Hello fellow Tbhpian!
Hope you all are have a wonderful riding/driving experience.
Scoured through the treads to find some thread where bhpians have shared their very first riding/driving experience, but could not. If I have missed it, please point me in the right direction!
However, if there is no thread I would like to start one. Charity begins at home and let me share my experiences:
First Bicycle Ride:
Obviously, like many other children around the world, my first cycle was a three wheeled pedal cycle, which I know only because my parents took photos of me riding it.
We used to live in Bangalore, upto my 5th Standard. My first proper memory of a bicycle is a Hero cycle which I got. It was orange in colour. I got it for my 9th Birthday. Looked like a BMX bike, had struts at the front wheel and rear wheel. The brakes were a little odd though. Instead of a normal brake lever on the handle bar, you had to pedal backwards to apply brake. Never understood why had they kept such a mechanism. This lead to many accidents while riding. My father’s confidence on giving freedom to kids was borderline “over-confidence”. As a 9-year-old, I was allowed to cycle on the streets, compared my friends who only were ever allowed to cycle inside their compound. I had a jolly good time riding that cycle. That is when I experienced true freedom of owning your own vehicle. My brother, who was 5 years younger to me, would stand on the struts on the rear wheel and hold my shoulder while I would pedal. Unfortunately, I do not have any photos of the bicycle, which I can share with you people.
First Motored Two Wheeler Ride:
My next tryst with a two wheeler was a Kinetic Honda. Yes, you are right, the one which we all remember. When I ask someone to close their eyes, and utter Kinetic Honda, most of them will picture a black (or white) Kinetic Honda. The unmistaken sound of the self-starter, which to me always sounded like the school bell ringing after a day of school. The sound always signified freedom to me, either the self-start or the school bell. We had shifted back to my native place, Udupi by then. The scooter, a used one, was bought for my mother to go about in town. After a month of riding lessons, she took it out once with me riding pillion, saw a lorry coming from the other end about 300-400 meters away, panicked, and drove us into a water drain by the side of the road. Thankfully we were safe. But she never assumed the rider seat again, till date. We all tried a lot, but it was too much for her. The scooter was collecting dust. I being in 6th Standard at the time, would take it out nearby shops to buy groceries. Would roam the back alleys of our village. Finally, my father sold it off as my mother never used it again.
First Geared Two Wheeler Ride:
My next type of vehicle which I rode, was a 4 stroke bike. LML Freedom. My father had bought it for himself. I was in the eight standard. My friend, Bharath had come home during a hot summer Sunday. We were getting bored at home. My father was a very chill guy. He was taking a nap that particular afternoon. We went upto him and asked him to teach us to ride a bike. Half awake, pointed towards his trousers hanging on the clothes rack. Out came the hoarse voice, “Keys are in my pocket. Slowly turn the accelerator, while you release the clutch slowly. You know where the brakes are. Be inside the compound and don’t wake me up again!”.
That was it! My lesson on riding a geared motorbike. Me and Bharath spent the whole afternoon trying to figure out how to start the bike without stalling the engine. To my dad’s utter dismay, listening to the bike starting and stalling a thousand times, he groggily woke up and gave me a dressing down that I will burn the clutch and spoil the battery or the engine. He went back to sleep. Ignoring his words,we kept at it again. Maybe after two-three hours we were finally able to figure it out. Inspite of warning from my dad, took it out on the road for a short ride came back.
I fell in love with riding. I was promised a Pulsar after my 12th. But my parents were brainwashed by my other family and friends into buying me a 100cc TVS star city lest I speed on a 150 cc pulsar and crash!
I was young and too stupid! My college was about 75 km from my home. I used to stay in a PG and would come home of weekends. Oh man! Did I abuse my star city! The road to my college was 30 km of a dual carriage highway and rest was curvy roads. The bike topped out at 85 kmph. I would time my rides. Would always try to cover this distance within an hour 15 minutes. Once, during such ride, I pushed my bike. It went all the way upto 90 kmph. I saw if I could push it a further. The bike vibrated, but saw the speedo needle crawling towards the 95 mark with great difficulty. I was happy and saw if I could push it towards 100. I thought, if the manufacturers did not want the vehicle to go above the top speed mentioned in his broucher, why did he bother to give higher speeds on the speedo. Oh boy was I wrong! At 95, the engine stalled. No response. The vehicle came to a halt. I kicked, kicked and kicked, the bike refused to start. Left the engine cool for 15 minutes. Prayed to God and kicked the kicker! The engine propped back to life, but had a clicking noise. Took it our known garage. My garage guy, Nichoo, who was my dad’s friend, laughed on my face and told me to get ready for a whacking at home. The engine bore needs to be replaced. Rs. 3,500 later, I learnt an important lesson. ‘Never abuse your machines. Don’t push it beyond its limit.’
My Star City parked outside my PG room in the sweltering Mangalore Sun. The bike served us well. I will always be indebted to this bike, which not only got me through college, but helped my mom manage her business and also was my brother’s ride during his college.
First Car Drive:
My next rendezvous with another type of vehicle was a Car.
I learnt “Driving” from a Driving school in Udupi. It was a white Maruthi Suzuki Swift, Diesel. Leave the clutch, the car moves ahead. The braking would be done by the instructor. I only had to pretend to hold the steering. They got me a driving license too! But I was never taught me well enough to be a confident driver. Since then, I always feel driving school is a waste of your money and time.
Came to Bangalore and started accompanying my Uncle on drives every Sunday in his Maruthi Suzuki Ritz, Diesel, Silver colour. He would teach me to drive on the NICE Road. Have made many single day journey to Bangalore-Chennai-Bangalore and never encountered a problem. I took it to Goa and back to Bangalore. Was wonderful. The most I remember about this car was the quirky interior design of the Tachometer. A round dial on the dashboard. It literally stood out!
I fell in love with driving due to this car. It had nothing special. But the distance that you could cover without your back hurting was a blessing!
Special Mentions:
A special thanks to Honda Unicorn, which gave me may memories with my brother as I explored placed closes to Bangalore. A special thanks to Ford Ecosport which kept my love of driving going strong! A special thanks to Maruthi Suzuki Wagon-R, which never gave me driving or parking anxiety whenever I drove into Bangalore City. A special thanks to our factory’s Tata Ace, which helped me appreciate power steering in Vehicles. A salute to the drivers of yester years, who drove without power steering.
My love affair with motor vehicles still continues till today. But these vehicles are the ones, which made me fall in love with the freedom you get while riding/driving.
I would love to hear all your stories of your first motoring experience and love!