Karma !

I haven't blogged in a couple of months. Was busy with what i wanted to be a Christmas surprise! 

Mid November saw a scrapped 1980 Yezdi fall into my lap quite by happenstance. Yes, it has to do with how i named her, No, im not getting into that story on a public forum. I wasn't prepared for another bike much less another build so you can emphathize with me when i say the last month has been quite a blur.

Yes! It has been only a month! A month of hunting for spares and long nights in the garage, not to mention a month of long hot showers to conquer smelling like grease or paint before getting to work.

I didn't want to build another classic as i already did that with my Jawa, and I didn't want it to have the same color of any of my existing bikes so that helped narrow down the options. A rough street bike look in Red and Matt Black it was! 

When i finally got to road test her yesterday, i was amazed at the power this 36 year old 2 stroke 250cc engine still churned out! And needless to say got quite a few heads to turn with the beat from the pipes and the finish of a brand new bike.

So ladies and gentlemen, without further ado, I present to you, the rebirth of "Karma".

Silverblaze 3.0

So this is what happens if you let a biker alone in his garage for a day, and don't let him ride... 

I took a long overdue, much needed break from work, without actually planning what i was gonna do with it. After some rest, my mind naturally drifted to my bike, and before long i was gearing up to hit a highway. When i kick started my Royal Enfield (affectinatley called Silverblaze), with more direction and less destination in mind, poof! I had blown a fuse! A little dismayed with the prospect of not being able to ride, i pushed the bike back in the garage and hung up my jacket and helmet. After checking the wiring, to my suprise i found the electricals rather neglected and in much need of a good overall.

Needless to say, i didnt ride that day but after redoing a lot of wiring, changing fuses (i really should have stopped there), installing a matt black custom cruiser handle, chrome and rubber palm rests, a new air intake system, new bar end rear views, a metal head light grill and a charging and docking mobile phone system and some overall maintenance, i realised i had once again remodelled my bike rather significantly!

In my defense i had pre-ordered most of these new parts, with no aim at the time but collection and possible future use, and only had to take a small trip to the spares store for a few knick-knacks.

So this is what happens if you let a biker alone in his garage for a day, and don't let him ride... Introducing, the new improved, mean and tough looking... Silverblaze 3.0

 

Through nights and storms

Let me tell you a story, and you can draw your own inferences from it.

One evening after work, a boy got on his bike and didn't stop riding. It soon got dark, and there were huge flashes of lightening and claps of thunder, but the boy didn't stop riding. Then the rain came, first in gentle soothing drops, then in torrents, each drop making impact with the speed of a piearcing arrow, but the boy wouldn't stop riding. Cities faded away in his rear view, he was out on the highway, all alone, in the middle of nowhere with no one to help in case of crisis, amidst the darkness, thunder, lightening and the cold cold rain, but the boy wouldn't stop riding. Then came the wind, fierce and cold, strong enough to uproot bushes and send them tumbling across the highway in front of him, strong enough to push the bike a foot or two in any direction it pleased, but the boy refused to give up riding. Hours slipped by with miles, and in this war between biker and nature, although it seemed like nature had the upper hand and was throwing the kitchen sink at him, the boy was enduring, and slowly and steadily making progress.

Then morning broke, and the first rays of sunlight colored the sky. The darkness, rain and wind, as if afraid of the sun's disapproval of their trials on the boy during the night, vanished along with it. The boy had reached where he wanted to go, had covered 850 odd kilometers, was soaked and cold. But, he took a moment to stop and enjoy the beauty of the sun firing up the sky for a new and beautiful day.

I wont philosophize about this story. It may signify many things to many people. So I'll let You dear reader, draw from it the parallels you would like to draw, if any at all.

But i will tell you one thing,

the boy didn't stop riding...

Garage Diaries

As i surely must have mentioned in previous posts, i enjoy ( and believe all true bikers should ) spending as much time with my bike in the garage, as i would spend riding it along a highway. For me, there is something alluring about fixing your own bike. Maybe it is the feeling of being the creator, having the power to give life. Maybe it is the feeling of satisfaction of knowning and being able to do something that most people wouldn't be expected to know and do. Maybe it's the pushing of physical limits. Maybe it's the mystery of playing detective, hunting for clues to solve that little rattle you hear when you shift to third. Maybe its the satisfaction of finding a loose nut or a whithered wired before it caused a breakdown. Or maybe its just the feeling of riding your bike after your done and thinking "wow, it feels much better, i made that difference". Motorcycling has always been about freedom and giving a person control of a moment. I think garage days really bind into that spirit.

So when my friends sometimes taunt me about weekends "wasted" indoors in my garage, i always smile and think to myself, "I wouldn't have it any other way".

Accident Recovery

On March 25th 2015, i crashed. I won't go into the details of it how it happened, but i can say that i had no fault in, or control over the situation. I crashed at well over a 100kmph and was thrown through 60 feet of thorn scrub and a barbed wire fence. If it wasn't for my helmet that took a nasty blow for me, this blog just might have had a very abrupt ending. I remember waking up, checking if i could still move my limbs and thinking to myself, "I'm alive, after a crash like that, I'm still alive!". The doctors told me that there was a bone out of place in my left knee and my ligaments were seriously strained. In short, may never be able to kick start a motorcycle or ride again.

Needless to say and true to my nature, i threw all caution to the wind, kick started my motorcycle and rode away from the hospital. The next few weeks were easy, i buried myself in fixing my bike and thought of little else. With that done, i tried to ignore all else and ride again as if nothing had ever happened and i had never crashed. But that was harder than i thought. The seconds before the crash were like photographs pinned up in my brain. Every time i tried to ride, and saw, heard or felt something that related to the day of the crash, the memory was triggered and the entire scene would play out in my head. Not used to this kind of a mental struggle, i would sometimes jam the breaks, screach to a halt just to clear my head. The pain in my knee also severely restricted the length of my rides, and more than once i doubted if my riding days were over.

