The Fast and The Furious: Stunt biking in India

His Facebook page is called ‘Monty MTV Stunt Maniac’. He has a website whose landing page describes him as ‘Monty Psycho Freestyle’, and he signs off SMSes as ‘MONTY FREESTYLE STUNTRIDR’.

Monty, or Mohit Choudhury, the formal name that few know him by, drips attitude — tough, cool, devil-may-care. And why not? He is ‘one of the top 10 freestyle stunt riders of India’, a claim that draws legitimacy from the fact that he was runner-up at the 2011 MTV Pulsar Stuntmania, has been featured in Overdrive magazine, and is regularly asked by various bike-manufacturers to test drive their new launches.

Monty came to our meeting last week straight from having test-ridden the KTM 390cc Duke, the latest offering from the Austrian superbike brand. The bike costs around Rs1.8 lakh and Monty will be paid around Rs25,000 for a couple of days’ work. He’s also bagged a few sponsorships from biking-gear brands and makes Rs50,000 a month on an average. He owns six bikes — a Yamaha FZ16 (costs approx Rs70,000), Bajaj Pulsar 200 (Rs85,000 or so), two Bajaj Pulsar 220s (Rs80,000 plus) and a Honda Stunner (under Rs60,000). “For men, bikes have always been a symbol of status and power,” he says.

Is it street friendly?
The police action in central Delhi’s high-security zone late last month, in which one pillion rider was shot dead, has been part of a sustained campaign to check the menace that stunt bikers have become of late. Last month, Delhi Police fined 1,012 bikers, impounded 153 bikes, registered six cases and arrested 12. In Mumbai, traffic police cracked down on 2,190 bikers for recklessly performing stunts last Sunday.

But Monty is quick to underline that he’s not like these boys: he does never does stunts on the road. “There’s a graveyard near my house which is deserted — that’s where our team practices,” he says. “I am a professional,” he emphasises.
Mikhil Mohan of Ghost Ryderz, a well-established team from Thiruvananthapuram, agrees that you don’t need a road for stunts — even a basketball court will do. “The bikers in Delhi were clearly on the wrong side of the law. They are not professional stunt riders,” says Ashish Ranjan, director of Throttlerz, a Coimbatore-based team of stunt bikers.

If Monty, Mikhil and Ranjan are careful to distance themselves from these ‘rogue’ bikers, there’s good reason for it. In the coming year or two, free-style stunt biking is set to take off as a competitive sport in India. Leading the charge is XDL, a premier stunt riding championship in the world, which will start a competition in India soon. “We do not have a final plan. It may be as early as this winter or later next year,” says Randy Grube, founder of XDL.

Grube is betting big on India. “In India, stunt riding can become the equivalent of skateboarding in the US in less than five years. It has the same enthusiasm and stunt riding is a means of self-expression, just like skateboarding,” he says.

He adds, the ecosystem for the sport in the country is just right — with 1.2 crore motorcycles sold in India in a year compared to just five lakh in the US. Besides, given India’s demographics, most of these bike-owners are young males.

India’s bike fetish
Pulsar, launched by Bajaj Auto in 2001, has played a big role. “In fact, I think they have never done an advertisement where one wheel wasn’t off the ground,” says Grube. Thanks to rising incomes, higher capacity bikes used in stunt biking are being sold. The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers says sales of 150cc-220cc bikes have risen 2.5 times from 9.75 lakh units in 2005-06 to 25 lakh in 2010-11.

Stunt biking already has a large following all over India. Mypulsar.com, an online community of ‘Pulsar Maniacs’, or Bajaj Pulsar owners, has members from all corners of the country, proudly declaring their favourite stunts — a Wheelie, Rolling Burnout, Stoppie or Skitch. Ranjan, an ambassador of XDL in India, says that there are more than 500 stunt riders in India and around 200 professionals, that is, people who are making a living from the sport. XDLIndiaAmbassador, a Facebook page that Ranjan set up in late June inviting stunt bikers to send photographs for a competition, got 4,000
entries in less than four weeks.

Ranjan’s mission now, is to take stunt biking in India mainstream. “A lot of young men take to stunt biking but leave because there is no future in it. I want to create an environment where they can make a living from it as an entertainment sport,” he says.

First off will be an XDL qualifier at India Bike Week in Goa early next year with the winner, hopefully, representing India at the XDL Championships later. Ranjan is also trying to get recognition for freestyle stunt biking from the Federation of Motor Sports Club of India, so that bikers are not harassed by the police. He’s bringing together the top 10 stunt biking teams from India to form a body that will formulate rules and standards, and issue licences to stunt-riders.

In this regard, the Pune RTO has recently begun involving bikers, including stunt riders in a project to promote safe riding in the city. Lets hope other cities follow suit.