bike VS car

This is just something that i want to write. It has been there in my mind for quite some time now.

People tell me that i should always travel by car. And people want to buy a car more than they want to buy a bike. It is more of a status symbol. And my friends say that they use a car cause they believe that it is safer than a bike in high traffic area like delhi.

I own both a car and a bike. My car resides at its place almost 5 days a week and i take it out only on week ends - for "leisure" driving. Though there is so much traffic in delhi that there is no "leisure" driving option available here. I always land up in a traffic jam. And spend hours honking, shifting gears and moving slowly in bumper to bumper traffic - always concerned whether someone would scratch or dent my car.

Here comes my bike to the rescue. Just a kick and twist of throttle and i can wriggle between all the cars. without being concerned whether anyone would scratch my bike. There is not enough stuff to scratch here. Though i despise people who if possible would bodily push you to one side and drive out. They dont care a damn about their bike and would try to wriggle even from the smallest hole available. These are the people who scratch cars and cause fights on the road.

Well, in addition to this, a bike also gives me the advantage of driving though even the narrowest lanes in delhi. And if i see a jam ahead, i can turn left or right and take another path without worrying too much.

Though a car ensures safety to the driver and passenger from the killer busses of delhi. But for short distances, i would prefer a bike rather than a car. And ofcourse for long distances, car seems better. I wish i could get bikes with AC at cheaper costs in india.

But that's not all. The pleasure of riding a bike is much more than that of driving a car. You feel free when you drive a bike. Closer to nature. As some one has said "Only a dog knows why it keeps its face out of the car window". You could never get that feel when you are driving your car. And it also adds to style. Get a bullet and modify it. Add some paint work. And you have a bike like none other.

Yes, i love my bike and i would prefer to ride my bike rather than drive my car in delhi.

hmmmmm bike

This is really innovative and fundooo..
Imagine wondering on this bike through the city, and that too at night...








Koooool....

Honda Vallyrle Rune

Take a look... Costs something around 25K dollars...
6 Cylinder and styleeeee...






And this is a Triumph Rocket III - 3 cylinder :

simply babbling...

Long time again and no blogs...And i have my excuses ready...

Well firstly there was nothing good enough to write...bad excuse!!, i could have written about my bike ride from noida to greater noida. Although i have gone through the ride again and again, but this time it was different. Me and my collegue, ankit raced through the 20-25 km express way connecting greater noida with noida/delhi. I think, i could have done an average of 100 kmph on my thunderbird. The bike has done only 6000 kms and people say it will open up after around 15000 kms. After that it may touch 120 kmph.

Had Shipra and IP (friends) for the drive. See the pics below...












Had loads of fun. Though there was nothing to do in Greater Noida. No malls, no food joints. All we could find was a Dominos pizza where we had some pizza and then we drove back. Great drive, something which inspired me to think for a delhi-jaipur drive sometime later.

Next, had a wedding in the family (my sis). Getting married on 5th of july 2006. So came down to baroda on 30th - my b'day and was a bit busy with the wishes. just enjoying myself.

And lastly, do remember that indian weddings are lengthy procedures which include shopping (specially for the wedding), lots of customs and traditions and finally the wedding followed by the vidai. Oh!!! a complete week would go by and still you would miss someone by the end of it. Dont know why people follow such traditions.

In the meantime, i tried downloading some games for linux. The best one yet is Quake-III Arena. Downloaded cube and tuxracer, but could not get them running....

Lets c what comes next...

I love bikes

Take a look at these...




The GOD of all bikes...




ENGINE
1. 500 bhp (372 kW) @ 5600 rpm (60.4 bhp/liter); 525 lb.-ft. (712 Nm) @ 4200 rpm
2. 10-cylinder 90-degree V-type, liquid-cooled, 505 cubic inches (8277 cc)
3. 356-T6 aluminum alloy block with cast-iron liners, aluminum alloy cylinder heads
4. Bore x Stroke: 4.03 inches x 3.96 inches (102.4 x 100.6)
5. Two pushrod-actuated overhead valves per cylinder with roller-type hydraulic lifters
6. Sequential, multi-port electronic fuel injection with individual runners
7. Compression Ratio: 9.6:1
8. Max Engine Speed: 6000 rpm
9. Fuel Requirement: Unleaded premium, 93 octane (R+M/2)
10. Oil System: Dry Sump; takes 8 quarts Mobil1 10W30 Synthetic
11. Cooling System: Twin aluminum radiators mounted atop engine intake manifolds,
force-fed from front-mounted, belt-driven turbine fan.
12. Takes 11 quarts of antifreeze.
13. Exhaust System: Equal-length tubular stainless steel headers with dual collectors and
central rear outlets

SUSPENSION

Front:
Outboard, single-sided parallel upper and lower control arms made from polished billet aluminum. Mounted via ball
joint to aluminum steering uprights and hubs. Five degrees caster. Single, fully adjustable centrally located
coil-over damper ( 2.25-inch coil with adjustable spring perch); pullrod and rocker-actuated mono linkage.
Center-lock racing-style hubs.

Rear:
Hand-fabricated box-section steel inboard swing arms, incorporating "hydral-link" lockable recirculating hydraulic
circuit parking stand. Single fully adjustable centrally located Koni coil-over damper ( 2.25-inch coil with
adjustable spring perch); pushrod and rocker-actuated mono linkage. Center-lock racing-style hubs

BRAKES

Front:
20-inch perimeter-mounted drilled machined stainless steel rotors, one per wheel. Two four-piston fixed aluminum
calipers per wheel (16 pistons total), custom designed. Blue anodized caliper finish. Hand-activated.

Rear:
20-inch perimeter-mounted drilled cast-iron rotors, one per wheel. One four-piston fixed aluminum caliper per wheel
(8 pistons total), custom designed. Blue anodized caliper finish. Foot-activated.

