[sujay bhandare]

A Massive Shoutout to Mohanrides for thinking of such a meet and our legendary Sukiwa sir for making this meet happen with quite a big number of attendees. This meet was very special for every biker as till now nothing had happened on this scale on our forum. I was particularly very happy to meet the biker side of most of our Car Enthusiasts and see their mean machines, listen to their stories of how they met with their bike, their experiences with the bike and on road. The meet was filled with some Badass Big Bikes which few of us can either see them parked in showroom or lucky enough to see them fly by on the highway.

Initially, due to work commitments I was not sure whether I would be able to attend the meet. But this man Mohanrides pestered me continuously to attend the meet. And yes I was there with my BAE (Ninja 650). Thank you Mohan for pestering me so much.

The ID cards with our forum handles was a nice touch and then the Cake. That was a surprise for everyone. While everyone were giving their best efforts to finish the last pieces of their sandwiches and pizzas, Mohan announced there is desert round remaining and most of them raised their eye brows. But everyone jumped in gladly for the cake cutting ceremony.

I was really happy to be part of that event and wish that these meets happen often as many biking stories have left untold in this meet.

Originally Posted by mohansrides

While on this subject, GTO and team please take note. You guys would do well to add Team BHP name tags as a SKU in the store section. I know that I would buy a dozen of those and stick them on every piece of motorcycle gear that I own.

While on road where we are able to spot our forum member cars from the Team BHP stickers, for bikers it is not possible as other than the small website URL sticker we have nothing to mark our presence. A few stickers for our forum Biking Community are badly needed.

Originally Posted by Maverick5490

Attaching a few pics of the organizers!

Thank you for clicking our organizers in one frame. Also I am guessing the only photos of Mohanrides. He was busy capturing moments throughout the event.

Originally Posted by YCJ

Just hoping that some of us lesser mortals get to see sukiwa sir in person soon��

YCJ sir. A humble legend in between even more lesser mortals like us ��

Now my set of pictures, though this time I was more in listening to stories that clicking photos. Only a few I was able to click.

Proudly displaying my name tag inside my scale model collections showcase.

The gathering before going to the Mapro's Parking lot




Entering the Parking Lot with our Machines




The Tall Boys



2 Kwackers ZX-6R and my N650

[surjaonwheelz]

Hello Riders,


It was an awesome meet and ride! Though in running-in period of my Interceptor I couldn't be as fast as others. I met folks from Pune after a brief hiatus from the local meet up scenes. It was great meeting them again.


mohansrides & sukiwa were on top of their target! Hats off to Mohan for the silent backstage preparations, I-cards, Flex, back-door entry (literally), parking & cake all were top class.


sukiwa is already being contacted by local politicians to gather people to attend a party rally!
No wonder he maintains such a low profile.


The machines were best of the best and so varied, from the committed Daytona to the Africa Twin Automatic! From the legendary CBR954RR to the newest ZX6R and all in between. After reading GTO's post I realized that there were no Harley's!


jaysmokesleaves narration of his travel was so enthralling that he had undivided attention (mohan captured it well)! Jay be active on the forum we would definitely be inspired by the lakhs of kms of experience!

This was a perfect meet but I'm sure if we post such meet ups on the forum then the turn out would be even more! Hope we meet more often


Ride Safe
surjaonwheelz

[ishan12]

My first reaction was, how did I miss this?

But good to see so many people turning up. Hopefully there will be more such meets in future with a prior thread, so that all interested can join.

[mohansrides]

Originally Posted by moralfibre

mohansrides and sukiwa, you two have taken planning and execution of meets to the next level....Kudos to all the bikers who made it for this meet without any compromise on safety gear. As always safety first.

moralfibre........Thank you for coming. Your presence as a Team BHP moderator (along with manson) was huge for us. Also, you took the words out of my mouth. Yes, the safety gear on display was super impressive.

Originally Posted by GTO

Great meet, great people & great motorcycles . Mohansrides & Sukiwa: what exceptional planning, guys! The pictures sure tell a story...can only imagine what it was like for everyone who was there.

