I was very excited to get my hands on the bike, and a 10 days waiting period was painful. Finally I took the delivery of the bike from KTM Bundgarden showroom in Pune. As soon as I got on the bike, I had this great feeling of achievement. I finally own a performance bike! This bike had thrice the power as compared to my old bike, and I had to consciously control my right wrist for the first couple of days. I was expecting that it would take me quite some time to tame this beast.
But I was pleasantly surprised by how easy to use and comfortable this bike was. For the first month, I would find every excuse to ride the bike. I think I didn’t touch my car for almost a month. My first ride was to Lavasa, the weekend after I got the bike. I was slower than usual since the bike was in running-in phase. As I got used to the bike, I was waiting for the first service, so they can upgrade the rpm limit to 7500 rpm from the current 5000 rpm.
I had always been interested in casual biking. But it was after getting this bike that I got seriously interested in biking. Now I started thinking about things like correct riding postures, cornering, good riding gear, DIY maintenance and so on. After all I had a machine that exceeded the rider’s ability by a big margin. The rider needed a skills upgrade.
After the second service the rpm limit was set to 10K rpm. I started looking out for more like minded riders, I want to ride more, and learn more. I joined a couple of biking groups in Pune, and started going on day long rides on the weekends. Now this is a regular affair. It is great to hear stories from fellow riders, right from exciting top speed stories to horrid breakdowns.
A year and half later, my bike has done 10, 000 km. Read on to find out more.