Parting lines (updated)

1. What (and why) boys think about their bikes is as unexplainable and complicated as girls!
Bigger or smaller, boys will be boys!

2. It's official!
Valentino Rossi will be riding for DUCATI corse faqctory racing MotoGP team from 2011.
This also means that this is his last year with his favourite Yamaha YZR M1, the bike he developed over last 7 years, and brought victories for the Yamaha team. The greenish yellow 46 on blue Yamaha will now be seen on red Ducati.

3. This is what the 9 time world champion Valentino Rossi said yesterday in a press release on his parting from Yamaha,
"Now the moment has come to look for new challenges; my work here at Yamaha is finished. Unfortunately even the most beautiful love stories finish, but they leave a lot of wonderful memories, like when my M1 and I kissed for the first time on the grass at Welkom, when she looked straight in my eyes and told me ‘I love you!"
:)

Read the full press release here.
UPDATE: Reading between the lines of Valentino , what makes him much more than the best rider ever... what is more important than winning, to him?

That's the spirit!

Rossi is back on motorcycle!
:)
This is with reference to the brutal crash he had on 5th June. Withing 5 weeks of his open fracture accident, he is back on bike! He tested on a Yamaha YZF R1. Thats the spirit!
:)

Pure Italian

If you are from the world where JLo stands for Jorge Lorenzo, this is a big news for you!

Valentino Rossi shifting to Ducati from the next MotoGP season!

The news that every Italian was waiting for, for many years! It seems finally their dream is coming true. Finally.... Italian flag and the Italian rider on the Italian bike.

Finally.... no confusion being Ducati fan and being Rossi fan.

Ducati Desmosedici and Valentino Rossi... what a combination!

Finally, it will be Red + Yellow... ( do I mean orange? ;) )

I am waiting for official news and next season!

(somehow I still continue to like yamaha also... at least untill I afford a Ducati)

Yamaha FZ16 for Rs. 100 only

Today I baught a Yamaha FZ 16 bike for Rs. 100 only.

Impossible? No, its quite possible here in Ahmedabad.

How I did it? here is the sequence:

1. Parked my bike (1 year old yamaha FZ 16) outside SBI bank alongwith few others already there.

2. went in and dropped the check in drop box, got a statement of account.

3. Came out with my helmet in hand and no bike out there!

4. The GUARD asked me to wait on the opposite side of road where the towing vehicle will come again.

5. I searched for the vehicle along that road.

6. Spotted it with my bike hanging for life on the edge.

7. Stopped those boys and told them that orange Yamaha is mine.

8. that was enough of a proof.

9. I paid Rs. 100 and they DROPPED the bike in middle of road and went (without giving any receipt or waiting to see if it was actually my bike!).

10. Luckily that was actually my bike and I had the key so I could easily ride it away.

11. This way anyone can buy any bike for Rs. 100 from these towing vehicle contract operators.

I am planning to buy a Yamaha R15 now. Some dents on body or silencer may just increase the cost to few more hundreds. Still so cheap!

Dang, it's so slow!!!

(note: dang - damn, interj. Used to express dissatisfaction or annoyance)

Today I am feeling so nice! :) Yes one reason being that it was a nice holiday yesterday, which started with watching a very entertaining movie and ended with very tasty food cooked at home by anup and mosh (ghosh)... I still can't believe she actually did!!! But thats a different topic... What made me feel so nice today morning is nothing else but my bike ride to office! Mannn I was actually riding at 70 inside city!!! I couldnt believe that I am still able to do it after riding at 35 kmph max for last few days! Dang, I did it! hahahah
Ok to make the whole picture lttle clear, I must tell you that like many girls, miss Nidhi Dang (the actual Dang and not damn) had always complained about the small and too tall pillion seat of my bike (FZ16). More than that she also had always complained that I ride too fast (read: 45kmph). So recently she declared no matter what, she is not going to be my pillion rider. And thats when dear god decided to put her in situations which demanded her being my pillion rider! :)
Now looking at miss Dang, who has a long list of secret (and some open) admirers, this should be a very good opportunity for any biker... like me... ;)
But Riding all the time at 30-35kmph!!!!!!! On a Yamaha!!!! Dang, it's so slow!!! I tried my best to be a good boy for this virgo and kept riding at 35.... with all splendors and victors overtaking from my left and right, activa girls and scooty babes running over my baby FZ, making way for all the faster entities... I kept riding at 35... unknowingly even when I was riding alone!!!
At the end of every ride (read:journey) i felt like I had been a really good boy and just to confirm (not impress) I tried asking if she was comfortable now? But dang!!!! I could see her happily nodding to sid's "bahoot bhagaayaa na?"
With memory of my morning rides, a KTM sticker on helmet, MV Agusta on tank, and a Ducati in mind, I may be seen riding my Yamaha at 35kmph again with someone like Nidhi...
Dang!!! thats life...

