I've been wanting to ride a motorcycle around Sri Lanka for quite some time now. So while on a work trip to Colombo, an opportunity presented itself and I grabbed it with both hands. I decided to rent a Honda NX650 Dominator from Club Sha Lanka and ride from Negombo on the west coast to the hill station of Ella, spend the night there and ride back to Negombo the next day.

My business meeting ended early the previous evening and I decided to do the paperwork at Club Sha Lanka and pick up the motorcycle so that I could head out early the next day after breakfast. The motorcycle cost me $35 a day and I paid the rental company another $35 for getting my International Drivers Permit endorsed by the Sri Lanka transport department before I even got into the country. Otherwise I would need to do it myself when I got to Sri Lanka and would probably waste a day.

The Dominator was quite an old horse and it seemed it had seen its fair share of fun. The needles of the odometer and tachometer moved only when I jumped over a speed bump. Otherwise they sat quietly minding their own business. The rear brake wasn't in the pink of health and I had to literally stand on it coax it to make a difference. The front brake was functional, but not sharp enough to make up for the weak rear brake. I knew that it wouldn't be safe for me to speed on this motorcycle. I had no intention to anyways. I was asked to use the choke in the morning and made a mental note of it. I was also alerted to the fact that the motorcycle stored the engine oil in its frame tubes.



I cranked up the 650 cc engine and it started idling for a while. Then it spat, farted and died an unceremonious death with a loud bang! "It's nothing. Just some back firing", said the guy from the motorcycle rental. And that's the precise moment when I decided to call the motorcycle Spitfire.

The Sri Lankan government has put restrictions on the import of large capacity motorcycles, which is why Spitfire was registered as a 250 cc motorcycle. I was asked to stick to this story if I was ever stopped and questioned by a cop while riding through the country. I made a mental note of this lie as I set out towards my hotel. Since I had some time, I decided to go for a short ride along the coastline and watch the sun set.







I found that I needed to keep the throttle twisted a little if I had the clutch pulled in. Otherwise, the engine would first spit, then fart and die with a loud band, in that precise order. This was normally followed by people turning their heads to see who had opened fire on them. I figured riding Spitfire around Sri Lanka was going to be interesting.

__________________
Deelip Menezes
www.deelipmenezes.com