Crafting the ride of your life

When it comes to starting an activity or a sport, one of the best things that you can do is treat it as a hobby. Those who treat it as an exercise or duty often don't have the same love and passion as someone who treats it as a hobby. There are things that every teenager wishes to do during their teenage but are forced to leave to build a career. Then comes a time when you get a chance to restart your hobby once again at the end of your career, which can make life exciting.

A similar story is of a motorbike enthusiast who loved to ride bikes during his teenage but soon had to leave to carry on with his business. After 23 years, his son reminded him of his hobby and made him realize that he still has a passion for bikes and their parts. This was all he needed to relive his hobby and bring innovation to the motorbike industry in Pakistan.

Owning the first bike

The 57-year-old Ajmal Habib owned his first bike in seventh grade back in 1979. Going to school on a motorbike was his first ride on his first held 1971 Yamaha HT1B 90CC. His passion for bikes grew since then, and from a ride, he went on to modify his bike.

A good thing about keeping motorbike rides and modification as your hobby are that biking is a much more accessible experience and truly liberating to work on your bike. You can enjoy adding to it, changing parts, and upgrading the bike as time goes on. It's fun to see the progress you can make when doing DIY mechanics as much as riding the bike itself.

For Habib, this was the case, his passion for bikes was not limited to riding only, but he was in love with each part of it. He wanted his bike to look good, and for this, he made continuous modifications. "I did many modifications to my bike on my own and with the help of a mechanic," Habib told The Express Tribune.

Dying and reviving passion

But what bothered him was the unavailability of professional mechanics and their skills, who don't use the suitable method to maintain the bike, and no permanent solutions were available. After 10 years of religiously following his passion, he had to quit with the passion dying down. He wanted professional mechanics for his bikes which were not available. Then after getting married and increase in his responsibilities, he wasn't able to carry on with biking.

Habib's passion died down when he turned to his business for the next 23 years. Although he saw a bikers club and his friends riding a bike, he was focused on his business. After doing business for 23 years, he got to retire and wanted to try something new.

This was when his son turned 15 and reminded him of when he had a passion for motorbikes. In 2012 Habib revived his passion and returned to the world of motorbikes. This time it was not only for riding and modification, but he wanted to bring innovation to Pakistan.

Solving decades-old problems

Along with his like-minded friends, he thought of starting a business and decided to enter the motorbike mechanics. Habib and his friends were annoyed by the same 23-year-old issue – the unavailability of professional mechanics for the expensive motorbikes, including; Harley Davidson and BMW.

"We all had expensive imported bikes. The biggest issue was that there was no skilled and trained mechanics for these bikes. The ones available knew only to do Jugaar (Make it happen by alternate means), which ruins the motorbike," said Habib. "They also used to lie about what they don't know how to fix. Instead of accepting that they don't know the solution, they misguide people."

This was the discussion that Habib and his friends had before they decided to start a motorbike shop. They all had the technical knowledge about their bikes as they did it independently by reading and watching YouTube videos. But as they were not allowed to build a workshop at home, they rented a shop and began what they planned.

"We all decided to begin as a part-time to sort out this issue and give better solutions to the biker's community. We deiced to hire mechanics, train them, pass on the knowledge and begin by giving solutions to the friends who owned motorbikes," he said, adding that these bikes cost around three to four million rupees.

They had to install all the equipment and tools required for the repair at the time of starting. These tools were not available locally, and they had to import them. They also decided that they would give only two to three hours a day and the rest of the time the workers would handle as a part-time hobby. But as the staff was not equipped with skills, they had to sit all day.

Soon their hobby turned into their full-time business. But this time, they were passionate about this, so they didn't stop at one place and continued to bring innovations.

Bike doctor

Soon Habib launched his workshop by the name of Bike Doctor. His aim was to bring innovations and gain the trust of the biker community. "People used to hesitate to give their bikes to the mechanics. As you mostly see bikes parked at mechanic's workshop for weeks. But these bikes require daily maintenance," he said.

"Being a biker myself, he knew all the pains of the bike owners, and that was where he worked on. We managed to win the owners' trust as they could see their bikes being treated the right way," he said, adding that now 10-12 bikes are parked and are maintained daily till the job is completed.

Another pain for the mechanics or workshop owners is when the bike owner interferes in the process of maintenance. For Habib and Bike Doctor, the people trusted them to do the proper treatment and didn't interfere. This let them try new things and work on the areas that were missing before. Their efforts turned out to be more than what the bike owners expected.

Paint job and detailing

Beginning their work with retail, they gave something new to the biker's community. Something which was missing but in the interest of many. They introduced the detailing and paint jobs for the bike. The bikers could get their bike detailed as they wanted and with high quality.

"There was no one in Karachi for the maintenance and paint job for these bikes as no one wanted to put their hands on these expensive machines. The weather in Karachi often affects the bikes' paint, which was a big pain for owners. So, we introduced the paint jobs along with detailing according to the owner's need," he said.

The other workshop didn't have trained and skilled staff who work with so interest as this was not just a business for Habib but some that he loves to do. "We, after some time started to design the paint job and detailing of the bike on the computer and give the bike owners a pre-detailing look as per their wish," he said.

Being a two-wheeler, the chances of crashing are much higher than a four-wheeler. So the paint job and detailing services gave the bikes a new life as earlier there were no professionals and used to ruin the bike's originality. They now have built their own paint job service equipped with the best and latest material.

Modification

With the gaining popularity and trust, Habib became an expert in what he did, now was the time when he wanted to bring something new. He decided to start work on what he used to do as a teenager with his first bike – Modification.

"We continuously keep bringing and revamping the latest equipment that can help us do something new. Nowadays, getting new ideas is so easy. You just have to head over to the internet and get what information you need. But one has to know about the bike to consume the information and then implement it," he said.

Habib decided to start modification. Not just the new bikes but decades-old bikes were brought to life. "We started off with the digital model of what we want. You have to have the knowledge about what are the things that you can modify and what are the areas not to touch," he said.

"We work on modifying the sizes and heights, but the framework is not touched. We get designs and implement them digitally and physically on the local bikes. We take time, but once the job is done, it leaves the bike owners amazed with what we have turned their dead bike into," he said, giving an example of a 1990's Honda 50cc, which they modified for the actor Shehryar Munawar.

"He was surprised to see what we had turned his bike into. It was Honda 50CC which was completely modified with a 125CC engine and customized body parts. This was an achievement for us, too, and a confidence booster too. The best thing about this work is that I love to do and the appreciation we get really keeps us motivated to try something new and bring innovations to Pakistan," he said

He added that there are times when parts are not available, and they have to outsource them. Still, they ensure they get high-quality parts to maintain trust.

Growing interest and next generation

The hobby which Habib had left years ago is the thing that motivates him every day to try something new. His love for the bikes has grown to the extent that now he owns three motorbikes, rides the bike to work and to fulfil his other hobby of travelling, he bought an adventure bike on which he goes on road trips with his friends.

Habib's hobby is not restricted to him only. His 25-year-old son Raza Habib, who brought Habib back to the motorbike world, is also passionate about motorbikes and their modification.

"My son is the one who brought me back to biking. He has much more knowledge about the latest developments than I do, and he is young and has seen the challenges we go through. The biggest challenge is to get the high-quality parts, so this is where he took the responsibility of getting the best parts," he said.

"We used to be bound to use local parts, but now he imports parts and equipment, which has solved the problem for us," he said, adding that they will keep changing their techniques to give the best service they didn't get in their time. He, along with his son, aims to carry on the hobby and keep bringing new machines and training the staff.