THE JOURNEY
The feeling of riding a bike was overwhelming, I know some might find it rib-tickling, but honestly, it was a feeling that no word can explain. It was a big thing for me. TVS is not a go-to name now given the fact that there are providers providing better-quality bikes, but it offered me all that I wanted in my first bike. It was a lovely little kiddo. I recall even reaching speeds of up to 100 km/h on the Mysore Road highway on my first long trip with my friends. For the record, that was the only time I reached speeds of that order of magnitude on my Victor.
Days became weeks, weeks months, and months years. Neither did the Victor made me think of other alternatives nor did I have an iota of feeling of replacing it altogether at any point until recently after 8.5 years of continuous(I must add, trouble-free) use. My humble workhorse(as aptly represented by the logo on the tank) had served me to the crest, more than what I could ask for.
THE OWNERSHIP
I very well remember petrol cost was 35 per liter when I first filled fuel in this bike and I could go for weeks together without bothering to fill the tank up again. The bike used to easily fetch me 65 km/L and warranted only regular engine oil change, oiling, and cleanup and polishing. That is all I had to do to keep it in pristine condition without having to bother about breakdowns. The acceleration/power/pickup was optimum enough for me in city-riding conditions, but obviously I missed the adrenaline rush that we get with other powerful bikes; you get only what you pay for, isn’t it?
Over the entire period of my ownership, I had to replace the clutch plates once and replaced the not-so-reassuring stock TVS tyres with CEAT. The headlight was adequate enough and the buzzer-inclusive indicators had to be replaced a couple of times, thanks to the ill-mannered "parkers" at office and elsewhere too. The bike continued to fetch me a decent FE up until its bequeath. A very satisfying, trouble-free ownership experience was taking a turn to finally end the long association with this bike.
Now, one day I realized, I need to move on and can upgrade too. This thought at the outset was bewildering, but I could not afford to park 2 bikes in my stable and neither would I have the time to take care of her, so I had to swallow the hard pill and decided to partway with it. I clicked some of its pictures, posted on a portal, and got a call the next day when I was starting to go to office asking me to get the documents along, just in case if the deal can be finalized. With a heavy heart and almost reluctantly, I carried the RC book with me to the office that day, with a very low believability that the bike is going to be SOLD the same day. The purchaser liked the bike after riding it and handed over the cash to me, I was almost in a comatose state when I had to walk back slowly to my workstation without the bike keys in my pocket. I actually had to come back home by bus that day, with no idea as to how I will travel the next day.