Motorcycles in India

Lots of motorbikes on the roads here, mostly 90-250 CC 4 stroke single cylinder machines. There are a few Royal Enfield big singles.

Clearly, the role of the young male is to drive a motorcycle as much as possible. We see some very young males driving motorcycles. Motorcycles are everywhere, on the road, in town, in the busy markets, beeping and weaving through the traffic, the faster the better.  Only in the larger centres do we see women driving motorcycles.

Often motorbikes are carrying three people, sometimes four. Female passengers always ride side-saddle in their colourful saris. Oncoming motorcycles sometimes look like their rider is three headed, with the driver's head in the middle, and a male passenger's head on either side. I hope to catch that with my camera somewhere along the ride.

The bikes all have excellent mufflers, so they travel quietly, except that every car, truck or motorcycle uses their horn to declare  "I'm here!" once, twice, or thrice as they go by in either direction, so the streets and roads are far from quiet. Motorcycles tend to have particularly high timber horns, and they over-use them, so they frequently offend the ears. Personally, I would gladly accept the assignment to go around and spray some sort of goo into every motorcycle horn to dampen the noise, but no one is proposing this particular reform.

Like all other vehicles, motorbikes wend their way through the traffic opportunistically.  Most of them do this in a relatively considerate way, but some riders, usually young males, often push the limits. I have met motorbikes coming into traffic where they had no business being. Thankfully most  are quite vigilant when they do so.

As at home, there are moments when some young motorcycle drivers create  hazards for other road users. We are a very unusual sight on the roads here; foreigners dressed in Lycra shorts, riding some 30 KPH on fancy bicycles.  Some motorcycle drivers can't resist the urge to look back to check us out as they pass, especially the female cyclists. So, they drive down the road looking backwards! Some want to ride beside us and chat, regardless of the traffic.  Others fail to adjust their calculations to account for our relatively high speed.

Given the preponderance of motorcycles on the road, they are the greatest hazard we face. To date, three of our little group of 14 riders have collided with motorcycles. One motorcycle decided to turn across the road in front of a passing cyclist. One ran into a walking group member from behind, and today, an oncoming motorcycle driver was so distracted looking at one female cyclist that he ran into her colleague following behind. 

So far, our cyclists have suffered bad scrapes, cuts and sprains, which should get better in a few days, but thanks to helmets no head injuries.  One helmet is seriously cracked.