Of late, I have been reading a
lot about superbike crashes in India. From a Ducati Diavel Carbon in Mumbai
being renamed to only Carbon and a Harley Davidson Heritage Softail crashing in
Gurgaon, these untoward incidents have caught the attention of many. Generally,
these are the parties involved whenever a high end motorcycle crashes in India
:
The Rider of the Motorcycle.
The Journalists and their
“motorcycle expert” friends.
The Police.
The Family of the Rider.
Every other motorcycling
enthusiast who’s aware of the incident.
Let’s look at their
perceptions one by one.
1. The Rider of the motorcycle :
90% of the time, the rider is
never at fault. At least that’s what he thinks. It’s either the bike’s
dynamics, the tyre pressure, a flying crane, a dog sunbathing in the middle of
the road or the PWD engineers who determined the bank angle of the corner who
are responsible for his crash. Ask him why he was doing 140kmph on a state
highway and boom comes the answer – This a Ducati, okay? Ducati! Not a Pulsar!
However, if the rider is
geared he’ll probably live and survive to admit his mistakes such as –
mistaking the corner angle, not checking the tyre pressure before the ride,
being too mesmerized by the landscape to watch out for the dog chilling out or
riding too fast on a SH of all places. They’ll probably thank their Shoei
helmet and their Rev’It! Jacket for saving their life and move on, probably
wiser and ego leveled.
But, given the rider is not
geared and is complementing his 1 liter engine with 100 rupee Aviators, he’ll
probably be dead or in a coma. Money doesn’t but you a brain, you see.
2. The Journalists and Their “Motorcycle Expert” friends :
“So, there was a crash
involving superbikes? Wow! You’re telling me this is minor news?! Hell, no!
Forget all the other thousands of people who die every day riding their sorry
Splendors and Discovers. This guy rides a Hayabusa! John’s bike! He must go on
the title page of our website. Do the story in an hour and upload it fast!
Before the Moto****s guys do it!” is what I think happens in every
auto-journalism house a few hours after the crash, courtesy the very ethical
habit of our citizens to click photos, videos and selfies of every crime spot.
So, within a few hours, you’ll
have a glowing article about how a biker while “racing” with his superbiker
friends died and how dominant the “superbiker scene” of the city is becoming.
Then you’ll have a few snippets from the “motorcycling experts” who will go on
to say how they consider “only superbikers as proper riders” (this is true,
read it in a recent article) and then instead of suggesting solutions, the
“motorcycle expert” will say how he rents out Ducatis and Triumphs after
judging the capability of the customer on the basis of his AGV helmet and
Alpinestar jacket.
Not much masala, no? So the
journalist will now add how these “superbike gangs” meet “secretly” at night
and do “high speed runs”. Now, I am no Nostradamus but these statements are
only possible if the journalist watches Vin Diesel and Jason Statham movies to
fulfill his 3AM cravings. Or maybe he has saved the Dhoom series of movies as
“My Favourites” in his hard disk. Whatever. Most of these articles don’t have a
head or tail and are best ignored. They are often motivated, vindictive and
work on only one principle – Hate them, if you can’t have them.
3. The Police :
Ah, yes! How can we forget the
law enforcers? So, one snoopy villager will call up his constable friend at the
local outpost and tell him that some city boys were racing and one of them
crashed. Said constable informs so to his ASI and together in their 1951 Jeep,
they arrive at the scene. They are very quick to seize the license and papers
of the wounded rider and will retort with the choicest of abuses if you
question them, because hey, you’re “city boys illegally racing”.
The real repercussions happen
a day after the crash. All of a sudden, there will be abnormal barricading and
checkpoints. Every geared biker will be stopped on the suspicion of “racing”
and be un-necessarily harassed while the real ones tripling on Pulsar 220s will
be let go. It goes on and on.
4. The Family Of the Rider :
Whether the rider lives or
dies, the consequences will more or less be the same. His prized superbike will
be immediately sold off and the proceeds used to buy a second hand Honda City
because he and his next 2 generations dare not touch a superbike again. Let the
rider stare at a superbike for too long at the traffic signal and his wife will
probably divorce him for doing so. It doesn’t matter whose mistake it was – he
shall never ride a motorcycle again because it’s too “dangerous”.
5. Every other motorcycling enthusiast who’s aware of the incident :
Pictures and videos will make
their way into various motorcycling groups via Whatsapp. Some will have pity,
while some will curse the rider for buying a LS2 Helmet and not an AGV.
Armchair riders will be quick to form an opinion as to why he didn’t buy TMX
boots because they are made of military grade uranium, apparently. The wiser
ones will treat it as a lesson and be more careful in their future rides and
ensure such incidents don’t happen with them.
Own a liter bike?
Congratulations. Just remember that your probable haunt would be the local expressway
and not Autobahn. Beating that squid on his RC200 will not win you a trophy or
Adriana Lima. Know your limits because “with great power, comes great
responsibility”. Guess you’re too bored of listening to this from everyone,
right?
Superbike crashes in our
country are an accident. They are like the thousands of other accidents that
happen every hour in India. People die in them too. Why sensationalize things?
To educate others? How about you start educating our next generation by making
the level system of driving licensing mandatory? How about you curb the sale of
high powered bikes and ensure they’re not gifted to kids on their 18th
birthday? Sensationalizing superbike accidents will serve only one purpose – it
will give people the sadistic pleasure they’d derive by stereotyping
motorcyclists even more.
The author of this article can
be reached at thebarcalad@gmail.com. He has also given an interview
on All India Radio on “Safe Motorcycling on Indian Roads” which can be heard here.
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