Bike India
DuRIng thE lockdown the editorial team decided to do a series on the first motorcycle each one of us had owned. the first motorcycle I ever owned was a triumph Bonneville t120 in 1976. however, the bike on which I learned how to ride in 1970, at the age of 10, was an 80-cc Suzuki that my brother, Percy, had bought from an Army officer in the national Defence Academy. Since my father was the Regional transport Officer in Pune, he laid down a condition that I would ride the motorcycle within the compound and not on public roads. Just to let the readers know the cost of petrol when I started riding a motorcycle, it was Rs 7.20 for five litres!
It was in the year 1976 that a Parsi gentleman from Bombay (now Mumbai), Minoo Shroff, sent his 1970 triumph 650 Bonneville t120 for a complete rebuild to Dinsha Batliwalla’s workshop where we were partners. Before we could start work on the bike, however, Minoo Shroff declared his intention to sell the bike on an as-is-where-is basis because he was going to move to the uS and that is how I ended up buying the triumph Bonneville t120 as my first bike for a grand sum of Rs 8,500. It cost me another Rs 2,000 to rebuild the whole bike and nearly two months to complete the project.
At that time, all my friends were riding Luna mopeds or, at the most, a Yezdi motorcycle and here I was riding around on a 650-cc motorcycle producing 47 bhp (47.7 hp). Owning and riding such a powerful motorcycle as my first bike taught me how to treat a motorcycle with respect. the traffic situation at that time was so good, I could do 85-90 mph (136-145 km/h) on the cantonment roads in and around Pune.
the triumph’s performance and handling prepared me for my first race because the 250-cc racing Jawa that I was going to race was much slower than the Bonnie. the t120 was a beautiful motorcycle and I thoroughly enjoyed riding it. today I regret selling that bike, but it was a business proposition for me at that time. In any case, I had bought the bike with the intention of doing it up and selling it. And it did fetch me a good profit, for I sold it for more than double the price I had originally paid and I got two bikes, one 250 and one 350 honda, in exchange for the Bonnie. When I sold both the bikes, I got more than Rs 20,000.
After owning more than 25 different motorcycles and a riding career spanning 44 years, life seems to have come a full circle — now I am again riding a 650-cc 47-bhp (47.7 hp) motorcycle for my daily commuting, the Royal Enfield 650 Interceptor, and I love it very much.
NEED TO KNOW
Max Power:
— Aspi Bhathena
Max Torque: 51 Nm at 5,500 rpm
Transmission:
Suspension (Front): Telescopic fork, hydraulic damping
Suspension (Rear): Swingarm, twin Girling dampers
Brakes: Eight-inch (203-mm) TLS drum, full width (F), Seven-inch (178-mm) SLS drum (R)
Wheels/tyres: 19-inch, 3.25-19 Dunlop (F), 18-inch, 4.00-18 Dunlop (R)
Weight: 182 kg (wet)