On Hot Wheels To The High Road

Nitin Shukre, a director at a healthcare company in Pune, never misses his monthly date with his biking buddies at IMDR Cafe on BMCC Road. No matter what, he makes it a point to attend the get-together on his 250 cc Yezdi. “We are an association of guys who’re crazy about their mean machines and love meeting up to share our experiences,” says Shukre.

Quite often, Shukre sets out with his biking buddies from the Yezdi and Jawa Owners’ Club of Pune on short rides on their favourite Yezdis and Jawas – some as old as 1948 or as young as 1996, when the iconic bikes went out of production.

“Many of us do not have four-stroke bikes. I have been riding an Yezdi since 1982 and it has not given me any trouble. I have ridden the bike to Manali, Goa, Mumbai, and other places. The best thing about Yezdi is that its two sides look the same and its front and rear wheel can be interchanged. No other bike has this facility. If you have to travel far, Yezdi is the best bet. You just need to take a spare wheel with you and don’t need to bother about anything else,” says Hemant Kashelikar (62), a club member.

“Our youngest member is 20 years old, while the oldest member is 75 years,” says Shukre.

The club, formed in 2003 with around 10 members, now has more than 200 members in the city. “The reason for forming the club was to keep these old bikes alive. It is because of the bikes that many people came together. We also came to know about the mechanics. We have over 3,000 members on Facebook from across Maharashtra,” he says. Similar clubs exist in Chandigarh, Mysuru, Bengaluru, and elsewhere.

For these bike enthusiasts, the cult two-wheelers are not just for keeps. “We ride them on the worst roads in the world. We have taken the bikes to Spiti Valley in the Himalayas, Zanskar in Himachal Pradesh, to Sarchu on the Leh-Manali Highway and to various passes in the Himalayas,” says Shukre.

“Yezdis and Jawas are lightweight and have powerful engines, which make them such a delight to ride, especially on the mountains,” says another member Sandeep Katke, who has participated in several cross-country rides.

If they have a ride coming up, they meet quite often --- planning and drawing the route.

Riding together is what matters the most for the members. One of their first trips was to Ladakh in 2007 with 10 members. “From Pune, we transported the bikes to Jammu. From there we went to Kargil, Ladakh and returned to Jammu. It took us almost a month to cover the entire trip. At that time, the roads were not good. Now, one can cover the journey in three days,” says Shukre.

In between, they organised short rides to Hampi, Dapoli and Dive Ghat. In 2015, they went to Manali from Pune with 20 riders, covering 7,000 km in 10 days. They also revved up to Bhutan the same year.

“In 2016, we rode to Nagaland as well as to Sikkim’s Nathu La. That same year, we went to Ladakh. Last year, we went to Spiti Valley in Himachal Pradesh,” he says.

In all their trips, they hardly encountered any problems with the bike engines. “We have sometimes faced problems with cables, screws and suspension but not with the engines. We carry spare parts such as extra cables as well as suspensions because the bikes which we ride are forty to sixty years’ old and have old suspensions,” says Kashelikar.

A permanent fixture in all their trips is the team ‘doctor’ Sanjay Ingale, who can fix any old bike and himself rides an Yezdi.

So far, the toughest ride that the members had participated in is the Raid De Himalaya, considered an extreme endurance event of marathon proportions, which entails riding in minus 25-30 Celsius, battling wind chill and almost no oxygen. “In that extreme weather condition, our Yezdis performed magnificently. We completed the race in four days. In fact, no one had earlier participated in the race on Yezdi or Jawa. We are the first three riders to finish the race on Yezdi,” says Rahul Mokashi, who participated in the raid along with Sandeep Katke and Shukre.

Obviously, their bikes were the show stealers all the way. “Wherever we went, we were stopped by local people who wanted to take a look at the bikes. Even on the toughest terrain when most bikes failed to clock more than 5 to 7 km per hour, our Yezdis easily revved up 45 km/hour. I saw those with latest bikes, such as Royal Enfield Himalayan, Mahindra Mojo and BMW, who had every chance of winning the race, facing problems because their bikes failed to work at such a high altitude,” says Katke.

In January this year, two club members rode to Kanyakumari from Pune in 24 hours and etched their place in the Limca Book of Records. “I rode a 1978 Yezdi B model while Sandeep Bhagat rode a 1965 Jawa. We covered 1,200 km distance to Kanyakumari in 24 hours,” says Rahul Suresh Mokashi.

However, the motorbiking club is not just about thrills but also aims to spread awareness about social issues. The club takes up causes such as ‘don’t drink and drive’, ‘follow traffic rules’, ‘save the girl child’, organ donation etc. “Wherever we stop on our rides, we carry banners with us. Those who come to see our bikes, stop to read the banners too,” says Bhagat.

So, are they excited about the new Jawa bikes that were relaunched by Mahindra and Mahindra this week? “For us, old is always gold and we don’t want to go for new Jawa.