Life in the fast lane
Men have long been known for their love affair with the mean machines. Who can ever forget Tom Cruise on his super bike in Top Gun? Closer home John Abraham, Shahid Kapoor, Salman Khan, M.S. Dhoni and others have gone around flaunting their love for these fancy bikes.
Actors and adventurers have dreamt of superbikes and were importing some of these expensive ones from foreign shores. And now that they have become a reality on our city roads, there’s no stopping the fast and furious lot.
Bike manufacturers are raking in the moolah what with the big war in high-end motorcycle segment. The young and adventurous are excited with the entry of Harley Davidson, Ducati and others priced between `15 lakh onwards, some even going beyond `50 lakh to 1 crore.
Cricketer Manish Pandey, who has made his mark in cricket, is a die-hard bike freak. Manish reveals, “My other passion besides cricket is bikes. Speed gives me thrills. I ride my 1000 cc Honda CVR bike, on the new airport road in Bengaluru with a group of 10 friends. I bought my bike for `13 lakh, but when you like something you don’t mind spending a tad extra. Good things don’t come cheap.”
When Sandalwood superstar Puneeth Rajkumar drove a modified skeleton bike in the Kannada film Anna Bond, it was Prakruthi Banavasi who won applause for his fabulous work on the bike modification. Prakruthi says, “I have always had a passion for bikes and have an unbeatable track of driving from Mumbai to Bengaluru in record time. I modified actor Puneeth’s bike completely, which was made on a mould. Bike modifications are in huge demand and people are ready to spend anywhere between `6 to 12 lakh, which is over and above the cost of the bike. I’m again working on a bike, for which parts are coming from all over the country. Earlier only a foreign bike was a novelty, but now people ask for modifications and also increase in torque value and extended port.”
There’s no denying the fact that even women like dating guys with high-end bikes.
Ahmed Abbas, who runs a sports marketing company and rides a lime green, Kawasaki Ninja 650 that he bought for over `6 lakh says, “There are track bikes and street bikes. I love the free feeling when I ride my bike and I have no qualms in saying that girls love to see us in cool bikes. I love the compliments I get when I ride mine. I might add another exhaust for more power. Besides the thrill of the attention from girls, we also do bike club meets and go on highways on weekends for fun rides.”
Agrees Rohit Giri, a professional bike racer, who rides a Honda CBR600RR HRC and loves it, “My bike was particularly manufactured only for circuit racing and has the best world-class equipment like racing ECU, suspension, exhaust, steering dampers, racing bubble, special compound tyres for improved performance and speed. It cost `18 lakh after all the modifications.”
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