Adventure calling

The Bangalore Bullet Club is a melting pot of sorts, given that it has members from all walks of life. They believe that self-discipline and respect for traffic rules is what binds them together.

The members of the club work in such a manner that they make both the short trips and weekend rides equally eventful. More than riding for fun, the members think that it is important to ride safe and send out a strong message about that to fellow riders and other motorists as well.

An avid traveller and passionate biker, Sunil Anvekar, better known as Sunny, started the Bangalore Bullet Club (BBC) in 2010. The idea caught on with a lot of people and now the club has about 700 members and still counting. “We have members from all age groups, right from 18 to 80 years. There’s no age limit to join the club. Our aim is to popularise the concept of safe riding among our members and get as many people to follow suit. Those who intend to become members of our club must be both passionate and disciplined riders,” says Sunny. 

All the members of this club have their own unique experiences to share. Srivathsan Venkat, an IT professional, has been riding with the group for the last one-and-a-half years and says that it has been a rewarding journey so far.

“What makes this group truly different is that each of the members is passionate about biking and adventure. There’s a genuine interest in understanding how the Bullet works,” says Srivathsan. He also points out that there are people from all walks of life, right from a carpenter to those who hold higher positions.

Praveen Pinchi, a software professional, says that this is the first club that he has ever joined. “I don’t feel like joining any other group because there’s a sense of belonging in this group. You not only get a chance to meet different kinds of people and make new friends but you also learn how to follow lane discipline,” says Praveen. He says that he can rely on the members of the club for anything at any time. “All the members of the club are well-versed with the mechanics of the bike, so this also makes it easier to seek help whenever anybody’s bike breaks down or develops a problem,” adds Praveen. 

The club also has couples like Prakash Gowda and his wife Haripriya Prakash, who never miss any of the rides. Haripriya rides pillion with her husband. “Haripriya is more excited about going for the rides than I am. It’s always nice to ride with your family and a group of like-minded people than solo,” says Prakash.

“I’ve made a lot of friends after I‘ve started riding with my husband. We rode with the group to Ladakh last year, and look forward to more adventurous trips,” Haripriya pitches in.

The club has moderators who chalk out the calendar of events for the year and ensure that the members maintain discipline at all times. Manjunath Reddy, one of the moderators, informs that there’s nothing less than 300 people for every ride. “We have about 700 people who have signed up as active members. Our weekend trips have anything between 100 and 300 people. We plan our events and rides in advance because that gives people enough time to join us,” says Manjunath. Jonathan Aaron, another moderator, doesn’t shy away from saying that he’s proud that the group follows all the traffic rules, especially maintaining lane discipline. “We also educate other people about the importance of wearing safety gear and following traffic rules. We are more like a family than just a group of bikers and this makes a lot of difference,” he says.

Nina C George
(The club can be reached on 9743204656)