Thank you for being a part of our celebration! Happy Birthday, Team-BHP.

GTO...Thank you for officially sanctioning the use of the Team BHP logo for the banner and badge. I was originally going to use a screen-grab. But, during one of my commutes to work, it occurred to me that rather than working by myself outside of official oversight, that it may be a better idea to work the network and ask for official permission through the Team BHP staff. I immediately moved the car into the service road and stopped by the side. I made a few phone calls and within 5 minutes, I had your email. The rest, you know already.

Originally Posted by Maverick5490

..I cleared my schedule for the first half and attended the ride/meet...The location was great, with ample parking, no crowd and lots of space to ourselves with enormous proportions of food!

Maverick5490... you actually had more to do with the success of the meet than you know. Fact is that you were the first call that I made when I was looking for a way to reach the Team BHP office.

I was also really anxious for you to make it. If you remember, after I came back to motorcycling, you were the first BHPian to bring me into the fold, so to speak. I rode first with you and Gaurav. So, I really wanted you to make it to this meet.

Originally Posted by amrutmhatre90

Damn I wish I was part of this meet.

Originally Posted by jd10ent

Damn.. I missed this. I wish I didn't have the family commitments that I had this weekend...:

We made every effort to reach the both of you. I think Maverick5490 reached out to Amrut on our behalf, and sukiwa emailed James. But, both of you were busy. Anyways, next time, I am hoping that you guys will be there.

Originally Posted by Axe77

What a fantastic meetup, immaculately planned by mohansrides and sukiwa......hopefully this is something we can adopt for all meets going forward.

Axe77... Next time, I hope that we will get to see your Tiger. People will be interested in hearing about your journey from RE to STP to Tiger.

Originally Posted by deepfreak15

... I have a bone to pick with you! TBHP is an inclusive forum, what made you guys think KA riders wouldn't want to join in the fun? . In fact our own Ethanhunt123 rode to Kholapur for some mutton and ended up in Pune because he had time to spare.

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Now that GTO has clarified on motorcycle meets - how about a south zone Team-Bhp motorcyclists meet in Goa?

Originally Posted by Cartik5477

Looks like mohansrides and sukiwa have their work cut-out, cannot wait for future meets. And hope //M can join us too.

Originally Posted by //M

I would so love to do this and relive the memories with you all !

Going by deepfreak15's logic, we should have reached out to every biker on Team BHP !! We did not do so for simple logistical reasons. The meet was at 8 AM in Lonavala, and possibly going to last only an hour, or two, at best. We just didn't think that it was realistic for other geographical nodes to participate. But, I take your point in the larger sense. Maybe, we will soon feel ambitious enough to organize an inter-state meet. Speaking of which, CrAzY dRiVeR, Cartik5477 and //M..... , maybe we can make that a Goa meet for south and west zone people. I am not kidding. I am willing to participate in the organization of such a meet.

Originally Posted by YCJ

Just hoping that some of us lesser mortals get to see sukiwa sir in person soon😜

Come to a meet and sukiwa will magically appear in front of you. Seriously though, sukiwa is freakin awesome.

Originally Posted by AlQuazi

..Would have loved to attend the meet and put faces behind each of the tags.

PM me and / or sukiwa with your contact info.

Originally Posted by ac 427

....As a side note, this was my first T-bhp meet and I had no clue on what to expect. But I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised, by how warm almost everyone was (none had the typical badass biker attitude), there were hugs and smiles all around.

ac 427... Thank you so much for taking the effort to come. I know how exhausted you were. Frankly, while I badly wanted you to make it to the meet, a part of me was feeling that it may be best for you to not come as I was worried about your physical state. But, come you did; and by the looks of it, you had a great time. Next time, let's try and get you some rest before a meet so that you can ride refreshed.

Originally Posted by jaysmokesleaves

Mohan, thank you for organizing the meetup and bringing us all together....

