Riding and Driving in Bali

Its been a couple of weeks since I now have a license and have the opportunity to ride and drive in Bali.

Renting a two wheeler or a four wheeler in Bali is really simple. You seem to find options everywhere, small little boards on the side of the road saying bike on hire or car on hire. Although it is great fun to be able to drive or ride around the Island of the Gods, the fact that very little documentation is asked for is a little concerning, however as we say in India, “Chalta Hai’.

One big piece of advice for anyone planning to ride or drive around the island, please get detailed directions before you head out as most people you ask for directions do not understand English. This gets even tougher when you head out of the major tourist areas.

I must admit that all the driving and riding in the last couple of weeks did not quench my need for speed until today when I had the opportunity to ride a friend’s bike. Back to the bike… a 600cc Honda cruiser which even though was over a decade old had the thump that no Royal Enfield in India had. The handmade exhaust gave the bike just that little bit. What made it even more fun was the fact that the registration was expired.

I headed out of the parking lot a little hesitant, not having ridden this bike before, but as soon as I was on the road, the sudden acceleration in 2^nd gave me a taste of things to come. The sound of the bike, coupled with the breeze I as cutting through made it a moment to cherish.

Although the ride was short (dint want to return the bike) it was awesome fun.

As I sign off now, here’s wishing you “Happy Riding …”

Amit Sakhrani

Biking - India and Beyond

I have always loved bikes and riding has been a passion which has grown over the years. Like most Indians, riding a two wheeler was my means of everyday transportations when I started to work. As the years passed and my disposable income grew, I moved onto four wheels for my everyday transportation and not riding on a daily basis, only made my passion for bikes grow.

A few years ago, I managed to convince my wife (who hates me riding on Indian highways) and purchased a Karizma. The bike has been awesome and every long distance trip has been loads of fun.

Moving to today, my job has brought me to Bali (Indonesia) and I am now looking to start riding here in the near future. I hope to get my Indonesian bike license and while that process is ongoing, I am now looking at options of bikes that are available on hire.

Biking in Indonesia is very different from India and Bali more so. In India most of our bikes are either for urban commuting such as Splendor and Discover and Unicorn or bikes that satisfy our need for speed such as the Karizma, R15 or the new Honda 250. Most bikes in Bali are what we would call mobikes or scooters. Honda and Yamaha rule the sales of two wheelers, however most bikes would be in the 100cc to 125cc range and would either be automatic or the rotary gears. For the younger generation, who have not seen a lot of rotary gears, we did have a bike from Hero Honda known as the Street which was launched around the mid nineties. Needless to say the bike dint, sell much and died a natural death in the Indian market.

So the options for me are ranging from a scooters like scooty’s moving up to bikes like the Yamaha FZ… Lets hope I can get a good bike at a good rate…

Shall be looking at a few bikes in the next few days and will keep you posted on how my ongoing search for a bike goes…. J

Happy riding to all you people in India till then….

Amit Sakhrani

Amit Sakhrani - Who is he?

In the world we live today, no one really wants to read too much so just like a tweet, here I am in 140 characters.

Amit Sakhrani is - a hotelier by profession and when I am not working, my passions include biking, moto gp, Formula 1, sports, movies, gadgets and technology.

Follow me, to know more about all of the above and a lot lot more.

Amit Sakhrani