Breakfast run recce - 1

Waiting for the train to come so we can get some shots.

Breakfast run recce

The Helmet Stories crew out for a recce for this sundays breakfast run.

Rider Mania 2011, Tarkarli

And then there were six... Jamshed and Varad joined up with The Stray Bullets late last evening at Tarkarli. We are about three hours ride away from Goa. The guys are still sleeping so an early start is not an option!

Rider Mania 2011, Helmet Stories bikes

Both Helmet Stories bikes are doing well. The blue one - Sheila - is a 600cc stroked cast iron while the brown one -Patraangbali - is based on a stock Machismo 500, albeit with 'S' cams, an improved TCI ignition and higher engine compression

Some TLC for Sheila

Now that the sun is out in Mumbai, Sheila gets a much-needed hosedown!
Sent on my BlackBerry® from Vodafone Essar

Le Tart and Sheila

During a lull in the monsoons here in Mumbai, Helmet Stories decided to trot out Le Tart (left, yellow), and Sheila to the workshop for some TLC. Le Tart is going off to the Sriperumbudur track near Chennai over the weekend for a little workout... photos and videos next week... Should be a fun weekend. The goodies inside Le Tart (a Royal Enfield LB500 Machismo) include a Hitchcocks 87mm piston, performance cams, improved TCI ignition, Mikuni TM 36mm  carb mated to a bellmouth intake, CNC tripe trees, home-made dry clutch, megaphone silencers (very LOUD!) and Excel rims... In stock garb Le Tart cracked 155 kilometres per hour so it should be interesting to see what she reaches in her new and svelte 135kg avatar on the track.

Sheila, a former 1996 Royal Enfield Standard 500, is no slouch either, but a 600cc stroker. Her vital stats: 87mm Accralite piston, Ace Magnum cams, 100 mm stroke (up from 90 mm), beefed up bottom end, TCI ignition, Hitchcock competition valves, Mikuni VM 34 carburettor couples to a K&N air filter, 19-inch DID aluminum rims front and rear, Barnett clutch plates...
When the rains lets up, Helmet Stories is planning a better photoshoot with these bikes. Watch this space...