Hi, my MS friends, before starting my topic I want to ask you, “Do you love to ride a bike?” The bike which you see in your dreams? Now no more wait just go & grab your dream bike.
Akshai Varde, the legend person for designing customizes bikes. He is inspired by motorcycles. He always design and customize bike very differently. And all bikes which he modifies named Vardenchi Motorcycles. From past 10 years he is in this profession only. He uses Royal Enfield as a base, and now he started working on Harley Davidson also.
Vardenchi’s business is growing 20% year-by-year & till date his turnover has risen upto 1 crore. So from Juhu he shifted his workshop to Jogeshwari whis is of 2000 sq. ft. and is spread in 4 units. Customizing, structural fabrication, painting, chroming, 3d modeling in same place, while some work like CNC milling, tube bending and seat upholstery are done other place. Till date he had modified upto more than 250-300 bikes.
History of Vardenchi Motorcycles.
At the age of 16 Akshai Varde got his 1st bike Yamaha RD 350, which is the famous bike of 1980. After completing his education he done diploma course in Hotel Management & worked with Jet Airways as a cabin crew in year 2001. On 2004 he brought an old Royal Enfield about Rs. 17,000/- & start doing modification on it. After completing it when he gone on ride, the bike grab lots of eyeballs & appreciation by his friends. A stand-up comedian Ash Chandler likes that bike so much that he told Varde to do same for him.
For modifying bike for Ash Chandler, he took a place on rent for modification. He got the place in Juhu in April 2005. While doing modification of bike, he didn’t leave his job, because he was not sure that this job is profitable for him. While doing his job in Jet Airways he gets enough time for modification. For doing modification he hired 2 persons. After 5 month he completed his work & sold for Rs. 65,000/- from which he didn’t get any profit, but he still stick for this work. In that year he had modified 6 more bikes & made a profit of 10-15% on each bike. From which he got confidence in this work, so he leave Jet Airways on Dec ’05 & Started his own garage where he do modification & named “Vardenchi Motorcycle”. He spends Rs. 2 lakh from his savings on basic tool kits which used on bike modification. This how Vardenchi Motorcycles was born; the name coming from the Marathi phrase "Varden-chi" which means of / by Varde.
Way of Vardenchi’s work.
As told you before Varde only modifies Royal Enfield as a base. So he keeps the front suspension & all electronic parts as it is, so that the biker could get the same feeling as he is driving Royal Enfield.
His customer wants the bike which is eye catching by others in crowded place & in funky look. So Vardenchi do the same for their customers. He modifies the bike as per customer’s satisfaction, for that he first do make 3d model of bike as per customer wants, show it to customer and after getting finalize he deliver the bike in 4-6 weeks. He had modified bikes for famous actor Jakie Shroff & famous t.v actor Karan Singh Grover, who got amazed by his work, and varde got 25-30% profit on that models.he had also modified the bike for a movie “Oh My God” in which Akshay Kumar rides it.
Making a Vardenchi Bike.
To create fule tank, a sheet metal is cut to create outline. Then by hammering and folding shape is given to it. Then the surface is polished to make it smoother. Then they weld all the pieces of fule tank, and from inside to prevent from rust it is epoxy coated. On upper part of tank paint is done through air-brush. Then to modify the bike, CNC bending of pipes are used and the engine and front forks are fitted to it. They use belt-drive rather than chain-drive, and for that special offset kit is designed to allow the belt-drive to clear the wide tyre. Then they assemble all the parts and a Vardenchi is ready.
About their Pricing.
Pricing is depended upon the modification of the bike; it is only for the body not the engine. There are 4 types which they makes, 1st type is no more, 2nd type is of Rs. 1,80,000; 3rd type is of Rs. 2,50,000 & the 4th type is of Rs. 4,00,000
Something about Vardenchi’s latest modification, “The Dragster”
This bike is same in chopper style but there is little difference from chopper. It has 500cc UCE engine, it is belt-drive type. Its rear tyre is of 18” x 300mm width & has aluminium CNC cut alloy wheels. It is in Pearl white color with a matte black graphics with 21 liter fuel tank, its headlight is of HID projector with halogen, the exhaust is wrapped with a heat free material on its silencer, it has digital speedo meter, the unique part is that there is indicator of right and left is on its handle. This Dragster is of 4th type bike of Vardenchi.
Conclusion:
The bikes are awesome. When it is on road or parked it will always catch attention of everyone. Just the problem is, it is too costly, and a normal person can’t afford it.