Delhi Bikers

Uncle Enfield nice and loaded with 54 years of stories For many of us Royal Enfield is like one of our favorite uncles who used to bring sweets and stories of adventure when we were young. But as we grew older, we realized our uncle had taken few liberties to morph his story with other more famous tales. At first you thought it was mere coincidence that his exploits sounded uncannily similar to Rambo’s. But soon reliable sources began to confirm what you had already begun to suspect, that your uncle’s imagination was fueled not by actual experience but wishful thinking. That’s the bittersweet revelation for most Enfield owners. We buy into the exotic story of adventure from a bygone era retold a thousand times, ignoring the fine print. When the ‘rubber hits the road’ one is rattled awake by an ever growing list of annoyances. Add to that shoddy R&D, poor PR, and sheer incompetence in most of the RE service centers. We believed our uncle, this war veteran, this mysti...

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...

The poster for the first ride. Note where we  were going  and what the photo was showing. A guy who knows his riding days are numbered has three options.         a)     Go Sulk           (Poor me)       b)     Go Sour          (Her fault)       c)     Go Start          (New plan) I got married end 2007 and after some crazy bike trips we decided on being parents by 2010. Pregnancy meant motorcycling through the Himalayas would be on pause. So in mid 2009 my mom-in-law suggested I do a ‘breakfast run’. Just m essage some friends to ride out early morning to a dhaba an hour out  of Delhi. I thought that was silly. Who in Delhi would wake up and join me to go on such a short ride? But for me this was the only option to keep riding regularly, stay...