The BMW HP4, one of the world’s fastest factory motorcycles that packs a peak speed of 300kmph, leads a pack of 11 other superbikes on “serious” weekend cruises — not on some foreign autobahn but “highways in and around Calcutta”.

Sounds incongruous given the dreadful condition of the city’s roads but for an elite brotherhood of men and machines, the Riders Club of Kolkata (RCK) formed with the “sole aim of riding”, no road bump is big enough to stop the bikers from revving up the engines early every Sunday morning to catch the breeze on jacket flaps.

RCK was formed on a weekend evening at Underground, the nightclub at Hotel Hindusthan International. “Our club has the fastest motorbike in the world, the BMW HP4. There are only six or seven HP4s in the country,” says HP4 owner Parveen Agarwal, also a member of the Supercars of Kolkata.

In a city where there are as many clubs as there are bikes, this one keeps the sissies out by dint of its daunting “cc” count and most of its “serious rides” happen on highways — NH6 and NH2. The club’s fleet boasts of drool-inducing wheels such as Suzuki’s Hayabusa and Bandit, Harley Davidson’s Fat Bob, 48 and Iron 883, Hyosung’s Aquila Pro and GT650 and the Kawasaki Ninja ZX10R, apart from the HP4.

The “HP” in the BMW Motorrad HP4 stands for “high performance” and anyone who has got onto its saddle even once swears by its power and smooth handling. Based on the S1000RR, a purebred factory motorcycle, the HP4 is the German manufacturer’s first 1,000cc four-cylinder model that produces 193bhp and does a maximum speed of 300kmph.

Parveen got his HP4 from BMW’s Mumbai dealer for Rs 39.7 lakh.

If he is not zipping down the road on the HP4, he cruises on a 1,560cc Harley Fat Bob.

Arnab Das drives a Hayabusa, a global cult bike that has Bollywood actor John Abraham on its fan list. This hyper sports bike’s 1,340cc pot mill produces 197bhp of power, packing a top speed of 300kmph.

Arnab took it for a ride from Calcutta to Gangtok in May this year. “The Hayabusa is that it is stable even at speeds over 200kmph,” said the biker. Joining him with another Hayabusa is Sunny Chowdhury.

Harleys clearly outnumber the HP and Hayabusas at the club, with a count of five that includes Praveen’s Fat Bob.

Arijit Saha takes his fiancé for a ride in a BMW Z4 and goes for his weekend morning sorties on a 1,200cc Harley 48.

Friend Nitesh Jaiswal has a 48 too, while Sourabh Mondal and Amit Jaiswal drive the Iron 883 along with Debabrata De, the senior-most Harley owner at RCK. The blacked-out bruiser has a raw, aggressive retro appeal with an 883 engine in its belly.

The Harley owners at RCK admit that they are more interested in club cruises than HOG (Harley Owners’ Group) rides. “HOG has become too large and a bit disorganised. Here, it’s cool because there are just 12 of us,” Arijit said.

When it comes to “cc”, Arnab Mondal’s Hyosung Aquila Pro, a 650cc cruiser by the South Korean bike-makers, looks a little out of place in the company of 1,000 and over 1,000 monster machines. But then, the road starts singing when the Hyosung breaks into a song.

Sourabh Banerjee, whose grandfather had a Honda 750 and father rode a Honda 500, has the most comfortable tour bike — the Suzuki Bandit, a 1,250cc machine that has a top speed of 260kmph. “Bikes are a DNA malfunction. I have been a bike fanatic since I was a kid,” said Banerjee.

Prasanta Saha gets his fix of speed kick from a Kawasaki Ninja while Souma Mondal savours the hum of his Hyosung GT650.

“RCK riding events are about following rules and discipline. All bikes are numbered, no is allowed to overtake without permission and honk. We don’t race and keep our speed within 120kmph on highways… that too if traffic is lean,” Arnab said.

The bikers often do night cruises in the city. “We meet on Camac Street after 9.30pm and go down Red Road to Prinsep Ghat… and back. We end such expeditions before midnight with a bite at a coffee shop,” Arijit said.