Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Day 1 (Bangalore - Vadakkencherry)

Flash Back
After i got my bike in June couldn't ride out for many reasons, I always wanted to ride down to KanyaKumari. Mailed all the guys in October whether they were interested in 5 day ride.. obviously no one was interested. I had spoken to Akhil regarding the ride and he was interested, we(Akhil did all the planning though) zeroed in on the routes, places to stay and every possible thing in 2 days. He wanted to do the trip on his R1 but for obvious reasons it was eating dust in Bangalore Wheels for months.. He got the bike in mid November. We decided to leave in first week of December.

The plan was to take this route:
B'lore-Vadakkencherry-Munnar-Alappuzha-Trivandrum-Madurai-B'lore.

For unavoidable reasons Akhil had to leave for US on 5th of December and he would come back only by 14th.. so we cut short the plan and we decided to ditch Munnar. So final route came down to this: B'lore-Vadakkencherry-Alappuzha-Trivandrum-Madurai-B'lore.

December 15th: Came back from my native. Sis and Chetu did the packing while they were doing the packing i was patient enough to listen again to all their "be careful, your are mad to do this on a bike and all", they got bored and stopped :D.. Called Akhil and fixed the meeting time 5:30 AM. Was a bit tired so slept a bit early around 11.

The above pic was taken while i was coming back from my native.


Day 1 [December 16th] : Got up at 4:30, was fully pumped up but many things kept on running in my mind like daemon processes, after listening so many things from every one.. Why am I doing this? was one of the daemon process.. Got a call from Akhil at 5:30, he told he will be there in 10 mins, so hooked my bag to the bike and my sis sent me off with a hug, i could see she was worried.

Reached arch in 5 mins and waited for 5 mins and i saw a twin projector light which came and stopped in front of me. It was the R1 which i would follow through out the trip, it was nice to see Akhil in his Alphinestar suit. We took few fotos and left for Mysore.

For the next 1:45 mins i was drolling around the R1 following it till Mysore. By the time i reached Mysore i had killed all the daemon processes running in my mind :D Reached Mysore around 7:45 Am, refilled the One and headed to Maylari hotel, a very good hotel which serves only two items Idly and Masala Dosa, had a plate each, both tasted very good and we hit Nanjagud road, we missed a turn and headed towards Sulthan Bathyre, then asked the locals and headed back to the Sathyamangala road, the roads were worst as we closed in on the Karnataka-TN border.

After the bumpy ride, the board read Welcome to Tamil Nadu and we could see the roads were super, started increasing the pace, Akhil at one moment ran over a Snake mistaking it for a cloth :P, as i was following him the snake started heading back, luckily missed it but my balls almost came to my mouth seeing a snake(its because of the fear i have towards the reptiles. ;) ) And then the Sathyamangala ghats started and we started using our bikes what they can do best , It was a sight seeing the R1 talking the corners :). How many get lucky to follow a R1 in twistes :P

One small foto session

Satyamangala Ghats

Reached Coimbatore refilled the One again and headed towards Vadakkencherry, we decided to have lunch in Akhil's place as the heat was taking a toll on us and even we couldn't stop the R1-R15 exhibition where every we stopped :D. We reached the narrow two lane NH and increased our pace after coming out of the Coimbatore traffic. We were 50 kms from the destination and the cops stopped us for the second time for the day, the first thing they asked was to switch of the R1 headlights which comes off as soon as the bike is started, we were held for over speeding but we were not fined, instead they killed our 20 mins time asking about the bikes. we had done close to 400 kms and the heat was talking a toll on me. Finally the cops told us to leave asking us to ride slow, we were doing 80's, they said these bikes are not for this roads, so ride slow :eek:. One of the cop asked to start the One, its started off with VROOOMM, the cop couldn't resist and twisted the throttle a bit and almost shit in his pants :D..

Finally at 3:30 we reached Akhils farm house, i was very much tired wanted to crash as soon as i reached his place but i was taken back by the place, it was very scenic and calm, got rid of my gears and had lunch. Later Akhil took me to see the estate, everything around the house made the place look beautiful the rubber plantation and the green paddy fields, the cool breeze. A liked the place very much.

Later Akhils uncle advised a different route to Allepye, this was the best route of the trip.. Later found a puncture in my rear tire fixed it, had a heavy dinner and i was fast to crash into the bed..

