For the love of cruising

By Sujata Reddy
There are few things in the world that get Jimmy Mistry, architect and designer, as giddy as hearing a motorcycle rev up. Mistry, an avowed collector, owns four motorcycles. "I love all bikes – including mopeds and super-fast ones," he says.

At 16, Mistry bought his first bike, a second hand Yamaha RX100, by pooling in his father’s annual bonus and selling a piece of his mother’s jewellery. "We had limited means as a family, so I think that’s where the desire for bikes came from. It was impossible to even catch a glimpse of an imported motorcycle, let alone touch or ride one," he says.

But soon after he got his first Yamaha, Mistry was off to the races – literally, participating in local biking competitions. Even today, he is a regular at the India Bike Week held in January-February every year. Among some of his prized possessions are a Yamaha Vizag (Rs 5.5 lakh approx), a Kawasaki ZX 14, a Ninja (Rs 20 lakh approx), a Triumph Rocket 3 (Rs 24 lakh approx) and a Ducati Hypermotard (Rs 18 lakh approx), all of which stand in his backyard.

"You have to be careful while riding these monsters," says Mistry, "I’ve witnessed several accidents, been in a few and seen a colleague get paralysed once." Mistry occasionally likes to ride with friends to Marine Drive and Worli sea face. He undertakes a trip to Lonavala every month and sometimes, gets his bike delivered to Goa so that he can ride it back home. "In Mumbai, if I can’t see the road ahead, I don’t speed," he says.

Mistry has inculcated his passion in his children too. His son is already a keen rider and next, Mistry wants to teach his 18-year-old daughter how to ride. "I want to buy her a Harley Davidson. I used to be enamoured of girls who could ride bikes. You just can’t forget a girl like that, can you?" he says, flashing a naughty smile.