[xBhp Universal Thread]: Learning to Ride When You are Young!

[ken cool]

How this Young Man Begun

I have been biking since the time a good lot of members on this site were not even born. But if I were to say that I was a born biker or I always had a biker streak in me, I would be lying. I also use my bike to go from point A to point B. Bike-ism is not always present in me. But it does exist. Even as I sit at the breakfast table with the packet of Muesli and the bowl of milk in front of me and as I unfold the morning newspaper, my right wrist twists to wring the throttle. And as I read the details of VVS Laxman’s silken wristy exploits down under, my mind daydreams to a place far far away as it races down a highway through the desert on an imaginary bike…

VOOOOAAAAOOON!!!! Doppler effect! Just as I was about to take in my first mouthful, a blur whooshed past me with the unmistakable sound of a multi-cylinder. The blur went from the bedroom to the living room! Yes, it was my son Maël, riding his imaginary bike which is obviously a multi-cylinder and the BEST and the FASTEST in the world.

He has been sitting on a bike since the time he could sit, I would put that at 8 months, something like me (which was a very long time ago, don’t laugh!). Initially such rides were just limited to go and get a vaccine, then it graduated to a short ride for the pleasure of being on a bike to be dropped at the crèche or just a ride since he preferred being on a bike than being in a car to the days when he started growing and he could hold his own on longer rides to come to G2Gs with xBhp and other places and going on the highway sitting on bigger bikes as well. (Check my earlier threads)

I looked at him in the living room as he kept VOOAAAOOO-ing on an imaginary bike, I wondered when would he have his own real bike. What would be the real time to let him have his own bike? These were questions that came to quite often. That is when I took a big decision and started working on the idea of letting him have his own bike between 7 and 9 years of age. Past his 7th birthday I started working on the feasibility and logistics of working on a kid bike.

I looked at various models available in the market, some electric replicas of the R1 which did not much appeal to me. I came across and tested bikes like you see here: http://www.globalsources.com/gsol/I/...1002073102.htm Did not much like anything of what I saw in these places. I once even weighed the possibility of a Klx 110. But the logistics and prices did not turn out to be an attractive proposition. And I decided to work from a completely different perspective. I wanted to buy a normal bike, cut it up, and work on it with the help of the guys that you know so well by now… KRP.

In the meanwhile, time was not wasted. Maël was learning to ride my P220 with me sitting behind. I would start the bike, get it running on 2nd and give the clip-ons and the gear shifting to him. I let him get used to the upshifting, downshifting, braking, though he has LOTS to learn of course. He is just a beginner and he has no idea of speeds, distances, when and how much to brake and so on.

Then I got together with KRP and we worked on the bike; the chassis was cut, changed the swingarm, imported 14” and 12” wheels, imported the monoshock, the disc brake. Got the spokes made locally. That took a lot of time. And KRP worked day in day out to cast the dies. I had given them a strict deadline. Just to give you an example, the front mudguard has been cast 6 times to get the satisfactory shape. Several dies have been cast for the rest of the bike as well. All this took three months of rigorous hard work, conceptualization and finally the bike was ready for Maël for his birthday as he turned 8 years old on the 30th of December, 2007.






As you will see in the pictures, the bike was customized with his name and blood group mentioned on the panels. This has been turned into a proper off-roader. The sprocketing has been changed. This one though has rear foot pegs. Initially Maël has to ride it with me sitting behind to be able to check things out in case he has a problem. And the day he received his bike, the following day we began proceedings like that. Aryan was around when this happened. He shot some while I sat behind Maël. He sat behind Maël and showed some of the ropes as well.



I was quite thrilled at the whole event. But I am pretty sure that Maël himself was excited beyond words though he did not much express it. He talks a lot but he is an introvert as far as expressing feelings and thoughts are concerned. But he would not want to get off his newly acquired prize.



The RIDE:
There is a plot of wasteland, unused and uncared for about 300 meters behind the DDA neighbourhood where I stay. That is where Maël started his first rides. It was mostly uneven undulating dirt with furrowed lines in the land lying fallow for years. Maël rode into this dirt with me sitting behind clinging on for dear life as he in his enthused vigour twisted the throttle to extract fun while I had my arms flailing to grab on to bits of air as I struggled to stay on. Yes, I admit I was scared sitting behind me. Because the RX135 with smaller wheels and smaller sprocket would wheelie at every wring of the throttle in every gear! And this fear continued for months each time I went out with him on the ride behind him.