Jay... you are a Team BHP legend. We were just happy to have you. Moving forward, I hope that you will clock as many miles on your V-Strom as you did on your Fortuner. Speaking of the V-Strom, looking at it in the flesh changed my opinion of the bike. The blue and white version looks much better than the yellow and black on. Maybe I will take that test ride that people have been pushing me to.

Originally Posted by jomson13

Thanks a ton to our wonderful organising duo of mohansrides and sukiwa, It was my first TBHP meet up and I had a wonderful time....Very nice idea to make these tags!!

Happy to have had you there. And yes, you were enraptured with Jay's talk about his trips to the frontier areas.

Originally Posted by Red Liner

.. I thought bevivek was a wee 20 year old buying the CB300

Both Sukiwa and Mohan look set to punch through the faces that didn’t make it haha..

sukiwa and I are not violent by nature. We were thoroughly enjoying the meet for ourselves. But, of course, we would have been happy if some people hadn't missed the meet.

By the way, I too had thought that bevivek was a teenager.

Originally Posted by ThePatientMan

Big thanks to @mohansrides. He was alternating between request mode, follow-up mode, stern (in a very nice way) mode, and the only thing that he could have possibly done is to probably offer a lollypop to all of us in order to entice us to attend the meet. .

ThePatientMan... Ha Ha. I think you aptly characterized my follow-up effort. Next time, I definitely give everyone a lollipop. I mean, if that is what it takes. Incidentally, I was really sweating that side stand issue with your Dominar. I didn't think that the issue was going to get resolved before the ride. Thankfully, you figured it out. Full marks to you.

Originally Posted by v12

..I was supposed to ride with AC427 from Mumbai , but I got late and the kind of speeds I do (Captain Slow), I requested him not to wait for me but to move on. We (bro and me) probably reached 45 mins later than the rest of the gang. Breakfast was in full flow - sandwiches and pizza. Self introductions happened, met some old timers - sorry if we didn't get to meet and greet all the others present there. But yes, next time we should do an intro round (unless we missed it).

Overall it was an amazing fun filled meet. Looking forward to more of these.

Thanks Sukiwa and Mohan!!

v12....I was personally thrilled that you came. Thank you for your kind words. But, you don't know half the story with regards to your attendance. Man, you were as slippery as an eel. Try as I might, I could not reach you. The real credit for getting you to onboard goes to sukiwa. He chased you down on Instagram and then passed the baton to me. That was some brilliant work by sukiwa.

And you are absolutely right. We should have done an introduction round. We will take care of that detail during the next meet.

Originally Posted by iamahunter

Story telling and bike discussions were in full swing, when jaysmokesleaves's adventure stories grabbed everyone's attention. Salute Sire.
Attachment 1970992

iamahunter.... Thanks for coming. Your photos are brilliant. They are better than my pictures in every way. Next time, you are our designated photographer. Incidentally, the above photo is demonstrative of the difference between my pictures and yours. With the light being behind Jay, I was getting only silhouettes and darkened faces. But, you managed to get a well-lit picture with great composition. Awesome!!

Originally Posted by ishan12

My first reaction was, how did I miss this?...

You missed it because we never put up a thread on Team BHP. There was a reason for that. Read on.

Originally Posted by GTO

....Just a note for future reference. Motorcycle fans can indeed announce "motorcycle-only" meets on the forum. If we can have "4x4 only" meets (for offroading) and "classic car" meets, we can certainly allow members to have meets exclusive to bikers. So please go ahead & announce these the next time ..

GTO... At long last, someone brought this up. And thank you so much for making it possible for us to announce motorcycle specific meets. Fact is that me and sukiwa discussed opening a thread on the forum to get people to come. But, going by the strength of majority, we were very worried that people will sign up with their cars. In a best case scenario, they may put us in an awkward position by requesting that they be allowed to bring their cars; at which point we would not have been able to say no to fellow forum members. In a worst case scenario, people would simply show up at the venue with their cars despite all instructions not to do so. Then someone would start talking about Skoda this or VW that, and pretty soon, the meet would turn out no different from any other car-centric Team BHP meet. Just this once, me and sukiwa desperately wanted to make the conversation about motorcycles and motorcycles ONLY.

