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Sunday, July 15, 2012

Motorcycling in India, circa 1920



I don't have a source nor an exact date for this article, but it is clearly early 1920's. The text that accompanies the picture says:

"Motor cycling in India is an adventure with many a thrill in the course of a day's ride. I have ridden little in England, and so cannot compare the excitements experiences on English roads with those in the back of the beyond in our Indian Empire. New sensations, however, can be guaranteed in India.

Bumps and jumps are a certainty on any trunk road, but what matters it when your machine is able to take you and your sidecar up any mountainside with a continual pull on low gear for 12 to 24 milies? The journey will often be around corners and hairpin bends the whole time. A fine mountain climb is from Salem to Yercand, on the Shevaroy Mountains in South India - 12 miles of low gear and about a 3,500 ft rise. Good temper and patience - an unlimited supply of the latter - are a necessity.


The motor cyclist missionary with an interest in Indian native life can have a great time, and with a machine like mine -the Royal Enfield - can go anywhere."

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