Bikers’ speak of the adventures, love, and friends their bikes have helped bring to their lives.
Pasang Khambache Sherpaowner at Bike Nepal
About his bikes
“I like my bikes to be unique so those on limited edition really interest me. I have had six bikes so far, from a MV Agusta, Suzuki PR, Honda CRF to XR and a couple more in between. I still own all of them and have sold just one of my bikes so far. Let me tell you, that hurt.”
No road, no problem
Today Bike Nepal has established itself as a go-to off road motorcycle touring company in Nepal and, of late, also a business house dealing with import and sales of motorcycles becoming the authorized dealer of the likes of Honda CBR 600RR, Yamaha R1 just to name a few. Even at the moment, Pasang Khambache Sherpa is waiting to unveil a brand new bike in the Nepali market.
However, like all fast paced dreams, this one too had humble beginnings in a garage somewhere.
“I used to spend most of my time at workshops when I was a student,” shares Sherpa, “If I weren’t in college or working my part time gig as a web developer, I was at the workshops, observing the guys working away on the bikes. That’s how I learned.”
Sherpa didn’t wait for long to put all that he had picked up to use either. He speaks of his very first bike with a lot of affection. Apparently, he bought a broken, dismantled bike, a Honda XL 250. He suspects somebody from the army used it because that model wasn’t available in the markets at the time. He recalls collecting the required spare parts to restore the bike in the next month and then finally getting to work.
“I was a big fan of dirt bikes and I always wanted my first bike to be self-made,” he says. He remembers always being “crazy” about motorbikes. “It wasn’t only about MotoGP either,” adds Sherpa, “But just the entire look, attitude and feel about it.”
His first bike brought with it a fair share of adventures through various dirt roads and jungles and, as far as Sherpa is concerned, running a off road motorcycle touring company was the only obvious thing to do. He describes it as finding a purpose to pursue. Even though he wasn’t always confident about his choice, he believes the reason he has made it is because he kept at it.
“And one of the major motivations has to be the trails,” he says, “Just getting on my bike and exploring routes that haven’t been discovered yet is a thrill every single time.” In 2011, on a 28-day trip, he even rode through the entire length of the country with a client.
Favorite bike trip so far
In 2006, we were the first company to ride our bikes to Muktinath. At the time, this was unheard of and, along the journey, we were constantly being told that we wouldn’t make it.
Need for Speed, Satisfied
But once we started our bikes, my friends and I though made it a point to reach the destinations we had planned on every single day. We also had a client at the time so we were determined.
We used to ride for minutes and push for hours. Since, at the time, there were no trails leading to Muktinath, we even had to push for 10 hours straight once. Regardless, we all made it. It was one of those ‘once in a lifetime’ kind of a moment. When reached the top the client even opened a pack of cigars to celebrate with us.
On his wish list
I want to set off to specifically discover unexplored routes. Many offbeat trails we used to ride through from Jomsom to Mustang will probably be tarmacked in a couple years so I want to explore new ones.
Rabi Thapa
CEO & founder of Sacred Summits
About his bikes
“It’s a cruiser bike, Royal Enfield, old standard 1984 model. It’s comfortable with a classic 1954 engine that you can actually dismantle and repair yourself. That’s how simple the mechanics of the bike is. On my blue book, it says it’s green in color but in reality it’s darker than that. It isn’t black but just nearly and when the sun hits the surface it gleams emerald green – like the cover of Glenfiddich, single malt.”
Riding the kilometers
As the Royal Enfield engines began to thunder for this year’s Poker Run, you could obviously spot Rabi Thapa amidst all the riders once again. The event that began with a hundred or so riders, today averages to more than 400, both local and international riders on the given day. It’s Thapa’s tenth year pulling the strings with his company to arrange the one of a kind extravaganza for Royal Enfield and classic bike enthusiasts.
“But I’m not somebody you would call an avid biker. I hate commuting on a bike,” says Thapa, “However, I enjoy these kinds of trips.”
Thapa recalls the time he decided to leave behind his tourism business because it had hit a bit of a dead end. That was in 2003. And somebody apparently suggested that they ride to Lhasa. “I said, why not go all the way to the Everest base camp from the north side?” shares Thapa, “I had led trips there before but one on an Enfield beckoned as a completely new challenge.”
