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Zooming off in style

The craze for customising bikes stems from a desire for cool image. PRINCE FREDERICK meets a few owners

KICKSTARTING A TREND: Leon Ireland on his chopper Moksha.

When rocker Leon Ireland is out on his chopper, jaws drop. Because the bike glows with metallic colours and parts of it have been soused in a huge chrome pool. Its fuel tank resembles a snake's hood and its handlebar, a perfect V (Leon calls it `the Flying V'). "I bought a used Bullet for Rs. 14,000 and spent six times as much to give the bike a new character and look."

Leon is part of a small group in the city that swears by customised bikes. They don't grudge the mechanic a hefty bill, if he could turn the bike into "something never-seen-before in town." Part of the fetish for customisation derives from a desire to create a cool image. "Most of the people who ride customised bikes are from the entertainment industry," says Mohammed Arif, who is in the business of making such bikes.

One of a kind

Leon says his bike is an attention-grabber, "but that's not what I like most about it. At such moments when it draws admiring stares, I squirm with discomfort. I decided to get a chopper done after seeing a few episodes of `The Bikers Build-off' (on Discovery Channel) in which the participants modify their bikes for the competition."

Leon, however, adds that a customised bike goes well with the image of a rock musician — because each customised bike has a design structure that is unique and rock musicians don't constitute a big section of any given population. For this reason, Leon has named the bike after his band Moksha. On its fuel tank, it carries the Moksha logo.

Platinum's disk jockey Karan considered customising his bike, but baulked at it when the costs loomed into sight. "Once you start doing it, you are never satisfied with what you have. The self-starter alone costs Rs. 15,000. The mono-shocks and disc brakes demand their pile. Why, the paint job can blow a big hole in the pocket — it can cost anywhere from Rs. 3,000 to Rs. 5,000, depending on what you get. Customised bikes require constant touching up, because they invite curious stares which invariably lead to touching and scratching."

Having said that, Karan argues for customisation. "You can put all your creative thoughts into the effort and take pleasure from the fact that there is no other bike in the world like yours. This can mean a lot to people who see their bike as more than a Point-A to Point-B machine."

Nitin Jadav with his modified bike that cost a fortune.

Arif says there are two other groups that go in for customised bikes — those in the age group 18 to 25 and those who earn their bread and butter repairing and restoring bikes.

Middle-aged Nitin Jadav runs a garage in Baroda, and his modified bike is a mobile advertisement for him. His 350 cc Bullet has borrowed a load of things from scooters and cars and SUVs. A Lambretta and an Ambassador contributed their shock absorbers, a Dolphin donated its suspension springs, the Qualis made over two of its tyres and the Maruti Esteem lent its pistons. Its magnificent proportions make the bike unique. It took Nitin five years and the cost of a middle-range car to `build' this behemoth.

"The younger lot choose to customise because such bikes are the best bet to draw attention," says Arif.

Since most in this group may not have the money needed to dictate the design to the mechanic, they settle for customised bikes that are up for sale. Delin William, who rides a 1984 Rajdoot Yamaha because "this old bike harnesses the power of the gust", has an uncomplimentary definition for those who customise bikes for the sake of looks. "They are not serious bikers."

He feels cruisers and choppers are slower and are poor at negotiating curves.

Another downside is the law — there is a limit to how much you can chop and change an original bike.

"Unless the original seating, frame and engine are intact, the man in white-and-khaki can haul you to the station," says Arif.

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