[mohansrides]

What?

Mumbai - Pune Team BHP meet for motorcyclists only.

When?

February 16th, 2020.

Where?

Mapro Garden, Lonavala.

Why only motorcyclists?

We all know that Team BHP meets can be rejuvenating experiences. But, for the longest time, I have felt something amiss in most of the meets that I read about on the forum, or even the one massive meet that I attended back in March 2019. It really bothers me that, without exception, all Team BHP meets are car-centric where the talk is mostly about cars; and sometimes ONLY about cars. Of course, we are a car forum. So, that emphasis in theme is expected to carry over during the meets. But, the fact is that we are ALSO a motorcycle forum. Certainly, the motorcycle section of Team BHP has a beating heart that will rival other motorcycle-centric forums. So, why should motorcyclists be either relegated to "also ran" status at our meets (at best), or worse, be completely absent from our meets?

This question kept eating at me because while I love cars with all my heart, I somehow love motorcycles more.

Secondly, I kept seeing that the KA gang of biker BHPians were living it up with their meets to Coorg and Ooty and what not!! Call me competetitive; but, I felt that we in this part of the country really needed to get our tish together and show some pride in this department.

How did the meet actually take shape?

Once the idea of a motorcycle specific Team BHP meet occured to me, my next call was to BHPian sukiwa in Pune. When I told him my thoughts, he instantly agreed that we were a bunch of laggards with respect making our presence felt as motorcyclists on Team BHP. He too felt that we needed a motorcycle Team BHP meet, like yesterday.

So, the two of us got to work and started recruiting riders. At this point, I must say that sukiwa's skills at getting people on board are next-level world class. He got almost 26 people to sign up!! By contrast, I could not even manage 10!! That says two things:

a.) I have told sukiwa this in person. He really should consider a career switch to HR because very few people can strike that balance between being likeable and empathetic, and yet transactionally correct and business-like.

[Certainly 99% of HR people today are universally hated. I can think of maybe one HR person who I actually liked. Wait. I take that back. I can't think of any HR person that I like or liked.]

b.) The Pune BHP chapter of motorcylists are a sorted bunch. They have it going on there. By contrast, motorcyclist BHPians in Mumbai are either a bunch of loners, or are moody brooders who stick to a very tight circles. Really, we can do a lot better in Mumbai in terms of broadening our individual circles.

Anyway, cut back to our main narrative, and long story short, things were moving fast. We needed to fix a date ASAP. At this point, with Feb 14th being Forum Day, sukiwa suggested that we hold the meet on the immediate weekend following the 14th so that we could conceptualize the event as a birthday meet for Team BHP. In retrospect, this was a brilliant idea from him. It really helped us glue everything together and sell the meet to others. A birthday meet for the forum somehow sounds more special as it elevates the meet to a level where the event is about more than just those of us who actually attend. A forum birthday meet provides a specific reason for an instant connection to the larger Team BHP community. So, Sunday, Feb 16th was fixed and we ploughed ahead.

What made this meet special?

• Well, for starters, this was the first Team BHP meet in this part of the country that was exclusively for motorcyclists. We enjoyed a huge turnout of 28 attendees from Mumbai and Pune. In fact, the turnout would have been higher by at least 5 more people had other pressures not intervened in their lives. So, we think that this event turned out to be gratifyingly good.
  
  
• In keeping with the birthday theme, we ordered a cake for the forum and had our most senior BHPian do the honors of cutting the cake. Initially, we had requested forum moderators manson and moralfibre to do the honours. But, they rightly insisted that bevivek should cut the cake as he outranked us all in life. Thank you bevivek sir for doing the honors.
  
  
• In all the meet threads, I have struggled to identify with the crowd seen in the pictures because....
  

  a.) The crowd looked like any other crowd at any other party. I suppose I needed a very obvious visual hook to tie the images of those groups of people to the concept of a Team BHP meet.
  
  b.) I had no idea who was who.
  