Now Fhoto's :D

Packing in progress


Morning 5:45 all set to go


Mysore


Sooper hotel Sooper breakfast




Bad roads, fixing my bag


Satyamangala Ghats


Paddy fields in front of the farm house


Rubber plantation



End of the day, My max no of kms done in a day

Bangalore - KanyaKumari R1/R15 Ride 2008

The dream ride for me, always wanted to ride along the beach, finally did it. :)

At the end of land :)


People called me crazy when i told i was making this trip on bike, when they heard about the R1 they said i was nuts, how can 150 CC keep up with a 1000 CC. . Yes i am crazy, for me riding is freedom, many can't/wont understand it and i have given up convincing them why i do this.

Summary of the ride:

Bikes - R1, R15
Riders - Akhil, Mithun
Kms Done - 1700 kms
Petrol - 39 Ltrs (R15) Mileage 43+
Route -
B'lore-Vadakkencherry-Alappuzha-Trivandrum-Madurai-B'lore.

Day 1 (Bangalore - Vadakkencherry)
Day 2 (Vadakkencherry - Aluwa)
Day 3 (Aluwa - Trivandrum)
Day 4 (Trivandrum - KanyaKumari - Salem)
Day 5 (Salem - Bangalore)

Link to Fotos: http://picasaweb.google.com/mithun.08/R1R15Ride2008

Route Maps:

Bangalore - KanyaKumari










KanyaKumari-Bangalore










(Click on images for bigger resolution)

Monday, September 1, 2008

Bangalore-Anchetti-Hogenakkal

30th Aug,
Desperately needed to ride this week so at 10:PM , messaged XBHP guys asking if any one were in for a ride, replies poured in asking for the destination, I just wanted to ride away from Bangalore, as usual JOHN replied back " Anchetti 70kms from Kanakpura, meeting point cool joint 5:30". I was happy that some one would be riding with me, didn't bother him asking what was the place famous for. Slept at 3:00 AM, me and santu went for a small night ride , he wanted a cigg :D, happy we went out as it was a while we went out at that time (around 1Am), we were going out lot when Pradhyumna was in India(Missed u buddy).

5 Am, woke up took a quick shower, reached BDA complex at 5:40, john joined me 10 mins later, we procceded to cool joint met Prof.Najundappa and his friend, got to know Manju had a flat tyre he said he will be joining at Metro. Took few pics at metro while waiting for Manju and Jasir.

Manju and Jasir joined after 20 mins, without any delay we left, took Jasir as pillon cruised at 90's and reached Kanakapura around 8:30, stopped for breakfast, Thanks Prof sir breakfast was good.

As we closed in on Anchetti, the view was sooper, we stopped at many places took some pics . Jasir took out my camera and became our camera man for the day. The place cant be described in words. so more pics.

Beautiful Roads



Water Splash

Loved this route



The last 2-stroke in production :)

Had a close incident here, but lucky me and jasir brought down our legs in time and avoided the fall.

My other half

Roads while going to hogenakkal


Roads while coming back from hogenakkal




Very close to Hogenakkal



At Hogenakkal





As hogenakkal was not in our plan and it was around 2 when we reached the place, we finished our lunch, i again couldn't eat fish :(. As it was getting late we skipped the boating plans, just went to some near by falls and and a quick dip and left from there. While coming back we took the Dharmapuri-krishnagiri route coming back.

Riders and Steeds
Prof. Nanjudappa - Unicorn
Mithun- R15
John- P220
Manju- P150(fastest)
Diwakar-ZMA.

First hand Pillion Report:

Wanted to know how good was R15 for pillion on long rides, here is a small review from JASIR
who was pillion for 250+(out of 350)kms. Thanks for the review JASIR

As I was lazily getting up from the ring of my phone I understood that I was being dragged for a ride for which I had very little time to be prepared about. My bike was not serviced so Manjunath had me pillion his bike till he got a puncture, however, we were lucky enough to get a shop open the wee morning hours to get it fixed and I needed change of bike since Manju was concerned about the reliability of the tire.