But during the ride I could still manage to sit behind him and shout instructions at him as when to shift gears, ease on the gas, step on it and come to a stop by applying the front brakes and pulling in the clutch. He is trying to get used to the idea of riding in the rough and getting used to the controls available at his hands and feet. Taking off on first with me sitting behind was not an easy task for him initially since the bike would just take off with the front wheel coming up, you all know the power of the RX135! I changed that and asked him to start off on 2nd. I know that this will instill the feeling in him of starting a bike probably not the right ratio. But this was the only way in which he could get started in a safe manner and not get his wits scared out of him. At least, that is how I felt. The idea was to have fun and not get him scared.

But all this was to change. And this was to change in not a very distant future. I realized that I was the one who was scared. And me taking a back seat was a bad thing in life. The next big change happened even before half the year was out. In the meanwhile I kept following Maël’s progress physically and mentally in his biking prowess. Or so I thought!

In exactly three and a half months, I took a personal bold step. I decided to get off the back and allowed Maël to ride on his own. And I realised that this was one of the best things that I could have done. He rode it without any problems. Whereas while I was sitting behind him as pillion, I was scared to an extent wherein I was asking him to slow down each time there was an obstacle. I herein present a video recorded in the month of April showing his riding progress, though far from perfected, but his trials at one of his first rides all alone on his own bike at the tender age of a little over 8!

YouTube - 2nd Video of Maël on his offroader, 12 April 2008

I am glad I took this step of going ahead and getting him his own bike. The job done on the bike is really neat. It is a fun bike to ride, holds very well, has excellent traction, can jump, lean, drift, wheelie and will do everything that you want a dirt bike to do. I often take it out myself when Maël is not looking. This I felt is a unique experience that I was fortunate enough to live. And hence I decided to share it amongst like minded bikers of the community.


Text: KRISHNENDU KES aka KEN.
Pix: KRISHNENDU KES aka KEN and ARYAN.

[Aryan]

Universal Thread Approved.

Thanks for posting this thread. I remember it reading it in the 'old' xBhp. I hope Mael has become an expert in riding that off-roader now!

[ken cool]

Thanks for the Approval Aryan. It was there on the "older crashed" xbhp. Wanted to put it back for future reference of all concerned in case riders/bikers here need to look at it.

[spiderweb]

KEN COOL: Always thought you were some 25-30 yrs. n young n dashing, riding an SBK(you got one kya? A fireblade?)
But man oh man, you got a kid, a young rider... Mael! Great man!
So howz ya family doing & how well Mael had mastered the art of Biking?
Would love to hear about the young progress... I mean ofcourse they are gonna be faster n smarter than us lot!
Sexy write-up!
n very refreshing pics

[nitrosatya]

Champions start young! Best of luck to Mael! Mael is lucky to have an R1 owning dad!

I touched a powered two wheeler at 16!

[ken cool]

Originally Posted by spiderweb

KEN COOL: Always thought you were some 25-30 yrs. n young n dashing, riding an SBK(you got one kya? A fireblade?)
But man oh man, you got a kid, a young rider... Mael! Great man!
So howz ya family doing & how well Mael had mastered the art of Biking?
Would love to hear about the young progress... I mean ofcourse they are gonna be faster n smarter than us lot!
Sexy write-up!
n very refreshing pics

I am Young and Dashing, occasionally riding a Sbk. Fireblade? Nah. A smaller more discreet smarter and faster R1. And I am just 19... forever.

Thanks. And yes, I will keep updating on the progress. This weekend I may go around taking some interesting pix on difficult terrain where he might even fall...

[MG]

So the thread is up again.Thanks for posting it again Kenda.

I have the experience of seeing Mael live in action and he is very good for his age.As spidy said he will leave all of us very soon.

[rachitkohli]

vow.. that waz indeed an awesome treat for all of us to watch the building up of young rider..
am gonna show this to my dad.. & i will b a better dad for my kid (when i have one )..
happy biking to little Ken err.. Mael

[nitrosatya]

Originally Posted by ken cool

I am Young and Dashing, occasionally riding a Sbk. Fireblade? Nah. A smaller more discreet smarter and faster R1. And I am just 19... forever.

Thanks. And yes, I will keep updating on the progress. This weekend I may go around taking some interesting pix on difficult terrain where he might even fall...

ahem...ahem...

[Shivanshu]

wow a morning bless to read your feelings.... good going KenDa...now that makes me want to make you meet more... whole write up is beautiful.... would love to meet up Mael too...an upcoming offraoder in xBhp.