BMW F 800 R

Disclaimer: Long post, baby!

Engine: 800 CC, 87 PS, 65 kW.

No no, I don’t own this. I just happen to do my bike riding lessons on this one.

I have had a fair share of bike riding back in India. Of course, I was not much of a dare devil (I still live to write this), but I have done enough crazy things. Still, all the bikes I’ve tried are the Normal 100CC, Victor, Splendour and CBZ.

This one cuts them all. Amazing power! Almost double the power of the car I used to drive back home, double the power of RedGirl’s car here. It is just waiting for the slightest movement of the accelerator, to FLY - F.L.Y! SEXY is the only word to use.

I was a little concerned about doing a motorbike license lesson with a steel-rod-reinforced leg. From one point of view, my fears were right. From another point of view, they were pointless. I shall give you a glimpse of how it works here – as opposed to how it works back home.

First, my teacher was just testing how well I do by default. Apparently, I seem to have impressed him. Before taking me to the *EXERCISES*, all he wanted was getting used to the new clutch. (Proud me)

Exercise 1: Ride the bike between traffic cones kept in a line, 3-4 metres apart. Through the left side of one, then the right side of the next… and so on. The bike should go like a wave.. zig-zag motion. @30kmph. In fact, it was mostly a cake walk.

Exercise 2: Now the cones are 1.5 – 2 metres apart. @walking-speed. Crazy man, crazy! The monster wouldn’t let me control. But well, managed within 3-4 tries.

Exercise 3: The first exercise, @50kmph. Wow! The bike should swing between each of the cones, and it should be made possible with the movement/oscillation of my torso. Lovely, isn’t it? But trust me, it wasn’t as bad as I thought… :)

Exercise 4:  It is as in the picture. I come from the left bottom corner and then ride as the green curve… without touching the cones. Now, that is to be done at 50kmph. The width of the strip is about 1m and the left side cone is about 1m away from the strip.

The drill is to make sure that if some a**hole opens the car door when I am on the roads, I should be able to twist and turn and save my life. It wasn’t that easy in the first two times. Then it fell into place. :)

Exercise 5: The same as the above exercise, but now the cones all come CLOSER. And I should come with 50kmph and put a sudden break before manoeuvring the bike. Cool, isn’t it?

Exercise 6: I loved this simplest one. Come with 50kmph, apply a SUDDEN brake. My instructor told me that, the bike has all the security systems installed, so don’t worry. Apply BOTH the brakes.

(I don’t know whether he forgot that he told me a few minutes earlier that if I brake too much with the front brake, I’ll see my body some 10 metres away from the bike. I’ve known that all along though :))

Anyway, I did it and two times the back of the bike came up in the air. Cool.. I’d always wanted to do that.. never did on a motorbike. With normal bicycle, yes, I’ve done all this circus.

On a whole, it wasn’t as bad as I thought. But the classes tell me how risky it could be on the roads and are preparing me for that. I wish we had such system in India – a rigorous training session.

Looking forward to what more to come in the next classes. Now, don’t think that my instructor has nothing to do. He is keeping on scolding for even the slightest little mistake I make – even the speed at which I apply the clutch. (I am surprised that he observes all of it). I might have to unlearn some of the stuff I taught myself about a decade ago.

Ok guys, it was a long post. I don’t know whether you read till here. Life’s good. Things are getting a rhythm. Reading quite a bit, watching films, documentaries. And above all, EATING great food. I lost about 4-5 kg during the first 6 of the last 8 weeks (stress, you see?). Now I have a regiment of great Indian food (self cooked) to bring my weight back to 70. 

And my work? Good you asked. It is going nice. It is going pretty great, NEAT. :)

Signing off, Sands.

PS: Reading in 2.5, Programming in 3, speaking in 4 and films in 5 – different languages.  Who said I am not a linguist? ;) :P

PPS: You need to tell that this was a good post. :)