With your current announcement, I think we will have better luck announcing a Team BHP specific meet.

Originally Posted by jomson13

The ride was a bit short (only around 60k from Pune, but that left a lot of time to just hang out at the venue.
Looking forward to more such rides in the near future.

I too feel that Lonavala is a short ride for us. Fact is that we in Mumbai have to ride through 80 kms of sheer ugliness to enjoy 20 km of ghats. So, I am thinking of a Mahabaleshwar meet for the Mumbai-Pune riders. This time, I will put up a thread here on the forum.

Originally Posted by iamahunter

A suggestion/request to mods : May we include a few bike images on the home page top right corner. I believe there are only cars currently.
Attachment 1970993

Originally Posted by GTO

@ iamahunter: PM me and let me know which is the most iconic Indian motorcycle (RD350???). Will have it added to the top right of the homepage.

Originally Posted by Red Liner

Lovely. Why not have a poll on which is the most iconic indian motorcycle and have the forum decide?

iamahunter... Excellent idea.

GTO.... Thank you for allowing this.

Red Liner... Bullet (the original one with the gear shift on the right side), Bajaj Chetak, Yamaha RX100, Jawa (original version from the 80s), Pulsar (original) would be my suggestions for choices in the poll. Also, I would suggest that you do not allow people to make more than one choice in their response. That is the only way, a clear winner will emerge from the poll.

Originally Posted by bevivek

Enjoyed my first TBhp meet...Unfortunately due to guests coming over, I had to leave earlier than others but many of those from Pune who remained caught up with me and I got to see the impressive sight of them roaring past when I had stopped for a chai past the Dehu road turnoff and then some more passed as I began on the last leg home.

bevivek sir... Having you there was a total honour. That you are interested in riding itself shows how young you actually are. Thanks for doing the honours with the cake.

Finally, you should not apologize for riding slow. Everyone should ride at speeds that they feel comfortable with. No question about that at all.

Originally Posted by sujay bhandare

.. This meet was very special for every biker as till now nothing had happened on this scale on our forum.....Initially, due to work commitments I was not sure whether I would be able to attend the meet. But this man Mohanrides pestered me continuously to attend the meet. And yes I was there with my BAE (Ninja 650). Thank you Mohan for pestering me so much....Now my set of pictures....

Sujay..... Thank you so much for coming. I know you were super busy. So, I am really happy that you made it. But, pester? Did I do that really?

Also, your pictures are downright gorgeous. They are as good as an DSLR photos. I think I will buy the 1+ or something with a great camera as a second phone.

Originally Posted by sujay bhandare

..While on road where we are able to spot our forum member cars from the Team BHP stickers, for bikers it is not possible as other than the small website URL sticker we have nothing to mark our presence. A few stickers for our forum Biking Community are badly needed.....

Absolutely right. Time that we had some motorcycle specific stickers that can be strategically placed on the bike - on the frame, wind shield or on the helmet.

Originally Posted by surjaonwheelz

...It was an awesome meet and ride!

It was great to see you. That Interceptor looked real good. Enjoy it in good health. And come for the next meet.

Cheers

[R-Six]

What a great meet and such a great way to celebrate the birthday! Kudos to Mohanrides and Sukiwa for pulling off such a meet!

Also, thanks for all the pictures, helps us in putting faces to a lot of names we keep seeing on the forum.

P.S: Mohan, now I know why you canned your plan to ride towards GJ last month. All the time would have been gone in planning and organizing this meet!

[SatyRoy]

Lovely thread... Loved it. Amazing participation by all those who joined the meet. Would definitely be a part of BHPians meet someday.

[sukiwa]

Originally Posted by mohansrides

He got almost 26 people to sign up

Well, it wasn't me alone to get so many confirmations. I was equally supported with member suggestions from other Pune BHPians like Monaro CV8, Happysmiles and GoBlue.

