The chrome wars have broken out. In the quest for the better machine, we pitted the bike against the car, only to realise the rivalries run deep. As the four wheel and two wheel enthusiasts race down the tarmac, Indira Parthasarathy anticipates a photo finish…
So which school of torque do you belong to? The one where the
leather, the wind in the hair and the throb between the legs (the bike, that is) is considered the greatest of kicks? Or, the one where the ultimate high is claimed to be afforded by cushy upholstery allowing for a liberating “I’m-in-control” moxie even as the engine makes the 5000 rpm sound and unleashes the studs..? “I dig both worlds,” says the man whose job is the envy of every auto enthusiast. Bijoy Kumar, Editor of Business Standard Motoring magazine, despite his best efforts to be neutral, lets slip his bias for bikes when he says, “Cars are good wife material but motorcycles are full blown affairs you never want to let go!” Tarun Sachar, however, minces no words when it comes to promoting “automotive nirvana”. This petrolhead at Team-BHP – India’s largest automobile community whose raison d’etre is to redline the Indian car scene – sounds dangerously loyal when she (oh yes!) says, “Size counts! Cars, being bigger and better, exude power, confidence and luxury and have the capability of trampling any puny little thing that comes their way (multiplier effect for SUVs).” So does ‘bigger’ really mean ‘better’? The bikers are not breaking into a sweat just yet.
“Cars are fast alright, but never as quick as motorcycles… Motorcycles make you feel and understand freedom better. Period,” counters Bijoy, and that after he gets to “attend the launch drive of a Lamborghini Gallardo convertible in Tenerife, Canary Island” among other things constituting the best bits of his job! For that matter, the bike jocks could also find support in Robert Pirsig’s “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance”, where he writes that in a car “you’re always in a compartment… a passive observer and it is all moving by you passively in a frame. On a (motor)cycle, the frame is gone… The concrete whizzing by five inches below your foot is the real thing…”
So which school of torque do you belong to? The one where the
leather, the wind in the hair and the throb between the legs (the bike, that is) is considered the greatest of kicks? Or, the one where the ultimate high is claimed to be afforded by cushy upholstery allowing for a liberating “I’m-in-control” moxie even as the engine makes the 5000 rpm sound and unleashes the studs..? “I dig both worlds,” says the man whose job is the envy of every auto enthusiast. Bijoy Kumar, Editor of Business Standard Motoring magazine, despite his best efforts to be neutral, lets slip his bias for bikes when he says, “Cars are good wife material but motorcycles are full blown affairs you never want to let go!” Tarun Sachar, however, minces no words when it comes to promoting “automotive nirvana”. This petrolhead at Team-BHP – India’s largest automobile community whose raison d’etre is to redline the Indian car scene – sounds dangerously loyal when she (oh yes!) says, “Size counts! Cars, being bigger and better, exude power, confidence and luxury and have the capability of trampling any puny little thing that comes their way (multiplier effect for SUVs).” So does ‘bigger’ really mean ‘better’? The bikers are not breaking into a sweat just yet.“Cars are fast alright, but never as quick as motorcycles… Motorcycles make you feel and understand freedom better. Period,” counters Bijoy, and that after he gets to “attend the launch drive of a Lamborghini Gallardo convertible in Tenerife, Canary Island” among other things constituting the best bits of his job! For that matter, the bike jocks could also find support in Robert Pirsig’s “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance”, where he writes that in a car “you’re always in a compartment… a passive observer and it is all moving by you passively in a frame. On a (motor)cycle, the frame is gone… The concrete whizzing by five inches below your foot is the real thing…”