PERFORMANCE

0-60 mph: 2.5 seconds (est.)
Top Speed: 300+ mph (est.)

DIMENSIONS

Length: 102 inches
Width: 27.7 inches
Height: 36.9 inches
Wheelbase: 76 inches
Seat Height: 29 inches
Weight: 1,500 lbs.
Track, Front: 8.75 in
Track, Rear: 10 in
Weight Dist: 49F/51R
Ground Clearance: 3 in
Fuel: 3.25 gallons

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM

Alternator: 136-amp high-speed
Battery : Leak-resistant, maintenance-free 600 CCA
Lighting: Headlights consist of 12 five-watt LEDs, front, with beam-modifying optics and masked lenses. Eight LEDs,
rear. Headlamps articulate with wheels.

TRANSMISSION: Manual, foot-shifted two-speed

Aluminum-cased two-speed, sequential racing-style with dog ring, straight-cut gears
Gear Ratios: 1st 18:38; 2nd 23:25
Clutch: Double-disc, dry-plate with organic friction materials, hand lever actuated with assist
Final drive: Dual 110-link motorcycle-style chains

Front Sprockets: 14 teeth
Rear Sprockets: 35 teeth

Longitudinal, centrally mounted engine, rear-wheel drive layout; monocoque construction, engine is central, stressed
member. Body of bullet aluminum

how and why of my bullet

This is a loooong due post. Why i decided to get a bullet and how i got one...

I like bikes. And in bikes i love cruisers. Have seen cruisers from Harley Davison and from yamaha and there would be nothing better than riding one of those.

Anyways, the first bike i bought was a pulsar 150 cc. At that time it costed me 50k INR. I had a small salary and my dad financed the bike to me. So that i do not have to commute thru buses. The condition of buses in delhi is bad, very bad... The gud part was that i got my pulsar sometime in august 2002. And the bad part was that i had never driven any bike in my life till that time. Dad told me not to worry and go ahead. Welllll, so i drove the bike from the showroom to my office the very first day. Every thing does not go well all the time... so there had to be a small accident. Nothing was damaged except my leg where i got a bad bruise.

Pulsar is a gud bike and i am sure other variants of 150cc+ bikes would also be gud. I used to drive my bike at 100 kmph after the run in. Pickup was gud. And the bike was comfortable. Only problem was that at high speeds, the bike used to feel like a feather and it felt like even a small wind will blow the bike away with me on it... I had 2 accidents on the bike after the initial one and out of the two only one was somewhat major where i skid on the road and got some terrible cuts and destroyed a new trouser.

In fact, before purchasing the bike, i had a chance to take a look at bullet on some of the websites. I was impressed with it. The reason, i did not buy the bull at that time was that i was not so strong financially and owning a bullet is almost similar to owning a maruti 800. The price and maintenance come to be around the same.

After about 3 years of driving the pulsar, i had a chance to drive a bullet electra. One of my friends had got one and i just took a test drive. The bull i drove had gears on the right and brakes on the left. So i felt a bit uncomfortable driving the bull. But the best thing i noticed is the feel that comes while driving the bull. You feel different, a bit higher, something out of the world. This was the point in my life when i decided that i would need to get a bullet no matter what happens...

To start off the process i had to:

• Do some research about what type of bullet i would prefer. There were 4 variants available, the normal bullet electra 350cc, bullet machismo 350cc, bullet thunderbird 350cc and bullet electra 500cc.
  
• Get rid of my old pulsar
  
• Get a finance option available for the new bike.
  
• And the most major point, get the idea of a new bike across to my parents. It is difficult to explain to my parents as to why would i go for a bike at 80k when i can get a maruti at the same price.
  

I started off with the research and found that only machismo and thunderbird have left foot gear shift. Others had right foot gear shift, with which i was not that comfortable. Machismo and Thunderbird are almost exact. The only difference i could find at that point of time was that machismo had gas filled shock absorbers whereas thunderbird had hydraulic shock absorbers. And of course the looks were different. I liked the cruiser looks of the thunderbird, which is why i decided to go for it.

Went down to a local dealer, got a test ride and enquired about the pricing and finance options. And also a way in which i cud get rid of my old pulsar. What i got was this
Onroad price : 78k
Disk brake : 4k
finance - one time processing fee : 2k
value of old bike : 23k
Monthly EMI for 1 year : 4k

Almost everything landing into place, my final and most difficult job was to explain to my family members why am i going for a bike for 84k when i can get a maruti at the same price. With help from my sisters and some luck, my parents agreed.

So, on the 1st may 2005, i decided to get the thunderbird home. There was a bit of fun in that. I went down to the showroom and told the owner that i need to get the bike today. And that i dont care whether the loan papers are approved or not. If he can give me the bike today, then its ok, else i will move to some other dealer. At that time i wanted a black thunderbird. But the show room did not have a black thunderbird. So i took home a silver one and was promised that it would be converted to black as soon as the stocks were replenished. Gave up my old bike at the same spot. The show room owner was really confused with my being a genuine customer. So he sent a person to take a look at where i was putting up. Just in case i decide to run away with the bike!!!

Next day, i was supposed to go over and get the color changed to black and get the disk brakes installed. But most people told me that silver is a much better color than black and i also realized it. So i stuck to the silver color.

Thats how i got a bullet t'bird for myself.

There is something different about driving a bullet. You feel different. It feels as like a person instead of a bike. The thumps of a bullet sound like a heart of a person. You feel the weight of the bike, the hugeness and the heavyness. I cannot express all this much clearly in my words. In a single phrase "ITs Different!!"

Maybe some day i will own a harley VRSCD Night Rod.

Now... thats style....

Few modified bullets

Few modified bullets ... I love this bike...