  In this meet, I decided that whether any other aspect was different or not, I was going to fix these two glitches for my own cognitive clarity. So, we did two things.
  
  
  1. First, we made a welcome banner that showed our forum's official colours and our identities as motorcyclists within the forum community. A big shout out to GTO for helping us by officially sharing the Team BHP copyrighted logo for use on the banner.
     
     
  2. Second, we made name cards for everyone who attended the meet and also for a few people who were going to attend, but instead had to miss the meet in the last minute. We put in every effort in the design of the name tags to emphasize our DNA as motorcyclists and as BHPians, while taking care to not misrepresent ourselves as official employees of Team BHP. A name card should not be interpreted as a business card. That would be a huge mistake.

  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.

Logistics:

We needed a large parking lot and the natural choice was Sunny da Dhaba. But, motorcyclists prefer early mornings for its thermal properties. Sunny DB was out as they were not open for breakfast. Mapro Garden was the next logical choice. It turned out that MG was actually a better choice for a venue. The seating area was well ventilated and sparsely populated. Also, there was tonnes of parking. Their business hours posed a slight challenge for our time window. Thankfully, the management at Mapro worked with us. They saw the merit in our request and helped us put together an awesome meet.

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. At 7:30 in the morning, while their main gate was kept closed to keep out regular customers, we were admitted in from the rear entrance to hold our private gathering. In short, we had the place to ourselves for 90 full minutes without having to pay a paisa extra.

Special Thanks:

• Mapro Garden, Lonavala - Full marks to Mr. Sachin Kasurde (Manager) who provided official sanction for our very unique requirements. Also full marks to Mr. Suresh Kedari from Mapro who showed up at 6:45 AM to nail down (literally) the final pieces of the logistics at Mapro.
  
  
• Cake & Celebration, Lonavala - A big thank you to Mr. Santosh for accepting our order in good faith. He agreed to make the cake without taking any payment, and also left instructions with his people to open the store for us at an unearthly hour of 6:30 AM so that we could pick up the cake on the day of the meet. His employee, Ms. Waheeda, followed thru for us. She was obviously woken up by our phone call at 6 AM. Still, she came out with a smile on her face, opened the store and handed us our cake. Thank you kindly.

Attendees:

Now on to the pictures. Well actually, before we go to the pictures, here is a list of attendees (in alphabetical order).

Mumbai:

1. ac 427 - Triumph Bonneville T100
2. Gordon - KTM Duke 390
3. iamahunter - Honda CBR250
4. jaysmokesleaves - Suzuki V-Strom 650 XT
5. kailashnj - Yamaha R3
6. manson - Honda CBR954RR
7. Maverick5490 - Bajaj Dominar 400
8. mohansrides - Bajaj Dominar 400
9. ThePatientMan - Bajaj Dominar 400
10. v12 - Triumph Tiger 800 XRx

Pune:

1. bevivek - Honda CB300R
2. Cartik5477 - TVS RR310
3. coriollis - Triumph Bonneville A3
4. Crankpin - Triumph Street Triple RS
5. davids4x4mm550 - Honda Africa Twin
6. etchemkay - Royal Enfield Interceptor 650
7. GrowlingTiger - Triumph Tiger 800 XC
8. GoBlue - Suzuki GSX-S750
9. Happysmiles - Honda Africa Twin
10. jomson13 - TVS Apache 200
11. Meccanico - Kawasaki ZX-6R
12. moralfibre - BMW R 1200 GS
13. Nilesh5417 - Ducati Monster 821
14. Ricci - Triumph Daytona
15. sujay bhandare - Kawasaki Ninja 650
16. sukiwa - Jawa
17. surjaonwheelz - Royal Enfield Interceptor 650
18. tushar9960 - Honda CBR650R

OK, now, let us look at some pictures.

