motoroids2 march 2010

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w w w . m o t o r o i d s . c o m

VOLUME

1

ISSUE

008

March 2010

Dev Bhoomi RiRiding high up to get a glimpseNanda Devi peak

Singapore & MalaOn a pair of Honda CB400s

RE RoK RideTasting the salts of adventure

in theGreat Rann

Kondel

Spdolphivirgin

Ta

ROAD-TRIP SPEC

The

Contender

Can the Twister end the 27-year old reign of the CD engine?


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Some things in lie never change, or they work best in their original orm.Tey exempliy the rare phenomenon o humans managing to get it rightin the frst shot, or the frst ew shots. Tese things never go old or outo ashion. For example, you may own a cell phone with the astest 3G

internet service on it, but nothing works better than the good old newspaper inthe morning while sitting over the pot. Tousands o brands have come out withtheir own varieties o beverages, but nothing has been able to replace the hot cupo tea on the breakast table. Nothing can substitute such things, or, somehow,nothing else works better.

Te Hero Honda Splendor is one such thing. In the past 27 years, we haveseen hundreds o motorcycle models try and displace this humble HH rom itsposition, but none has succeeded. Tat puny sloper mill may look like anotherordinary engine, but it has managed to give birth to the worlds largest two-

wheeler producing company. Its a legendary powerplant, an act that motorcyclebrands have tried to ollow and have ailed at it time and again. Te Japs atHonda know how to make good engines, and it seems ater almost 3 decades,they have made a new, better one or India. Te Honda CB wister eaturingthe new engine, according to me, is the most important bike in the history oIndian motorcycles ater the advent o the legendary CD100 (the mother o theSplendor). Hero Honda have a reason to be scared. In our comprehensive test othe CB wister and the Splendor, well try and fnd out whether the new bike isgood enough to outshine a legend. Dont miss the comparo.

Riding is a therapy they say. Tose who ride, know why. Tere is nothingmore rejuvenating than hitting the road on a pair o wheels. Road-trips and theassociated joys orm the basis o the common bond that connects bikers across the

world. For a biker, the experiences that a road-trip brings along is what motivateshim to keep taking to the road over and over again. Tis month we have compiledthe experiences o a ew such spirited riders. From the sweltering heat o the Ranno Kutch to the reezing peaks overlooking the amous Nanda Devi, and romthe treacherous deserts o Rajasthan to the silken roads o Singapore, we have

bundled together an eclectic mix o riding experiences rom India and abroad. Wehope youll enjoy the imagery and the depictions.

Rev reely,

Amit [email protected]

March 2010Riding is a therapy

they say. Those who

ride, know why. There

is nothing more

rejuvenating than

hitting the road for a

long journey on

two-wheels


3/69

Columns

Regulars

A WARS GETTING FUELLEDHonda CB Twister Vs Splendour

ONE HELLUVA SALTY ADVENTURE

IndiMotorcycleDiary

Adventuretravel

talesofPankaj

sroadtrip

The Weekend RespiteThe Asian VoyageTwo cousins embark on a cross country ride

Dev Bhumi RideTeam 456 take on to the Nandi Hills

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17

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40

40

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09

10

BRAKING NEWSNews with a pinch of salt

LETTERSWhat our readers have to say

BIKERSBecause you are important

BIKER PERSONALITYWe get talking with Anil Gautam

MOTO CLUBZTeam 456 from New Delhi

MEN AT WORKMotoroids behind the scenes...

CRAZY, CRAZY, WORLD!!For the light hearted

04

07

08

49

65

66

67

MINDREVVINAmit Chhangani

THE FAT BIKERRohit Paradkar

Contents

Features

AWARSGETTINGFUELED

!

