Bike Cover june07_print.indd - NCR

RIDELINEAdil Jal DarukhanawalaCagiva finally finds an Indian ally in Kinetic EngineeringThe news that Italian bike maker Cagivahas contracted Kinetic Engineering Ltd.to make parts for its range of bikes andthen upped it to make complete bikes isa welcome one for the Indian motorcycleindustry. It is also great that a famous namelike Kinetic Engineering Ltd. should getthis contract from a high profile Europeanbike maker.It however isn’t that difficult tounderstand why because keeping the highEuropean production costs to one side,Kinetic’s recent moves with Italjet (whereit bought the design rights to some six orseven Italjet scooters) and also its previoustie-up with Piaggio for the Luna mopedINDIAN BIKE SPORT: WHY WE HAVEN’T GOT FARAs you must have made out from theopening page of this month’s issue of themagazine, we have tried to drum up someenthusiasm for our road test editor’s honourat being invited to ride in the CentenaryTT at the Isle of Man. Aspi Bhathena hasbeen scheduled to ride in the Past MastersLap of Honour at the 100th running ofthis great festival of speed on two-wheelsand also in the Champions Classic Paradethanks to his being the only Indian ever tohave figured on the leader board of thosewho have competed and come back with abronze replica.Aspi gained his bronze replica after hisstunning ride on the Bill Smith Motorsprepared Honda NSR250 in the 1987 250ccProduction TT and that I believe remainsthe pinnacle of any Indian rider in bikesport to date.Of course we did have the likes of SherifDyan race in Sri Lanka, Singapore andand latterly with engine maker MotoriMorini has made it fairly well respected inthe land of Lamborghini and M V Agusta.Speaking of M V Agusta, KEL first gotorders for some components from Cagivafor its range of M V Agustas and fromhere there was no turning back. It is also ameasure of how well KEL has progressedon the quality front given its previous trackrecord that bodes well for the company’sfuture orders.The amazing thing about the tie-up isthat some years ago, Cagiva came close totieing up with KEL’s bigger neighbour inthe Chinchwad - Akurdi industrial areain Pune - Bajaj Auto. Cagiva and BajajMalaysia as also the brothers Raja andRaju who were truly great riders. In facttheir duels with Aspi at Sholavaram andSriperambudur are the stuff of legends.So why didn’t the likes of Aspi, Raja,Raju and many others didn’t go far ininternational bike sport? Today we havea few Indians racing in support classes inMalaysia on steps thrus and Super Sportmachines but that I believe is through theirown endeavour. It amazes me that countrieslike China, Thailand and Malaysia havebegun to get their youngsters into the 125ccand 250cc Grand Prix races and we withthe second largest bike market in the worldhave been unable to put in place a supportsystem for our budding riders to make it tothe international level.There are many reasons but the mostimportant of them all is that our nationalfederation is so chock-a-block with the carwallahsthat the bikers are marginalised.Auto had discussed ways and means toco-operate and had in fact even lined upa slew of scooters which the Indian giantwould have made for export as well asfor the domestic market. However withthe bottom falling off the Italian scootermarket and Bajaj acquiring critical strengthin technological matters and productiontechniques, the Cagiva deal was put off.It now remains to be seen as to how theCagiva - Kinetic deal pans out and whether theIndian company will try to do an Italjet withCagiva. And yes one other thing, especiallyfor Kinetic Enginering: from mopeds tosuperbikes, it has been a momentuous run.Hope it runs long and strong.HAILWOOD’S NCR DUCATIEveryone from my generation who has followed top flightmotorcycle sport will know that it was a Ducati 750 Desmo withwhich the great Mike Hailwood returned to the Isle of Man TTand made mincemeat of the works Hondas in the F1 TT race.Unfortunately not many give credit to the small team whichbuilt that Ducati which was entered for Hailwood by the Britishimporter Sports Motorcycles. In fact even I was unaware as tothe exact details of who had built the red and green machine withwhich Mike rewrote the history books and thrashed the top ridershalf his age. Until the last month that is when we got in touch withMichele Poggipolini of the Poggipolini Group who own NCRFactory. In the course of our interactions on the Ducati-basedMillona One Shot racer, Michele enlightened us as to the foundingfathers of NCR Factory were the ones who built Mike ‘The Bike’Hailwood’s TT mount and that with this success they becamebetter known. And the rest, as they say is history.In fact much of the federations’ revenue isgenerated by the bikers but it is the car guyswho decide policy for them, make rules aswell on certain occasions for them.Our clubs have to shoulder some of theblame as well. None of them has been ableto look beyond their own events and turf. Ifit were left to a few like minded individuals,we could have had classes for scooters andmopeds proliferate, make production racinglucrative and easy for any and everyone toenter and try and reward, nay defray thecosts of as many budding racers as possible.Take China which has placed a handfulof riders in the 125cc GP class. The Chinesefederation has picked a leaf from its Spanishand Italian counterparts and invested inbikes and technical support for their ridersand made them go through the grind. Ifyou don’t invest you don’t reap. Sadly theIndian federation doesn’t believe, or evenworse, doesn’t know, this fact of life.34 India June 2007Adil Final Rideline_june07.indd 3422/06/2007 2:13:52 PM