[anekho]

Age: 18
Tutor: J
Car: VW Golf & Volvo S40
Super long write up: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/street...xperience.html

[jyotirupam]

My tryst with the two wheelers was at the age of 13.

My father purchased a Bajaj Super in 1992. I learned the first lessons of a geared two wheelers in that Bajaj Super. Initially I roamed around our house front and learned the balancing etc. all by myself. My brother was always at the pillion or sometimes nearby watching and commenting on my skills. But the lack of theoretical knowledge or guidance from an older person resulted a very funny Sunday afternoon on my first outing with the scooter.

I still remember when I took out the Scooter for the first time from my home and made some good three four rounds in the main road, the traffic was almost zero at that time and moreover it was a Sunday afternoon. Then I saw my brother informed my father and others that I was doing rounds in the road all alone. Although I was moving the scooter mostly at a very slow speed in 2nd and 3rd gear I decided to come back to home with the scooter before any warm homecomings! We had a incline towards the entrance of our house. That moment I thought the 4th Gear is the most powerful gear and I shifted to 4th gear near the incline and revved the accelerator.

The Bajaj refused to climb the incline after a few meters and stalled before the audience! I was stranded in halfway of the 3 feet wide incline with a locked geared scooter and jeering audience. My father rescued me from falling and gave the required tips to balance, gears and handed me the service manual.

Next Sunday afternoon was a like a cool breeze with the scooter with the pool of reloaded knowledge and confidence. The scooter was still with us till 2008.

My four wheel driving lessons started in a driving school nearby which I attended for three days only. The driving lessons were carried out in a good old Maruti Car with a 5 km driving per person and 2 minutes of reversing lesson. For the first two days I was asked to observe by sitting next to the instructor and on the third day he let me touch the steering only, he managed the gears, accelerator, clutch, brake etc. all by himself.

That day evening I called a known driver from my neighborhood and he agreed to teach me. First day itself after showing the basic things he handed me the driving seat and told, ‘Drive’. Whoa! ‘Yes you can’, he said, and after a false start and few jumps due to the adjustments of clutch-gear-accelerator I drove off! Almost within a week he taught me all the required techniques and ‘graduated’ me by announcing that from that time I can manage myself.

[drmohitg]

Age: 16
Tutor: My mama ( one of those mama-bhanja things )
Car: Good old Maruti Omni and later Zen.
Location: Delhi

[arjithin]

Two wheeler - age 8 on a Yezdi.
Four wheeler - age 13 on a 1972 Mark II Amby.

Location - backside of our home (until age 15 or so.)

Tutor - Mostly self learned, with father helping to finetune the skills.

[rajeshchand]

Age: 24
Tutor: Tutor
Car: Maruti 800
Location: Kanpur

The tutor was a very good idealistic and first few days were mostly talking about sticking to the rules of the road rather than just driving skills, that helps me even today to keep a cool head while driving. Driving skills came later with the tutor as he was of the opinion that if someone knows the rules then driving becomes easier. That holds so true even today.

[deadguy25]

Two Wheeler:

Age - 13
Tutor - Dad
Vehicle - Bajaj Chetak
Location - A village in Tamil Nadu

Four Wheeler:

Age - 19
Tutor - Tutor
Car - Maruthi 800
Location - Bangalore

[rayjaycleoful]

Age: 15
Tutor: A friend
Car: Ford Fusion 1.6
Location: Gurgaon

[ciddharth]

4 Wheeler
Age :12
Tutor : My Uncle
Car : Maruti Suzuki Zen (carbureted and Non PS version)
Location : Inside building compound and quiet lanes in my vicinity, Mumbai

Was taught well by my uncle, within 2 days I learned to have control of the vehicle without it stalling. My elder sister who was taught at the same time just couldn't grasp it and hasn't learned to drive in 7 years. It was fun then to see the astonished look on passersby on seeing me driving as I looked younger than my age when I would sneak out the car and would drive out from the exit only to enter back from the other gate. (Was scolded thoroughly for doing this)


2 Wheeler
Age : 18.5
Tutor : Mechanic
Motor bike : HH Glamor, HH CD Deluxe



I had no interest in bikes or its way of functioning at all until I was bought one to commute to college. Had a harrowing experience initially and my promises to my parents for being careful and cautious on the road. I’m now almost completing a year in it and I enjoy my ride even if it’s an economical and no frills bike. Have a certain bond with my bike and intend to keep it even when I upgrade with my own money later in the future.

