Delhi Bikers

People say you are crazy. Then you find out, you're not the only one! Ladakh season is barely over when a Delhi Biker has to face the big dilemma. Should he/she ride to Aizwal, Goa or Chennai this winter? October to January is the bikers IPL season. When battles are fought to win the maximum ‘biker-fans’ for a given ‘event-team’. All the events have their unique attractions and flavor. While the loyalists and organizers make their annual pilgrimage to whatever validates them most, the rest prefer to hop around. Ten years from now, the one ‘must-do ride’ for a Delhi Biker will largely depend on what values motivate these events today. I rode 2000km's to forget I rode 2000km's Are they hosted for the bikers or for some brand? Are people getting value for their hard-earned money, time and energy spent to get there? Or do they feel ripped off by shoddy planning, poor or no accommodation and having little to do besides beer guzzling.   Do t...

Pushing to get some air under the pony-tail - 2005 A Delhi Biker has either been to Ladakh or planning on riding to Ladakh. Interestingly there is no actual destination called Ladakh. On the way there is a Zing-Zing Bar (with no bar of any kind) and you do end up in Leh. But there is no actual place called Ladakh. It’s the name of the region and the people are called Ladakhi not Lehi. Hope you can see what’s happening. All it takes is one ride up to Leh and a Delhi Biker is an expert on Ladakh, the people, the culture, the monasteries. All dinner conversation eventually go via the Gata-Loops or More Plains and through the ‘La-La Land’. Baralacha-La, Tanglang-La, Khardung-La, Fotu-La, Zozi-La and so on. If you’re not impressed it doesn’t matter, a Delhi Biker will not stop or slow down. He has done plenty of that at the Rohtang Pass mess. Nothing like catching up with fellow bikers in the middle of nowhere On and on about the landslide, the river crossing, ...

Sticker Happy Delhi Biker at the front desk (Nepal Trip-2009)  Another factor that distinguishes a Delhi Biker from all other mortal motorcyclists is our fascination with stickers.  Not sure if this is a nationwide phenomenon but we seem to excel in the cheapest and quickest form of ‘bike-modification’. Who cares about performance, what matters is how the bike looks! So we wrap the Pulsar, Discover, Avenger, with more and more stickers until it weighs few kg’s more. Why? “Its my Style” says the one on the fender...the rest is in Punjabi  which I don't know.  But a t times I do feel as though I’ve had a full conversation with someone but all I did was read what’s plastered all over their helmet and bike. Stickers are how I display my motorcycle résumé. As bikers we can’t always be praising ourselves. I mean, once the blog is updated, the album posted, the video uploaded and the t-shirt printed…its only natural to summarize it with a sticker.  ...

My '95 Enfield's handle bars going the Israeli way. En route to Pushkar.  A Delhi Biker is usually found roaming around his second home, that is, Karol Bagh.  What Nehru Place is for video game junkies and hackers, Karol Bagh is for bikers.  Anything you want fabricated, replicated, restored or resurrected, there is always someone who knows someone who can 'help'. You can’t possibly go on an epic bike trip and not visit its glorious gali’s (streets) to stock up on more metal and chrome you logically need. One of my regular hangouts back in the day used to be Khajanchi . It was a treasure house of assorted bike accessories. That is, before it turned into a religion and split into denominations. The irony is that these shop owners must have kitted out hundreds of bikers to head out on trips, but have seldom left Delhi. In 2002-03 outside Khajanchi you would find Israeli’s who spent hours harassing Jeetu to get them a higher handle ba...

‘Hells Gift’ the one name that got the Beasters in line. That is, until July came along to rename him as ‘Dosa’ Let's be honest. If there was no Royal Beasts, chances are there would be no DBBR today. In 2003 I went to attend the GIR (Great Indian Rock concert) at the Hamsadhwani Open Air Theater, Pragati Maidan. Everyone was head-banging inside except for a wild looking bunch in the parking lot next to their Enfields. I thought they were ‘security’ since most were in combat gear. Intrigued, I went over to ask how they got their bikes inside since no one was allowed.  Bobbee ahead of his times by going back in time A very cocky looking Sardar replied “Depends what you ride dude”  I said, “I have an Enfield” He then told me how to bring my bike in.  That was my first encounter with Bobbee Singh. The next person I remember meeting was Rishi aka July. He had an impressive bike and when I asked about it he made it sound like it had parts t...

Taking over NH1 en route to Murthal Initially we were doing monthly rides only during the winter season. October to February…5 rides until Delhi heated up. But as more people joined they started demanding rides throughout the year. I was more than happy to keep going as long as there was interest. The name didn’t really stick. If it was about bikers than why focus on ‘2 Wheels’?  So I changed it to ‘Delhi Bikers Breakfast Run’. It described who we were (Delhi Bikers) and what we did (Breakfast Run) Our values got distilled into a simple tag line ‘RIDE-RESPECT-RELAX’ RIDE: We were primarily an all inclusive riding group. Not a virtual group but an inter-club, motorcycling community that got out and faced the elements and one another. Our goal was to RELAX from start to finish.   Hence we chose not to ride for more than two hours out of Delhi.  Hence we chose not to print T-shirts and stickers in our first 2 years. From start to fin...