[arun1100]

The Journey of 25 years of Dad's Bajaj Chetak!

A Bajaj Scooter was the most common two wheeler seen on Indian roads for about four decades until Bajaj decided to focus on motorcycles and Honda took over the mass commuter segment with the Honda Activa. In the year 1997, just when Dad turned 50, there was a need for him to own a scooter and the Bajaj Chetak was the obvious choice. The Bajaj Chetak was chosen over Kinetic Honda and LML Select.

Two pics, 25 years apart! Dad, mom and sister!
Taking this pic was a task as I had to plan for all the family members and the Scooter to be at one place.
This year was special. Scooter turned 25, parents' 50 years of marriage and Dad is now 75!!


This was Dad's second two wheeler after the RE Bullet which he bought in 1971.
Story of this Bullet is here - https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/motor...71-bullet.html (Stolen & found after 25 years - Dad's 1971 Bullet!)

Highlights of the Scooter:
Model - Bajaj Chetak
Purchase - 19th August 1997
Dealer - Jatti Motors, Bangalore

Owner's manual


Technical Specifications


Warranty Certificate!


Some gyaan from Bajaj on genuine spares!


Hibernation and Resurrection in 2019!
The Chetak served my Dad very well for over a decade till and his usage of the scooter reduced as he turned 60. This meant the scooter was very sparingly used and soon after had it's mid-life crisis. During it's hibernation days, we had parked the scooter in our house compound. Unfortunately, during the construction of our home, the workers didn't notice the scooter parked nearby and lots of cement fell all over the scooter during the wall plastering. It was too late when I noticed and the damage was done. The cement had dried up and damaged the complete paint.

As years passed by, our Chetak turned fifteen and the registration was expired. The hibernation continued till 2019 till my dear friend Karthik Makam - Bhpian funkykar noticed the scooter at home and offered to restore and use it. Karthik rode a Scooter during his college days and he wanted to reminisce those days! I was more than happy to handover the scooter to him. Karthik took all the efforts and immaculately restored the Chetak and also took the effort in renewing the Fitness Certificate!
Here's the restoration link - https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/motor...ml#post4537910 (Restored! Hamara Bajaj - Chetak, a fun workhorse)

Before and After Restoration!
This is the scooter I learnt to ride two decades ago and glad it was restored to its full glory!


Bhpian Funkykar's scooter collection!
Karthik eventually bought many older model scooters, restored a few and enjoyed riding them especially post lockdown while the traffic in the city was less. Having owned many Classic cars and motorcycles, Karthik felt maintaining scooters is far easy as they have simple mechanism and easy to find the spares. Here are some of Karthik's scooters along with my Dad's scooter while they were parked at our home!
Thread on Funkykar's scooters - https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/motor...ollection.html (Lockdown presents...My Scooter Collection)

Priya and Chetak


Usual weekend spin!


All scooters parked safely inside the compound


Collage of the Bajaj factory pic received over whatsapp and scooters at home.

[arun1100]

Life with Daughter & Scooter & the way forward!

The last two years have been very exciting with the scooter amid the gloomy times of Covid. Just before the Covid hit, Dad built his farm house on the outskirts of Bangalore and this proved to be a great blessing during lockdown days. Most of the classics were parked at the farm and I could go on pleasure rides quite often.

Quick scooter rides along the farm lands of Bangalore.
[L to R] Chetak, Daughter Yashna and me!


Beautiful roads of North Bangalore!


Chilling under a mango tree after plucking few mangoes!
This was during the second lockdown and I don't think we would have had such leisure time if not for covid!


Chetak parked safely at my parents farm house.


In the woods! Chetak dark edition with all the chrome fittings removed.


Loving this look of the Chetak!


Daughter and Scooter - A memorable moment!


Dad's three classics united for the first time ever!
1991 Premier Padmini | 1997 Bajaj Chetak | 1971 RE Bullet!


Looking forward for the next 25 years of scooter riding!


Collage of a Snapshot from the Hamara Bajaj ad from the internet and Yashna!! She's 9 now and 9 more years to go for her to start riding the Scooter!


Being an classic automobile enthusiast, I am happy that I have been able to maintain all my Dad's classics and each one of them is serving me equally well!

Happy Riding!
Arun1100

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[Cresterk]

What a heartwarming story. Wish you 25 more years of riding the Chetak!

