Thursday, July 24, 2008
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Monday, July 21, 2008
The Devils Advocate
Hello Boys and Girls, These are the pics of a bike build that we started over the weekend. It has a lot of sentimental value attached to it so I'm sure you will enjoy it. The client Nimit insisted we built a custom bike around his Dads Rajdoot 1969 as it was the first motorcycle bought i their family and it was the motorcycle that his Dad started his career on. So we took this almost junked motorcycle and turned it around so Nimit could felicitate his father.
The Devils Advocate as we fondly call it because of its almost enticing red colour and devils horn shaped swing arm was different from anything we have built, Firstly because the rajdoot has a very unique chassis and front suspension system as you will see, and secondly because we wanted to retain its very vintage appeal. So we retained the front suspension and gave it a new feel by incorporating disc braking systems and forward foot controls. The sheet metals are all custom and so are all the accessories.
We began the build at 6 pm on Saturday and completed the build at 6:30 am on Sunday. so most of the photographs you see will be blurred as they were taken in the middle of the night or wee hours of the morning.The bike has a very vintage look blended with modern features. Sweet Chrome plated wire wheels and look alike springer seat.
The front number plate is fitted on the front mudguard like in the older BSA's and Nortons and the mudguards have really finely finished pipe fittings which give her a 1940' look.
The front number plate is fitted on the front mudguard like in the older BSA's and Nortons and the mudguards have really finely finished pipe fittings which give her a 1940' look.
The sheet metals like the tank and fenders are in a deep...deep....red and have Shelby style racing stripes running down left side. This gave her a much needed racy look.
The Guys were all at it for 12 hours straight and we were so satisfied to watch her in the morning.
With Sweet accessories like carburettor covers and steel sheathed disc brake cable she looked like a shiny little bomb.Come back to see her fully built and see a video of her test ride!!!!!
Scene 2: Prelude to The Miracle
Hello Boys and girls,
Hope the anticipation built over the last week will get you to enjoy what you are about to hear. We left off at the the point where i bought my love, my second hand royal enfield for 14,000/- I just barely managed to get the parts and money together to restore her and that was a sweet job in itself. Now like i mentioned this was not a full blown job. Just a basic paint job, some chrome, and a custom handle bar that i thought off pretty highly at the time, today i would be worried to hold it in my hands. I played a bit with the seats and the styling, with my close to zero skills in any thing automotive. This Machine was now a nicely done royal enfield with a decent amount of individuality, and i got my fair share of looks and high fives.
So i thought i was the man. Something like what the creators of the DOS operating software must have felt, right before bill gates came up with Windows.
Now hold your horses i have been the undefeated(by public poll) India 's hottest(and i dont mean me, i mean the bikes) custom chopper builder till date, so no bill gates of custom choppers has come along yet save one incident that took place in August of 2005 which altered my life forever....(dramatic na?).
And this one is on my website, in not so many words, and a lot of our friends from the biker community have heard it as well.
So this is for the rest of my friends who haven't heard it.
I went to watch a movie at a local cinema called Fun. I went riding down into their basement parking, revving the engine slightly as usual, causing the entire basement to thunder softly.
Found a nice parking spot next to a stock royal enfield. I was imagining the face of the guy who rode it, when he would come back from his movie to see my nice, shiny, custom deep red, all chrome royal enfield with a homemade kind custom handle and custom seats.
Now I have seen this time and again, gloat and mother nature kicks your ass. I came back all smug, only to find a different motorcycle standing there....a customized motorcycle......and what a job it was!!!!
Shattered!!!!! is a mild way to put what i was feeling inside. Get this.....It was a far better chrome job, far better paint job, a mother of a handle , shapely tank and other sheet metal parts, and finish far better than i could imagine.
Boys and girls please bear in mind, this judgement that i have so emotionally elaborated on, was from my almost zero skill level in anything automotive at the time.
Today a bitch like that would not cause me to flinch. Because standing right there in that parking lot in the august of 2005, i swore with every thing honest inside me that i would build my bike, build her bigger, better and wilder than that bitch standing there and wilder than any other custom motorcycle India was ever to see.
Now swearing in the heat of the moment and forgetting about it the next morning is not my style. So trust me when i say that the next six months of my life were hell. The sweet hell that gave me a dream. Six months of running pillar to post, with 20 hour work days, pleading and begging, cursing and yelling, frustration of every kind and in every intensity, all of it.....to create my own custom chopper. The first of its kind in India. Come back to learn what it took to turn Akshai Varde the Flight Supervisor into Akshai Varde the custom Chopper Builder.
Hope the anticipation built over the last week will get you to enjoy what you are about to hear. We left off at the the point where i bought my love, my second hand royal enfield for 14,000/- I just barely managed to get the parts and money together to restore her and that was a sweet job in itself. Now like i mentioned this was not a full blown job. Just a basic paint job, some chrome, and a custom handle bar that i thought off pretty highly at the time, today i would be worried to hold it in my hands. I played a bit with the seats and the styling, with my close to zero skills in any thing automotive. This Machine was now a nicely done royal enfield with a decent amount of individuality, and i got my fair share of looks and high fives.
So i thought i was the man. Something like what the creators of the DOS operating software must have felt, right before bill gates came up with Windows.
Now hold your horses i have been the undefeated(by public poll) India 's hottest(and i dont mean me, i mean the bikes) custom chopper builder till date, so no bill gates of custom choppers has come along yet save one incident that took place in August of 2005 which altered my life forever....(dramatic na?).
And this one is on my website, in not so many words, and a lot of our friends from the biker community have heard it as well.
So this is for the rest of my friends who haven't heard it.
