On an Island

"Shameless sea, aimlessly so blue..."

This album from David is a must have. For all those who have breathed Floyd their living lives, its a great addition to your CD rack at home.

There is a great blend of intense and gentle tracks. Nitin and I do it a lot while driving someplace. Available at all leading music stores. And maybe on free mp3 download sites too! But everytime you use one of those, you kill the artist!

From track to road!

An assembly line exclusively dedicated to the Desmosedici RR has been set up at the Borgo Panigale factory. Everything is now ready for production (which will begin in October) and for delivery of the first bikes.

The Ducati Desmosedici RR is the first and only true MotoGP replica, destined to celebrate this prestigious race category’s era of maximum engine size (1000 cc) and establish a new milestone in terms of Italian technology, components, performance and style.

More in the September Issue of Monoshock!

How true is true?

It happens mostly when I am skirting on the verge of boredom and sleep. Bored of the way things move and behave. I have imaginations of long winding roads divided by delicately drawn white lines in between. The great design, of what is yours and what is mine. Then there are images, of people gone by. That pretty girl in school who I never had the courage to talk to. The poor boy on the street that went away from my side, empty handed, hungry and sad while I was saving up to buy my third Adidas cap.

A friend of mine needed some money for something, which has now faded off my memory, but it must have been something important. I could not delay the purchase of my bike for a week and told him to go fish somewhere else.

I no longer walk alone and carelessly in the rain. I no longer long to be home, an imaginary place where we all connect to, but it never really exists. I work to get the emag online on time, thinking that delays may look unprofessional and hurt the advertisement value in the long run. Everything just blends into one unrecognizable paste of greed, viability and lust. The need for love, money, peace, speed and fame take the front row seats of the mind’s screen. Is this what it is like to be human? Does my writing go beyond the viabilities of a successful business plan? Is free really free? Or is it just to boost the numbers for the new advertiser?

I do not know friends. But I will try to see things in another light. I will try to be more genuine. For so many of you and Monoshock! It is my greatest dream. And we all know that most dreams are not built around viability.
- Rahul

Bike of the month - September

Another stunner from Bigdog! Now look at those lines and those amazing curves.

The tone, the poise and that footwear sure make it our darn pick of September. And all you pervs out there, knowing the nice guys that we are at Monoshock, we are talking about the custom chopper! :-D

Harley Davidson RR250

Yes, you heard that right. This Harley, won three world championships in the 250 cc class in a row! These high revving two stroke parallel twins were developed by H-D in Italy and were ridden by Walter Villa to win three world championships in 1975, 76 and 77!

These bikes boasted 246cc twins producing 53 bhp and were capable of top speeds of 225 kays an hour. They had bare basic body work, twin discs up front and a superb expansion chamber to be one of the quickest and fastest 250s of that era! A Harley eh? Not bad. At only a 109 kgs!

Is there anybody out there?

Hi I am Ismail from Ahmedabad, I want to buy a 200 to 250cc bike. Can i wait for coming soon bikes if any? Please let me know about them..I like powerful bikes. Fuel economy does not matter. Thanks.

Hello Ismail,
You could look at the Pulsar 200, the Pulsar 220 and the Hero Honda Karizma to suit your need. They are all powerful and able machines with reliability to go with them. When it comes to long term riding, the Karizma is still king! New launches are not due for some time now in that segment. Maybe in the next financial year. Till then, ride safe, or keep reading us for a launch scoop/ road test/ riding impression!

The way er, scooter ads should be!

The way to go for scooter ads is this my friend. The Kinetic website is a living example of how a star is welcomed on board!

The poise, the class and the lithe athletic dusky figure swept us all off our feet! We now have guys at our office with hidden folders full of this stuff. Wait a minute! We forgot the darn issue in the first place. But, we are not merely selling scooters here you nincompoops. We are branding! And we at Monoshock, are morons who understand nothing about brand words, so we will take the experts' view on that. Psst! Psst! Could the shirt go off too?

The way motorcycle ads should be!

This stunning image was unearthed by one dude at office while he was er, doing important work for the emag. Darn the work, we forgive you this once for the discovery! The ad is for a 'Build Yours' custom chopper campaign in America.

