Meet Sudhakar, the ‘Bullet doctor’ of Hyderabad
“Even when there are hundreds of vehicles in one place, a Bullet stands out,” believes the resident of Old City, who is famously known as a Bullet Doctor or Sudhakar Anna.
Hyderabad: When R. Sudhakar started working on Bullets, only a few had it in Hyderabad. Now, he says, bike enthusiasts are going back to this retro machine that once ruled the city’s roads – may be because of the reassuring sound of the engine or just old-school design.
“Even when there are hundreds of vehicles in one place, a Bullet stands out,” believes the resident of Old City, who is famously known as a Bullet Doctor or Sudhakar Anna.
The 69-year-old began as a bike mechanic five decades ago. Initially, he used to fix all the bikes but gradually came to specialise in Bullets that date back from 1950s to 2000s.
“I learnt the basics from Shiva Ram and worked in other shops too. From 1974 to 1980, I toiled in a Bullet showroom and became an expert. Eventually, I set up my own shop in 1980 at Bhoiguda. It’s been over five decades and I’ve repaired thousands of Bullets so far. To put it simply, my life has been revolving around the retro bike since childhood,” he adds.
Sudhakar is known to bring back that charm into time-worn Royal Enfield motorcycles.
According to him, over the years, the automaker made several changes to the motorcycle to make it more efficient and also comply with the emission and safety norms. However, from old Royal Enfields to the new, he loves them all. Earlier he had repaired a Bullet 750cc which was brought from an England museum.
“People come to me to restore the earliest Bullets to working order. They do not mind shelling out a huge amount to get it modified. From alteration to rearranging, I do anything with the bike,” says Sudhakar who happens to be one of the most sought-after Bullet mechanics in the twin cities.
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