I went to watch a movie at a local cinema called Fun. I went riding down into their basement parking, revving the engine slightly as usual, causing the entire basement to thunder softly.
Found a nice parking spot next to a stock royal enfield. I was imagining the face of the guy who rode it, when he would come back from his movie to see my nice, shiny, custom deep red, all chrome royal enfield with a homemade kind custom handle and custom seats.
Now I have seen this time and again, gloat and mother nature kicks your ass. I came back all smug, only to find a different motorcycle standing there....a customized motorcycle......and what a job it was!!!!
Shattered!!!!! is a mild way to put what i was feeling inside. Get this.....It was a far better chrome job, far better paint job, a mother of a handle , shapely tank and other sheet metal parts, and finish far better than i could imagine.
Boys and girls please bear in mind, this judgement that i have so emotionally elaborated on, was from my almost zero skill level in anything automotive at the time.
Today a bitch like that would not cause me to flinch. Because standing right there in that parking lot in the august of 2005, i swore with every thing honest inside me that i would build my bike, build her bigger, better and wilder than that bitch standing there and wilder than any other custom motorcycle India was ever to see.
Now swearing in the heat of the moment and forgetting about it the next morning is not my style. So trust me when i say that the next six months of my life were hell. The sweet hell that gave me a dream. Six months of running pillar to post, with 20 hour work days, pleading and begging, cursing and yelling, frustration of every kind and in every intensity, all of it.....to create my own custom chopper. The first of its kind in India. Come back to learn what it took to turn Akshai Varde the Flight Supervisor into Akshai Varde the custom Chopper Builder.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Another Killer Video
Check this Video out guys,
Rishabh from Utvi and i had a blast shooting it.
He is a total biker, and a really cool guy
we are planning a trip to goa soon. so keep track.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v28k0LTas6A
Rishabh from Utvi and i had a blast shooting it.
He is a total biker, and a really cool guy
we are planning a trip to goa soon. so keep track.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v28k0LTas6A
Wow!!!
Good Morning boys and girls,
Thank you......for the huge response, and support we recieved for the blog.
I am going to ensure that this continuesto be the place you keep coming back to for the thrills and joys of the custom chopper world.
Monday "The Story...." will continue, but keep a look out for the cool videos and the updates on new builds.
Be a part of our group called Vardenchi on facebook and orkut as well and watch out for the crazy contests coming up around the corner.
Ride Safe!
Thank you......for the huge response, and support we recieved for the blog.
I am going to ensure that this continuesto be the place you keep coming back to for the thrills and joys of the custom chopper world.
Monday "The Story...." will continue, but keep a look out for the cool videos and the updates on new builds.
Be a part of our group called Vardenchi on facebook and orkut as well and watch out for the crazy contests coming up around the corner.
Ride Safe!
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Scene 1 : The Begining of the Begining....
After 30 odd months of doing " Tea Coffee" and "Veg Non Veg" (cabin crew lingo)i needed a miracle to bring me out of my rut. Dont get me wrong, i had lot of respect for my job, where else would a 23 year old hotel management diploma holder earn 25 g's a month and be chauffer driven to work and back. Plus i was doing alright, being one of the youngest flight supervises at the time and being appreciated for the blood and sweat i was putting in.( i cut my finger once pulling a food cart out). The miracle came in the sweetest forms. My bike, my Love!
Lets go back a few decades to say 1980's (hindi movie style black and white n all....) i dont remember anything that interested me as much as two wheels....put together of course.
My first cycle(tricycle): age 18 months
My first Bicycle(with training wheels): age 24 months
My first BMX: age 12
My first Racer cycle: age 14
My first Motorcycle(The RD 350cc) : age 16
Now when you have a RD 350 at the age of 16, you are king.
Riding it to Xavier's early in the morining(once in a while petrol costs in 1995: Rs 25/lt) was a feeling i will never forget. That was my entry into the big bad world of motorcycling.
Coming back to my jet days, i had saved up enough to buy a 2nd hand royal enfield which by now i had been craving for atleast 2 years. since i had to sell my RD to pay off some foolish debts i had'nt owned a bike for a while, which by my standards was a lacking in my manhood.
So I put all my savings and bought this old 1974 royal enfield that had an engine to die for. Actually all it had was an engine. I begged, borrowed and stole(literally) to get all the stuff required to put the rest of her together. Dont be confused i was'nt customising her, just restoring her to her original condition.
So that boys and girls is the begining of the begining......come back to find out how this modest beauty turned in to a spectacular hottie!
Lets go back a few decades to say 1980's (hindi movie style black and white n all....) i dont remember anything that interested me as much as two wheels....put together of course.
My first cycle(tricycle): age 18 months
My first Bicycle(with training wheels): age 24 months
My first BMX: age 12
My first Racer cycle: age 14
My first Motorcycle(The RD 350cc) : age 16
Now when you have a RD 350 at the age of 16, you are king.
Riding it to Xavier's early in the morining(once in a while petrol costs in 1995: Rs 25/lt) was a feeling i will never forget. That was my entry into the big bad world of motorcycling.
Coming back to my jet days, i had saved up enough to buy a 2nd hand royal enfield which by now i had been craving for atleast 2 years. since i had to sell my RD to pay off some foolish debts i had'nt owned a bike for a while, which by my standards was a lacking in my manhood.
So I put all my savings and bought this old 1974 royal enfield that had an engine to die for. Actually all it had was an engine. I begged, borrowed and stole(literally) to get all the stuff required to put the rest of her together. Dont be confused i was'nt customising her, just restoring her to her original condition.
So that boys and girls is the begining of the begining......come back to find out how this modest beauty turned in to a spectacular hottie!
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