Light at the End of the Tunnel?

IT LOOKS LIKE WE ARE FINALLY GOING TO WITNESS THE END OF THE DREADFUL PANDEMIC with life gradually coming back to normal. However, the sales of new two-wheelers still continue to be below the pre-pandemic levels. This sorry state is further aggravated by the high cost of fuel and the poor state of the economy, especially the rural economy, which continues to be in a bad shape. Naturally, all these factors have an adverse effect on the sales of new two-wheelers.

The last round of the Royal Enfield Continental GT Cup was held last month and, after four weekends and eight races, the first champion of the GT Cup was crowned. The winner of the inaugural GT Cup is Anish Shetty, followed by Allwin Xavier in second place, and Anfal Akdhar in third.

The outstanding performance and reliability of the Royal Enfield Continental GT650 was one of the highlights of the championship: not a single DNF due to mechanical failure during the entire conduct of this event. Such 100 per cent reliability under racing conditions when motorcycles are being red-lined in each gear non-stop for 10 laps is unheard of in motorcycle racing. The bikes are still performing in as fine fettle as they were at the first race and their engines sound the same as they did during round one.

This month Bike India is proud to present to you the 200th issue of this magazine. On this occasion I would like to thank all our readers and the manufacturers for their continued support. To celebrate the 200th issue we have some special stories for you and the theme is “200”.

Incidentally, I happened to speak to a number of motorcycle riders during the aforementioned last round of the GT Cup and all of them had only one request to make: please do not stop the import of helmets because it is a matter of safety and, unfortunately, the Indian helmets do not meet the safety standards for racing.