Adieu, Chandigarh’s first bikers’ club founder Jojo

Chandigarh, February 22

Famous as ‘Jojo’ in the national bikers’ fraternity, Pritpal Khurana will no longer measure the unexplored routes on his bike.

The 40-year-old ‘mega biker’ breathed his last on February 17. Jojo, who inspired many to take up biking and explore the world, was credited with starting the city’s first bikers’ club in 2005, and participated in various adventures tours. He founded a club, ‘Road Survivors’, a well-known platform to boost young bikers and perhaps the first club to promote biking.

Considered as one of the pioneers in the world of biking, Jojo was a man of few words. “It was in the year 2005 that I heard a name Jojo for the first time. There were no motorcycle groups in Chandigarh before, but just a bunch of motorcycle riders. The Road Survivors club, the first Bullet club of the city, was something everyone looked for,” said Harpreet Singh Gill of Jawa Yezdi Club. “I learnt that he could ride 16 hours in a day and my first idea about him was about a heavy built Bengali boy, who was an avid rider. In 2010, I got to see him for the first time and he appeared in his trademark black turban. He was a regular visitor to Jawa day organised by our club boys,” he added.

“Jojo was a daily rider, and a foodie with a sorted taste. He was a hardcore Dutch in believing the ‘you eat, you pay ‘ philosophy when it came to sharing bills. If you could talk about rides, places and even motorcycle performances or accessories, he would share information on the basis of his experiences,” added Gill.

Jojo had cross-country rides from Chandigarh to Pokhra, Kohima, Kanyakumari, Ladakh or even some deserts.

“He was not a ‘mountains only’ rider, but a pure rider, who would leave his IT job to open a bike rental just to be in a business close to what he liked the most. No doubt he was known to almost all motorcycle riding clubs of India from North to South and East to West,” added Harsh Dhaliwal, another member of his biking community.