TIME TRIAL

History has a sense of humour. Here's hard knobby-tyred evidence

- Ruman Devmane

Have you ever tried telling the same story twice? Oh, well, you do it all the time, no? Of course, your story gets more exciting with every new narration and, perhaps, a bit more dramatic, too. That thing that absolutely did not happen? Go on, make stuff up — who doesn’t love a little gasp from the audience, right? Even if the refinement of your later attempts lack the candour and innocence of your first, a good story is almost always worth repeating. Especially if you can somehow wait 30 years between doing so. Just like Bajaj has.

No, the ‘other’ bike here isn’t the result of someone’s imagination having been let loose at the aftermarket parts store — it’s a Bajaj SX Enduro. Launched in India exactly 30 years ago, the SX Enduro was no success story, although it perhaps best represented what was brewing inside the Bajaj HQ in the mid-'90s. I've lucked out with a really stellar source for this story, so we'll go deeper into that in just a moment.

There’s another motorcycle here, too, one you instantly recognise as the KTM 390 Enduro R, manufactured, of course, by Bajaj. Its popularity isn’t documented yet but I can safely say it has already outdone the SX Enduro’s, seeing as no one ever bought the SX.

Bringing them together, therefore, wasn’t a matter of choice. It was a reunion forged in floppy plastic, the signature of bikes in this class. Jayanth Mavalli, a thorough two-stroke motorcycle nut and a dear friend, happened to have two SX Enduros (okay, so someone did buy it!) in his vast garage, and it took very little provocation for him to have one tidied up in time for our story.