Monday, March 16, 2009

Now that I am on the other side ....

Its been the same ever since Yamaha launched its prohibitively expensive R15. I wait at one of Bangalore's never ending traffic lights, a lucky sod on his R15 happens to be near me & all I can do till the lights turn green is stare at the bike with fond eyes & think that the guy owning it is one super lucky & not to foret rich sod. And so all I could do is wait - wait till my bank balance grew to the levels where I could think of buying one for myself. There's a reason why Im not very fond of being patient ......
Anyways to cut a long story short (truly is one long story, but thats another tale for another day) I picked up my blue R15 today. Which has led me to the current state that I am in - flat broke. I used to & still do keep telling my friend, "dost, money will come today & go tomorrow"; all I can say is I hope tomorrow is the first of the month cause thats when my paycheck lands in my bank ......
Ive made a firm decision not to take the bike above 65 kmph (well I did 65 already today, so thats as far as I will go) for the first 1000 kms. Did around 20 of those patient 1000 kms today. Few thouhts - the bike has a really really sporty seating position. By really really sporty seating position I mean I have to lean forward with all my weight on my wrists, my neck hurts due to my heavy (but wonderful) helmet & my legs ache cause they are too rear set. The back brake is rubbish right now (need to get it bled during my first service) Plus theres a slight (I can barely hear it to be honest) hum from the visor which I need to get tightened. To top that, since the fairing & the mirrors are so wide in comparison to other bikes, wriggling through traffic is a strict no-no. After riding it for 15 minutes my body was in acute pain. Do I think its the biggest wrongest decision I have made ? Oh hell no !
I mean just look at it. The bike is super sexy from all angles (ok so the rear isnt all that smoking but thats nitpicking). The first time I sat on the bike started it up & stopped to admire the lovely sculpted tank & that gorgeous fairing my knees went week. I guess it is akin to the feeling that our Bollywood heroes try to portray when they see the heroine for the first time in the middle of a crowd. I dont even know what gear I ride the bike in, it just pulls and pulls and keeps pulling irrespective of what gear I am in. And as the speeds build my confidence in the bike grows exponentially. Trust me people, this is one value for money bike.

Finally the best part, there I was at a traffic signal when the guy driving a Korean sedan parked next to me looks at the bike with more emotion in his eyes than all the above mentioned Bollywod heroes can muster in all their films combined & turns his gaze to his car (causing the smile to be replaced by a slightly unhappy look) & then turns back to look at the bike like a little child looking at a gift in a toy store which he really really wants but cannot get. That one moment was in a word - Priceless.

4 comments:

Buls said...

Hahahaha!!! Good one...

MaVeRiCk said...

Hey...congrates...
Hope i'll join the club soon :-)

Rambler said...

dude, i've got scheduled visit to B'lore next week... test drive possible eh????

Aby Abraham said...

Congrats...!!!
Even i m the proud owner of sexy red R15 on Mar 11th from Orion Motors, Near Forum. Its great to be on this machine. My number is Ka 01 EL 6127, oh, we are pretty close. Even, i thought never to go above 70 mark. I crossed 85 two times, but, well under 5K Rpm. I m goin for my first service on Saturday.

All the best, again neil