Around the world, touring on a Motorcycle is a form of expression of freedom and a pursuit of passion. India is one of the few countries that have a large motorcycle population in the world. The main reason for this increase in the number of motorcycle sales in India can be associated with the economic status of most families in our country. In India, Motorcycles viewed as a cheaper means of transportation and the easiest way out of traffic. In short, we can phrase our relationship with bikes as an arranged marriage, where we analyze the pros and cons and then decide to own one or not.
It is similar to how love blooms after an arranged marriage if two people have the right connection, people unknowingly show affection for their motorcycles. Most of us must have owned a Motorcycle and must have experienced cherishable moments with it. Like, some of us would have taken a small detour from our regular commute by taking a longer route to spend more time with our motorcycles, a few of us would have tried to lean into a corner or even popped a wheelie, etc. Despite all this, considering Motorcycles to be anything else apart from a daily commuter is an open secret. The fundamental reasons for this were that even though there were a lot of like-minded people but were scattered, there were very few biker clubs and groups. Most of them were premium segmented and very difficult to get. Despite all this, there were a few individuals, confident riders who broke their cocoons and came out. Those individuals did pursue their motorcycle dream by hitting the race track or by touring the world on their bikes.
There was a necessity for more biker groups, a requirement for a common platform for all the motor souls. Passionate bikers who were lost among the general crowd and thought they were alone had to find their pride. And it has high time birds of the same feather flock together.
With major brands like Bajaj, Royal Enfield, TVS, Yamaha, and KTM were heading towards premium motorcycles and people moving from general commuters to passionate motorcyclists. A festival to unite motorcyclists across the country became the need of the hour. At this time in 2013, the CEO of 70EMG company Martin Da Costa organized a motorcycling festival. It was held on the first weekend of December in Vagator, Goa. It was intended to provide common grounds for people with a passion for motorcycles across the country to come together. This ambitious gathering was called the \’India Bike Week\’ – Also famously known as ‘ IBW ’.
As IBW was the answer to the need of the motorcycle community across the country, it was graced by more than five thousand bikers from the small and scattered biking communities from all over the country. IBW was recognized as the largest motorcyclist gathering in Asia. Thereafter it was called ‘The Great Migration’
Goa, one of the most celebratory places in the world, where there is always a festive nature in the air. Goa with its sun-baked beaches and fun culture was the palace for bikers to gather. The salty winds of Goa just sprinkled the right amount of seasoning on the IBW and made it the best offering that any biker could want. With IBW being the need of the hour and the Goa vibes adding to it, IBW was tromped by more than five thousand bikers from across the country.
IBW grew bigger every year with more biker clubs and major brands coming in and to all our surprise IBW failed to happen in the year 2018. All the motorcyclists were dejected as all their anticipation and excitement went down the drain. On this setback, rather than becoming a speed bump, it became a reason to make IBW 2019 even bigger. The anticipation for 2019 was extremely huge amongst the entire motorcycle community.
For everyone else, 2019 was the return of IBW but for us, it was something really SPECIAL. In the previous years of the IBW, all of us were just individuals with a passion and love for motorcycles. But in 2019 we all had come to the event under the umbrella of Inline-4, an umbrella with a motto to give its everything towards the motorcycle community. And being there to showcase ourselves as a brand to provide the best quality automotive merchandise and apparel collections to all the Moto-souls out there was beyond everything that we could ever dream of.