepted only at the Sportscraft’s office, Chitrakut, 3rd Floor, Siri Road, Chowpatty Bandstand, Mumbai 400 006. Tel. 022 – 23677631.

Monsoon Scooter Rally

June 21, 2011 by Bike India Team Leave a Comment

Gulf Oil to organise the 22nd edition of the annual event

Cat Flyte

June 17, 2011 by Bike India Team Leave a Comment

alt A flight without wings is what Gasha Aeri achieves as she and the Mahindra Flyte paint the town red Photography: Sanjay Raikar“A car travelling at an average speed of 160 km/h will take 29 million years to reach the closest star.”

alt

Really, an empty mind is definitely a crappy place, if not a devil’s workshop and mine was wandering in another universe! Not that we have such leisurely weekdays all the time, but after successful completion of all the tasks at hand, that day was extraordinarily free. But not for long. Minutes later I heard the second set of golden words from my boss’ mouth, the first one being, “You’re hired!” The whole office seemed technicoloured again after those moments of bored black-and-white when he announced that yours truly would get a ride (with a tankful) and some cash in hand to do an interesting story for the upcoming issue. “An Official Pampering Day,” I said to myself and headed to meet my partner for the task – a scarlet red Mahindra Flyte. My technicoloured day got a little glitter too, as my ride was not just good looking, but, thanks to the variomatic transmission, very

comfortable to nudge my way through city traffic too.And what can be more interesting than an account of the weekday when the world turned and toiled in their office chairs and spent just another day in their cubicle, while I made merry around the city.So,the next day was to be marked in my calendar as the Official Pampering Day (OPD, for short). Just to celebrate my release from the shackles of a routine weekday morning, I made the OPD’s morning special with an early morning jog. A bottle holder in the front stored away my sipper and I rode swiftly to the joggers’ park making the day’s start better with my red Flyte. As my fellow joggers in crumpled T-shirts and faded shorts helped their poodles do the business, I parked the Flyte amid a crowd of other odd coloured two-wheelers and headed for my first run in months. The idea of a morning jog sure sounded very healthy and good in my mind, but my lazy legs refused to support the upper torso for even the first few metres. Well, you can’t really blame them, they’ve had a habit of supporting my bulk for only a few steps and not beyond. Hurriedly, I finished my crash course in jogging in just a few metres and returned pleading to Flyte to bear me back home. Farewells and good luck to my fellow joggers and hope their flab vanishes soon

or at least they ‘feel’ fit and healthy.After that gruelling run, my body demanded a quick and immediate supply of nutrition. Meaning, breakfast! Soon after that, I made my way to the city which awaited me with all its grandeur and show and kick-started the day. Fuel indicator smiling at full, I beat the morning traffic with the light weight and quick acceleration of the Flyte.This holy time of the year being sale season, all my ‘shopaholic’ brothers and sisters would pull shame at me if I didn’t mark my attendance at the malls. Some fruits of my day’s shopping hung merrily from the front hook, while others got stored away under the seat. Another level of convenience achieved here!

Compact in size, the Flyte was easy to park on those busy streets and when the lanes got really narrow and required me to pick my ride to cross through those dug up roads, the light weight won songs of praise from me. The suspension felt good for city riding, especially when the roads in our country aren’t exactly that even and often surprise us with a bump or two. Even on the lanes where one finds difficult to find enough oxygen to breathe, the Flyte made its way out without any trouble.

Being a girl’s ride, the Flyte wasn’t very hungry for fuel either. The tankful lasted over 200 km. After riding a geared bike all this while, a day off from the hassles of gear shift and the luxury of front footboard and under-seat storage, the Flyte was a refreshing change from the routine.

Much before I could realise, the clock struck seven and it was time for Cinderella to run back home before the beast of evening traffic got unleashed. The headlamp threw the beam to quite a distance and night riding woes were also solved. Thus came to a happy end my dream day of officially being working, but not really working, something every employee wishes to achieve before they retire. I wish this OPD gets stretched to some more days. Sigh, the human heart never stops asking for more.

Building Blocks

June 14, 2011 by Bike India Team Leave a Comment

Piyush Sonsale describes the experience of the Yamaha Riding Clinic 2011, India’s first manufacturer-backed motorcycle riding school

Photography: Yamaha India

Piyush Sonsale describes the experience of the Yamaha Riding Clinic 2011, India’s first manufacturer-backed motorcycle riding school
Photography: Yamaha India

The Yamaha Riding Clinic 2011 was conducted between April 11 and 14 on the Chennai race-track, where I donned the racing skin (riding suit) and rode the last two days of the school to experience the programme at first hand. The first two days were meant for novice riders and the last two for experts. Yamaha had invited former 250-cc GP rider, Osamu Miyazaki, from Japan to train the participants. The fee for the school was Rs 3,000, which covered the rent of the bike with full service support, fuel and food.

Day one began with some limbering up exercises. Contrary to popular belief, any form of motor sport (motorcycle more so) causes extreme physical exhaustion; by the end of the day’s sessions, my legs would wobble inside my R-Jays due to lack of strength. We were then asked to scrutinise the bike assigned to us. The set-up of the bike is extremely important to extract the desired performance as also to avoid mishaps. Finally, we were told about the riding rules and the meaning of the various flags used to signal a rider while on the racetrack.

The duration of each track session was one hour in which we were allowed to ride freely. By the end of each day, we had completed three hours of riding. During the feedback sessions in the classroom, Miyazaki pointed out the flaws in every rider’s style and suggested improvements after observing the video footage he had recorded from his helmet-mounted camcorder. At the end of day one, every rider’s lap time was recorded for self judgement.

On day two, we were taught how to launch the bike at the start. A swift synchronisation of the throttle and the clutch is necessary to achieve a quick start without lifting the front wheel. Next, Miyazaki selected a couple of fast corners on the track to explain the correct line to follow. For instance, the classic line for a right-hander with no immediate turn after it would be to pull out to the extreme left before the corner entry, then ride on the inside edge of the road in the corner and drift away to the extreme left again at the corner exit to carry maximum speed. At the end of the day’s sessions, the riders’ lap times were recorded again to evaluate the improvement on day two.

The programme culminated with a race organised for the participants to give us a taste of competitive riding. The best performers from the riding school and the R15 races will be promoted by Yamaha to race internationally. The YZF R15 championship 2011 begins this month. Log on to the FMSCI Website for more information.