Happy Birthday Pralaynath Gendaswami!

Today is Pralaynath’s First  birthday (my bike Triumph Bonneville SE)

It was this month, last year that I went to Simi Valley to purchase my bike. My Joy knew no bounds and my wife’s sorrows just began!

I drove a motorcycle for first time from the dealer to my home. I told my wife to follow me in our car. To my surprise I felt I was going too fast!

All the winding roads seemed to be easy to me. I was the king of the road. Then, I realized there was a huge line of cars behind me and I clocked an average of 30 miles an hour! In India, I would have most probably got run over by cars and people would have sworn at me.

I have been regularly driving in India for past 10 years. It is very different experience driving a motorcycle in US. First of all if you say that you are riding a bike, it means you are riding a cycle and not a “Motorcycle” Unlike in India, motorcycles are driven by only few people. Mostly driving motorcycle is a manly middle aged fad! So if you see  mostly bald guys with big bikes don’t be alarmed!

Bikes are way smaller in India averaging 150cc. Here bikes range from 500cc up to 2000cc.

The biggest commercially available engine is Triumph Rocket III with 2l engine.

On the contrary to the popular “Indian”  perception, driving bike in US is safe. Unless I get squished by some drunk man or a non-drunk lady!In fact car drivers are bit scared of hitting motorcycle riders . There is a liability if you hit one! Driving between the cars is perfectly legal in US. This gives us good advantage while taking on the crowded freeways. (specially the notorious 101-405 junction where traffic jams at 1 in the night are common!)

There are other few advantages too at many places parking for bikes is free! There you can save few bucks.Other thing that you will notice that there are no helmet locks! People just hang their helmets on the bikes and nobody will steal them. Not that people are honest...they just don't care!

Motorcycles are Chick magnet in India but here they  di*k magnet . Not a single lady has even glanced at me on my bike.I am mostly admired by balding old  guys and they always give me a thumbs up! This would really help gays to catch hold of a mate!

Bikes are not comfortable at all! You feel vibrations, dust goes in your mouth, you can smell foul odor and small temperature changes are exaggerated. Even though southern California has amongst the best weathers in the world for a motorcycle rider little change in weather effects a lot.
 My wife hates the bike, it has given her the burn marks on her legs and the wind simply disturbs her hair!

Highway riding: This is what had scared my wife the most. Driving at 45mph (60kmph) feels like you are driving at 100 miles/hr. The most I have clocked is 92Mph ( If you are police, I am lying!) even at this speed I have seen other motorcyclists zip past me.

Cost of owning a bike?

It cost me $11,000 plus a registration fee of $135 and insurance of $270 per year

My company pays me $2 for coming to office on bike so that offsets it ( in 15-20 years :D)
It has never given me more than 30 miles/gallon. So Prius which gives 45 in city beats me hands down

I am lucky to be in Southern California I stay just about 3 miles from Topanga Canyon road which connects Pacific Coast Highway. It is one of the most scenic drives and I go there often.

My dream is to travel from Europe to India on Pralaynath! Hope it comes True!