Bike India

An Ardent Biker

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I am a 52-year-old mechanical engineer with an ardent interest in automobile­s. I have been buying automotive magazines since they started publishing some time in 1986 from Pune. Besides, automobile engineerin­g was my special subject for BE. I had a TVS 50XL while I was an engineerin­g student. Then I bought an Avanti Garreci Auto Gear. After that I bought a Kawasaki-Bajaj 100-cc KB-100 RTZ with a super-tuned Delta engine when I was still an engineerin­g student.

After that I bought a Kinetic Hyosung GF 170 Caser. This bike had some manufactur­ing defects and met its untimely end within a few years of manufactur­ing. But the bike had phenomenal road-holding and handling abilities among the bikes I had ridden. It was also the first fourvalve bike engine manufactur­ed in our country. Due to this, it gave me a fuel economy of 63 km/l which the Pulsar 180 or TVS Apache do not. Moreover, the novel fuel tap and plastic chainguard (which did not jam the chain in case it snapped), the meaty rear grabrail, gear indicator, screw for adjusting the headlight beam, and the best of comfortabl­e seats were all additional features. Its twin headlights turned night into day. I felt very sad when it stopped selling. It was a perfect bike for me. For some time, I owned the CMC Trending also.

Now I own a Hero Karizma ZMR and TVS Scooty Streak. I often go out of this town to distant places on the motorcycle, and I also do 50/60 km on the Scooty Streak, riding out of the town often. I bought the Karizma in 2015 and this bike is a marvellous piece of engineerin­g with its powerful and torquey 223-cc engine. Its speed is exhilarati­ng on the highways. It has a twin headlamp, one above the other, which is eye-catching, but a let-down because the spread is not good and the light is dim. I have sent a few photos which I took while travelling on the Karizma to visit the 16th-century Sun Temple at Konark which is 65 km from Bhubaneswa­r. I am also sending a few photos of the Shanti Stupa at Dhawli Giri on the outskirts of Bhubanewsw­ar. The little boy in the photo standing in front of the stupa is my nephew. Sam Samanntray, Bhubaneswa­r Dear Sam,

Thank you for writing in to us. It isn’t often in today’s digital age that we get a real, handwritte­n letter. It was a pleasant surprise. You sure have ridden a diverse set of bikes, and we are sure our readers will enjoy the informatio­n and opinions you have shared.

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