QUEEN'S ROAD: One of the city’s most well-known motorcycle clubs, Bulleteers has grown by leaps and bounds with an active membership of 500. A Royal Enfield Bullet club, Bulleteers was started six years ago by Arvin Padmanabha and three others in Bengaluru.
According to Arvin, the idea to start a biking club grew over a few glasses of beer on the terrace of his office, a few years ago. “We wanted to start something which could change the way the world thinks about biking and bikers in general. I put forth the idea of a group which would epitomise fun with responsibility and in this way, the Bulleteer came into existence,” he adds.
“Our club evolved on a smaller scale and we decided to have a group of unanimous individuals who were enthusiastic about riding. Hence, the basic concept of a riding club was incorporated into a complex, yet close-to-the-heart idea, where the core principles included riding, adventure, nature and charity,” Arvin explains.
How viable is it to run a club like this? Arvin says that it is his and other members’ interest that has kept the concept of biking alive. “It’s passion that keeps us going, and the response so far has been great. We receive frequent calls from bikers asking if they could join us. We also get calls from existing members enquiring about forthcoming rides. That’s a good thing,” he says.
The Club organizes a Sunday ride every month. Once every six months, they also hold a three-day ride, called the ‘Bulleteer Volume’. “We finished Volume 12, a ride during the monsoons to Kudremukh in July,” says Arvin, adding that they have a specific theme for each ride and awareness activities are a must every time.
The main motto of the club members is riding with responsibility. “We ride for social causes and CSR activities like blood donations, ‘gear up to clean up,’ ‘Ride for Tigers’ and other issues. In fact, the second day of every ride is dedicated to cleaning a particular spot. During the Volume 11 ride to Coonoor recently, we joined hands with a local NGO and organised the ‘Clean Coonoor Campaign’. In fact, for Volume 13, which is likely to be scheduled at the end of the year, we want to bring awareness about the man-animal conflict that is predominant these days,” he signs off.