bikerMetric (bM): Talk to us bud, tell us a little about you.
Tarun Sidhu (TU): My name is Tarun Sidhu. I’m an architect by qualification, so design is a habit. One morning, instead of dreaming up mega millions building structures as I otherwise did, I wondered how creative in design can we be within the four foot space of a motorcycle’s wheelbase. I’m still amazed at the potential.
bM: What was the goal of the build?
TU: The real deal was to make it all by hand: Old school style, no robotics, and in our creative dens.
bM: What kind of look were going for?
TU: I never planned a look in advance. We just worked around an idea and constantly kept on changing the ideology as we progressed. The only thing we really kept our focus on is quality. In this build we just wanted a plain subtle beauty with no protruding features.
bM: What kind of shape was the Royal Enfield 500 bobber when you got it?
TU: We got a Royal Enfield 500 cc heavy piston beauty dropped in our yard by a client who instructed us not to deteriorate the image of the Royal Enfield 500 and yet bring out a uniqueness. We “goldenly” did it. We aimed for a clean bobber and planned to leave the chassis intact.
bM: What modifications did you do?
TU: We introduced several body elements like a hawk-handle curved in a drop down manner for easy handle-ability. The shallow depth of the front light flattens the otherwise linear elevation of the motorcycle. We downsized the tank by 2 liters amplifying the roundness. We handmade the drag style handle bars, handmade the headlight, hand stitched the seat and chopped the fenders.
bM: You kept the look simple. Do you like that?
TU: The style component serves the necessary elegance and is the soberness of the bike. The not so flashy designs give the minimal design approach to the beauty.
bM: What’s something that came out really nice in the build?
TU: The feel, and the attitude. The Royal Enfield 500 bobber is very concise in anthropometry and the rider feels like holding horns of such a powerful masculine bull that obeys well. This subtle but aggressive approach is quite visible equally from the front and from rear.
bM: Where can readers find you?
TU: Panjloh Handmade motorcycles on Facebook.
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