e-Paper
PRADEEP PAUL
FINALLY I can say I have something in common with Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong: Both of us have ridden the Royal Enfield motorcycle. Okay, so have millions of others - the bike is made in India, after all - but it does make me think back to my college days in Calcutta (I still refuse to call it Kolkata).
Back then, in the early 1980s, some of my friends and I had motorcycles. Mine was an old Jawa, a two-stroke 250cc of Czechoslovakian descent. Others had Rajdoots and Mini Bullets, all with smaller engines.
One of them had the big daddy of Indian motorcycling in those days: the four-stroke 350cc Royal Enfield Bullet. It was heavy (compared to the Jawa), it wasn't very fast off the mark and it looked very old-fashioned, but I loved to ride it.
There was a catch though: The Enfields of that time had the gear lever on the right and the foot brake lever on the left, a complete opposite of all the bikes we were familiar with. So, as someone used to the conventional configuration of the Jawa, I kept getting into trouble.
When I wanted to brake, my right foot kicked the bike into a faster gear and when I wanted to shift into a faster gear, my left foot stomped on the brake pedal. Not the safest of rides, I assure you.
That said, I did enjoy riding that motorcycle. It had heft, it was stable once you got to cruising speed and it was reliable. Making the mental adjustment to the brake and gear levers being on the "wrong" sides was a minor price to pay for the feeling of being king of the road.
Fortunately, Royal Enfield made the swap to the conventional brake-gear setting sometime in the early 2010s, making it easier for all riders to straddle, kick into gear and ride.
That's probably why the organisers of the charity ride last Sunday offered DPM Wong the Royal Enfield Classic 500. And having ridden a motorcycle during his university days in the United States, he gamely said yes.
It showed yet another admirable, highly-relatable side to the man who will be our next Prime Minister. He isn't just adept at his work, he also plays the guitar, loves dogs and rides motorcycles!
DPM Wong's ride catapulted the Royal Enfield brand into the minds of those who thought all motorcycles are from Japanese manufacturers like Honda and Yamaha, Italian counterparts like Ducati or even Harley Davidson from across the pond.
Suddenly, people were asking about this relatively niche brand which has emerged as a front-runner in the cafe racer segment of motorcycling.
Suddenly, Indians all over the world - especially those in Singapore - were flexing their motorcycle muscles and reminiscing about their love for the trusty old Bullet.
The company now has seven models listed on its website and all of them drip classic retro appeal built on the DNA of the Bullet.
In fact, that gene must have embedded itself into my brain way back in the 1980s because I now ride a cafe racer whenever weather and work permit.
Yes, I had the sleek superbike for some years but once the need for speed had been satiated, I traded in my Yamaha R1 for a BMW R90T.
And it never fails to put a smile on my face every time I kick it into gear and let out the clutch. I saw that smile on DPM's face when he was riding on Sunday too.
Pradeep Paul is a former editor of tabla!
