India’s Burgeoning Bike Culture: An Interview With TJ Moto’s Tushar Jaitly
Over the years, we have seen various bike modification companies such as Vardenchi & Rajputana customs create some technically sound and interesting custom bikes across the nation.
Recently however, there has been a sudden surge of bespoke bikes being made right here in the country. Transporting custom choppers / cafe racers from abroad is a formidable expense which young enthusiasts such as Tushar Jaitly quickly identified. This is essentially what inspired him and others to start their own companies to give the country’s burgeoning bike enthusiast populace the same experience right here in India at a Relatively affordable price.
And make no mistake—India is housing a massive biking culture. The two-wheeled generation has found its way out of the shadows and are leaving emblazoned trails across the country. Considering this is just the beginning of a revolution, we felt compelled to speak with Jaitly of TJ Moto and gain some insight into him, his company and of course, his latest creation NADIA.
1. How young were you when you got into the biking and automobile culture?
Well, it all started way back in the 7th or 8th grade I think when I really got into sketching cars. I was interested in automobiles since childhood but I guess it channelized around that time.
2. Tell us more about your background (College/Life) and what made you start off bespoke customization for High-end bikes in the country?
I went to Italy right after high school. I pretty much knew where i wanted to go and what i wanted to do so that was easy. I spent 3 years there and completed the course in 2012 and graduated as an automobile designer. Italy was an amazing experience, I got insane amounts of exposure towards design in general and getting to see some of the rarest cars and bikes in the world in person was another feeling altogether. Getting to drive cars like lamborghinis and ferraris was another experience that’ll sit with me forever. Plus there was meeting the top designers and more over being taught by them that was really cool. After i came back from college, I wanted to do something on my own so after a lot of thought and self-convincing I thought putting my design skills on a bike would be easier than that on a car as a bike is a smaller canvas to play on whereas cars are bigger and require a bigger infrastructure. So that’s when I got majorly inclined towards bikes and got myself a Harley Davidson which I used as a base bike to make what is now called NADIA.
3. Which is the first creation that came out of T.J.Moto and where was the inspiration derived from?
The first creation is called NADIA. Nadia is a Harley Davidson iron 883 at its roots, which has been remodeled into its current framework. Apart from the down tube and basic engine fitments, everything on the bike is completely new and fabricated by hand. The petrol tank has a cafe racer feel to it with the top tube of the chassis going above it. And it is painted in British racing green and cream with golden pinstripe. The bike houses a free flow exhaust and a performance air filter by k & n on the stock iron 883 engine. I don’t quite know what inspired me to build her but I guess I wanted something different and retro.
4. Tell us more about the team you have in place at T.J.Moto and how does the work flow to customize a bike from start till finish?
The work starts by me knowing the client, what he likes, what he wants and then i put my design skills into making that happen. Once the design is final, or we have an idea of what we want, we start building. 90% of the things are hand fabricated. During this process, there are times when I don’t like something or something that we thought would look nice on paper doesn’t quite meet the eye in person so we change that.
5. Is there an element of choice as far as your clientele goes? Some effort to make sure that he is a real biking enthusiast?
Hmmm, no nothing of that sort. I mean if the project sounds fun and it’s something that I’d like to design and build I do it. I myself am not a real biker. For me, custom bikes is like an art form to showcase something so whether my client is a biking enthusiast or not doesn’t quite matter, having an eye for finer details does.
6. What do you envision in T.J.Moto’s future with respect to this country and the world?
TJ Moto is eventually going to venture out as a lifestyle brand with our upcoming studio merchandise. So it’s going to be something that’s more than just a custom bike studio, it’ll have merchandise, art works and stuff like that.