My Experiences with Flyte !

My Scooter is my life line. Most of the time its very dependable, but there are days when it refuses to cooperate and life becomes difficult for me... few days back i had one such difficult day . ...

I don’t remember when was the last time i had  washed  my car or scooter, but few days back i decided to wash our car and scooter, Ezekiel joined me splashing and running around water :) End of the washing and drying i realized why Anil is so finicky about keeping the car and scooter clean :) so once that job was done , i thought of starting the scooter, but to my surprise the –there was no response ,,, scooter rather its battery was dead , not even the horn worked ... and i thought what would have happened .. did i pull out some wire while washing, or did water went inside ... in my thoughts i had already started cursing myself for the idea of washing the scooter . I called Anil and said scooter is not taking Self .. He asked me to start Kick Start ... Well let me tell you kick starting Kinetic Flyte (now Mahindra Rodeo) or Active is not as easy as kick starting bikes ...the thought of kick start was not so pleasant but i had to, and 2 kick , the scooter started ... Anil suggested that next day i take the scooter to the Exide Battery shop and get it checked ,battery might be required to be recharged ...

In 1998 I bought my first 2 wheeler, when girls in Bangalore were buying, Kinetic Honda I bought M80 – Right,  Bajaj M80 (yes the same scooter which Milkmen or Fishermen used quite a lot till couple of years back :)) , the gear and kick start walla scooter – Reason, it come around 20K then , gave me mileage of about 60 km/ltr and i could afford and maintain with the stipend i got then – When I bought M80 i did not know riding a scooter (I had car driving licence) Thanks to Anil , he taught me to ride a Geared Scooter :) and  there has been no looking back .. So I am used to kick start , but kick starting new generation scooters, some how i find is much more difficult than M80 , Bajaj Chetak or bikes like Yamaha or Splendor.

Next day taking name of the Almighty – I tried kick starting the my Kinetic Flyte - scooter, lucky me - 2 kick and the bike started, realized i will have to fill petrol , that would mean i have to stop in between  (was scared at the thought but still thought 2 kicks should be ok) . So my first stop was after 2 kms at the petrol pump, filled petrol, moved my scooter , Kick 1, 2 no response, Kick 3,4,5,6,7,8 ,9,10 no response !! Meanwhile the lady who knows me at the petrol pump, called her colleagues to help me (The Abala !) 2 guys came, Kick 1,2,3,...10 no response, now everybody is frustrated , the third guy try applying accelerator,... somehow after 20- 30 kicks the bike starts, they ask me to leave as fast as possible, the battery shop is next junction ... I don’t look back and rush to the next junction ....

I  tell the problem to the guys at the Battery shop , they also check the battery, and tell me to come next day as they would keep the battery for recharging ... then one of the senior mechanic asked me if Kick start works, I reluctantly said yes but lot of kicks are required ... anyway I started kicking, 1, 2, 3, ...8 – it didn’t start ... looking at me the mechanic tried to kick start , 1-10 no response , he then comments, ‘if the bike stops in the signal you are gone ! ‘ analyzing the situation  he suggests that he will check the battery for any complaint and asks me if i have the guarantee card ? I said yes and show him the bill and the card (We had put new battery almost 13 months back and had 1 more month warranty valid but i knew the guys will try to recharge the battery and will ask me to come next day )  ...  ... he goes inside to check the battery, meanwhile i try kick starting the scooter Kick 1-10 , take a break , another few kicks ...  After 5 minutes the mechanic comes out with a new battery, tells me that since there is 1 more month of guarantee on the battery , he is putting the new battery – and gives me a new guarantee card .... Wow what more can i ask for !! He replaces the battery and tries self start , and there it goes , my scooter is alive !I thank him a ton – thank god, and smile at my fate – realized, kicking sometimes changes your fate ;)