Delhi Bikers

Melvin & Sahil, the duo behind YOUNG KID CUSTOM'S  On most Delhi Bikers Breakfast Run one tends to meet many who dream of doing something more with their motorcycling passion. They would love to “go set up a shack in Goa or a guesthouse in Manali” or “start a tour company and ride for a living” or “build custom motorcycles” The older they are, the more elaborate their plans and even more extensive the reasons why they cannot do it. “It’s complicated” is usually the final answer before they change the subject. The younger bikers may have similar dreams but their reasons for not attempting is usually because “I don’t have money” or “family will never agree to it” or “am keeping my options open” or “it won’t work in Delhi” Then I met Melvin Sehgal and Sahil Kumar on couple of our rides. They were giving no excuses. They wanted to build custom bikes and they were not waiting for permission from the world. Delhi’s youngest bike builders have launched YOUNG KI...

Here’s the bottom line right on top: You think the prize you will get is free, but it is not.  It will cost you your time, energy and most likely, your credibility. In the last couple of years, the frequency with which virtual vote gathering has taken off is phenomenal. You are promised a ‘title’ that proves you are a ‘better biker’ than all the other bikers in the country. It seems highly pretentious until you remember we are in Delhi where titles matter. A lot.   The irony is that most of us are so focused on scoring our own prizes that no one is really paying attention to others' prize.  If we did, we may see the absurdity of winning based on our ability to garner enough votes. But who cares as long as we get our 15 seconds of fame and couple of hundred ‘congrats’, ‘likes’ and ‘shares’. Usually from the same constituency who voted us in. At the end of your vote harvesting, you may also get a fancy certificate, photo-op and vouchers for your passi...

A trigger-happy cop shoots a boy for ‘stunting’. Never mind that he was sitting behind the one actually riding. The boy is cremated and everyone goes on a finger pointing frenzy. To downplay their incompetence, the officials declare war on such adrenaline junkies. No apology, no regrets. Not even a “…keeping the recent tragedy in mind, we wish to remind our fellow citizens to mend their evil ways…” What we get instead is the same cold bureaucratic nonsense typical of those who have lost touch with the youth of our nation. ‘Public servants’ who have let the law beat the living daylights out of whatever compassion and concern they may have felt at some point in their career. Now they studio-hop dumping opinions about people they last had a normal conversation with in their college years.  Eventually their hired PR agency comes to the rescue with a ‘humane’ script.  “The heartless comments were from the heart, now lets get politically correct” ...

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...