Getting organized. (above and below)





A sample of our name card design. Riding theme was kept front and center within the Team BHP context. (above)




Approach from the parking lot to the restaurant. (above)




View of the restaurant from the patio. Name cards waiting to be picked up. (above)




At around 7:45 AM, the parking looked forlorn (above); but by 8:00 AM, it quickly started filling up. (below 4 pictures)











Once everyone arrived, we quickly placed our orders and took our seats. (above and below 2 pictures)

Mapro Garden has a limited menu; but, the food is excellent. Portions are HUGE. Plenty of attendees had to pack leftovers to take home.







After the entrees, dessert course was in order. I think that sukiwa could not wait to get his hands on that cake. So, he decided to fetch it himself. (above)




The Choco Truffle cake with Team BHP colours. (above)




bevivek doing the honours. (above)




In the end, we did not even finish 50% of the cake. That's how big the portions were in the main course. (above)




manson in deep conversation with v12. (above)




After the food, we asked jaysmokesleaves to talk about his many adventures. He happily obliged. (above and below)





jaysmokesleaves had everyone's full and complete attention. (above and below 4 pictures)











Look at the looks of admiration on the faces of Meccanico and surjaonwheelz :-). (above)




kailashnj in a pensive mood. (above)




Gordon is enjoying the photography. (above)




Ricci in a happy mood. (above)

[mohansrides]

Pictures continued....

sujay bhandare (above)




tushar9960 (above)




manson had an uber cool look going with his dark glasses. (above)




Meccanico (above)




iamahunter (above)




jaymokesleaves (above)




davids4x4mm550 and Nilesh5417 (above)




Nilesh5417 and surjaonwheelz (above)




iamahunter (above)




tushar9960 was a bit occupied. Phone call from the missus probably. (above)




Maverick5490 - He almost didn't make it to the meet. He had a busy calendar on Sunday the 16th. But, in the last minute, he decided to join us. Thank you Maverick ji. (above)




Meccanico and Cartik5477 (above)




sujay bhandare and Happysmiles (above)




manson and Gordon (above)




ac 427 - Here was another gent who came through for us. He had been on family wedding duty for 3 days straight and was exhausted. Understandably, he did not want to chance an early morning ride in his physical state. At the Nth hour though, he decided that he just could not stay away. As a thoughtful precaution, he asked us to add his wife's phone number to the group even though she was not accompanying him to the meet. This way, his family could get hold of the others in the group in case of an emergency. Nicely done sir!! (above)




kailashnj - The man is an encyclopedia of ownership costs of most big bikes. Ask him about the rims of his Versys :-) (above)




Ricci and v12 (above)




jomson13 and kailashnj (above)




ThePatientMan is enjoying that cake a lot, I suppose. (above)




The legendary sukiwa. (above)




GoBlue (above)




coriollis (above)




etchemkay (above)




GrowlingTiger and Crankpin (above)




bevivek (above)




moralfibre (above)




manson cleaned his helmet(above); and then he was ready to roll. (below)





It's a good thing that we chose Mapro. We literally had the whole place to ourselves. How else would we have accommodated all of our gear? (above)

[mohansrides]

Some pictures of BHPians with their rides.

Ricci trying out manson's bike for size. (above)




ac 427 looking for his Triumph. (above)




Gordon and his Duke 390. (above)




v12 and his Tiger 800 XRx. (above)




GrowlingTiger and his Tiger XC. (above)




ThePatientMan taking in all the bikes. (above)




moralfibre on his 1200 GS. (above)




Happysmiles getting ready for his Africa Twin. (above)




Ricci beside his Daytona - a very rare bike that we had to beg him to bring. He typically brings his Dominar to the meets. (above)




etchemkay on RE Interceptor 650. (above)




Nilesh5417 on his Monster 821. (above)




Crankpin on his Street Triple RS. (above)




GoBlue on his GSX-S750. (above)




jomson13 on his Apache 200. (above)




Meccanico on his ZX-6R and coriollis on his Triumph. (above)




