Bombay Bikers:
Blowing Dirt Building Friendships
‘Roads, Rides & Riding’
By Ujjwal Dey
About Us:Bombay Bikers was formed on July 2006 with the desire to ride free wherever, whenever. Kamal Sharma (founder-member) set up a website with a forum to make it accessible and communicative across the city. Riding most weekends, trips are set up online. Riders vote to pick the date and there is a common consensus on destination.
URL:
http://www.bombaybikers.com/ Bombay Bikers is an informal group of friends with a passion for biking. We welcome any motorcycle and encourage riders to be confident of their ride and riding. The speed is immaterial; it is the trip that matters. We ride in formation or in teams. The leader stays in front and the others keep pace. No man is left behind and there will always be someone to lend a hand when you need it.
Most of our trips are within 150 KM distance from Bombay. The idea is to ride for a weekend getaway and reach home the same day. We do also have overnight trips like the July 2007 one to Alibaug-Murud. But distance has never stopped us from riding where we want to go. Independence Day Ride to Trambakeshwar Temple this year was almost 350 KM to and fro; done in a single day’s riding.
Emphasis is on enjoying riding your favourite wheels on a long trip, seeing new places around Bombay-Thane-Navi Mumbai, honing your mechanical talent and discovering trusty friends. The ride usually has enough breaks for a newbie to stay focussed. Riders who want to stay on the safe side and leisurely pace always catch up at these halts.
‘Why Motorcycles?’ you may ask. ‘Why not?’ Motorcycles let you feel the road, breathe the atmosphere, live the location, you are one with your environment. The thrill of riding is only known to the rider. Join us and find your destination, en route we will rock the weary roads.
The Trips: Bombay Bikers website has the Announcement section where new rides are announced regularly. You can discuss your doubts on the forum and confirm attendance online. Meeting point is decided with more than one location if people ride from different parts of Bombay. You can view links to photo albums of previous trips and a list of rides we have done over the past months at our website. Safety is key element on biking tours and we suggest proper riding gear – from helmet, jackets, boots to spares, tools and cash. It is best to regularly service your bike and ride it for a few days to test it before going on a long trip.
Outside city limits mechanics and spares are rare, but our riders are always there to assist you as mutual co-operation. We have even setup a Virtual Garage where we can all learn and teach common bike repairs. Do-it-yourself is the way to go but fellow riders will be there with you throughout.
The Bikes:We expect that our riders love their bikes as much as riding bikes. So you should maintain your wheels well. There is no restriction as such on make/model of bike for nearby rides, in and around Bombay. But for long haul trips like 2008 planned trip to Ladakh it is best to have a higher capacity vehicle like a Bullet or 200+ cc bike and the same is suggested.
A machine needs servicing, clean oil, enough fuel and any of the current Indian bikes do well enough on trips that we do. In fact a Caliber was with a pillion on the trip to Trambakeshwar (near Nashik), so don’t worry about the sturdiness of these bikes. They can go the distance and some more. If you carry spares it will be a good investment and even if they are unused after the trip, they remain a good asset for the future.
Personal Details:We are an active lot at Bombay Bikers. We expect that the members we have update their profiles and stay connected. Profiles that are defunct or unreachable are discarded. Numbers don’t mean a thing; it’s the active participation on trips that’s the bottom line. We even collect details such as Emergency contacts, Blood group and allergies to be prepared.
Fellow enthusiasts who can’t ride the sometimes rough routes we pick can always ride pillion and enjoy the outing. The primary objective is having fun.
All are welcome as we come together for a journey that stays with you a lifetime.
2007 so far:Starting off with Uran and Manor earlier in the year, we joined XBHP.com riders for a grand gathering of Mumbai and Pune bikers at Amby Valley, Lonavla in June 2007. There was heavy rain, water logging, deep potholes and yet over 50 bikers showed up for the meet (24 June 2007). Next Bombay Bikers planned extensively for a 2 day trip to Alibaug and Murud. We booked a new resort near Alibaug and got there on 21st July. We, as always, ride early in the morning and spend the day sightseeing. Lots of interesting places around Alibaug and next day we rode to Mandwa beach and Murud. We took a slow sailboat ride to Janjeera Fort as well. The stay at
Mauli Resort was very pleasant with Rs. 500 per head per night inclusive of breakfast, lunch, dinner and tea/coffee. The roads were bad but the sunny weather kept us upbeat. We packed, heading into the night at 11 PM of 22nd July towards Mumbai; out again in the pitch black route lighted by our sharp headlights and awoken by the sound of the thundering Bullets. NH4 was spooky to say the least, twisting and turning among the forest of the Bird Sanctuary as they cast weird shadows in the night. We blasted on and kept pace with each other and reached Navi Mumbai. We said our goodbyes and rode hard to get to our homes. All of us were back to work on Monday morning, few hours after we reached home.
August saw rapid plans for trips. Sunday the 12th we were joined by a few riders from XBHP.com to Kelwa beach (past Manor). We rode onto the sandy floor of the beach, even digging into it with our rear tyres. Independence Day we decided on a trip to Tramabkeshwar Temple (near Nashik) through NH3. Very bad roads, heavy traffic and some rains failed to dampen our festive spirit on Independence ride. All our bikes sported small Indian Flags and we rode through Kasara Village to Viatarna Dam and onto the gates of Lord Mahadev. The Ghats were treacherous but we kept good speed to clear them before sundown to reach the Highway (near Igatpuri) by 7PM heading home. Everyone stayed together, tailing each other and we saw through 2 punctures and 2 carb problems. Decent roads in Thane to Bhiwandi pass was most thrilling as I touched 100 KMPH for the first time on my Bullet here.
Coming up are trips to Jawhar and Goa.
Dated: 25 Aug 2007