HondaCBTwisterVsSple

dour

March 2010

Praveen Sathaye and hisbuddies head towards Konkana weekend break

Pradeb joins in the RE Trip to the GreatRunn of Kutch

Singapore- Malayasia CrossCountry Trip Log

Praveen Sathaye rides to theKonkan Coast over the weekend

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32

A VIEW FROM THE TOP

THE ASIAN VOYAGE

THE WEEKEND RESPITE

INDI MOTORCYCLE DIARYPankaj Trivedis travel tales on two wheels

Team 456 ride through the hills toget a glipse of the Nanda Devi Peak


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News that makes our heart skip a beat

BRAKING NEWS- Stoppie

WSBK started, MotoGP starts in April

BMW eyes th

Isle of Ma

Its time or all o us to rejoice again. Ater the chillingwinters, the motorcycle racing season has now started!February end saw the ully tuned litre-class production

machines making a comeback with the WorldSuperbike Championship getting underway at PhilipIsland in Australia. With crashes and dogghts, WSBK

Ater a gap o over three decades, the Germa

automobile giant, BMW, will return to the Mecco motorcycling racing the Isle o Man! Tmanuacturer has announced that they will competin the Superbike and Senior Isle o Man as manuacturer-backed team. Wringing the superbikespec S1000RRs throttle around the iconic cours

will be BMWs test rider Rico Penzkoer. Rico habeen actively involved in the development o thS1000RR and has won two bronze replicas at th2009 . BMW itsel recorded 30 wins betweetheir debut in 1937 and last exit in the late 1970s.

Te S1000RR has been an instant hit the worldover rom journos to racers, everyone loves the bikeeither or its outright perormance or its controversia

styling. But somehow the bike hasnt made the kino mark BMW would have expected at the WSBKLets hope things are dierent at the though. Alsaid and done, the S1000RR is another reason or uto wait or the oh-so-eagerly!

March 2010

the King of Slide, Gary McCoy

returns to MotoGP

is as un as always even with no Ben

Spies around. Te latter now moves toMotoGP as the premire motorcycleracing championship is all set to burnthe rubber yet again amidst the sandso Qatar on April the 11th.

Whats more, the King o Slide,Gary McCoy returns to MotoGPthis season to take on his compatriotCaasey Stoner and give him a lessonor two on how to make MotGP evenmore exciting! Te Australian hassigned a contract with the FB Corseteam and will be riding the samebike that was designed or BMWs

MotoGP venture. Will this combo beexplosive enough to make head tunrsat MotoGP? Well, we are as excited asyou are to see it all happen


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Honda acquires more land Bajaj launches Platina 12

One word o advice never believe Mr. Rajiv Bajaj when he tells you his companis not going to venture into a particular segment or is going to stick to a particulsub-brand or the uture. Why do we say this? Well, we saw the demise o the Platinbrand some time back as Mr. Bajaj said, We were trying to be someone we are n

with that bike. But now, out o the blue, what they have is a new 125cc commutcalled the Platina 125.

Interestingly though, the power gures or the new Platina have actually gondown as compared to its older variant. While the 100cc model produced 9.5 PS, th125cc mill on the new bike produces 8.5PS! orque too has gone down rom 10.8Nm to 10 Nm at. Te new bike however gets a 5-speed gearbox, which along witthe lesser power and torque gures, should returns better uel efciency gures...wassume!

Honda India (HMSI) have announced its plans to build another motorcycle production plant in India to meet the everincreasing demand or its two wheelers in the rapidly growing motorcycle market in India.

Te Japanese giant is in the process o acquiring close to 240,000 square meters o land within the apukara IndustrialArea in Rajasthan. Te second plant will hence be in the proximity o 40kms rom the existing plant thus helping themmaintain their logistical costs. Te new plant is scheduled to become operational in the latter hal o 2011 with annualproduction capacity o 600,000 units. As i that wasnt enough, HMSI is expanding annual production capacity o itsexisting plant rom the current 1.25 million units to 1.55 million units by the end o this month, with a urther expansionto 1.6 million uni ts scheduled or next year. Tis means that HMSIs total annual production capacity will be 2.2 millionunits when the second plant becomes operational! Sigh, that means more long lasting stylish commuters will be adding tothe crowd every year. Te positive side is that the new plant will open employment options or almost 2,000 associates atinitial stage o ull capacity. An investment o Rs. 4.7 Billion (approx) will be inused in this project.

March 2010

News thats neither here nor there

BRAKING NEWS- Slide


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Are the Wego and

Jive on sale?

Splendor threatened by Twister

Te CB wister has nally gone on sale ater its ofcial unveiling in December. Like most Indian bikes onsale, the wister too comes in three variants drum brakes and kick start, drum brakes and electric start and disbrakes and electric start. Te top end model is our avorite or sure, but the ~58,000 rupee price tag soundslittle to exorbitant to us. However, look at the basic model and you will be startled that the CB wister is pricealmost similar to the Hero Honda Splendor. Yes, that very bike which gave the competition sleepless nights witits unbelievable sales gures year on year, its highly reliable 100cc engine which has been around since the mid-80and still doesnt need any upgrades to end o competition. It has the brand loyalty which has given Hero Hondits numero uno status.

