Motorbikes are machines that are not just meant to take riders from point A to point B. Rather, they also serve as time capsules that store a lot of memories. Recently, reliving thousands of those memories, Karnataka’s Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar shared a post on his social media. He shared a picture of himself checking out and receiving his fully restored Yezdi motorcycle, which he used to ride in his college days.
DK Shivakumar’s Yezdi Gets Restored
The pictures of DK Shivakumar seeing his restored Yezdi have been shared on X. The Deputy CM shared the post with a caption stating, “Bike craze is common during college days. The bike that I rode in my college days was gathering dust for a few years.”
He added, “A young man named Suprith, who is a vintage bike lover, completely refurbished it and handed it over to me today. It was my first bike and thousands of memories are associated with it. I felt like going to those memory pages.”
A video of DK Shivakumar receiving his bike at his residence has also been shared on YouTube. In the video, on the left side, the previous condition of his Yezdi motorcycle can be seen. It was fitted inside a van that came to take it to the shop. Meanwhile, on the right side, the fully restored Yezdi being delivered to the minister can be seen.
We can see that the Deputy CM was kick-starting the bike. However, as he was failing, the person who restored the bike immediately ran to the other side and started controlling the accelerator. Meanwhile, at the same time, DK Shivakumar was kick-starting the bike. Finally, after some effort, the bike did start with its iconic exhaust note.
The person who restored the bike for the Deputy Chief Minister also brought in some memorabilia as well. They were photo frames with images of the Yezdi bike and DK Shivakumar. The minister checked out both of them.
Yezdi Roadking
The bike that has been restored for DK Shivakumar is the Yezdi Roadking, a legendary motorcycle that holds a special place in the history of Indian motorcycling. It was manufactured by Ideal Jawa (India) Ltd. and was introduced in the Indian market in the 1970s.
The bike was developed as a successor to the Jawa models, which had already established a strong reputation in India. The Yezdi Roadking featured a simple yet durable design, which was a hallmark of the brand. It had a unique teardrop-shaped fuel tank with knee pads, a flat seat, and a chrome-plated exhaust pipe.
The bike was built on a double cradle frame, which offered it stability and handling. The Yezdi Roadking came powered by a 250cc, single-cylinder, two-stroke engine. This engine made 18 bhp and 24 Nm of torque. The engine was also air-cooled and featured a twin-port exhaust system.
The Roadking came with a four-speed gearbox with a neutral finder, a unique feature at the time that allowed the rider to easily find neutral gear while the bike was stationary. The bike was kick-started, which was a standard feature in motorcycles of that era.
It was also offered with telescopic front forks and twin shock absorbers at the rear. Both of these provided the bike with a very comfortable and stable ride even on rough roads. The Roadking also had high ground clearance, and its riding posture was upright, which added to the comfort during long rides.