Cartik5477 on RR310. (above)




sujay bhandare on his Ninja 650. (above)




davids4x4mm550 on his Africa Twin. (above)




kailashnj on his R3 and manson on his CBR 954. (above)




ThePatientMan on his Dominar. (above)




surjaonwheelz on his Interceptor. (above)




bevivek on his CB 300R. (above)




Maverick5490 on his Dominar. (above)




jaysmokesleaves with his V-Strom. (above)




iamahunter with his CBR. I saw him on the ghats. The man is a cornering machine on that thing. (above)




sukiwa saying goodbyes. It was a fantastic meet. (above)




ThePatientMan and Maverick5490 waiting for me and iamahunter to wrap up so that we could be on the road back to Mumbai. (above)

[mohansrides]

Special mentions :

Cake & Celebration - Opened at 6:50 in the morning to help us get that cake out of their refrigerator. A big thank you to Mr. Santosh. (Photo posted with permission from Mr. Santosh)




Mr. Suresh from Mapro Garden - He went above and beyond in helping us with the ground level logistics. The manager Mr. Sachin Kasurde was outstanding in understanding our requirement and helping us with the manpower for this event. (Photo posted with permission from Mr. Sachin Kasurde)





The staff at Mapro Garden - They came in early and worked really hard for us. We left them the rest of the cake to enjoy. (Photo posted with permission from Mr. Sachin Kasurde)

Finally, a big THANK YOU to all the attendees who made it to this special meet for motorcyclists on Team BHP. You guys made a good event great.

Cheers

[moralfibre]

Mod note: Thread moved from Assembly line to the Team-bhp meet section. Thanks for sharing.

[moralfibre]

mohansrides and sukiwa, you two have taken planning and execution of meets to the next level. I attended a Team-bhp meet after a long time and left mighty impressed with your people management skills. All we had to do was ride down and things simply moved without any hassle. Right from the choice of location to the arrival timings and the great setting for biker talk. Kudos to you guys for a well planned one and looking forward to meeting everyone for the next.

Kudos to all the bikers who made it for this meet without any compromise on safety gear. As always safety first.

[kailashnj]

Great thread... Loved it. Thanks for arranging everything and for all those who joined the meet.

[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.

This thread is going to our homepage very shortly.

[Maverick5490]

Big Shoutout to Mohasrides and Sukiwa for organizing a fantastic meet close to our beloved forums birthday! The persistence and precision with which the planning was done is simply mind-blowing. Honestly, I had no clue that it was going to be a meet of this scale, for this reason, 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!
It was awesome to meet like-minded people and put a face to the Team-bhp handles! Hope to have more such meets and greater participation from fellow riders on the forum.

Attaching a few pics of the organizers!

[//M]

What a wonderful meet guys !

Great to see so many familiar faces and motorcycles in the pictures. Very well organised meet, mohansrides and sukiwa. Hope to see more of such rides in the future, hopefully some nice overnighters too.

[amrutmhatre90]

Damn I wish I was part of this meet. I had my cousin sisters wedding to attend.
Nice planning and loved the machines members got.


We should meet more often for short rides too.

[Reinhard]

Fantastic! Enjoyed the pics. Such lovely gang with their machines. Kudos to the planning guys. Superb arrangements by the looks of it. Perfection is hard to achieve generally but I guess we have an example that its not impossible.

Happy Birthday TBHP & Cheers to the guys who celebrated so well!

[deepfreak15]

Amazing pictures and looks like a ton of fun. But 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.

[YCJ]

Looks like a wonderful meet!
Huge turnout and some nice machines. Knowing sukiwa, I have no doubt that the meet must have been superbly organised.
Great efforts by mohansrides as well!

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

[AlQuazi]

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

My first reaction was , How did I miss this thread??

Then I realized that the thread came out only after the meet.

Nevertheless, seems like everyone had a great time. Would love to be a part of any such meets in the future!