By Editors We read somewhere, that people are like motorcycles: each is customized a bit differently. While, that statement might not resonate with everyone who doesn’t ride a bike, or is into the culture, it certainly holds very true for a true-blue biker. More so, then, for someone whose passion stems from a very young age and manifested itself further in the form of an ambitious, yet full fledged, motorcycle customization outfit – Rajputana Custom Motorcycles. We caught up with the bike-crazy, Vijay Singh of RCM to figure what makes him tick, the workings of his uber interesting motorcycle-customization outfit and more. Born in Jaipur and educated at Mayo College, Ajmer, Vijay’s father put him on his first motorcycle – a BSA Falcon AKA a BSA Bond – when he was just 7 years old. Ever since then, he was on the motocross track {which has now been converted into Central park}, learning how to ride and later race in the 75cc class with grown men. After completing a 4-year course in Mass Communication at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, he came back home to Jaipur in June 2009, and decided to give his custom motorcycle building dreams a serious shot and set up a garage in Jaipur. After all, as a Harley Davidson Ad rightly puts it - God didn’t create metal so that man could make paper clips! LBBD | From a BSA Bond at age 7 to building choppers from scratch – how has the journey been so far? Vijay | It’s been a really happy, fruitful and positive experience having motorcycles be an integral part since the age of seven. I am grateful to my father, who put me on a BSA Bond and took me to the Motocross track when I was mad young. Motorcycles are synonymous with happy memories when it comes to my past, present and hopefully, the future as well. LBBD | Did you always know you wanted to pursue this, that too in an established manner? Vijay | All I knew was, that I wanted to build a bike for myself in 2009 when I got back from university, in Canada. After debuting ‘original gangster’ at the 2010 Auto Expo in Delhi, there was no looking back. This hobby has turned into a full-time commitment since, and the last 3 years have seen RCM grow at a healthy pace. I don’t think I’d call it ‘established’ as yet, for the simple reason that we have only begun to scratch the surface of the potential this has in the near future. Without having any elaborate plans or heavy ambitions, I find comfort in believing that RCM will grow with its own momentum, which seems to be increasing a few fold every month. In a few years from now, if we succeed in contributing to the global custom bike scene and we have an informed public, I’d say that RCM would be running in an ‘established manner.’ LBBD | Could you help us understand the market potential for custom made bikes in India? Vijay | The market potential is endless… anyone and everyone wants to have something tweaked in their machine to give it a slightly unique and individualistic look. There could be 10 more Rajputana Customs and we’d all still have more work than we can handle. India is the second largest motorcycle market in the world with high levels of disposable income; if the product is up to the mark, it will sell itself, and further foster motorcycling as a subculture, be it custom bikes, superbikes, or cruisers like Harleys, etc. LBBD | What is the procedure you follow for customizing a bike? Vijay | The process of designing and fabricating a bike at RCM is very organic and spontaneous. In all cases, the client provides us with a donor bike {a Harley, or a Royal Enfield usually}. In most cases, the client has a 20% input for what he/she likes and the rest is left up to me to decide along the way as the bike is being built. Essentially, we try and gauge what kind of taste the client has, be it old school bobbers, cafe racers, or a fully customized chopper. LBBD | How long does it take to finish an order, in general? Vijay | Anywhere between 2 weeks to 2 months, based on the complexity of the build. LBBD | Who are the people supporting you with customizing a bike? Your Crew? Vijay | We have four metal fabricators, two young boys who are learning the trade and act as helping hands, one lathe machinist {who is our intern from Brazil and is a mechanical engineer}, one shop foreman, and one manager {Aastha} who liaises with our clients and manages all the administrative work in general. This allows me to oversee everything at ease and focus my attention on the bikes and other product design. LBBD | What kind of bikes are you customizing? Something in particular or just any stock bike? Vijay | We like working on big blocks {essentially 500cc and above} which entails Harleys, Royal Enfields, Triumphs, Suzukis, etc. LBBD | You won the biker build off at the India Bike Week – Congratulations! The Bike Week included, do you think India’s finally waking up to the biking culture, or is there still a long way to go before we see that? Vijay | Motorcycling as an established sub-culture has a long way to go in our country, but the potential for growth is unfathomable. People need a sense of release from the mundane, cookie cutter life of mass production/consumption. Motorcycling, in many ways, triggers that release and fosters a sense of belonging and individuality; riding to work on a Harley immediately tells the world that the rider leads a non-conventional lifestyle and has a slightly different set of priorities. LBBD | Your take on biker girls? Delhi, especially, needs to see more of those? Vijay | India could use a lot more! There’s nothing prettier that a good looking girl on a good looking bike. Haha! LBBD | What are your long term plans for RCM? Vijay | I’m not very ambitious, or business [...]