The mountains have a strong hold on me, and I feel very much at home on the twisties. Sometime ago, I was riding in the mountains far away from the plains of Delhi. As always, I was riding with the wind in my face, and loving every moment of it. Leaning the bike on the curves, and standing on the foot pegs whenever I hit some rough patches. After crossing a particularly bad stretch, I took a sharp right and felt as if the front end was behaving a little suspiciously. I cut the speed for the final 100 kilometres or so – I was in the back of beyond, and the last thing I wanted was to have a crash because of a faulty front wheel. When I reached some civilisation, I promptly checked the wheel and found that the tyre had a longish tear on one side. It must have happened on the sharp stones and broken tarmac on the rough patch. The problem was that I was riding an off-roader with a 21-inch tyre in the front – not the easiest tyre to find in India. Luckily, though, I hadn’t thrown away the last one I replaced. It still had some grip left in it, and there were no cracks in the rubber either. It took me four full days to collect it from the workshop where I had left it. So, it was five days before I could ride again. When time is at a premium, losing five days on a tour for a tyre seems like sacrilege. Needless to say, it’s a total waste of time. There are a lot of motorcycles with 21-inch tyres, like the one I have, and unfortunately they all suffer the same fate. And you can’t get a dual-purpose tyre in any of the tyre shops in the country. At least I haven’t found one in one in any of the countless outlets in Delhi. A contact led me to one shady operator, who said he would give me one for Rs. 8,000 ‘ONLY,’ and that’s because he found me to be a genuine guy – whatever that meant! Ultimately, I paid Rs. 6,500. Even though I knew it was way too much for a motorcycle tyre, I had no other option. Dirt riders suffer the most because, apart from the 18-inch MRF dirt tyres, you’ll be hard pressed to find any other knobby tyres in the market. The motocross riders on Indian bikes make do with 18-inch knobby tyres on both wheels, which is a big disadvantage. Some friends of mine are all set to organise a motorcycle enduro event in the month of August, during the height of monsoon. The entries are pouring in now, and so is the rain. One of the organisers, who own a motorcycle accessory shop, has seen a steady flow of riders to his shop and everybody wants knobbies! He’s fast losing whatever little hair he has by trying to figure out as to where he can get hold of some 17 and 19-inch knobby tyres. No luck as yet. No knobbies means no event. It’s a slush and mud event, and knobbies are a prerequisite. A friend who’s preparing for the Raid-de-Himalaya is keeping his fingers crossed for some new tyres. The 21-inch tyre that his bike wears now won’t pass scrutiny. After all the hard work he’s put in, it’ll be sad indeed if he’s disqualified due to tyres. Till about a year ago, dirt tyres of different makes like Pirelli, Michelin, MRF, V Rubber, etc., were available, but not anymore. It seems that only tyres with ISI marks on them sold in India, and the MRF’s are the closest you can get. Motocross and dirt bike events are the two events where we see a lot of riders racing on Indian bikes. It’s relatively inexpensive compared to circuit racing, but the lack of tyres is doing riders in. I hope there’s a change of policies that will see knobby and dual-purpose tyres readily available. It’ll allow dirt riders to ride without the fear of damaging their precious tyres in a couple of events. Till then, we’ll continue to ride cautiously – and with fingers firmly crossed!
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