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Good Old Bikes Come Back with a Bang

The organisers of the India Bike Week (IBW) have started “Generation Speed”, a festival for cars and bikes, and its first edition was held on the 22nd and 23rd of February on the Amby Valley airstrip. Generation Speed is the Indian version of the Goodwood Festival of Speed wherein you do not just have stationary cars and bikes on display but you get to drive/ride them. This takes the spectators back in time where they can hear the old familiar sound of the engines and smell the admixture of two-stroke synthetic oil and 100 octane from the exhaust.

This event gave us the impetus to bring back old bikes to life. The Crusader was last raced in 1988 and it was for the first time that it was kick-started after 38 years. The Enfield 200 was last raced in 1990 and it was ridden after 35 years. I had raced the RD350 in 1993. Incidentally, even today these motorcycles would give bikes twice their capacity a run for their money.

The new KTM 390 Adventure first ride took place last month and I got the opportunity to swing my leg over the bike. The first impression is that it is nimble and easy to ride with an engine that is lively and wants to be revved. It is good for performance but, at the same time, the low gearing and busy feeling with vibrations is not good for long-distance touring. This motorcycle is good for short blasts and off-road riding. It will also be tricky because the power comes gushing with a bang and this will make it ticklish to ride on gravel and in tight off-road conditions. The light flywheel makes the engine quick to rev but, as a result, it loses out on bottom-end grunt.

Aspi Bhathena
Editor