Now is that not a beauty? Its a pity we in India would replace that with a leggy bollywood superstar's face who is as close to biking as Outer Mongolia is to Andheri!

Suer thing mate!

Bajaj Said:

Bajaj would like to clarify the following in the context of its concerns over possible infringement of its DTS-i technology –
Bajaj believes that the use of twin spark technology, christened Bajaj DTS-i (Digital Twin Spark – Ignition), in small automotive engines is worthy of intellectual protection.

It had thus applied for the same for the Indian market on July 16, 2002 and was granted approval via patent number 195904 on July 7, 2005. If there exists any application for revocation of this patent, details of the same are not known to Bajaj.Similarly, it is also expecting approval of its international patent applications in various foreign countries subsequent to its application PCT/IN03/000348 dated October 30, 2003.

By virtue of the presence of DTS-i technology, Bajaj motorcycles including the Discover, Pulsar, and Avenger, have made Bajaj the leader not just in the premium (125 cc – 250 cc) motorcycle segment in India, but also in exports.

Given this success, various global manufacturers have in recent years attempted to imitate and thus infringe upon Bajaj technology/products, and Bajaj has and will continue to thwart them.Most recently Chinese manufacturer Taian Chiran Machinery Co ltd. and its Sri Lankan distributor were instructed by the honourable High court of Western Province, Sri Lanka to withdraw their copy of the Bajaj Pulsar with DTS-i technology from the market.

Bajaj has been anxious that failing domestic manufacturers may in an act of desperation adopt similar dubious methods in India.

Bajaj is preparing to defend its intellectual property in the event that such a product is eventually introduced. At that time, if evaluation of the actual product appears to suggest reasonable grounds for infringement, Bajaj will take all necessary steps to safeguard its interests as also to inflict the maximum permissible damage upon the offender so as to set an effective precedent for the future.

Bajaj accords the highest importance to its IP portfolio and will defend the same. Bajaj cautions against any attempt to infringe.

TVS Said:

Hosur, September 2, 2007: The TVS Motor Company is surprised at the wild and irresponsible allegations made by Bajaj Auto Ltd accusing TVS Motor Company of breaching their patent rights. The accusation is a malicious attempt to tarnish the fair name of a corporate that belongs to TVS group, which has consistently maintained the highest standards of ethics in business.

That the allegation of Bajaj Auto is ridiculous can be established by their own admission that the invention in issue namely, the application of twins spark plug is a known technology extensively in use all over the world for several decades and therefore, in patent law, it is a known prior art.

The patent that Bajaj claims is not for the use of twin spark plug technology per se but for the use of the two spark plug in a two valve IC engine with a detachably fixed sleeve. Against this patent also an application for revocation has already been filed based on settled case law on the subject. In any event, the use of Twin Spark Plug technology by TVS Motor does not infringe the above patent against which revocation proceedings are initiated.

In the circumstances and view of the malicious allegation made with the motive to damage our reputation, TVS Motor Company has been advised to initiate action for libel against Bajaj Auto Ltd. The TVS Motor Company therefore has advised its lawyers to put Bajaj Auto Ltd on notice that unless the malicious allegations are withdrawn and regrets expressed, to file a suit for damages in a sum of Rs. 250 crores. This action does not preclude TVS Motor from initiating such other action as the law may permit including criminal action against officials of Bajaj Auto Ltd who used libellous language against TVS Motor.

http://www.monoshock.in/ said:

We could do with a fraction of this kind of awareness amidst bikers (forget what happens to the issue, cause when 2 elephants make love, its just the puny grass that suffers!) about the number of dudes who die in bike crashes on motorcycles from Bajaj and/ or TVS!

We could do away with bad roads and killer buses with patented 'no brakes on time ever' systems that are achieveing 6 sigma standards in terms of never ever failing to fail!

We could do with a little more space in the news print about how motorists driving SUVs, busy taking the pick of the night home for a lay after 16 drinks should respect the salesman, riding back home to see his little daughter!

We could do with so many things. Like going out for a ride. I rode a Pulsar today to meet a pal of mine doing his RTR and we hugged like brothers. United by biking. Patents and legalities are mere business. Biking and brotherhood is not. That is serious business. Ride Safe!