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We’re a dirty bunch, the motorcyclists at least. Our jeans are washing-machine virgins and some of us are not on talking terms with the shaving razor fraternity. If you happen to be driving by our office, I suggest you don’t drop in anytime around lunch time. That is when our lunch table resembles a ravaged third-world country (no names, okay?) and we, its citizens. Viewed in this light, it is not surprising that we take to dirt, slush and slime every now and then for some more motoring madness. In our Slush Fest specials, we’ve gone off-roading on two wheels and four and on one occassion, fourteen (Actros!). This time, we’ve upped it to sixteen. Well, sort of.
HONDA XR 100 MOTARD vs YAMAHA PW 80
An oval? That’s it?’ is what Kartik and I told ourselves on our first sighting of the track. A 350-metre track, with an incline/decline on either straight and two dead slow corners, was to be our playfield for the day. The most obvious choice for a recce was a helicopter, but the little Honda is all we had. ‘So be it,’ said I and stumbled over the seat, hit my knee against the handlebar and moments later, slipped my foot off the kick-starter, landing on a grunge metal footpeg. If the lady in charge wasn’t so hot, I’d have whimpered and hopped off into the woods, weeping. Talk about a good start to the day.
HONDA XR 100 MOTARD
The XR 100 Motard is about as light as half an Activa. And to think of it, it took all 90 kilos of me around the track and even yumped repeatedly. Respect, considering the fact that 6 year-olds and loonies ride it in the US/EU. A four stroke, 100cc motor that sounds borderline Dio actually feels powerful thanks to the weight and size. Four gears and a happy clutch saw us off to cute wheelies. It’s a scaled-down motard, so you get proper motardability, but we wished we were about three feet tall. Explains the target audience, then. More than the engine output, it’s the dimensions than can catch you out. Simply put, aggressive handling will see you eat dust. The XR is small, on motard tyres and that hot girl is still around. Keep it low.
METAPHOR SPEAK
It’s like a happy Labrador – will playfully growl, but has forgotten his biting trousers in the shrubs.
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