But the wister has a more advanced engine rom the same engineers. So does that mean that with new agstu under its belt, the wister is trying to tell us that the only thing that can beat the Splendor is not a Bajaj or

Yamaha or a VS, but another Honda? Well, we have every reason to believe that its something special, especialwith that Wing eblem emblazoned in the uel tank. However, to see the pride o the Indian motorcyling industrcoming under a threat is something that makes us eel a bit sad.

Te Wego and Jive were launched in November 2009 and as per our knowledge,were supposed to go on sale in February across all VS showrooms in the country. We

were pretty sure that both the vehicles would create quite a stir in the market. Te Wegoor its antastic unisex styling, metal body and scooter convenience and the Jive or itsinnovation, ease o use and urban ergonomics. What urther has us excited is the pricetag to both the two wheelers, which lies in the range o Rs. 44,000 to Rs. 47,000 whichis very very competitive.

But contrary to our expectations, we have not seen a single Wego or Jive at any o theVS showrooms around us. Tere can either be two reasons or this either the bikeshavent gone on sale yet, or they have sold out already! Or the other two reasons are, thatour team is either too busy with the work assigned to them or we are just too lazy to callVS up and ask them whats happening

March 2010

News that shouldnt have been news

BRAKING NEWS- Crash


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- Sean Pereria

Unique Stories

Your bouquets and brickbats or the Februaryissue o Motoroids2

- Arun Mohan

Helpful Comparo

Your comparison between the recently launchedPulsar 135 and the FZ 16 was o immense help.I was trying to coax my parents into buying me a150cc motorcycle or the past couple o months.My parents being typical olks, were skepticalo giving me a motorcycle high on cc. They wereunsure about the necessity o me having a 150ccmachine. They were unable to understand my cubiccapacity cravings. They elt I should be merelyhappy about being gited a new motorcycle. My dadwas planning to git me the Pulsar 135 as it wasa new product and cheaper than the FZ. But I had

my apprehensions. Thankully Motoroids comparedthe two motorcycles at the right time. All my doubtswith respect to the 135s abilities were cleared. Irealized that this 135cc motorcycle will ulfll myperormance needs but wont meet my styling,quality and refnement requirements. It has becameeasier to convince my parents into buying me theFZ 16. Ater reading your comparo, they understoodmy needs and the qualities o both the motorcycles.I really cant thank you guys enough or this timelymotorcycle comparo!

Ever since the frst issue o Motoroidse-magazine went live, it has always carried out othe box comparos and eatures. The unique storyideas are the USP o Motoroids. Even though itdoesnt actually have any selling price! The coverstory o CBR 400RR v/s the baby Kwacker is amongthe best motorcycle comparisons that I have readtill date. As o now, I cannot aord either o themotorcycles, though I wish to own a perormancebike someday. Reading the article gave me a eelingo the pleasures o riding a ast motorcycle! Earlier Iwas o the view that all big cubic capacity motorcycleswould be similar in terms o perormance. The storymade me aware o the dierences between the twomotorcycles with respect to perormance and betterbuy. I have decided to save up some more and buy asecond or third or whatever hand 400cc motorcycle

instead o the Ninja 250. The photography wasposter quality too. You guys not only came up witha dierent cover story idea but gave it a stunningtreatment too. Thank You Motoroids or continuouslyarming automotive enthusiasts with resh motorcyclereviews and eatures! Cheers!!

- Arun Iyer

Gets better every month

Traditionally all auto magazines have beenconcentrating more on carrying frst ride storiesthan interesting eature articles. The new age o

journalism ushered in by Motoroids is changingthe characteristics o every automotive magazine.

All auto magazines have suddenly become boldand enthusiastic about carrying dierent and neverdone beore stories. However, they still have a loto catching up to do. Motoroids is currently thecountrys best automotive magazine in all respectbe it photography, content, writing style or magazinedesign and appeal. With every issue the quality oyour magazine is only improving. I things continuein the same way, then very soon the other automagazines will have ew takers. I earlier though t thatbeing a ree magazine, there would be shortcomingswith respect to overall quality and execution. But Iam being proven wrong issue ater issue . In act, youguys are getting better with every subsequent issue.I sincerely hope that you get better as the monthsand volumes roll by. Like all Motoroids ollowers Iknow that this e-mag shall only get better with age!Keep Rolling Team Motoroids!!

