115!

Balu says his bike can clock 100 kmph just like that. Mine is a Discover too. A 125. I however have always struggled to reach 100. 90 is doable in most roads. But a 100? It has always been the thing that you could do but you wouldn't do. I always feel the bike to be running out of breath beyond 90 and I hate bruising the machine. It was the same story, until a few days back...

I had to be out one early morning and as I reached close to the Tidel Park signal, something whizzed past me and stopped at the signal for the red light - A Suzuki Burgman 650. I had the bike serviced a few days back and was in no mood to crank the accelerator. But this was an open invitation.

A 650 cc machine pumping out 54 bhp looked like a gaint compared to my bike. But what the heck. That one looks like a scooter. May be a gaint scooter. And bikes are always faster then scooters. I had to race.

There is an unspoken language at all traffic signals. As you brake and look around, you always notice 'them', and 'they' always notice 'you'. Then all of you, together, crouch and look at your visors for a second, lift up your heads and gaze at the traffic lights. The light at the adjacent signal goes yellow. Three. Two. One. It's green and go.

It is familiar territory from here on. A straight road, trees on the side that look like a hazy splash of never-ending green, a bump in the road that is always ignored, a blurry image of bikes in the rear view mirror, a feeling of intoxication, joy and elation all at one go and the speedometer reading... 115! a one hundred-and-fifteen!

As I slowed down near the Madhya Kailash turn, the Burgman whizzed past me.

I told you! Bikes are faster than Scooters!