Issue #3 Happy Birthday Samsa

365 days of exploring new cities, lakes, trails and friendships

Let me share the best kept industry secret. Do you know which is the best bike on the market right now? The one standing in your parking lot.
This is a cliched saying but I strongly believe cliches exist for a reason.

But there is a caveat here. While I wholly agree that you should not wait for the holy trinity to unite for the day you get your dream high capacity motorcycle and just get on the dream adventures you always wanted to, I could not do it with the bike in my garage. Why? Let’s find out.

Today’s post would be a brief history of time through my bike garage (love how garage makes it sound so grand!) and why are we celebrating Samsa’s birthday. Also, who the hell is Samsa (Gregor?)!

I grew up in a home without two-wheelers. My father has always had a family car which grew in length with each iteration in proportion my brother and my growing height (makes me wonder if we haven’t bought a Fortuner yet because we never grew to 6 feet? damn it genes). The first two wheeler in my family was India’s most trusted - Honda Activa. It was my brother’s effort to get himself a scooter to travel to his college. While my brother and I both have been fascinated by cars and bikes since we were kids (we had a 7-story garage for our model cars!) I never thought we would own a bike IRL. It was a random day I remember far too clearly that my brother mentioned we should get a Bajaj Avenger. I said - why not! but I don’t our parents would approve of it. Come lunch time - my brother bravely put forward the master proposal and to everyone’s surprise - he said ‘Interesting, how much is it for?’. Jaw drop. This moment was over 8 years ago. What I didn’t realize then is how much my dad has always aspired to ride. Over these years, whenever I have asked him to sit pillion - after a bout of nervousness he has always sat and had a good time. Only looking back I realize how he’s living his dream of wind running through his hair (well I won’t let him ride without a helmet even as a pillion) through his two kids (and very soon his daughter in-law). Interesting revelation but I digress.

7 years passed since we bought the Bajaj Avenger 220 (which still thumps hard and shines in all her chrome glory, her name is Eleanor btw. She will get her post too). The garage slowly expanded to welcome a Royal Enfield Classic 500 Stealth Black. This bike filled my brother’s dream of owing the bike which thumped so hard through our childhood that we would rush to the window to get a glimpse of the tailpipe. The bike was a hoot to ride. Um, as long as you’re under 70kmph, post which you bid farewell to rearview vision. A true butt massage chair. If you’re from the new generation of riders and surprised at my description of a Royal Enfield, you’ve probably ridden only the new J-platform bikes which are a class apart in refinement in comparison. Also, they’ve stopped the product of the 500cc line-up (so we own a relic in its own right now). This bike was heavy, full of torque, caught eyeballs but one thing I has failed to do since 2018 is to inspire confidence. The bike has always been too heavy, low on balance but most importantly - lacked ABS.

ABS

For the uninitiated - as promised, I will keep this newsletter amateur friendly. So ABS stands for Anti-lock Braking System. What does it do? Imagine you’re riding at 80 kmph. A dog decides to randomly cross the road. Obviously he hasn’t been trained by our efficient motor schools so he is unaware of you. Now you have two options - pull your brakes hard and stop before harming a cute pup or keep going and crash into an obstacle you think would be the least painful one (pray for grass). Obviously we want option 1. Only issue with this option is Physics is relentless. If you are going at 80kmph and suddenly brake with all your might - you’re slowing down far too quick than the ‘rest of your bike’. As a result, while your tyres are ‘locked’ and not moving anymore, the rest of your bike is still in motion and you skip / slide. You kiss the ground and get to test the asphalt quality of our India roads. While you’re a hero who saved the pup, none of the other results are desirable. Cue in our true hero - ABS. This system automatically realizes when your tyre has been locked and manually let the wheel spin just enough so you do not skid and stop in time. Did not understand a single thing so far? I get it - here’s a video to visually demonstrate it.

So why are we discussing this simple technology so much? Why it might not be obvious, this tech is the difference between life and death. I do not exaggerate. This is the difference between me not thinking twice before braking as hard as I need to avert a random obstacle (which you have no dearth of on Indian roads) without having to worry of how bad the consequences can be. You can only as fast as you can slow down. So while I had two extremely beautiful bikes in my garage, the Avenger and the Classic 500, both of them lacked this basic technology. This kept me from riding them to locations unknown at decent pace to reach by sunsets. This kept my riding experience limited.

So once I had a decent job with decent savings - I could not wait to purchase a bike that would do away with this limitation. Enter Samsa - a KTM 390 Adventure 2022. This bike is the safest bike you can buy in the segment (and even a few segments above!) with added safety features including traction control (ensures you don’t lose grip with the road when you accelerate too hard too suddenly) and cornering ABS (normal ABS that I explained earlier + ensures that on a curve my bike maintains the same lean angle; explained in the video above).

Once this bike was delivered on 2 June 2022, there was no reason to hold back anymore. 13,000 kilometers and 1 year later - Samsa, Bhumika (my fiancé) and I have made so many trips across Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh that I have lost count. It took us to see the fireflies within the first week of delivery, it took us to multiple monsoon rides with absolutely zero fear of slipping with full luggage, it took me to Indore to attend a wedding in 9 hours along with 2 pairs of suits (not including the riding suit!), it took us to Gujarat for us to enjoy my favorite Dhokla by the beach and back home on the same day! With the bike taking care of the safety bit and us doing our bit with full safety gear (helmet, riding shoes, jacket, pants, gloves), the only limiting factor has been willingness. That I have plenty of in the tank.

So come sun, rain, slush, broken tarmac, expressway (lol jk, bikes will never be allowed there), trails, you will find me there with Samsa.

I hope this post allows a peak into my garage and who Samsa is because let’s face it. They’re the protagonists of this newsletter and will be the regular feature. Samsa with just 1year on the RC (registration card) has plenty left in the tank (pun-intended) and so do I. I cannot wait to share the rides I have had with Samsa already and the ones to come in the coming year.

General updates - in May Bhumika and I rode on our ‘classic’ Avenger 220 as part of the Distinguished Gentlemen’s Ride and rode through truly God’s own country on a rented Royal Enfield Hunter. This was Bhumika and my first time in Kerela and oh boy do we have a story to tell. More on these next week.

How did you find this newsletter and the previous editions? Please let me know your feedback! I have tried to keep it as simple as possible because I understand how quickly the motorcycling world can be intimidating. I will pass on your birthday wishes to Samsa.

See you next weekend! Some pictures below for actual relatability to what I’ve written above.

Delivery day!

Eleanor (Avenger 220), Samsa (KTM 390 Adventure) and Classic 500. The whole garage.

Random Saturday Morning Lake Hunting Ride with le fiancé

Malshej Ghat in last monsoon. How can riding 12 hours in non-stop rain not be fun, you ask?

Fin.