STAR LETTER

- Sreeram Padmana

In-depth Review

I am an aspiring Buleteer and have been scaround town or a good buy. The Classic had reame hooked since rumors about its launch suThe only actor preventing me rom buying the Cwas its steep price tag. I went around checkia ew other Royal Enfeld motorcycles. On onescouting trip I happened to come across a L

Ater requesting the owner, I got to ride the motoor a short distance. I was impressed by it and sto seriously contemplate about owning one. Theworry was the availability o spare parts. Upon wethe pros and cons I was conused about whichto buy. I was eagerly awaiting Motoroids compo the two motorcycles ater reading Rohits frreport. I was unaware about the numerous pqualities o the Classic over the LB500. Thank Yenlightening me. Ater a short test ride o the Clabecame evident that the Classic is indeed the uperormance Bullet. Your in depth review hashelped me in deciding which Bullet I should buy.decided to stop cribbing about the high price tastart saving up or the Classic.

Send us your letterletters@motoroids

If you wish to contribthe magazine, in any w

providing content, haveat the last page for theemail addresses to se

mail to.


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BIKERSShare with the world your great adventures on your bike.Send us your pictures along with a small description [email protected]

March 2010

RSAStunteamheldastuntshowlastmonthattheSymbi

osis,Lavalecampus.Tesearesomeofthestuntsperformed

whichlefttheaudiencewantingformore

AmitBhagat,sendsusfewsnapsfromhisLoveforBikesfolder


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Beore I begin telling youthis tale, let me clariythat it happened moreout o compulsion than

choice. I am terrible planner whenit comes to personal lie. Tisparticular situation arose out o

my philosophy that the unplanned way out is the most un way out,something that has ortunately

worked or me thus ar. It was a pre-Diwali aternoon, I was in Pune andthere were no bookings available inany mode o transport to Jaipur. Ihad to be home, else my extremelyconservative, elderly parents wouldassume that I was doing drugs andhad eloped with a Muslim girl.

So I decided to ride the 1200kmin one shot, and thankully managedto do that as well. Quite a eat,

knowing that this was the rst timeI was ever riding or anything morethan 700km in a shot. It wasnt

without incidents though. Te bikeheated up and stalled somewherenear Udaipur. I had to drag it to amechanic or about 5km, and get theengine oil replaced beore hoppingon again. Te rest o the journey wasrather slow with the engine heatingup every now and then and makingme wait or it to cool down again.I dont know whether it was luck ormy parents prayers to have me back

home, still single, but the bike ranthe distance. Incredibly, the engineseized right in ront o my homesmain gate.

Tis gave birth to a thought.I I can cover 1200km with a bikein 20 odd hours in an impromptuattempt, there was a good chanceI could do a Saddledsore as well.So I got the bike repaired rom a

dunderhead who thought it was notimportant or him to open and clearthe crankcase even though he knewthat the piston had broken into ourpieces. He simply drained the oil,changed the piston and topped thereservoir again. O course, he didnt

tell me about his smart deeds whilehanding the bike over to me.Now I dont know whether

I should term it as ortune ormisortune but or the next 600km,

which were a part o the conditioningand breaking-in run, the engine ranas i it was immeresed in butter.otally convinced that I will do it

without breaking a sweat, I startedo early morning the next day toride non-stop to Pune and beyondto see whether I really possessedan Iron Butt. I was averaging a

little over 90km/h or the next twoand a hal hours, and the Pulsar180 under my groins was runningexceptionally smoothly or whatperceptions I had about the machineprior to this ride. But the inevitablesoon happened. Te engine startedmaking weird clattering noisesand came to a halt in the next twokilometres. It had ceased again. Techips o the broken piston that mymechanic riend had so convenientlynot bothered removing rom thecrankcase had somehow entered

the ignition chamber, damaging thecon-rod.Now began the tough part.

