[Sabareesh]

Like any typical Indian family, my parents were apprehensive to buy me a bike during my college days. They had already received many complaints about me driving the hell out of my mom's Kinetic Honda. I somehow managed to convince my dad for a bike and felt victorious, but my happiness was short lived. I used to drool over Yamaha & Shaolin like any other college lad, a fantasy of pulling wheelies to impress the chicks was brutally killed as dad had a different plan altogether.

He had made up his mind to get a Splendor or KB Boxer at the most. There goes my dream off the window to own a Yamaha or a Suzuki . I had no other choice but to accept his offer, at least Splendor or Boxer were good bikes and were much better than the 6 year old beaten up Kinetic Honda then.

We visited a nearby Bajaj dealer to check out the Boxer, I followed him reluctantly to the showroom. After 30 minutes of inspection and brochure collection, the salesman failed to impress us, Dad somehow did not like the bike and I was happy. While our way back home, dad spotted another bike showroom and wanted to check couple of bikes there. As an obedient kid, I walked behind him. Little did I know that it would be one of the best days in my life to get trustworthy companion who has stayed with me for 8 years and will continue to stay forever.

To be continued.....

[IronWolf]

Nice write up Saba,

I checked your Gallery to see if I could find out which bike. I guess you are building the suspense just right.

Let me slip this in:

About 13 years back @16yrs of age. I was scheduled to get a Kinetic Honda, however something happened and we could not buy a bike. It was a day I regretted
for a very long time.

Many months later within that year I got a Yamaha RX. That 12 year old bike is in the basement of my office as I type this out. Its stock and running well except for the custom paint job.

Kudos to all of you who kept your first motorbike.

[headers]

Originally Posted by Sabareesh

I used to drool over Yamaha & Shaolin like any other college lad, a fantasy of pulling wheelies to impress the chicks was brutally killed

You could pull a wheelie of a Hero Honda too. My friend used to do that in college decades ago!

But its not as simple as the Rx-100

[UniqueMods]

Originally Posted by IronWolf

Kudos to all of you who kept your first motorbike.

I agree with you 100%. i couldn't even thinking of selling my 8yr old baby - Kbajaj Caliber, also sitting outside my office.
There are just too many memories with first college age rides. even if it doesn't look like the Fx16, its just too special.

KBajaj Caliber 2000 Oct model with 111000KM on the odometer. it only shows 11000 as was reset to 0 after 99999.

UM

[thiyags22]

Originally Posted by headers

You could pull a wheelie of a Hero Honda too. My friend used to do that in college decades ago!

But its not as simple as the Rx-100

It was easy with a pillion

[mail4loys]

You just got me remined of my Suzuki Samurai (1996 model) it is in stock and still running without any major issues other than few rattles!! Waiting for your write-up

[silver_shadow]

damn the suspense is killing us already

[P1tBull]

I feel the same way about my 12 year old KB 125. She is noisy, a petrol guzzler, and does not run in the rain but I love her.
She will stay with me forever. I recently had her restored and then a bit, but its harder to get parts nowadays.
Pity I hardly get to ride my bike now.

[jango]

Nice writeup Sabareesh, you just reminded me of my RX-100 which has clocked more than 1.70L Kms on the odo, 15yrs old and still running sturdy !!

[aka_iitd]

1.7L wow
What was the major expenses during this period.

[esteem_lover]

Originally Posted by aka_iitd

1.7L wow
What was the major expenses during this period.

Surely there would have been at least 3 rebuilds of the engine.

@sabreesh... is it a splendour ?

[thiyags22]

please break the suspense. Was it a YAMAHA?

[Sabareesh]

Thanks for your response friends, the story continues...

As the showroom we visited belonged to a Direct Selling Agent, we had a good chance to check out bikes of different manufacturers under a single roof. Splendor was my dad's favorite because his elder brother used to have a CD100 and dad was floored by its reliability and simplicity. I had a different perspective altogether about the bike, while dad was busy checking his favorite bike, I was loitering around the smart Yamaha steeds parked aside.

In a corner, I spotted a bike which was looking relatively different from the others. It was bulky, naked and looked as if it boasted a 150 cc engine, upon closer inspection, I could read the graphics printed on its fuel tank. I had never seen this bike before and checked with the showroom guy. He told me that it was a new arrival from a firm which got into bike market quite recently. It sported a fat tyre at the rear, The instrumental console was looking neat with 2 chromed cups holding the Speedo and Tacho.

The fuel guage, Neutral light, Indicator Signal Light & Hi-beam lights were accomodated in a squarish panel between the 2 cups. I had to admit that I started liking the bike, it had created a soft corner in my heart despite of being a newcomer without any solid brand image in India.

Suddenly, I heard dad calling me...

To be continued...

[Mistakenguy]

IS it the LML Energy ???

[Ricci]

150cc ? Graptor , I think not , didn't have a chromed meter unit IIRC.
It was a Kinetic GF125 ? Not a 150 actually . Its big brother later came in 166cc in two versions .