Mithun was kind enough to pillion me on his R-15 and I was a bit surprised at the seat of this thing, it was small and wasn't wide like commuter bike, the footrest was high enough to play drums on your knees :D. That being apart, I was more overwhelmed by the comfort of the seat being a sports bike. We started from 6.30 AM to 5.30 PM and I was on the back of the rider all the time. On a serious tone, the back seat was considered at the time of the designing of the bike, even on a long trip, no back or butt sores, it's like being bike chauffeured the entire trip, it relaxing cool and awesome. Once you have got the comfort zone of the seat, you can actually make an aerodynamic seating with the rider and experience pure speed or cruise (at 90 kmph). There was also a time where we had a slight slip on moss on a road bridge, and another great thing was the foot rest was kept at a right height for me to jump out and get my hands and knees under the bike before it fell on the sides. Unlike the other bikes your foot does lay on the other side way down, it just shrugs at the back of the bike for a quick dismount.

Thanks Mithun for the experience, not only was I in love with the R-15 before but also intensified it since I'm sure that it can give comfort to someone sit behind me.


For more Pics click here.

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

First 1k Kms On R15

This is the intial review of R15 with 1000 kms on Odo.

Finally after a long wait got the bike on 28/06/08 from Pancahe Yamaha Showroom, got to know the bike will be registered only on Monday, so left the showroom after fitting the RVM's. At the end of the day the odo was reading 80 kms.


The Bike :)


As i had decided to mototune the bike, woke up early and headed to NICE road did a 30 kms run and couldnt change the oil as oil filter was not available and my mech adviced me to run-in atleast 500 kms and then change the oil.



At 11 Am headed towards my native for bike puja, took Lords blessing and headed back

The odo read 350 kms, so now i can comment something,
1.Bike feels under powered at lower RPM under 5k, post that RPM it does what it is meant to do.
2.6th is a boon in high ways, bike feels very relaxed.
3.Handling is top notch.
4.First gear false neutral occasionally.
5. Getting adjusted to the riding position takes times, say 3 days.

Completed 500 kms changed the oil, no oil filter was available yet(cleaned it though). Now thought of checking the mileage, bike came to reserve n a bunk luckily, so filled in 3 ltrs of petrol and reset the trip meter. The next 80 kms the bike was ridden in heavy traffic rode it in first 4 gears a lot and occasionally 5 th .(Forget the 6th gear in city.) Saturday was there so decide to go out of city for peace of mind, headed to Mysore road CCD, bike came to reserve and trip meter read 115 kms.
Mileage
So 75% of city riding and 25% high [speed b/w 60-90 kmph] - 38 kms

Filled in 2 ltrs again to test it in high ways and maintained the speed between 80-115 kmph, at 90 kms the bike came to reserve,
so 90 kms/2 ltr = 45/ltr

Not bad right. :)

On 6th went out with XBHP guys and had lot of fun, and to my surprise my dream bike was there FZ6.
Touched a top speed of 130 in 5 th gear the same day, dont worry R15 has lots of speedo error but was doing speed between 115-118 kmphr for sure.

Today '09/07/2008' Odo read 967 kms at the service station.

Review after 1k kms.
1. Feel in love with the bikes handling.
2. No vibe at high speed.[Fairing/Engine]
3.Bike pulls very well after 5k mark.
4.Its as got a smooth gear box.
5.Brakes are very good.

This weekend planning to do a proper speed runs, hope to get access to some GPS so that can measure true speed.

Accessories list



Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Trip to Kemmanagundi

After ooty plan was cancelled because of the Hogenakkal issue, we decided to go to Kemmanagundi.

Route Taken:
Bangalore ---Tumkur---Gubbi--Arsikere--Banavara--
Kadur---Birur---Lingadahalli ---Kemmannugundi

Distance: 650 kms (Including roaming in and around kemmanagundi.)

Places Visited: Falls, Mulliangiri,Chikmagalur ,Z-Point,zoomed in Bhadra wildlife
(Few more place were left out because of the time constraints like Bababundengiri and some falls at the foot steps of the kemmangundi.)

Stay: The number is 08261237126, ask for satish and book Dattatreya bhavan if available.
Thats the best room, else ask for Virupaksha rooms (recently renovated).
Cost is pretty low, 200 and above for each room (+ 4% VAT)(Contact address taken from(XBHP).

Best Part of the ride -->
Road from Chikmagalur to lingadahalli were too good the curves ,the night ride made it more fun and bad road, full moon day ;) from lingadahalli to Kemmanagundi (20 kms) made it more adventureous :D.