I was in the middle o a highwaywith a broken down bike, with thenearest small town being about20km away. Fortunately a rear-entrypassenger tempo soon emerged outo somewhere and agreed to tow meto the town. ied to a rope, I got

towed or the next 20 km, and ate dust once when the contrappulling me took a vicious

without any prior indicatio warning. I didnt break any bthankully. Bhilwara was this plname and ortunately I had

contact o a riend whose astayed there. I was soon receby his elder cousin, who lopale and somewhat staggerehe walked. As we walked towtheir home, I realised there weven one healthy soul aroundTere were hardly any peoplethe streets, and the rare ew emerged out looked ill and waseemingly like zombies.

I was told that the whole twas hit by dengue and chickengepidemics, and almost e

villager had been aected. Nchickengunya is a dangedisease. Once you all prey to it,need 2-3 months to ully recuntil when your joints eel jamand you cant move your limb

walk properly. Tis was scary.very thought o getting in

with dengue or Chickengunyame shitting bricks. I once thought o taking the next bu

Ahmedabad, but visualising jglimpse o my then editor holleat me was good enough to mak

stick to the original plan.Tankully this was still later than 11 in the aternoon,there was a chance that I could gotten the bike repaired at the Bajaj showroom. Te service stapeople were welcoming and agto help, but owing to Eid,mechanics were on a leave. I whave to wait till the next mor

One of the craziest things I have everdone on two-wheels

Columns

MindrevvinAMIT CHHANGANI

March 2010

The epidemic hadridden the town of halfits elderly population,and while I was not old,I wasnt very keen ontaking any chances


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Columns

From many bikers I have comeacross until now, most are ashooked onto gadgets as they are

with their bikes. Aterall, the biketoo is a high perormance gadget that youbuy rom the showroom and instill withinit a soul that connects with you as youstart spinning the odometer. I too, ama gadget reak, and since Im more thanhappy with my iPhone or quite sometime now (which means Im not changinghandsets every ortnight), Im splurgingmy gadgetry budget on console gamesthese days. For the last couple o months

I have been totally hooked onto Forza3 and DiR 2; but what I was longingor was a bike-oriented game that couldgive me equal amount o un. And thats

when I came across the demo version oMotoGP 09/10 MotoGPs ofciallyendorsed gaming product or 2010.

Being the ofcial licensed product,the game lets me play as any o the racers/teams o 2009 and 2010 rom ValentinoRossi to Hiroshi Aoyama. Te game has

THE FAT BIKER

ROHIT PARADKAR

Is MotoGP on a gamingconsole fun enough?

March 2010

now. Moreover, they hadnt sold even a singlePulsar 180 in the whole o Bhilwara whichmeant I was supposed to wait till the co-rodarrrived to Bhilwara rom jaipur.

I ate my meals with great apprehension,with a ear o getting inected. Te epidemichad ridden the town o hal its elderly

population, and while I was not old, I wasntvery keen on taking any chances. I ate as less aquantity as possible with sweating temples andmade sure I didnt touch anything uncooked.Te night passed without a blink as I burnt anentire packet o Kachhua Chhap Machchhar

Agarbatti that I had duly bought ater mydinner. I smoked the room as i it was a portiono hell, and spent the night sleepless to makesure the nasty mosquitoes didnt touch me.

Tankully a connection in Jaipur ensuredthe timely delivery o the con-rod to Bhilwara,

which meant my bike was ready to go again by6 in the evening. Te mechanics conrmed that

there were pieces o piston in the crank case,causing the damage. I hugged each one o themechanics (again, with a little apprehension)and set o or Pune once again.

I knew this was not possible now. A newlybuilt engine, which had broken down twicein the past 1000km didnt have a chance ocompleting something as rigorous as the IBASaddlesore. I rode slowly at about 50km/h,

just to be sure that I didnt land in another tubo shit. Over the next two hours, the enginekept running more smoothly than ever, evenas I upped the pace a bit. A wild thought

which was overpowered by my sensibilitieswas rearing up again. Being the one who likesthe un way out o situations, I decided to giveit a go again.