There is no dramatic turn, or inspirational moment in this story. All there is, is trying, failing and trying again, months of being relentless, countless defeats and slow progress. Lessons in patient defiance, the former being alien to me and the latter, all too common. Despite these determined efforts, some scars never heal. I still see the scene played out in my head sometimes. Only now, i know how to ignore it and focus on the road. The knee still hurts, but with a metal brace and a lot of physiotherapy, i was able to complete my own version of the freedom ride today. A 68 km bicycle ride that i participate in every year, only this time, i didnt sign up with the rest of the riders but drew up a tougher route for myself and completed it, in almost about the same time.

The truth is you never know how strong you are, how resilient, how defiant, how determined, until you have no choice, but to be. 

They said, i would never ride again.

Yeah well, good luck with that. 

Born to ride, forced to work...

A bikers work station be like...

A heart on two wheels

I went out on one of those "dont care where you're going" rides today. Quite a long one after quite a long time. And as mile after mile of beautiful country roads disappeared behind me with a cool breeze constantly caressing my face, I felt myself leaving behind a lot of things. Worries about injuries, thoughts about the past, anxieties of what the future may hold, anger about being wronged, hurt about being let down, pressures of being someone I'm not, in short a whole lot of baggage seemed to slowly burn away along with the fuel and disappear down the exhausts. All that existed for me was that moment. Me, my bike, the never ending road and all the beautiful sights that flew by. Maybe thats why some people (like me) love riding so much, its a humbling experience that on some good days brings you back to the bare essentials. I don't know if I did a good job describing it, nor do I know if anyone ever will, but I do know that in that moment I was not my past, I was not the image I'm forced to portray to society, I was not what I've achieved in life or what I've failed to be, I was just a boy, with a heart on two wheels.

Escape Artist

Somebody once called me an escapist. A rude jolt to my ego that was! I always fancied myself one to face and fight every situation i was presented with. Immediately the overthinker in me kicked into overdrive, and instead of dismissing the lose comment for what it was, I pondered it over for much longer than i should have. The good part about it is most of my thinking is done on two wheels. And on one long reminiscent ride it hit me. 1) you cannot change what others have decided to believe about you 2) escapism, used judiciously, does not necessarily imply weakness in character. And hence i began to employ it, making conscious choices to pick the battles i needed to fight, and deciding when to just ride.

Custom Monsters

Nowadays everyone who can afford a Royal Enfield seems to have one. But in my opinion, motorcycling is more than owning a bike, its about building it. And furthur, building a bond with it. Now that doesn't mean you need to build your bike from scratch. But over time, you take away parts of your bike you dont need, add stuff in there that suits your needs and your personality. Its about spending as much time with your bike in the garage as you would with it on the highway. And in the process understanding it, its limitations and its strengths, and being able to make best use of them.

So when two custom Royal Enfields ripped apart the highway from hyderabad to medak and some offroad trails today, the overwhelming feeling that came over me was, "we've created our monsters".

Moto Torque "the launcher"

If your looking to boost your torque, this is the thing for you! I tried it out quiet skeptically and was pleasantly surprised enough to keep it on! The Bikes BHP goes up by about 3 with negligible impact on milage. However it works best with K&Ns. Which makes me look forward for the next upgrade ;)

Time Travel

As you would have figured from the name of my blog, in not much of a pack rider. But every once in a while i love sharing a ride with a biker who loves to ride as much as i do! So when a 1973 Ideal Jawa and a 2015 KTM RC200 hit the streets together, i could tell by the stares and turned heads that it was quite a unique sight!

A timeless classic and a futuristic mean machine, with 42 years of motorcycling legacy between them, cruising along the curves and bends of Lanco Hills.

The ride made me think about how the machine i so love has evolved over generations. And how some species refuse to go extinct! 

Rogue night rider...

Can't sleep? Need to think? There's only one solution, ride!

Campanionship

Over the years my bikes have kept me going, in more ways than one. They have been companions that have never let me down, they have carried me home on days I couldn't carry myself, we have spent amazing moments conquering bends on highways, hills, valleys, rocks and rivers. We have taken tumbles together, gotten up together and moved on together. We have spent so much time together on the highways, and in the garage. We have grown older together, raced together, tried to catch the sunset and outran the rain. Human companionship is fickle, but a bike is always there with you till the very end.

Some Reminiscing...

While on this ride called "life," you have to take the good with the bad, smile when you're sad, love what you've got and remember what you had. Always forgive, but never forget. Learn from your mistakes, but never regret. People change. Things go wrong. Just remember, the ride goes on.

Signs of a nomadic life

You know you have biked a lot around the country when your instagram map looks like this...

Old school

Took the jawa out for a spin today, cant get over the way this 40year old bike handles on the highway! Amazing power, great handling and the unmatched elegance of a true timeless classic!

Beauty or beast

The most amazing part of every weekday for me is the ride to work, and i often start earlier than required to take a detour and have not yet been succesful in identifying the longest possible route from home to office. But, before i start, there is always a choice to make. The toughest choice of them all, which one will it be, Bullet ot Jawa? 

A biker's lair...

You know you've entered a biker's lair when...

An ode of a sleepless neighbor...

I be like, oops....

Jikov Carburetor for Jawa 250

Finally got my hands on an original Jikov, a czech made carburetor for My 1973 Jawa 250. Cant wait to fit it on the bike and enjoy the changed performance!!

Weekend rainy weather riding

Hyd-Blore-Mysore-Hunsur and back!

My longest weekend ride ever. 2000kms in 3 days.

Jawa before and after