AN ORANGE SURPRISE

This Basanti will dance, jump, and sing through a titanium exhaust, just for you

- Keshav Teiva Poumai

I left Thane at four in the morning, begrudgingly leaving the warmth of my cosy bed, physically awake but mentally still on autopilot. The reason for this rude-ish awakening was a custom build by Ricochet Motorcycles, of which I had been made aware pretty recently. The brief I was given was that it was a beast, created with as much love and dedication that only a few custom motorcycle builders could afford to spare. And with this month being our Mod special issue, what better time than now? I reached the workshop at about seven and saw something glinting from under a grey cover in the morning sunlight, like it was sitting there just waiting for me to arrive.

As the cover lifted, I beheld an orange beauty with a configuration that wouldn't look out of place in a post-apocalyptic world, but still, prettier. What started out life as a simple (yeah, right) KTM 390 Duke had been transformed into a totally mental ride, capable of handling whatever is thrown its way and looking good doing it, too. Devashish Sharma, who runs Ricochet Motorcycles, was standing there beaming with pride as we all beheld 'Basanti'.

Enveloped in the orange Jagermeister race livery, this radlooking build featured touches of carbon fibre along the bodywork, a titanium exhaust, and a handmade stainless-steel rear subframe that genuinely looked seamless.

You could say that it was a Frankenstein's monster of sorts, with an old Hero Honda CD 100 headlight, rear suspension, seat, and front mudguard from a Hero Xpulse, along with many other components, either sourced or built in such a way that it looked like it has always belonged right there on the bike.