Every biker who loves to ride shares a secret, unspoken connection with their machine – a bond that’s unique and makes their bikes special, different from every other of their kind.
This connection keeps them going through good times, and bad.
Some compare it to falling in love – the excitement, the stolen glances at one’s machine, the frustration when all’s not well with it.
After riding Ashok’s Yamaha RX 135 I was sold immediately. As I made my way back to his shop, I found Ashok smugly waiting for me. He knew what I had experienced, and was ready to handle my new-found love and bucket loads of questions. That day I realised he knew me better than I thought I knew myself.
And he definitely understood my love for bikes.
“Toh bhaiya, mazaa aaya aapko meri bike chalakar? (So brother, did you enjoy riding my bike?)” Ashok greeted me with a benign smile.
I greeted Ashok with a wide grin and confessed that I loved every bit of riding his RX135. After that, I bombarded him with questions, “What’s it made of? What have you done to the bike? Is this how every stock RX135 from the factory rides like?”
So we sat down to a cup of tea and Ashok started opening up about his bike’s secret ingredients – he’d built his own mighty RX135 by collecting various parts over the years.
Ashok’s RX135 was running on 5-speed ported barrels, which are machined to higher values on intakes and exhaust ports over the factory specifications, helping the engine breathe better and perform better – bigger reed cage, stock carburettors, tuned chambers (modified exhaust) and higher compression heads.
Ok, his bike is modified. But how would a stock bike run?
“Acha chalti hai bhaiya, magar aise nahi bhagegi, yeh performance machine hai. (It rides well, but it won’t race like this one. This is a performance machine),” said Ashok.
As evening descended, I realised I was gearing up to venture into something new, and that I had been naive over the years for overlooking these two-stroke bikes.
I went home and dreamt about my ride on the RX135 throughout the night.
The next day, I rushed to meet Ashok at his shop.
“Ashok, let’s get an RX135 for me.”
He smiled and just asked, “Stock chahiye? (You want a stock bike?)”
“Nope,” I said instantly, “I want one just like your. Actually, even better. Arey, banatey hain naa. (Let’s build one.)”
I was beaming with new-found excitement.
It seemed very straightforward to me at that moment – get a bike, collect parts, machine some of them and assemble them all together to make an instant adrenaline machine. I felt an unputdownable desire to get hold of this missing element in my life.
So we began to plan my next bike project: the RX135 Version 1.
The first hurdle was getting a bike. My options were the Yamaha RX100, RX135 (4-speed), RX135 (5-speed), RXZ135, RD350, TVS Shaolin, TVS Samurai.
More power, more fun was the mantra I chose to follow. Also, easily procurable parts were absolute essential. I wanted the mighty Yamaha RD350 as I knew it had loads more power than the RX135, but limitations of parts convinced me to go for an RX13.
Remembering the instant connection I’d felt with it, I assured myself that this was going to be my mean machine.
(To be continued...)
Read the first part here: What’s the Big Deal About Two-stroke Bikes?
(Rahul Sharma is based out of New Delhi and has a day job as a service manager for IT contracts. Rahul rides a Yamaha RX135 and is a two-stroke motorcycle enthusiast.)
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