THREE TO ONE

Four motorcycles that turned India into a two-wheeled country, one kick start at a time

- Kartik Ware

This one's been a long time coming. I've been trying to assemble this quartet for as long as I can remember; first for my garage, and then for this story. How could I not? This is the coolest sepia-toned parking lot of my childhood, and watching it vividly come to life on a brisk Bangalore morning was quite the skinny-tired slide down. memory lane. I used to look up to these motorcycles from the seat of my Avon bicycle, occasionally clambering up on one to see how frustratingly far my feet were from the ground. Everyone seemed to have motorcycles, and mostly these four the IND-Suzuki AX 100, the Yamaha RX 100, the Kawasaki-Bajaj KB 100 and the Hero Honda CD 100. And I did not like the CD 100.

It was the AX that arrived first in 1984, opening pre-economic liberalisation eyes to the benefits of a light, nimble, reliable and economical motorcycle. The RX screamed onto the idyllic scene in 1985, and blew the wig off many an uncle's head. In the same year, the CD puttered in, promising to save everyone tens of Rupees (this was a big deal back then, mind you) every month. And then came the KB, morphing from a cheetah on our flickering TV screen. It was immediately my favourite, and then my neighbour bought one. I'd never hated my dad's archaic Bullet more.