Some Pics:


Z-Point

Things that moved me-->
1. The climate in and around kemanagundi, the cool brezze(that kept me alive inside my cramsters)
2. After talking with the localities we came to know that, kemangundi doesn't have good facilities, not even bus facility, only one private bus comes to that place once a day at 4:30 PM and the population of the place is around 300 now, 4 years back there were more than 1000 people working alone in mines which were closed down. All have left now and the people who were working in mines have registered a case for some compensation which is going on from 4 years.
More than 3 company's were taking out resources from this place and once all was taken out its almost abandoned now. If Horticulture dept need to do somethings then the forest dept guys will put some objections. The Govt at least should develop the place and make it a better touring place with some good roads and facilities so that the localities will be benefited better then now.

Was bit Upset about :
because it didnt rain :(, it was only raining in night and in morning the sun was coming out bright..

This is was my first long trip of 650 kms on bike, and it was a great one.

Guys who did it


Bhatta aka Santosh



Kashi aka Ashwin



Pachi




Pathye




Dadieya aka Elephant mari ;)


Group Pics:




http://picasaweb.google.com/mithun.08/Kemanagundi

Pics By Bhatta: http://picasaweb.google.com/19.santosh/Santosh

Monday, March 24, 2008

My Next Bike YZF R15 -- No compromise Bike





Thanks for Bangalore wheels for such a wonderful video :)

In 2007 i was very much tempted to get myself a new bike, and came across the Yam's Gladiator which was displayed in 2006 Auto Expo and feel in love with the styling of the bike(was a bit fool than) and thought of waiting for it, and all went in vain and got my self a Shogun as 2-Strokes was always in my mind.
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And CBZ Xtreme was launched, took a test ride and almost booked it as it was good in my dept, be it the handling or acceleration and yes the name CBZ. But for some reason my mind and heart didnt go in rhythm. i was happy with shogun so decided why go for same specification bike so dropped it.

The accident kept me out of action and 2007 almost ended and the speculation of Auto Expo started so decided to wait for it, Yamaha finally used there brain this time after 6 years after their 2-stroke era ended, there last performance bike was RX Z and no need to mention about it, it was priced 65k in 2003 i hope.

Jan 9 2008: Say the pics of R15 and FZ in XBHP and was very much intersted in FZ but after hearing the R15 performance figures claimed by Yamaha my wait for bikes ended.

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Drawing on 10 years of YZF series development with a new fuel-injected engine and Deltabox frame The new YZF R15 invites you to “enjoy riding”

Engine

Engine type Liquid-cooled, 4-stroke, SOHC, 4-valve
Cylinder arrangement Single cylinder
Displacement 149 .8cc
Bore x Stroke 57×58.7mm
Compression ratio 10.4:1
Maximum power 17PS / 8,500rpm
Maximum torque 15 N.m / 7,500rpm
Starting system Electric Start
Lubrication wet sump
Engine oil capacity 1.0 liters
Fuel tank capacity 12 liters
Fuel supply system Electronic fuel injection
Ignition system T.C.I
Primary / Secondary reduction ratio 3.042 / 3.000
Clutch type Constant-mesh wet multi-plate
Transmission type Return type 6-speed
Gear ratios 1st=2.833, 2nd=1.875, 3rd:=1.364,
4th=1.143, 5th=0.957, 6th=0.84

Chassis

Frame type Deltabox Frame
Caster / Trail 26° / 100mm
Tire size (Front / Rear) 80/90-17 / 100/80-17
Brake type (Front / Rear) Hydraulic, single disc (Front / Rear)
Suspension type (Front / Rear) Telescopic / Linked type Monocross
Headlight 12V35W / 35W+35W

dimensions

Overall length x width x height 1,995mm x 670mm x 1,070mm
Seat height 790mm
Wheelbase 1,290mm
Minimum ground clearance 160mm
Dry weight / Curb weight 120kg / 131kg




who doesnt love this

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Bike will be launched in June for sure and Yamaha guys are very clear this time and mentioned this is a pure performance bike so (no)mileage guys excuse us and this remembers me of RD350 amd RX - Z and RX 100 the very best performance bikes ever produced by Yamaha in India.

The bike will be priced around 90k and its worth every penny..

Yamaha Rules again.

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