Bye Bye Glady - Welcome Chotu !!

They say - Kabhi Alvida na Kehna!!!!

But i did exactly that this weekend..and trust me it wasn't a pleasant experience !!

It is often painful to say a Goodbye to anyone, especially if it’s someone or something very special and I have had to say exactly that this weekend. After a long and really refreshing ride Sunday morning I had to fulfill an obligation of returning the Yamaha Gladiator 125 DLX I had been riding for the past one year to someone. Yes it had a special place in my life and my heart as I had prepared a complete full fledged excel sheet with a lot of calculations built in to arrive at the selection of this motorcycle. Right form selecting the Cubic Capacity to the number of gears, Gearbox quality, Brand value, mileage to on road price also. I needed something which Rossi had ridden, Was an International brand, Had 5 Gears, Electric Start, Disc Brakes, Could generate more than 10 BHO and still return around 50 KMPL as mileage, besides being a good looking bike with stunning graphics. So I arrived at this one. The Gladiator!!!

I had named this bike "Silver Daze", and yes it was a BOY. SILVER because of its colour and DAZE because of its dazzling performance. It is still the best in its class I guess. During some of my recent Pune-Mumbai-Pune runs I managed to reach Mumbai in Under 2 Hours on this bike averaging a speed of 72kmph and chasing a Storm hence I renamed it "Storm Chaser". It did chase Thunderstorms and what not while gobbling up the tarmac. Only major expense was - I had to replace its clutch plates once after 10K kms owing to the maddening traffic in Mumbai City.

This bike was supposed to be a gift for my birthday but as things have turned out, I guess when people part ways even gifts have to be returned. So I had to return this Bike. I have completed around 12K kms on this bike and it was time for it to move on now. Now I had to look for a replacement for the Silver Daze. Luckily a fellow Nomad was popping off his bike and all I had to do was grab that up. Financials would be discussed later and the bike could be mine instantly.

So I embarked on the legendary ride back to Mumbai on the 5^th of August 2007 starting off at 5 in the evening just after the AMAZING friendship day ride with Nandu, Venkat n Suyash in the morninig, and despite getting reports of BAD rains in Mumbai but still going ahead with the plan. I rode through maddening rains, blinding thundershowers to reach Mumbai around 8ish and managed to finally hand over the Bike, Keys and Papers to the rightful owner. One last look at the Bike parked in the compound, wiped off one lonesome tear next to my eyelash and walked out to catch a rickshaw. Used this lousy mode of public transport an artifact created by some Looney creature playing with engines and wheels, I reached Reddy’s garage where my next steed was being done up.

My Next weapon of choice was a Bajaj Pulsar 180 DTSi V1. What do I call this bike? “CHOTU” for the time being – One because it’s the youngest and Two because that’s what I call the previous ride Arpan. This was the silver beast Arpan had been riding till he picked up the bigger 220 for himself. The bike was all done up, polished and shinning and looking its best ever. I had ridden a Pulsar a few weeks back and here it was again that I was doing the same thing. I took a few pointers form Arpan and then set off from Goregaon in Mumbai on the bike at around 10:40 P.M. This was obviously late for a Mumbai – Pune ride that too in monsoons.

I took a break at Vikhroli, the place where I used to live for nearly 2 years in Mumbai. Lovely place !!!!. Mumbai roads have been devastated in the rains. Even the new ones which were built a few months back have all been washed away and flooded. It’s a complete pain riding in Mumbai. I am so damn thankful I left this goddamn city. After tanking up with a masala chai at CCD Vikhroli, one of my favorite joints I rode off towards Pune. Traffic and bad roads made me reach Vashi around 12ish and there Rains suddenly increased to form a thick curtain of water forcing me off the damn road. With the spray of water coming from each truck wheel it was getting more and more difficult to keep the visor open and look at the road.

The ride was marred with frequent stretches where the rains would become so unbearable that I would reduce my speed to less than 30 kmph to keep myself going and squinting my eyes to see through the raindrops the road ahead. Finally as soon as I reached Khopoli the rains stopped and I started climbing the ghats with panache. As I climbed up I noticed the powerful lights on the bike made judging the curves better even in the pitch dark night and gobbling each curve with speed. This was the fastest ghat climb I have ever done on the Khopoli ghats ever in my life. Man what an achievement. As I neared Lonavala the cold started getting to me. I could feel a shiver travel down my spine as my rain soaked jeans and jacket were keeping me snugly CHILLED out!!

I took a break at the Lonavala Bus stand to stretch my legs and grab a cuppa tea. It was 1:35 and I was just a little distance from Pune. The bike was still doing good and the rains had slowed down quite a lot. A short break later I again moved and started off towards Pune. Riding madly through crosswinds which blew me off the road many a times around Kamshet area I managed to reach the outskirts of Pune soon. It was here that I was doing a good 100 kmph while maintaining 8K RPM when a HUGE 18 wheeler Truck over took me and blinded me with its spray. MAN this was the MAN. Yes Tempo, now FORCE is testing the new generation MAN trucks from Germany which they are launching in India. This was one huge machine. I trailed it all the way on NH 4 till I turned off the highway towards my home. I rode into my building parking lot and parked the Pulsar right at the same place where the Gladiator used to be parked. I glanced at the time. It was 3:00 A.M. WHATTA RIDE IT WAS!!!! I came home, changed, showered and huddled inside my quilt and dozed off almost instantly. Woke up way too late the next day but then MONDAY morning blues and Office Woes dragged me out and sent me packing to office on my new bad boy – The pulsar !! I have never been a great Bajaj fan but looks like there is a high conversion possibility.

Pics of the Outgoing Gladiator

Pics of the New Bike!

Until next time Keep riding !!