Look, honey, a motorcycle makeover!

Is the Royal Enfield Bullet you bought during your wild, younger days gathering rust in your garage now? You could get it modified into into a head-turning, funky piece of machinery once again.

The transformation

Bike modification is not confined to only using snazzier lights or putting alloy wheels. It is about giving your Bullets, Yamahas or Suzukis a different look by changing the design of the bike. Imagine a new-look bike with an extra silencer, bigger and wider tyres, an elongated handle bar with a downward bend, a new shock absorber, handstitched leather seats, chrome fuel tanks, longer leg guards, improved air filters, performance exhausts and other changes. Sounds cool, uh?

The choice you get

In case you don’t want a complete modification, you can go for a partial one as well. In a partial modification, only certain parts are changed. For instance, increasing the wheelbase increases the grip on the road but that also decreases the average fuel consumption of the bike. In a ‘full modification’, the bike is totally transformed to give it the look specified by the customer. So if it’s a Harley Davidson lookalike you want—you will get exactly that!

Bring on the bikes

The bikes that usually come in for modification include Royal Enfield Bullets, Yamaha Enticers, Bajaj Avengers, Yamaha Eliminators, Bajaj Pulsars, Hero Honda Karizmas, Suzuki Fieros, besides, of course, older models of many international bikes. Generally, it takes about 30 days for the workshop to give your old machine a new look.

What’s new: Modified side panels Crafted fenders, front and rear Redesigned fuel tank Hand-stitched seat 6-layer paint job with hand painted graphics Customised handle bar Handcrafted headlamp and turn indicators Large size tyres (300 mm at the rear and 120 mm at the front) Front & rear wheel custom disc brakes Retrofitted self-start function

Manmeet Rattan, owner of Dream Riders, one of Delhi’s best-known bike modification workshops, says: “People generally come to us when the bike is old and they want to give it a new look. They want us to change the tyres, put disc brakes, a bigger fuel tank, aluminium handlebars, designer gear and racing handles. Recently, we put car radial tyres in a Bullet that gave it a ‘chopper’ look and at the same time made it safer for the biker.”

We saw it from up close

We went to the workshop to see closely how the modification work was done. A look at some of the finished products gave us a fair idea about the amount of work and creativity that went into each modification. We saw a 2004 model 535cc Royal Enfield Bullet that had been transformed into a beauty. Barring the engine and chassis of the bike, everything else had been modified to give it a lean, hungry look. And to top it all, it had a selfstart function and a five-speed gearbox.

The cost factor

Transforming your old bike into something like the Royal Enfield Bullet that is described above, comes at a price. On an average, a full modification can set you back by between Rs 1.5 lakh and Rs 5 lakh, depending on the kind of changes you desire. There’s no upper limit, since the price depends on the kind of accessories you plan to install. The good news: all these modified bikes come with a 6-month warranty.

Where you can get it done

Dream Riders, B-11, Phase-II, Mayapuri Industrial Area, New Delhi. Contact 093500 27739 Website: You can also order bike modifications online by logging on to www.dreamriders.co.in