Biker baron

I don’t want to be a collector but a rider. Once you start collecting bikes, you only have time to keep them all looking good,” says Navin Ansal. Ansal, along with his wife Raseel Gujral, runs Casa Paradox, an interior design firm, with outlets in Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai and ambitious growth plans.

While Gujral takes care of the creative aspects, Ansal focusses on the business side. But when he has time off work, Ansal hits the road with his bikes.

Ansal currently owns three bikes — a 2,300 cc Triumph Rocket (Rs 20 lakh, approximately), a 1,300 cc Yamaha Nightstar, and a good old faithful Royal Enfield (Rs 85,000, approximately). He is keen to point out that he insisted on custom paint jobs for his Triumph and Yamaha. The former has a complete chrome finish while the latter has a matte black touch. The Royal Enfield, meanwhile, has a regal two-tone paint job — red and white. “When the three bikes are revved together, the sound is tremendous,” he says with a laugh.

It is cruisers that Ansal is interested in — sports bikes are a strict no-no. “I don’t ride fast. I ride to romance the countryside, but I do get a cheap thrill on speed once in a while,” he adds.

A day’s riding usually takes him towards Gurgaon. He likes the Gurgaon-Faridabad road for its isolated stretches, though the traffic is on the increase now. Some patches of jungle in the Aravallis offer the chance to hit an unexplored trail. But Ansal says his big bikes are always limited to wide and metalled roads. Ansal currently has a riding buddy with whom he heads out. He says there’s nothing better during a ride than to stop at a dhaba and sip a cup of over-sweet chai.

You won’t find Ansal sporting any fancy riding gear — which is quite unlike him, given that he was voted among India’s 50 best-dressed men by the magazine Man’s World in 2007. The only riding gear he uses is some leather in the winter, along with a helmet and riding boots (Indian-made Cramster riding boots cost Rs 4,800, while imported leather boots cost more).

Pride of place in Ansal’s farmhouse is reserved for his bikes. Jostling for space alongside them are his luxury cars, including a BMW, Audi and Mercedes (prices start at Rs 28 lakh for the base models of these marques).

Ansal says he avoids tinkering with the bikes, leaving that job to the professionals. Like many serious bikers, he’s a stickler for regular maintenance: “Bikes have to start at the first attempt, and they always have to be glistening,” he says, firmly.