Written by Martin Hodgson
Few, if any, foreigners will travel to the magical nation of India and leave without experiencing a life-altering change. However, it’s also a daunting place for the virgin traveler and one of the first things you’re confronted by is the traffic. So in a sea of two-wheels, four, diesel smoke and animals it can be hard to stand out. Picking a Royal Enfield doesn’t make the task any easier, they’re everywhere! But Cycle City Customs in the Northern city of Ludhiana were up to the challenge and have gone above and beyond a mere cosmetic makeover in transforming their one-off 2012 Classic 500 into a genuine Hot Rod for the Indian streets.

To give you an idea of just how many motorcycles are on the roads in the world’s second-most populous country, 21million new units were sold in the financial year 2018/2019. Add to the mix the millions of second-hand machines and you have more people using two wheels as their transport than anywhere on the planet. But with the Royal Enfield still the bike to have it makes sense for a custom shop to focus on the make, but with few getting truly serious about their power and performance, founders Baljit Singh and Sukhkaran Singh were ready to change the game.
Baljit is the major man on the tools, a second-generation mechanic who started spinning the spanners at 14. While Sukhkaran brings the design eye and both made their intentions known when naming the project from the outset, Vajra, w...