India's motorcycle diaries

Bullet Bose aka Subhash Chandra Bose VROOM FACTOR gtgt Indian racing legend With an illustrious career that includes over 250 racing trophies Bullet Bose not only dominated Indian motorcycle racing for over four decades but also was the fastest Bullet rider hence the name Bullet Bose of his time ldquoI donrsquot know why but people always thought I had a natural talent for racingrdquo says Bose who rode his first race on a Lambretta scooter in 1967 as anu00a018yearold Bose didnrsquot win the race but he got the attention and two years later he was all geared to take on the big guys with his Royal Enfield Bullet ldquoAt that time racing bikes were all road bikes Bullet Bose aka Subhash Chandra Bose A biker had to adapt his riding style according to the motorcycle But this factor helped us understand our bikes better We would tune them ourselves and improve them accordinglyrdquo he recalls Despite the challenges Bose dominated all the major racetracks in India mdash from Sholavaram in Chennai to Juhu Airport in Mumbai Barrackpore in Kolkata Safdarjung in Delhi and the Agram track in Bengaluru even as he also reigned over the rolling trophies presented only after a rider wins for three consecutive years Bose also became the face of popular bikes of his era including the Yamaha RX 100 Rajdoot RD 350 and Honda CZ 350 the first racing thoroughbred to arrive in India But Bullet remained his favourite ldquoOn the race track power is not the most important criteria What matters is handling and the Bullet was not only a sturdy bike but also handles betterrdquo he says Bose now 63 has moved his attention to representing and helping young riders but the passion lives as he continues to ride his Bullet on a racetrack at least once a week ldquoOnce you stop racing the fear kicks in And racing is something I canrsquot let go ofrdquo he admits Bose was conferred with an Honour Roll Award at the India Bike Week that ended in Goa on February 3 Bullet Bose u00a0with his Royal Enfield during his racing days Gaurav Jani VROOM FACTOR gtgt Filmmaker documents biking trips Gaurav Jani is known around the world for his documentaries that capture the nomadic spirit of a biker His first introduction to this life of a biker happened while working with Ram Gopal Verma for his film Jungle where he spent six months in the forest searching for locations for the film When the film was completed he quit his job and started on a solo journey to the Changthang Plateau in Ladakh bordering China ldquoI wanted to capture lives away from the cities So when I met these guys who were living a nomadic life at 15000 feet above sea level I was fascinatedrdquo he recalls Jani spent months living with nomadic clans in the region capturing their daily life The footage led to the film Riding Solo on Top of The World which has won 11 awards His next film One Crazy Ride took him on the uncharted roads across the Arunachal Pradesh a road many said didnrsquot exist Currently Jani is working on his next documentary film Motorcycle Chang Pa that captures his oneyear journey across the high altitude Changthang desert in the Himalayas It is slated to be released soon Filmmaker Gaurav Jani Kunal Bhaskaran VROOM FACTOR gtgt Plans to build the fastest Bullet to race at Bonneville Salt Track in Utah Bhaskaran has only one aim in his life mdash to touch the 250kph mark on Bonnevillersquos Salt Race Track in Utah USA The automobile engineer has been working on building the fastest Bullet for over four years now ldquoI have managed to touch 170172 kph at the moment and am hoping to touch at least 200 before using a Nitrous Oxide kit The bike is not yet complete and would require some more time but Irsquom determined to cross the 250 kph markrdquo he says Kunal says that the Bonneville is one of the toughest tracks and requires one to maintain a top speed over a distance of five km If the bike tuned well the engine could blowup Despite the risk Bhaskaran seems confident and looks at it as a personal goal ldquoItrsquos about building something unique and being able to say that you had the knowhow to do itrdquo he believes Kunal Bhaskaran Anand Bhalerao amp Dean Fernandes VROOM FACTOR gtgtDeveloped Indiarsquos first VTwin engine After six years and lakhs of rupees this enterprising duo has finally completed their VTwin engine The duo started work in 2007 but the first two years were spent on just designing the engine and the rest on building it They picked up raw materials on their own and built the engine from scratch Since Anand was an expert in Aluminium die cast the white metal seemed like the most apt choice Anand Bhalerao u00a0and Dean Fernandes with their RE with VTwin engine ldquoExcept for the old RE Royal Enfield block and the head everything from the fish rod clutch cranks oil pumps mdash we built them on our ownrdquo he says After several trialanderror attempts and modifications on August 16 2012 they kickstarted their VTwin engine based on an old RE chasis with an impressive 45degree bent between the two cylinders The bike is designed in Cafeacute racer style made popular in the UK in the 1980s ldquoWe are currently in talks with RE guys to build bikes around that enginerdquo he saysu00a0