For the love of the staccato: Kerala’s bullet clubs setting the road on fire

In India, there are bikes and then there is the Royal Enfield Bullet. The Bullet Bikers share a bond with their bikes which runs on emotion and not reason. It is never just a bike for the rider, it screams addiction and passion.

Royal Enfield Bullet, owing to the immense loyalty base that gives it the cult status, has now become the ambition of the youth in Kerala. With the Bullet comes the desire to ride, and it has taken most of the youth in search of exotic places and people and Bullet Biker clubs deliver exactly this.

A number of bullet-bikers’ clubs, some of which are even registered, are now functioning across Kerala. These clubs work in a systematic manner and organize different events for the members ranging from weekend trips to country wide road trips.

The love for bullets in Kerala is evident from their dedication. “We organize trips whenever we can and make sure that all the club members make it to the trip,” says Sethuraj, a member and admin of the club ‘Royal Enfield Mania’. “We currently have 30 members in our club and have already completed numerous rides throughout Kerala. Weekend trips to places like Alappuzha and Varkala are our favourites,” he said. They have planned a trip to Munnar for the coming month, Sethuraj added.

Some of these rides are themed to make it more interesting for the riders as well as the onlookers. The ‘White Collar Ride’ organized by the ‘Bullethood’ was the most recent one where all the bikers dressed in formals and blazers. It was a campaign to respect the roads, rules and fellow riders and inaugurated the Trichur chapter of the club.

Apart from conventional road trips, bullet races are also becoming popular among these clubs. ‘Kakkoor Kalavayal Dirt Race’ is the biggest among them. With a distinct ‘Bullet Class’, the race has set new benchmarks for these clubs. Watch a short video here.

“We absolutely love this concept. Bullet races itself are not common let alone a Bullet Dirt race and that is what makes it exciting,” says Abith Nassar, a member of the ‘Bullet Buddhas’. The adrenaline rush that the race delivers with the crowd screaming their names makes all the practice worth it, he says. 

Though arch rivals while competing at races, these clubs are a fraternity bound together by their shared love for the bike. “We (the clubs) consider ourselves to be brothers and occasionally, we even go together for short rides as well,” says Sumesh Juju, a member of the ‘Bullethoods’.

The clubs are very active on Facebook and publish photos of their endeavours. New bullet owners usually depend on these posts to decide on which club suits their style and helps them decide which one to join.

“As I’m not any club member yet, I depend a lot on these posts to make my choice. Clubs like ‘Bullehood’ and ‘Bullet Buddhas’ are my favourites as of now,” says Deepu Franzis, an MBA student from Kochi, who has recently purchased a Bullet 350. The posts are heavily edited to give it a very dramatic appearance. Some of these clubs have made introduction videos as well.

There is another set of riders who do not believe in the concept of a ‘Biker Gang’ and for them, travelling is spontaneous and should be done when one feels like it.

“I always ask fellow riders to never make plans for a road trip a year or six months in advance. It never goes as planned because of the time gap between the initiation and the execution of the plan. Conditions change and the only trips that happen are those which you plan for the next day or the next week,” says Milton Peter, a Finance Professional working with Ernest and Young, from Calicut.

Money also plays a major role. “Most of these biker clubs come with a registration fee and periodical fees to keep it active. They are typically expensive and as students or recently employed individuals, we can’t afford it,” says Hresheekesh, a student from the Rajgiri Institute of Management, Kochi.

Though not members of any biker clubs, all of them confirmed that they had nothing against members of such clubs and whenever they meet coincidentally at places, they make sure that they have a friendly conversation as members of the Bullet family.