[Arkesh]

4 wheeler
Age 15 years from my dad on a fiat 1100d. Awesome memories of our blue fiat 1100 d.
I practiced driving by taking the car in and out of garage.

[NMM]

4 wheeler
When- 1992 (12 years old)
Tutor - cousin brother. We had got a brand new 800 in the family ( type 2 ) & used to visit the then newly developed hiranandani gardens powai every weekend. Back then hiranandani gardens was the perfect place to learn driving and cruise around since there was practically no traffic and the roads were large & no cops for miles. My cousin then 19 would take advantage of the situation & after lunch we would go cruising and one fine day he got fed up of me pestering him to let me drive & let me take the wheel. I still remember how shocked I was when he actually said yes. I remember I drove one round of this desolated stretch on a sleepy tranquil Sunday afternoon & was on TOP of the world. I drove smoothly with no hiccups changing gears upto 4th gear. The only issue was I remember looking down at the gears when changing gears to which my cousin said if you do this on main street you will have an accident. Change gears intuitively !!! Coming to think about it sunday afternoons there was this whole bunch of teenagers cruising ( many with fathers) around hiranandani gardens back then till say 1995 - 1996 when it became this bustling township.

2 wheeler

When - 1996 ( 16 years old)
Tutor - a buddy on his spanking new black Suzuki showgun. Started with an involuntary wheelie.

[Arvind6488]

Two Wheeler:

My dad taught me to ride a bicycle and with his help I started learning to ride a Moped as well. My first riding class was when I was in my 4th Standard (1997). My dad owned a TVS Champ. I should accept that it was my mom who actually taught me to ride. She would allow me to take the moped for a ride everytime I memorize a lesson and answer her questions from it. If I pass I get to ride the Champ. This interest for riding Two Wheelers grew up with my age and thereon became a practise to ride bikes.

Four Wheelers:

As soon as I completed my Class 12 exams I was free and my dad sent me to a driving school where one of his office drivers worked as a part time tutor. So I joined the driving school and learnt driving cars (2005).

[Arch-Angel]

4 wheeler:

Tutors:

1. Driving school
2. Cousin Brother
3. Myself

Cars used:

1. MS Zen
2. Hyundai Santro
3. Tata Manza
4. Ford figo

Age: 19

2 wheeler (geared)

Tutors:

1. Cousin Brother
2. Myself

Vehicles used:

1. HH splendor
2. HH CD 100 Deluxe
3. Bajaj Pulsar

Age: 16

2 wheeler (Non geared):

Tutor:

Myself .

Vehicle used: TVS scooty.

Age: 15

In no way do i condone underage driving on roads and all my learning was done on a private track with a controlled environment (Read: Apartments!).

[e2p]

We had an Ambassador at home and I learned driving in that car. It was at my age of 15 and my guru was our driver. He was a very old person and had great respect to cars. His moto was that if you give respect and love your car, it will love back and try to keep you safe always. Till date I have found this very true.

I must confess that I had driven the car without a driving license for 2-3 years. At that time the roads were not crowded with vehicles, so it was an easy deal, but was always accompanied by a licensed driver. Also I was taught under strict guidance and all mistakes were punished (bang on the head) during the learning days. My guru is no longer in this world. But I rememeber him always before I switch on the ignition - all the days I have driven a car. I know that he is guiding me always - no untoward incidents till now.

Learned riding a scooter years after getting an LMV license. It was around the age of 22. Guru was my friend, in a Bajaj Super. Then HH Splendor, guru same again.

[PetrolRider]

4 Wheeler:

Age :18 (Dad was very particular about driving age)
Tutor : Dad
Car : M800 Std
Location : Bhubaneswar, Odisha

2 Wheeler:

Age :13
Tutor : Self (Dad was staying away from home for a year due to work location and I was given charge to start the bike every alternate day with the main stand on. Rest of the story is obvious)
Bike : Hero Honda CD 100 Deluxe
Location : In the parking area

[SujineRaj]

Age : 19 Years

Tutor: A local driving school

Where: Yeshwanthpur and Mathikere in Bangalore

Car : Tata Sumo

Ha, the driving school just got me a hold of steering, changing gears and of course the driving license. The tougher part was always after that, used to move our Tata Sumo in and out of our parking at home. Then gradually drove it out of my home for short distances ( Without My dads Knowledge , especially since i crashed the car while reversing at home). After i got the confidence that i would not crash anywhere started to take it for longer distances.