10 Reasons* to own a Bullet**.

10 Reasons* to own a Bullet**.
(* these are totally and 100% my personal views but iam sure whatever reasons you have to buy/own a bullet, it can be put under one of these 10)
(** when i say bullet it includes all the models of RE till date)

1. For the love of it - Everybody wants to own one
2. It is the best way to make friends - Bullet is the source of energy for almost 8 out of 10 sustaining biking clubs.
3. Teaches you life
4. For the thump/Pleasure of riding/attention it gets
5. You will be a part mechanical engineer
6. You dont want to speed, finding the thrill in riding slow(a certain someone i know might beg to differ)
7. Cut above the rest - It is my way or the wrong way.
8. Cult bike - India's Harley
9. It is 'Made in India
10. Vintage tag/Resale value        
   
            The explanation that i give further to support the 10 reasons above are interleaved.
[you can listen to this while you read :-)]     also  (forgive me for the spelling mistakes and the grammatical errors, the fact that i am getting my procrastinator ass to publish one post is in itself a big deal !!)                   




            Every bullet owner i know has his own story behind him owning a bullet and NOT a single one on them(the ones i have heard and i have heard quite a lot) goes like this,"i wanted to buy some bike to go to my office/college/shop which is light weight, 4 starer on mileage and low maintainence so i bought a bullet!!!". Never!!!
            Simply put, buying a bullet is a calculated risk one takes!!! Practically speaking, the standard 350s are probably the most inefficient bikes when it comes to mileage next only to a Yezdi(i konw it coz i own one). The fuel maintainence is as good as any diesel car's these days. People buy the bullet for the love of it and love doesn't need to be logical as long as there is enought love. Most of the guys i know dreams of owning a bullet once in their lifetime or atleast accept that they would want to ride it once and they are always in secret/open admiration of the owner.
            Making friends when you own a bullet is 100 times easier. Every other bullet owner starts looking a brother/sister(included for that one lady i know who will think i am  male chauvinist) from another mother simply because in your hearts you know what a trouble a bullet can be when it starts throwing tantrums and it does not take metaphysical knowledge that the other person also would have had to go through it. The trouble need not be a huge one like an engine seize due to over heating/speeding (like the one i had during 1A ride of BOM, thanks to all the people who were with me for the moral support they gave), but it can be as simple as a flat tyre.
           The very thought about the bike's weight drives so many people forget pushing it to a some distance to get the typres fixed. So it takes more of mental toughness than physical to own that bike. Every bullet rider is a friend of yours. Just give a smile and ask what model is his bike and there you go, you have struck a conversation and the other person wont let you until he has told the whole story of his bullet sojourns. If your bullet happens to be older than his, then you have the upper hand in the conversation. The intenerary of the talk is endless. The mechanic you go to, the petrol you put, the paint on the bike, chorme that you got done, the desing of the number plate, the club you ride for, the people you ride with, the places you have ridden to, the accidents you have had, all the shit that you have seen happening and so on and so forth which tends to infinity. Then comes the customary exchange of phone numbers. My contacts list swelled by 100 within the first three months of buying my bullet and only because of it.
            A good 50% of my 8th semester of Engg i have spent in the bullet garages/showroom. I have had situation when the mechnics of the bike have asked me politely/rudely to go away and let them do their job peacefullly. Few mechanics get irritated by the volley of questions they have to answer and some of them are nice enough to answer all your doubts. Anybody who owns a STD 350 will know which the carburetor(the heart of any bike), how to remove the tyre and sometimes even fix a puncture, spark plug cleaning, oil, decompression, gear box, air filter, chain maintainence coz not knowing these things might cost him dearly.
            No bike i know commands the time tested/sustained attention a bullet receives. It is a pleasure to the eyes and the ears. It can convert an enclosed space into a beat box. Bullet's thump can reverberate the whole of basement parking lot waking up the whole building, such is the beauty of the thump.
            Old REs in India enjoy the same status as Harley's. We can feel the essence of the cult biking at almost 10 times lower cost.
It is Made in India. The full fledged plant in Chennai, TN manufacture these bikes and is a subsidiary of Delhi based Eicher Motors(surprise surprise!!!). Every part in manufacured in India and assembled here. The desing on the tanks are hand painted!!!


(just to prove my point) + gk for you.

            Past two/three years have witnessed in the enormous increase in the the craze for the bullets. This has led to the exponential increase in the resale values of the bike. After the retirement of the flagship cast iron STD 350s in 2010 the demand has only increased multifolds and in the near future they will attain the vintage tag(although the use of the word vintage is wrong here but for the understanding sakes) buying a bullet is also a sort of an investment. Many mechanic and second dealers of bullet have prospered due to this demand boom.
            I do not really want to get into the topic of bullet rides. It is huge!!! Simply put, they are the best ever. Period.

            This article is in commemoration of completing one year's thumping on the roads of Bangalore.