We put in every effort in the design of the name tags to emphasize our DNA as motorcyclists and as BHPians

Very apt design, hats off for your efforts. I had got a hint of this when you had asked me handles for Pune riders with specifics of small/capital letters and spaces.

Specifically, Mapro management went out of the way to allocate a whole team to clean the restaurant and get the kitchen fully functional 90 minutes before their usual opening time.

All of this was possible only because you went there a day in advance & was there again in another 12 hours.

Pictures continued....

Your captions took me back many years in memory lane and flashed many wonderful funny, joyous moments involving BHPians like Sam, N_C, Ramie anna, Amey, B&T, Viper, Vikram18, Ashish, 1self and many others. Our meets truly bring out the kid in all of us, it would be a very different occasion if all forum veterans can be brought back together again & have loads of laughter just the way it was 10-12 years back.

Originally Posted by //M

Great to see so many familiar faces and motorcycles in the pictures.

Wish we had such a meet when you were staying in Pune.

Originally Posted by deepfreak15

In fact our own Ethanhunt123 rode to Kolhapur for some mutton and ended up in Pune because he had time to spare.

That's the problem with Bangy folks, you guys come over but don't meet any of us let that be Parag, Red Liner or now Ethan. It was only Sekhar who managed to meet in monsoon 2018.

Originally Posted by GTO

Motorcycle fans can indeed announce "motorcycle-only" meets on the forum.

Thanks a lot.

The only thing we don't permit is brand specific meets

Was well aware to keep it brand agnostic, hence had ensured healthy mix of brands. I was aware that if I had posted on RE 650 twins thread, at least 8-10 RE owners would have joined and that would have disturbed the mix.

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Looks like an excellent meet with never-before-seen participation levels.

Me & Mohan didn't expect these many riders when we started on this few weeks back.

how about a south zone Team-Bhp motorcyclists meet in Goa?

Absolutely, why not.

[Shome]

Damn, how did I miss this! Nice initiative guys! Not sure if there was a thread for this meet but please post when you meet next time, would have loved to join and meet up with you guys.

Hats off to the organizers, the setup can give event management companies a run for their money

[Swap_Abarth]

Sorry I missed the ride. I did received the invitation from BHPian Maverick5490. But I couldn't join the ride, due to prior commitment.

Now when I see all those pictures, realised what opportunity I have missed. It would have been great to connect with all of you. Hope to join all future rides.

[aabhimanyu04]

Loved the pictures, I hope there are plans for people in Bangalore too

[neil.jericho]

Fabulous! You guys have, without a doubt, set the gold standard in the first ever such birthday special no less motorcyclists meet for the forum.

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Now that GTO has clarified on motorcycle meets - how about a south zone Team-Bhp motorcyclists meet in Goa?

CD, how about Yercaud instead ! Line up the dates and people will definitely make it.

[iamahunter]

Originally Posted by GTO

Guys,

@ iamahunter: PM me and let me know which is the most iconic Indian motorcycle (RD350???). Will have it added to the top right of the homepage.

I don't think I alone am worth deciding the best, it should be a collective effort from all.
I've created a thread to where we can discuss and decide the same.

The most popular one can be put up on the home-page.

Vote/Discuss : Here (The most iconic 2-wheeler ever sold in India)

[manson]

Great setup Mohan & Sukiwa, I attended a Team-Bhp meet after really long and it feels good to be able to put a face behind so many forum handles. Can only imagine what the turnout would have been we had a thread for the ride on the forum prior to the meet.

Going totally against my reputation, I was the first to turn up at the lovely venue


The line up...


.. at the other end


Not so long ago a helmet was considered mandatory and a jacket or even pair of gloves an accessory to now have nicely detailed riding gear, it feels extremely nice to see the riding scene has gotten so much mature.


The return leg with my pocket rocket

[thumpmeister]

I am literally bludgeoning myself for failing to check @mohansrides message in my inbox and being off the forum for the last few months. The beauties on display at the meet & the huge turnout are something which I am sure have really missed out on.

Looking forward for the next meetup.

P.S. @mohansrides - I am into HR 😀