Travel enthusiasts will remember that back in the day such trips were unheard off. There were no roads to begin with. It took Thapa and his crew six months to plan it all.
He elaborates, “We needed ten 500 cc Royal Enfields and we managed to beg and borrow around five. Later we ended up going to Delhi and bringing a couple of bikes from there as well. We also needed a camping crew, mechanics that were accustomed to high altitude – there were many details like that to take care of.”
This first trip also marked the beginning of their company. Those who couldn’t make the ride to the base camp the first time were apparently more than ready to join them on the second one. With fellow adventurers like that Thapa has now managed to build a community compromising of both locals and foreigners.
“Every time anybody from the club leaves Kathmandu to go somewhere, there is somebody who is willing to play host or catch up over tea,” says Thapa of their Enfield community, “They reach out to you. You would be surprised how many friends I have made since we started hosting trips with the company.”
Favorite bike trip so far
That would definitely have to be the 12-day Buddha Circuit that we had done in 2012. We went from Lumbini to places like Kushinagar, Patna, Bodhgaya, and Varanasi. At the time, they were hosting Dalai Lama’s Kalachakra and we joined in on that as well.
Our biggest challenge was that we didn’t know how much it would cost. We had to work on the itinerary and the budget from scratch. In the end, everything came together, we rode the kilometers, camped at times, went sightseeing, met nice people, tried new culture, food, and drinks. It’s always the journey that makes the trips.
On his wish list
Route 66. It’s the oldest route for motorcycle rides. It goes from Chicago to L.A and is considered a legend. I have its shirt, its picture, and I plan to get on it with a couple friends in the near future.
Love at first ride
Dipesh Shrestha, motorbike stunts teacher, Merina Shrestha, event coordinator
at Sacred Summit. Team managers of Riders’ Unified
About his bikes
“I bought a Pulsar 200 in 2008. I got it because there was a certain thrill of doing your stunts on a Pulsar. I still have that,” says Dipesh.
Merina, on the other hand, reveals that her current bike was actually a gift from Dipesh, her husband, “He had bought a Suzuki once mainly for self-customizing purposes. He upgraded the engines and what not and later handed it to me. I thought it was the sweetest gesture.”
When he first started riding bikes around the age of 14, Dipesh remembers wondering if anybody was watching him, even hoping that he would be spotted. “During my initial days, riding a bike was all about showing off. Today it is all about safety,” he says.
It had apparently taken him only three to four days to learn how to ride a bike back then, post which he spent most of the time in open spaces trying tricks he had seen in movies. He still remembers some sequences of certain Sanjay Dutt movies. However, through the course of teaching himself all the braking and racing skills, throttle controls, gear shifts and body balances, Dipesh shares he naturally became more responsible.
It’s a quality that has naturally come in handy to help convince many guardians of his current students. “Safety is always a big concern but if that’s the only fear stopping you from getting on your bike or letting your child do that, I always say that I will take full responsibility,” explains Dipesh adding, “I ask those who come to me to trust me. I didn’t have anybody to guide me but I want those interested in stunts now to learn properly.”
His wife, Merina, is also one of his stunt students. In fact, they share that they first met at a bike event. Since they both were such regular attendees of such bike shows and programs, they got a chance to know each other better.
“I have grown up with brothers. I was never into dolls and my family has always been supportive of my interest,” says Merina. She still bursts out laughing while recalling how she had nagged her father to buy a smaller bike because her 5 feet 3 inch frame couldn’t manage her brothers’ VR with ease. “My feet didn’t touch the ground,” she exclaims. She also went from brother to brother asking them to teach her how to ride a bike and deflecting all creative excuses they came up to say ‘later’. In the end, she did get them to teach her and eventually was planning trips out of the valley.
“There is a certain freedom that came with knowing how to ride a bike,” says Merina, “And I love it.” Together, the two have been teaching, learning, and riding for years now.
Favorite bike trip so far
Not so long ago, we had an amazing trip to Bardiya during the Nepal Riders’ Meet event. What made it particularly memorable though was that we managed to get lost together. We took a shortcut and managed to land ourselves in the middle of the forest. There were just trees for miles. We couldn’t see anything and things got worse when we were joined by dozens of monkeys. We had to keep riding and eventually a tyre also got busted. But thankfully, eventually we got ourselves out of it.
On the couples’ wish list
Not much, a Ducati will do.
