Autoportal India

I love naked motorcycles. I always have. They are my favourite kind of motorcycles. And it is not just because of my history with them. It is just their very nature that draws me in. Fairing and everything stripped off, back-breaking clip-ons replaced with wider and more upright bars, and with all the punch of a superbike willing to transport you to wheelie heaven. Scratch the last part, I am not a hooligan.

There is one point I would like to correct. “All the punch of a superbike”, has not always been true, not on paper at least, until more recently. But in spirit, it is true. All superbikes have had a naked derivative and it is possible the other way around as well, but seldom is. GSX-R to GSX-S, S 1000 RR to S 1000 R, CBR (Fireblade) to CB, ZX to Z and so on. That was about why I inherently like naked motorcycles. Now, about the history. My journey started back in 2002 with a Bajaj Pulsar 180 Classic. It instantly set itself apart from everything else.

Leisure motorcycling was non-existent, motorcycles were seen as tools for cheap transportation and here was a motorcycle that not only looked purposeful but went like a hoot too. With 15 bhp, a massive muscular tank, and a mean fascia, Bajaj called it Definitely Male. To me, it was the start of my love affair with naked motorcycles.

The arrival of Karizma led me adrift. I was infatuated with it. That was followed by the Honda Blackbird, my first big bike. Both faired and both worlds apart from the kind that gave me that visceral kick. I loved those motorcycles to the core, don’t get me wrong, but they were a smidge off of what I wanted. As I drifted around in the world of fully-faired motorcycles, my love for naked motorcycles was rekindled in 2008.

I rode the Suzuki BKing around 8,000 km around New Zealand. I was in awe of it. It was perhaps the world’s fastest and most powerful naked and it was bound to be with the heart of the mighty Falcon- the Hayabusa. But I still did not have one in my garage. In 2012, I welcomed a Yamaha FZ-1 into my life. It was aggressive and muscular and full of intent. More than that, it had nearly 150 bhp on tap making it one of the most powerful naked motorcycles of its time. But after it went away, there was another hiatus.

Then in 2015, during the Indian in 0-100 Motorcycles project, I got to ride the MT-01 and I was blown away. One of the craziest and most radical motorcycles ever made, the MT-01 lit a fire under me. I had to get my hands on another naked. But the MT-01 and the BKing, both were commercial failures. They were probably a bit too radical for their time. After the end of that project, I got myself a Benelli TNT 899. To this day, I believe that it is one of the most beautiful naked motorcycles I have ever seen. Side-mounted radiators with the motorcycle’s frame snaking around it… it was beautiful. Its inline-3 may not have been everyone’s cup of tea but I quite liked it.

In fact, I used the TNT 899 to practice and get ready to race the TNT 1130 in the 2015 JK Tyre Championship. While aero and lack of power was a problem, I still had a lot of fun. Anyway, my next naked after the TNT was the Suzuki GSX-S1000 and I got it in 2017. Beautiful and with a respectable 148 bhp of tap, it was not a hooligan but enough to satiate my need for a street bike. Now, before getting the GSX-S1000, I tried the entire KTM Duke range in 2016. I went to Thailand and tried those motorcycles on both the track and road. If I am being honest, the KTM Super Duke 1290 is one of the most elusive and desirable street naked motorcycles for me. There aren’t a lot of motorcycles that have scared me. The Super Duke did. Makes me wonder why they do not bring it to India.

Coming back on track, not literally, I added another bombastic naked machine to my garage in 2019- the Indian FTR 1200. The FTR is one handsome looking motorcycle and an engine that makes it a heck of a machine to ride. It may not seem much on paper but it is more of a hooligan than most naked motorcycles. But there was a void. A void that needed to be filled with something more. As you may have already seen from the photos, the void has been filled by the Ducati Streetfighter V4 S. So a journey that started from the Pulsar 180 has brought me here, to the Streetfighter V4 S alongside some of the best motorcycles in the world. But… why the Streetfighter?

It is a valid question. Today’s motorcycle market is full of extremely powerful naked motorcycles that are fast approaching the revered 200 bhp mark. And before taking the plunge, I did carefully consider my options before finally deciding on the Ducati Streetfighter V4 S. So, let me take you through that process. First and foremost, it fits the bill. If you know me and if you have been following me for a while, you’ll know that I am building a garage, a dream garage, and I have been at it for a few years now. The very first motorcycle that became a part of that garage was the Ninja H2- the world’s fastest production street-legal motorcycle.