[GreasyCarb55]

Thank you for sharing this story Arun1100, this post took me on one hell of a nostalgia trip reminiscing about our family scooter, a humble 2006 Honda Activa which actually reentered the family a few months ago as my uncle was looking for a cheap and reliable scooter to use around Bangalore and found our old scooter for sale.

That scooter was cosmetically and mechanically restored a few weeks ago to it's former glory and it looks like it rolled off the Honda production line just a few days ago, if I wasn't 1500km away attending college in Bhubaneshwar I would've made a post about it here.

[MDED]

Wow Arun! Awesome tale. Folks born in early 80’s or late 80’s will be able to recognise this gem of a real scooter. I vividly remember that my father was die hard bike fan and he owned Rajdoot and my maternal uncles in Bokaro and Ranchi were riding Chetak and Priya. I learnt riding two wheeler on these two war horses.

Your post has rekindled the urge to ride these timeless classics. North Bangalore- Yelahanka?

[v12]

Congratulations Arun!! It's really interesting to read about your and Karthiks collection. How easy is it to maintain and obtain spares for these scooters. I was very close to buying a Bajaj Priya and a Bajaj Super during the lockdown. But it didn't work out. So just wanted to know about the maintenance and spares just incase i come across one.

[HowardRoark]

This is really heart warming Arun. Smiling face of daughter is worth any hassles. You added some father -daughter goals to my list. My grandfather had a chetak which they sold before I turned 18. I now regret not holding on to it. However I am wondering if it is street legal to ride such old bike. Will RTO allow extending their life as long as we maintain it properly?

[RGK]

Arunyeta, Wishing you many more miles with Chetak. Bajaj scooter was treated like a family member back then in every house.

[Amrik Singh]

What a beauty in comparison my 1983 model Chetak parked in my stilt parking.
It is still running well and it is occasionally used (once or twice an year) to bring Paint Bucket from shop. On my Pulsar 180, I cannot even take a carrying bag.
Despite its age, it is less used as most of the years, I stayed out of country.
I am double minded whether to spend another Rupee on it to being it to its glory and retain it or scrap it - sentiments are like Power supply, getting 'On' and 'Off'.
Largely favouring scrapping as I rarely use it and the Government policies towards aging vehicles.
If anyone is in love with this machine, I can consider transferring it in New Delhi.

[ninjatalli]

What a lovely thread. Wish you decades more of happy ownership.

Looking at the picture of scooters taken together, curious to understand - how come your father's scooter have a KA series number instead of the 3 letter code & number format? Wondering if the KA series number plate(s) started back in 1997?

[RunGaDa]

Bajaj Chetak is dear to my heart. It was my first vehicle ever. Haha! You can call me old then. No issues.
I got my Chetak in 1996. Even after buying several bikes and cars I couldn’t let go Chetak. It’s still there but unattended in my native place garage. Locked up.
May be some day I will find courage to do a makeover and make it functional again.

It’s heartening to read your story. Well done. Very happy for you.

[mjkaushal]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

What a lovely thread. Wish you decades more of happy ownership.

Looking at the picture of scooters taken together, curious to understand - how come your father's scooter have a KA series number instead of the 3 letter code & number format? Wondering if the KA series number plate(s) started back in 1997?

I too had bought my first 2 wheeler which was a Bajaj Chetak in 1994 at Bangalore. The registration was KA series itself .

[mjkaushal]

Originally Posted by mjkaushal

I too had bought my first 2 wheeler which was a Bajaj Chetak in 1994 at Bangalore. The registration was KA series itself .

I once again had the opportunity having a Chetak scooter which was a 1994 model which was owned by my neighbour who is a retired Wing Commander . His scooter was lying unused by him for more than a decade and a half and was kept covered in his garage.
During the second lockdown, his car had its battery drained and my son had helped him charge his car battery and during the process was talking to him about his scooter.
He had instantly told my son to take the scooter , get it repaired and use it since he had seen me and my son maintain all our cars and 2 wheelers.
My son was smiling from ear to ear and was thrilled at the prospect of driving a simple mechanical iconic scooter. We got it checked and replaced all the usual suspects like fuel pipe, brake linings, both the tyres and now its in perfectly working condition.

[mugen_pinaki27]

An absolutely delightful read, @arun1100. Your dad's Chetak made me nostalgic. I remembered my dad's Kinetic Honda. Many a ride we took on the same. Unfortunately, we had to sell it off when we purchased a 2008 Honda Activa. Despite the Honda performing flawlessly, the Kinetic was a hoot to ride and took me on many memorable road trips in and around Delhi-NCR. Cheers!