The first time I saw a samurai was in mumbai, when it first hit the market, a couple of my friends owned it and were very proud of it.... personally I thought it wasn’t that great... particularly the raspy exhaust irritated me, it sounded so unbikelike and more mopedy in nature... somewhat like an overbored moped engine fitted with an expansion chamber. These were the days when I read (studied literally) every issue of every auto magazine...
A few years later I moved to Delhi. All those dreams about waiting to afford the fancy bikes that I wanted to own were now replaced by a more immediate need for mobility and the laws of economics did not permit me to dream long. ...
Then a friend of mine wanted to sell off his 2 month old Samurai for medical reasons & I bought it from him. The only other time I had ridden a Samurai was when I had ridden my boss’s bike in mumbai and my leg had nearly fallen off trying to kick it to life.
When I got mine, I realised the secret - mandatory choke application in any season at any time of the day. The first few problems that I ran into was a missed gear shift, taking it to the authorized service centre (Padam motors in Paschim Vihar) I was assured that once running in was completed it would be ok and the choke problem would be solved too.
It never got sorted out, whats more after one service, I felt something cool on my foot only to realise that they had forgotten to clip the fuel hose going to the carburettor. Most of the time they just cleaned the airfilter and washed it. I never went there again. I’d rather take it to the circus.
Luckily before someone killed me, I was given the opportunity to learn that traffic rules are different in Delhi compared to Mumbai. for eg. Traffic lights are not red enough if there is no cop standing nearby, drive on the left and overtake from the left because if you drive on the right trying to overtake, you’ll have to wait for all eternity, there are no one way roads, if there is an accident it is the weakest persons fault and always drive in high beam (silly me, I dipped my lights for everyone till my finger got sore... but I’m wiser now)
Nevertheless I had a few accidents. There was a huge truck parked in a narrow one way road on the wrong side with all its lights off and its driver and cleaner fast asleep in the winter fog. When I slammed into it at 30k, they didnt even come out to see (probably drunk), but passers by helped me pull out my bike which got lodged under the axle. Then there was another one on the way to the airport, I switched on my turn indicator but the guy in the car behind me thought that I was kidding and as I braked at the turn slammed into me, needless to say he ran off. Then there was the cyclist who suddenly decided to take a U turn without signalling or looking back (probably he heard his mom call) I hit him at close to 70 snapping his cycle in two. I survived because I always wore a helmet even when it was not mandatory... I can never fathom why someone would not want to wear a helmet, I see people driving with their helmet through their arm instead of on their head and some wearing construction or cricket helmets and I hear that ladies and sardarji’s are exempt from wearing them...
Guys take it from me, you wont survive a nasty spill even at relatively low speeds and buy the best one you can afford! I was using a steelbird Bieffe for which I paid around 1400 4 years back. It was a work of art ... imagine being slammed into the ground at 70 and feeling nothing! ... and make sure it fits tight!
These are a few things that my bike went through... all said and done she has served my purpose very well. Proper maintenance returns reasonable good fuel efficiency. The build quality is excellent, but once you change a part, its almost impossible to get the real thing. Yeah and you need to learn to live with it. The weather plays a great part... sometimes it will purr like a cat with beautiful acceleration and sometimes you will need to hold the choke half open when driving till the engine stops coughing... Many times in an emergency during overtaking, I had had to push open the choke for better pickup with my left hand to avoid getting creamed by oncoming traffic. It also had an excellent headlight/brake light/turn indicators/horn at a time when the Yamaha RX100 drove by 6volt candlelight. She still runs relatively well and I’ll continue to use her till I get my car... I’m getting older and riding in Delhi’s summers and winters are getting a bit too much for me..