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Extreme Bike Tours India are promoted by www.bigearth.co.uk who produced Long Way Round with Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman.
But why India on a motorcycle? Isn’t it dangerous? Where do you stop at night? How does your family react? Are you married?
We’ll try to answer these myriad questions and explain why you should book a tour with Extreme Bike Tours India.
No other transport allows for a greater interaction with the surroundings, especially in India where every corner seems to manifest an astonishing new aspect of the unpredictable kaleidoscopic wonder that is this country: an unannounced religious procession in full color with elephants and costumed gods; a thunderous waterfall; or just a traffic gridlock 14,000 ft above sea level.
Besides, how else can a sore butt, bloodshot eyes and shaky arms be borne with a sense of accomplishment? What else would make people stare with jealousy or admiration as you pass? Not to mention how else would you stumble across the opportunity to stay in a tent in the middle of the Himalayan desert or relax with a chai at a wayside dhaba–the ubiquitous truck stops lining the Indian highways–or spook out the receptionist of the hotel when you rode in for the night?
Every year Extreme Bike Tours take wheel-crazed travelers who arrive in India with plans to explore the subcontinent on a motorcycle on their Himalaya Tours, Adventure Bike Tours or through the magical valleys on the Tribal Tour or the greenery and Hill Stations on the South India Tour.
Though by no means a rider’s paradise with pockmarked roads, chaotic traffic and the ever-present wandering holy cows, motorcycling in India has limitations, but a distinctive appeal as well. The majority of which belongs to the thrill of riding a Royal Enfield Bullet.
The sole remnant of the once glorious British Motorcycling Industry, Enfields are still manufactured in India and are available in 350cc and 500cc models, differing little from the 1958 UK models (Enfields re-badged as Indians were also sold in the U.S. during the Fifties). Terribly outdated, but of robust construction with an easy availability of spares, the 4strk singles are the clear favorite among the motorcycling travelers in the country (although an occasional tourist might be spied puttering along on a Vespa or a Japanese bike).
The roads might not be silky nor the machines without glitches, yet motorcycling in India gives very powerful insights into life in this vast and diverse country. More importantly, traveling by motorbike provides adventurous travelers with the opportunity to learn how we face the various extremities thrown at us. It gives us the chance to see ourselves when one maniacal truck driver almost pushes us off the road while another offers shelter during a flash blizzard atop the Khardung La, the highest motorable road in the world. Similarly, whether trying to connect with a bunch of villagers praying at Lake Pushkar or celebrating Bob Dylan’s birthday in Shillong, the motorcycle is only one part of what is involved while touring India. A mode of transportation, yes, but a potent tool of self-development as well.
