Great to be here!

[SidTheBiker]

After days of lurking, I thought I'd say "hello" by typing out my first post here. I'm glad that there's this vibrant community [both online and in the real world] that's full of regular yet special people- the ones that live and breathe bikes in general, and RDs/ RXs in particular. I initially found this awesome Forum a few years ago when I was searching for resources to resurrect my March 1985 RD350 that had LT barrels at 4th O/S and HT pipes. Resurrected 4 months ago after being unused for 14 years, I've owned her since 1995 when I was down in BLR on a 11 month vacation back from college in the US, and bought her after Roopin introduced me to her. Yes, the same champion rider who won the Bullet Class at Nandi Hills in style 3 days ago on Ron's CL500 Bullet. We've been great buddies since 1989 when we were classmates in PUC at Christ College (back when it was a real biker college, not the shirt-tucked-in MBA "deemed university" that it is now. ;-)

Roopin's got the genetic gift of being a great biker, and I've seen him rock the street and track many a time. Along with our old biker buddies, I saw his first great ride in '95 at Sriperumbudur but sadly not his winning ride there in '96 when he became the National champ in the 110cc class. I've lost track of the number of drag meets, rallies and climbs where he's done his thing in his inimitable riding style, sometimes placing, other times bravely finishing. The guy's an inspiration!

Through him I've met RD Dreamers Mukund, Pradeep, Shuvo in their 4WD avatars visiting my farm off Kanakapura Rd. with Mukund's Gypsy and Willy's fully-loaded and ready to challenge some difficult terrain. Their love of adventure and desire to take biking to the next level is fantastic. A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of meeting the Boss Man Ron himself, and recognised a fellow soul who lives and breathes bikes. His passion and knowledge are mind-blowing and eye-opening! I'm also awed by the massive experience and camaraderie of the members of this forum, and hope to contribute in any way I can. Thank you all for keeping my own RD Dreams alive and revving!

I currently manage the Website Consultant/ Content Writing/ QC teams at WebOriginate, a firm that I named and helped start up.

[ajithk]

Welcome on board. Studied my PUC in Christ College as well. 96-97 batch though . The place was definitely a better haunt then.

[mukund]

Hi Sidthebiker,

Welcome to the rdd forum and hope you enjoy your stay here.

I think we met up sometime in 92-93 for the firsttime and I always remember your passion for motorbikes. It was you and koramangala RD gang that I have seen with RDs from back in the 90s.

Hoping the tribe of motorbike lovers grows and we enjoy the bikes and one anothers company for long times to come

Cheers

[chinoy]

hey welcome deb.
the rdd you see now is not how it was in the early days.

Now we are all matured.
In the early days I had a bunch o YDFC guys to deal with. Now its all MSFC (Mature Smart Fulla C...)

Now most of us are all late 30s early 40s with a lot of maturity and character. Which makes my life so much easier.
there is something special about reliving your child hood dreams when your an old fart hu ?

You can bet most of the pips reading this will be siting in some fancy car with a beer belly by the time they are our age.

[roshiba777]

Hi Sid
Welcome to RDD

[Jonathan]

Hello Sid

[charuvil]

Hey Deb..it was great meeting you up at Nandi Hills...welcome...you have a great bike there..enjoy it to the fullest..Cheers.

[SidTheBiker]

Thanks guys, I'm yet to meet many of you, and connect your real names to your Forum names. So far it's this site's been a massive boost to my long-term aspirations for my old RD, now that I know that there are über enthusiasts here who are knowledgeable and can advise me on what best to do to keep her growling away!

@Mukund: I think we met up first in '95 man, 'cause that was when I bought my TMB, in Feb. or so.

@Charuvil: Thanks for the kind words man. Were you on the RX that you were changing the timing on next to my bike, brother? My bike's running now after 14 long years in storage, and I know that there's so much more to do. Right now only the paint looks OK, though the stickering seems to dissolve in contact with petrol overflowing from the tank cap. The chrome is horribly wavy and lumpy after chroming over the old rust (Madras bike after all!). I heard there's a guy who make replica RD pipes that look and sound as good as original for 12k rupees. Will need to see some of his work before shelling out the big bucks. Always loved the quiet chambers though- would love to install some mid-range boosting ones sometime! Then there's the reboring job to 6th OS that needs to be done within a few thousand km. Right now there's a lot of piston slap, ring noise and who knows what else going on in the belly of the beast!

First priority for me is to install the RDD CDI and then a nice disc brake up front.