Revving it up: The modified Yamaha RX135 scores with its impressive handling Pix: Abhijeet Anand

For an average Indian motorcyclist, a bike is merely a means for commuting from point A to point B. He will use his set of wheels day in and day out, live the fill-it-shut-it-forget-it life for a couple of years and then upgrade to something better only when the time is right.

Yet, there is a small breed of riders who connect with their bikes at a deeper level. They will go to great lengths to make their bikes stand out in the crowd; simply fitting a crude aftermarket bolt-on kit will just not do for their kind. They will spend time and money on their oft-nicknamed steeds to see their metamorphosis from urban runabouts to bikes with soul.

Sushant Raut is one such man. Modifying and restoring bikes to their former glory has been a long-standing passion for this Yamaha Pro Service engineer and the sleepy Mumbai suburb of Naigaon is ground zero for him.

Soon after meeting, we get down to business with Sushant leading us to one of his modified bikes. He claims it’s a Yamaha RX135. I almost disagree with him. Looking at the bike, it’s tough to digest the fact that an RX135 played template for this modification. A fusion of parts, from bikes as varied as the Honda Unicorn to the Yamaha Alba, gives the bike a swanky new look. Mock air intakes from the Yamaha Libero also find their way onto the bike, though they’re just for show.

At first glance, the bike looks more substantial than its stock sibling, thanks to its chunkier tyres and heightened stance. The rear cowl is from the latest generation Bajaj Pulsar. To ensure a neat fit, Sushant welded the rear section of a Pulsar’s frame to the RX135’s. The rear has been further strengthened by reinforcing the connecting points with iron rod inserts (so, the joint of the bike has been beefed up to balance the increased power and weight).

This modified bike is not about looks alone though — its unique single-sided monoshock (instead of the usual two shock absorbers) is the real talking point. The suspension has two dampers and one spring. A small hydraulic damper from an autorickshaw sits at the traditional monoshock position ahead of the rear wheel soaking up smaller bumps.

Then, a larger two-stage adjustable damper with a racy yellow spring coiled around it, which can be adjusted to stiff or soft settings, is located on the right side of the bike attached to a support bolted onto the twin downtube frame (the basic frame of the bike). To deal with additional stress, the frame has been reinforced with a single stainless steel bar on the right above the monoshock and a V-shaped support on the left. Sushant has made an effort to counter the additional weight of the monoshock unit by drilling 69, 2mm diameter holes into the clutch hub thus removing excess metal on the clutch housing.

The engine too has been slightly modified. It has been ported to allow the engine cleaner breathing. The carburettor has received oversize jets, allowing a richer air-fuel mixture to enter the cylinder, boosting the performance of the14bhp engine. A blower fixed onto the crankshaft helps the magnet to stay cool.

Kick-start the motor and you’re greeted by a familiar two-stroke ruckus. Riding on the narrow roads around Sushant’s home, I found performance from the mildly tuned engine quite impressive. However, the party starts only after 4000rpm on the tacho, with the engine pulling strongly thereafter.

Acceleration was brutal even at quarter-throttle, with the free flow exhaust making the bike howl at full clip. The brakes, borrowed from the Pulsar, feel nice and can sufficiently harness the speed.

Has fitting a monoshock benefited the bike apart from improving its looks? I had apprehensions about the unusual positioning of the monoshock. A minute of riding is all it took to put them to rest. There was no feeling of a front-heavy weight bias. The ride was a tad on the harder side but it could be adjusted to a softer setting. Handling was impressive, allowing me to blast out of corners with ease and the fatter tyres did their part in upping confidence. This modified Yamaha is high on quality and free from hanging bits and bobs, and rattles that plague most modified bikes.

Though no longer into modifying bikes full-time, Sushant can guide you on such modifications and advise you on where to source parts.

The monoshock on the bike was impressive, improving its handling and braking characteristics. Coupled with the bike’s two-stroke engine, the product makes a killer package that catapults this old bike into the present. Can this bike give the current breed of more sedate 150s a run for their money? We believe it just might be able to.