I have been a silent reader for about two years and I recently joined the xBhp club.
I have made a few posts here and there since joining but didn't introduce myself as I wanted to do it properly.
So, here it goes.

Hi fellow riders
This is Ankit, from Sitamarhi (Bihar). Mine is a quaint little town next to the Nepal border.
I learned to ride on my father's Narmada 150 scooter back in 2004.
Since I was only 16 years old, I wasn't allowed to ride anywhere on it but there were times I would steal the

keys and take it out for a spin at 5 or 6 in the morning, I knew already then that I was hooked.
My next ride was my brother's hero Honda Joy. A no-nonsense 100 cc commuter on which I polished my riding skills for the next two year,
the usual grocery runs and meeting friends after the school.

Fast forward to '06 and I had just acquired my driving license and was about to buy my first bike.
Needless to say the feeling can't be described by words, it took me a solid 3 months to convince my parents to buy me a bike and when they finally agreed I couldn't sleep the whole night, I was just ecstatic!

Now, back in '06, you didn't have a lot of options when it came to bikes, pulsar 180 and Karizma were the biggest, fastest bikes you could buy if memory serves me right.
Also, internet was a luxury back then (Rs. 495 for 1GB of 2G data on AirTel) so researching bikes wasn't an option either, all the information came from the TV ads.
Pulsar 180 was the automatic choice as Karizma was a little too expensive. I didn't consider the 1st Gen Apache as it was too small for me, and still is.

D-Day arrives, I go with my brother to the Bajaj showroom to enquire about the P180, and sadly the guy didn't have a single 180 at his showroom. He asked me to checkout the P150 and the Avenger, but I declined as P150 was the go-to performance bike at that time and almost everyone had one. Also, totally hated the silver alloys on the P150.

Anyway, I leave the Bajaj showroom with a heavy heart and a long face when my brother asks me to checkout other bikes from other manufacturers.
The kind of guy I was and I am, I instantly loathed the idea as I wasn't even considering any other bike.
We go to this little Yamaha showroom which I didn't even know existed in my town, and I see this silver-yellow Yamaha Gladiator.
I had seen the ads for this bike but I thought that since the bike was just 125cc, it would have a smaller street presence, but God, how wrong I was!!

I also learned that day that bikes in advertisements look way smaller than in flesh.

She was an absolute beauty! The colour scheme was fantastic, the tank was big, as big as a 150cc bike and a pretty long wheelbase.
I was smitten, didn't want the P180 anymore, bought the bike then and there for 46k ex-showoom.
My parents were happy because I saved them about 15-20k on the bike by not going for the P180 and I was grinning ear to ear as it was a YAMAHA with a colour scheme that made it stand out of the crowd.


]I did my first wheelie on this bike the next morning, fell right on my ass, bike slid from under me, got a nasty cut on the left leg, thankfully the bike didn't have any scratches.

I rode this bike extensively till 2011, clocked about 75-80k on the ODO, did some highway runs as well, and fell in love with touring.

Come 2011, I wanted an upgrade and again, I was short on options. Ninja 250 was too expensive and the CBR 250 never appealed to me, ever.
I had my mind set on the Karizma ZMR as it made perfect sense for my needs, it had comfortable seating position with a powerful enough engine for highways.
I had taken a quote for the black ZMR from my local Hero Honda dealer and paid an advance, I was just waiting on the bike to arrive.

This one day, while I was still waiting on the ZMR, I passed by the Yamaha Showroom and I saw this limited edition yellow-black Yamaha R15 sitting in its full glory.
One look at the bike and suddenly the ZMR started to look ugly in comparison, all the logic went out the window and I knew, I want this bike.
Screw the comfortable seating position, I want this bike!!


The guys at Hero Honda were nice enough to return me the booking amount for the ZMR and I brought this baby home the very next day.

Now this was the bike that defined me as a biker, I went from being a squid to a proper biker with this baby, never dropped her once in almost 7 years.
Later in 2012, when I moved to New Delhi, I brought the bike with me and did frequent long distance rides on this one.

Now the R15 is a great bike, but it's seriously under-powered for highway use, sustained 110kmph runs feel like putting a lot of stress on the engine, so when Bajaj launched the Dominar, I felt all my prayers were answered.
I absolutely fell in love with how the bike looked, massive street presence, sinister looking front and 35 bhp of power. The tail section looked like it was borrowed straight from a P150 but I was ready to ignore it as the pros massively outweighed the cons.
But since it was a Bajaj, I thought it was best to wait for a few months and see how it performs in the real world.

Anyway, in December '17, I was all set to buy the Dominar, went to the showroom, took a test ride and it felt kinda boring to be honest.
The bike is awesome, no doubt about it, but I failed to find the connection, the character that makes you love or hate a bike. I told the same to the owner and he asked me to test ride the Duke 390.

Now, I have always hated Dukes, the 200's look and sound like mopeds, they're too flashy for my taste and have smaller dimensions for someone like me (still 6' and 110kg). So coming back, the owner asked me to test ride the Duke 390.

I turn on the bike, and I'm surprised by the deeper exhaust of the 390, and the first time I blip open the throttle on an empty stretch.

HOLY EFFING GOD!!!

In a fraction of a second, It made me feel like a kid again. I was grinning again, ear to ear, it was like I was riding a bike for the first time again!

I knew I wanted this bike, no matter how it looks, how it sounds, I want this bike, I was in love with the raw power.

Told the guy I'd take it, paid him the booking amount, came bake home and the same day, I see this article that the Duke 390 was being launched in white colour in 2018.
I looked at some pics of the white Duke 390 and suddenly, the bike started looking more mature.
I loved the power and now I loved the way it looked too. I called the owner and told him that I'd be taking the 2018 edition white Duke 390 and not the orange one

Fast forward two months, and got the bike delivered on 15th February.



.
Sorry if I offended any D200 owners, it's just my personal opinion and the Dukes are a hoot to ride, I just realized it a bit late.
Also, excuse the grammar mistakes I may have made.

So, this is me and by biking journey so far, hope to add more bikes and experiences to my life in the coming years.

Ride safe everyone!