My first and only motorcycle till now is the TVS Fiero FX and it is also the reason I joined MS in 2005 – to read motorcycle reviews. This is not a review of the motorcycle but a day in the life of this bike when it travelled from Delhi to Rohtak and back. I started early morning, winter had almost arrived in Delhi and the weather was very pleasant. From where I lived in Delhi, Rohtak was over 90 kilometers which is not a big ask. It is a distance which should be covered in 2 hours or at most 2.5 hours. Well that is what I thought but I was wrong, very wrong.
After leaving home, I filled up petrol and checked air pressure and then took the ring road, I was trying to beat the office hours and avoid traffic but I had under estimated the determination and resolve of people who try to reach their workplace on time. With traffic snarls, much yelling and near death experiences and an average speed of god only knows what, I reached the border of Delhi in 2.5 hours.
The motorcycle never really got a chance to open up, I could hardly go beyond 3rd gear till then but as soon as I hit national highway 10, things changed for worse. NH 10 was by no means a highway; it was still a city road which was turning into a country cattle track. The highway led me to the town of Bahadurgarh which is famous for two things:
1: Mallika Sherawat (some say she is from Bahadurgarh while officially she is from Rohtak) and
2: A circus that runs in the middle of the road with cycle rickshaws, tongas, people just standing on the middle of the road, pot holes, interstate buses, horse and buffalo scat and a horrible smell. All the while I was trying hard not to stop and put my foot down on the road as I was scared I might catch some disease. Folks of Bahadurgarh, I am sorry for my statements but the place is in abject misery.
Finally I was out of Bahadurgarh and now the highway looked as though it was made by the gods. The only traffic I had to negotiate included trucks, interstate buses and lazy tractors, so I decided to cut lose. The Fiero FX is a very forgiving motorcycle, the gear shifts are very smooth and the motorcycle is very stable. One who has a decent amount of riding experience can take both the hands off and keep the motorcycle in a straight line by just shifting his weight, the clutch is smooth as butter and the grip from the tires is not bad either.
The only potential problem one can face is during tight turns, if you use the front disk brake hard while making tight turns, then the rear end of the bike has a tendency to slip away. I used to use the front disk brake more than the rear brakes while in a straight line and use the rear brake or no brake at all while turning. The motorcycle would give around 45- 50 Kilometers to the liter, it used to start in half a kick, the electrical components were very reliable as nothing went wrong while I used the bike and the acceleration was OK if not great for the city.
Now coming back to my story, as I entered the highway and opened the throttle, for the first time I was experiencing a sustained speed of 80kmph, in the city I could only touch these speeds and then come back to zero between traffic lights. The experience was mind blowing, green fields on the two sides with an almost flawless highway that too in the state of Haryana was something very un-expected and to be honest it is the unexpected and surprise elements which life throws at us we tend to remember and keep with us forever.
The ride now was a joy, there was a railways line running parallel to the highway, however I did not get a chance to race the train. There were corn, mustard and strawberry fields, a few bends and curves here and there. The earth was as flat as an ocean and you could see as far as your eyes allowed you to see. My only worry along this highway was getting a flat tire, luckily I did not and I finally made it to Rohtak. My work at Rohtak could not be completed, as usually is the case with government offices where you hear the words every Babu has learnt to say in the most cold and sharp manner “ Kal Anna“ (Come tomorrow) and I was thoroughly disappointed that day.
I stretched out a bit and then decided to head back, on my way back I couldn’t quite enjoy as much as I did before as now my mind was troubled with my incomplete work and the wild goose chase I had been into that morning. The journey back home seemed quicker, I had almost made it to Bahadurgarh when another bloke with a Fiero F2 showed up alongside me, I was doing 80kmph and he was doing the same. This guy wanted to race as he kept looking at me, so we raced, I opened up the throttle; there was some traffic as we were inching close to Bahadurgarh however we didn’t care.
Continued in comments....
