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“I was in a crouched position, almost like a tiger ready to prey, I held on to the cold surface 3/4ths ahead of me. Waiting when the next wave of fury shall be unleashed upon
me. The ground besides me shook, all the mortals were looking at us, we were demons. But least they realised the satan was the one below us, controlling us at its will. I
admired the tenacity of the mortal before me, who dared to control the satan, but it was a false sense of security because withing 3 seconds of unleashing the evil, no mortal
can remain its master. As the red light faded the satan roared and begged to show off, in less than 3 seconds we left all the mortals behind, my triceps working hard not to
let me fall. My grip tested to the limit, my palms started sweating, the force was so much that wind made strange noises through my head armour, I was going yeeearghhhh
and remembering what things I had still left to do, did i deserve to die so young? The cry of the satan was deafening, I coudnt take it any more, i Just didnt have the mental
or physical energy left to fathom what kind of beast can posses such power, we covered great distances in eye blinks. And then, then disaster struck. A street dog came in
front of us, forcing him to test the Kawasaki Ninja zx12r’s brakes to the limit. The demon came to a hold, humming as if nothing had happened. The satan tamed. Well,
about the dog, poor beast wont ever cross the street without looking left and right again…”
This is what sums up when I had a ride of the Kawasaki Ninja as a pillion yesterday in New Delhi, India. The city is infested with stray dogs, cattle, drunk truck drivers, rash
bicyclists, ‘i-am-michael-shumacher’ motorists and ‘i-am-rossi’ motorcyclists. The most powerful motorcycle you will get to buy in India is a 17bhp Karzima, others being
Enfields, which are noise making heavy machines having 500ccs and only pumping out 22bhp. Forget the Imported Aquilia which is 250cc and 26bhp, its too few in number
and not even produced here.
You can think very well how will a guy a having a 180bhp bike behave in such conditions. Well the guys who own SBKs here are gods, who wouldnt want to be a god. We
have all kinds of bikes here though, R1s, Ducatis, Harleys, Ninjas … but very few in number, most nver reach even double digits in population in a big metropolitan city like
Delhi.
The best new bike that i saw was the yamaha R6 which a guy recently imported in India.
Why are imported bikes so scarce in India?
1. The import duty is is 140% on the orignal cost, so if i bike cost be 10000$ in US if would come out be around 24,000$ by the time i get in in my garage in India, legally
that is.
2. Maintainence cost, India is place of dirt and grime, precisely why evn the 100cc bikes here have heavy duty full chain covers, so that dust doesent eat them away.
3.No service centres, very less people who have knowledge of how to fix such beasts.
Rest assured I would like to own a SBK pretty soon.
4. Non availability of parts. If something breaks … you can’t get a replacement and have to import it. I know a chap in chennai, with a ducati, whose fairing had cracked a year back .. and he still has not been able to get a replacement.
i thought import duties on bikes was around the 150 – 200 % mark.
quote:
Originally posted by sunny
2. Maintainence cost, India is place of dirt and grime, precisely why evn the 100cc bikes here have heavy duty full chain covers, so that dust doesent eat them away.I think that would be unfair to brand india as a dirty country. Yes , most of the cities are dirty, but just get away a bit and its paradise. Last week I had gone to Corbett National Park in the Gharwal Hills – and that place is just beautiful – uncomparable to anything else. You should also try out Darjeeling and Sikkim side… beautiful.
Nice story Sunny. Howabout, ‘Crouching tiger, hidden CO2″ for a title? I think most countries have got wannabe Schumachers in their cars, maybe you’ve got more over there.
140% import duty sucks! Hope the profits go into your roads mate!quote:
Originally posted by sunnycan u ride your bikes in jim corbett national park?[
}Nope.
No bikes allowed inside the national parks. You sure would not want to come face to face with an Elephant or a tiger on your bike [
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