The Radisson BLU at Hinjewadi in Pune was where motorcycling history unraveled on March 31, 2024,
with the first ediDon of The Art of The Motorcycle being run to great fanfare and appreciaDon.
Motorcycle enthusiasts from the established set in Pune, Mumbai and outside of Maharashtra came prepared with their fine works of two-wheeled art but even they were both zapped as well as
appreciaDve of many a two-wheelers that crawled out of the proverbial woodwork from places such as Kolhapur, Sangli, Lonavala and other mofussil places. Barring two no shows from the original 135 entries selected, the biker fraternity did themselves proud by turning out their magnificent steeds and it was a joy for many to see not just the great vintage and
classic machines but they were immediately taken back to the India of post-independence Dmes with some genuinely fine machinery representaDve of those Dmes in the 1950-1985 period where we could see the pendulum swing from controlled socialist Dmes industry and its resultant produce to what an open approach formula could get industry to produce.
Some of the great machines from our own homegrown bike makers dazzled showgoers and
parDcipants alike, especially Devendra Maharshi’s unique Royal Enfield Ensign II from Thane stood out as much for its rarity as it did for its overall turnout and the way she rode. Truly marvelous and proved beyond doubt what event curator and eminent automoDve historian Adil Jal Darukhanawala has always maintained: “You need the humblest of wheels, sympatheDcally restored to original without added flash, using processes and finishes which are period perfect to make the vehicle stand out and Devendra’s Ensign II did accurately.”
The event had a couple of Escorts-built Rajdoot 175s, in Ranger and Standard spec and these
workhorses of the 1960s and 1970s brought so many smiles back on every face when they fired up
and rode to the podium to receive their commemoraDve medallions and parDcipaDon cerDficates. And staying with Rajdoots, we had a trio of their evocaDve 175 GTS minibikes popularised by the box office hit film Bobby as well as four supremely powerful Rajdoot Yamaha RD350s, the hobest and most powerful motorcycles ever built in socialist India.
An Indian Heritage class and no big caliber Bullets from the Royal Enfield marque? An impossibility of course and we had a great sampling of about six 350 Bullets across three decades and each having their own charisma to boot. And to cap it all off, we had Mohammed Hussein Mulla’s 1984 Ind-Suzuki AX100 plus Ashish Nagarkar’s 1986 Kawasaki Bajaj KB100 giving us a hint of the first flush of Indo-Jap commuters.
Staying firmly focused on Indian-built two-wheelers we celebrated a host of scooters across the
spectrum with Bajaj Auto Super and Chetaks (the laber at one point of Dme being the world’s largestselling scooter) along with its MSL subsidiary’s Priya 150 very well represented. Then we had not just the original API Lambrebas and Lambys plus also the Lambrebas branded Vijai from the Scooters India stable. But the vehicle which caught the eye and also got the verdict from the parDcipants who were obliged to vote on the Biker’s Choice in class saw Sameer Kadamb’s 1957 Lambreba D-150 Series 3 take top honours
Yes, this event broke new ground by democraDzing even the judging process and threw it to the
parDcipants themselves to vote on the bike which they liked best in their class with one simple proviso – they couldn’t vote their own machine! It was a very well received for not just the objecDvity with which this process was coined but also the clarity of purpose innovaDve thought behind it being an open process as also a most enjoyable one.
The moped class honours fell to the exquisitely turned out 1962 Vicky moped of Sanket Balkawade
while an even more evocaDve moped to triumph against even more fancied bigger capacity machines in the race and adventure category was SaDsh Apte’s KineDc Luna 55cc racer which beat the allconquering TVS50 mopeds at the Sriperambudur race track in 1993, the first and only Dme in Indian motorcycle racing history that a KineDc Luna had beaten them in a straight fight down south. The immensely well stocked Indo-Czech Delights category had lots of great bikes with fantasDc stories associated with them but through it all came the 1949 CZ 125 of Baban Dixit, in all its well-aged paDna to take the top honours. If that wasn’t all, this very bike fetched its owner the PreservaDon Class award
as well. The three upper crust classes had some drool worthy contenders, and it was great not to be a judge there and let the parDcipants vote for the best in class. Ashok Shah’s 1918 Indian Model O v-twin, probably the only one in India, was locked in a De with Sachin Oswal’s 1918 Triumph Model H and the
casDng vote from the curator saw the Yankee machine get the nod. Irphan Mogul’s 1930 BMW R11,
Jehangir Foroogh’s 1927 AJS H7 350cc racer and Christopher Hendricks’ 1931 Ariel SG Sloper 500 were other very impressive machines in this class and as I menDoned, this was a great Dme not to have been
a judge! In the category for Classic Bikes from 1941 to 1960, the turnout was electric and could have got many a strong man to grow weak at his knees, the quality of bikes being one beber than the other. Through it all came Pune’s Reuben Solomon’s 1956 BSA Gold Star DB34 to get the Biker’s Choice Award in this class. And finally a vindicaDon of the democraDzaDon we spoke about and also weaved into the event was best displayed to the hilt when a humble 1961 Zundapp Combinebe commuter motorcycle trumped big bikes galore to walk away with class honours. With no less than three four-cylinder Honda CB750s from the 1970s plus a four-cylinder Honda CB550 (a rare animal in this part of the world) along
with evocaDve Triumphs and Yamahas, this was a fantasDc turn up for the field.
Speaking to the fraternity at large, Adil Jal Darukhanawala, Siddhesh Mitkar and Dr Sambit Patnaik, the three men represenDng Adil’s Auto Zone, Old School Riders and Spats Garage respecDvely, emphasized that this was the precursor to a move to get a major internaDonal standard concours d’elegance event exclusively for motorcycles in the pipeline scheduled for November-December this year. Going solely by the happy smiles on all who abended this inaugural event in whatever capacity, we think that The Art of The Motorcycle is truly up and running!