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Finally riding my father's vintage motorcycle, the Rajdoot 175

25th November 2022, 14:16 by Utkarsh Chaudhary

I grew up reading about the legendary Chetak & Maharana Pratap & somehow I used to correlate this bike with that difficult-to-tame horse.

BHPian Prithvi Mundur recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

The Bike

Always knew, never had the flair or the grip with which my Dad used to ride his bike. Back then, I was content being a passenger roaming around seated on the motorcycle’s petrol tank. Gradually, graduated to the designated pillion rider's seat.

There were a few instances during my childhood when I tried to kickstart the motorbike, the bike used to return the kick, and I distinctly remember having swollen ankle a couple of times. Perhaps, that was one of the reasons that I never wanted to progress being the main rider of this bike, for I always felt that the bike has already chosen its master.

I'm good at self-assessment, so it was a foregone conclusion that I was nowhere close to the requisite mastery to handle such a heavy 2-wheeler.

Grew up reading about the legendary Chetak and Maharana Pratap, and somehow used to correlate this bike with that difficult-to-tame horse.

Eventually, the time has come for me to become one with Rajdoot. The moment has arrived to wake up the bike from its deep slumber. Dusted it off, and after 3 sneezes and literally over 100 kicks, the 175cc engine roared! My Mom was joyous revving Rajdoot in neutral.

My name is Rajdoot, and I’m not a Yamdoot. (Just an analogical statement made on the lines of the popular Bollywood dialogue - My name is Khan, and I'm not a terrorist).

Trials

Did a trial run, and soon realized that the kick pedal has gotten stuck.

My chance encounter with a mechanic (Anand) was a blessing, for he knows in & out of vintage bikes. He taught me the trick to start this bike without using the kick pedal (With the key in ignition ON, one must push the bike in 1st and while holding the clutch put it in 2nd gear, and the bike then magically starts).

Because I didn't want to always depend on this trick to start the bike, went ahead with procuring a new Kicker. The new kicker had Rajdoot logo, and the part number embossed on it was the same as on the old one. Felt happy to have received a genuine original item sourced from a place in Coastal Andhra even though had to wait a couple of weeks for the parcel to arrive.

Unsure of the veracity but while chitchatting with Anand, I was told that the Duke bikes are the new avatars of Rajdoot, and then onwards, started to find the sound notes of Duke to be similar to that of the 2-stroke Rajdoot.

Another fascinating trivia is that the maiden bike of aficionado MS Dhoni is from the stable of Rajdoot.

Small garage of "Mekanig" Anand. One may reach out to him as appropriate.

I once parked the Rajdoot between two Ninjas at a Tapri, and soon Rajdoot stole the limelight and became the talking point amongst the tea sippers. It was a facepalm moment for the well-suited up Ninja bikers, and I slyly enjoyed the brouhaha.

Choke

I’m a noob in automobiles, and who isn’t, for the subject is too vast and difficult to comprehend. Sound notes of the bike were conspicuously louder when the choke was turned ON. My mom chided me on whether I did some mischief to increase the volume of the already loud bike. Looking at the exhaust made me realize that more fuel would be consumed than what is necessary if driven in Choke mode. Felt silly to have realized this so late, but consoled my selves that it’s better late than never.

New ISKCON

Now that the trial runs are over, and the kick issue is sorted out, wanted to meet up with Lord Balaji, so as to seek his protection from falling off this bike.

Vroomed to the new ISKCON near Kanakapura Rd in Bangalore, which is modelled on the Tirupati Balaji Temple. Upon reaching home, opened Facebook, and could see a bombardment of Ads relating to the Akshaya Patra foundation. Evidently, Facebook is sneak peeking into our lives in a big way.

Keyless Rajdoot

Discovered the keyless feature in Rajdoot. After the key is set in the IGN position, one can pull out the keys and safely put them inside the pocket. Bike can be then kick-started and put into motion. A beneficial feature to foil the stunts of the traffic cops preying to snatch away the keys.

Body Cover

Was circumspect while purchasing a Waterproof body cover for Rajdoot via Amazon, but was impressed to find out that the cover fits perfectly as if it’s tailor-made for this specific old bike. Highly recommend waterproof body covers costing approx. Rs.500 as it really is a bang for the buck.