(un)dressed to kill...

It takes a lot of talent to make a naked streetfighter bike look presentable! To make it look seductive requires even lot more efforts and understanding of proportions. And proportion does not necessarily mean golden proportion! Because as Francis Bacon Sr. says, "There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion". This is the Deus Ex machina SR542, based on Yamaha SR500.

My 10,000 km on Yamaha FZ 16 :)

4th Nov 2008 - 4th Aug 2009.
9 months 10,000 km Rs 10,000 of petrol!
everyday morning trips to office. :)
Dholka, Thol lake, Indroda nature park, Adalaj, Hathisinh temple, few aimless night rides. :)
photography (sadly I haven't clicked her enough properly, still searching for the dream model ;)
Top speed ride to Gandhinagar for Tabala concert.
one frightening oily skid recovery, :o
Please don't cut trees, they fall on bikes costing Rs. 3000 :(
my favourite slow turns, one crazy hairpin leaving NID parking challenging maximum lean angles. ;)
little tyre burnouts, hard front braking and clutchless gear-shifts (but still no stopies!) :(
everyday fast overtakes from Neharu circle to Shivaranjani bridge ;)
some of them causing my heart to beat as hard as enfield.
my pillion riders (almost everyone I wanted to be) ...... ;)
my dream pillion riders (menaka if not keira knightley) hehehehe ;)
Waiting for winter again, Modhera, Nal sarovar, Munsar tank still on plan only... :(
still planning for new paint scheme, performance kit, silencer etc
wish Vijay, Akash, sanjeev were around for unplanned trips... :(
Anyway now that I know her quite well, should take the experience few steps up ;)

Following is a video of my trip with Poorva on the never-ending thorny road (?) around Thol lake. The lack of road is quite visible, but it was a very amazing experience to ride to go nowhere....

Rossi's sexy new $1 million toy

Valentino Rossi recently baught a sexy new yatch Pershing 56 for around $1.15 millions. It can take 14 people, has 1,300 hp power and is one of the few very fast luxury yatches. An Italian beauty for the Italian hero! Valentino is 5th on the list of world's top earning athletes. This year he earned $35 millions for riding a Yamaha around few tracks, getting clicked for media and baught a sexy yatch like this! I ride my Yamaha everyday to office to sketch things which I may never be able to buy or even see coming to life! Sometimes I feel I am in wrong profession. ;)

This one is another sexy Yatch Pershing 72.

Interesting history of Brand Yamaha

The Yamaha brand trademark, YAMAHA, comes from the name of founder Torakusu Yamaha who pioneered the production of Western musical instruments in Japan. Born to a family of a Kishu Tokugawa clansman, Torakusu was captivated by Western science and technology from early on. Fascinated by the watches that were gaining popularity in Osaka at the time, he took up watchmaking, studying business along the way. Over time, Torakusu began repairing medical equipment and was invited to visit a hospital in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture.

On one occasion, the hospital asked him if he would try to repair a reed organ. He agreed and was able to repair it successfully, marking the first step toward the birth of the Yamaha brand. Recognizing its business potential, while repairing the organ, Torakusu created a blueprint for the inside of the organ, later creating his own prototype organ. To deliver it to the then Music Institute (today's Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music), Torakusu slung his creation over his shoulder on a carrying pole and crossed the mountains of Hakone. This historic trek was later immortalized as a bas-relief.

The organ, however, was criticized harshly for its poor tuning. Undaunted, and starting from zero, Torakusu began studying music theory and tuning. After four months of seemingly endless struggles from early morning to late at night, he was finally able to complete the organ. It is easy to see how he came up with the concept of the tuning forks logo (as seen in pic above), inspired by the difficult experience of studying tuning while holding a tuning fork in his hand.

"Today, Yamaha is a leader in businesses ranging from musical instruments and audio & video products to products related to information technology, new media services, home furnishings, auto components, specialty metals, music education and resort facilities. Yet, true to our musical origins, no matter what business we take on, or what country we do business in -- we seek to remain perfectly attuned to the set of shared values that define the World of Yamaha." As per information on Yamaha website.
P.S. by the way they also produce good motorcycles!!! ;)

Ruling the LORD...

"Remember remember the 5th november!!!..." :)
Finally, today was my first morning ride to office on my new Yamaha FZ16..
If I have to describe her in just one word, it will be 'EFFORTLESS'.. you think left and she turns left, you just wring the throttle little and it touches 50 before you notice, just after 7km of my ride and at her age of 14hours I feel as if I am using her for ages... yes... thats what I mean.. effortless!!!
Though I couldn't enjoy the ride fully because of my physical condition today, it did assured me of the joy of riding to come in future. She is called 'The lord of the streets...' And what can make one more proud than ruling the lord?...
(more later)