At Chanderia, a village somewherenear Bhilwara I had taken a uel bill with atime stamp rom a Reliance petrol pump. Idecided to make it my starting point. Andsince I had already wasted too much time, I

whacked the throttle open. Soon ater, I met with a gargantuan trafc jam, to beat which

I took a side road which in turn led me intoa totally unknown territory. By the time Imanaged to nd the highway again, I had lostcrucial time. Te good thing was, the bike wasrunning like a dream, allowing me to wringthe throttle open with disdain, revving all the

way up to the redline without emanating a

single worrisome noise. I knew this time shewas game or it, the onus was on me now.Dr. Arnob Gupta, the only erstwhile IBA

certied guy in India who had been guidingme all this while to prepare or the run, in vain,met me at the outskirts o Mumbai at Manor,to guide me out o the city towards Pune. Ikept riding at a seriously ast pace, managingto average more than 90km/h throughout,ater my exit rom Mumbai. I rode all the wayto a place called Hanchinal, somewhere closeto Belgaum, ound a uel pump there andturned back or the nal dash.

It had been more than ty hours since I

slept properly; as I had not been able to sleepon the night beore I started o rom Jaipureither. But surprisingly, there wasnt a hinto atigue or a sign o sleep. Te anticipationo making it happen was overpowering everyother mental or bodily reaction. Te bikenever elt as much as a part o my body as itdid during those last eight hours. My wish wasits command that was one moment I rode

without a doubt, I rode with a conviction, Irode as i nothing could ever go wrong. It wasa spiritual experience.

At the end o it, when I hopped o, therewas a gentle smile o satisaction on my ace.Te odo read 1660km. I knew probablythat wont be good enough to qualiy or thecerticate, but was that ever what I set outor? Te eeling o having ullled a promiseI made to mysel could be elt in the electricsensation that ran across my body. I had done

what I set out or.o all o you who have ever thought o

doing it, shun all apprehensions and do it. Itsa divine experience. ake my word or it.

all the MotoGP tracks recreated in a digital world and promises changes as well when you travel to various circuits on the calendar

what attention to detail! Since I was playing the demo version, I wato start with the 125cc motorcycles. Fair enough. But my expectatioshattered in no time! Not because I had to start with a 125cc wheexpecting my surround sound system to blast with a Desmosedici grobecause the game had got the most important aspect o sport bikin

cornering! Let me try and explain. When you can see the suggeson the track and try to ollow it, its all cool till its a straight line. Hwhen you decide to stick to the line while tackling, say, a right handthe wheels will slide o to the let the suggested line while your rider whis knee on the right side. In simple words the rider and bike seem like a Wheel-o-Fortune! You have to make sure you have to slide oracing line (instead o sticking to it), even in tight, slow speed cornerso negotiating it the way you would in real lie.

My argument is simple, its been over 5 years since Polyphony(makers o the amous Gran urismo series or the Playstation) mmarvelous ourist rophy motorcycle riding simulator. Ten why ieven ater hal a decade the industry hasnt learnt how to make a sinot better) motorcycle simulator like ourist rophy? Year ater yeis a new MotoGP or WSBK game being churned out and not a sin

cuts the cake. A couple o game distributors I spoke to are blaming o demand, or the current motorcycle sims not being as serious or as their our-wheeled counterparts. So its a chicken and egg situati sales are not high because the simulations are not serious enough, developers are not putting in as much eort as the car games because dont translate into enough dough. So probably the solution lies with(owners o the MotoGP ranchise) themselves dont give the ofciaunless and until the game is up to the mark. Probably then we can hasimulation that comes close to the real lie experience


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AwarsgettingfuelledIndias ultimateecono-commuter isfacing its biggestchallenger yet.Which of the twois going to winRound One of thismega battle in themaking?

WordsPhotographyAmit ChhanganiEshan Shetty


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March 2010

Have you evervisited the HeroHonda website? Ireally suggest you

go there once and choose theSplendor+ rom the modelsdisplayed. Youll be takento a new page, where thecompany talks about some othe greatest eats us humanshave achieved. Te Great

Wall o China the largestman made structure ever,Queen Mary2 - the biggestluxury liner aoat, Airbus A380 the most gargantuanpassenger aircrat, and BurjKhalia (though they haveused a wrong picture) thetallest edice on the planet,all nd a mention there.

What ollows these marvels isthe ubiquitous, unassumingSplendor, which happensto be the largest selling bikein the world. And thats thelegend o the machine that

we have here on these pages.For the past 27 years, eversince its emergence, thatpuny looking sloper mill haspassed the test o time in aashion which has extremelyrare equivalents. Te onlybikes running without a ussrom early eighties cannotbe anything but these utterlypractical contraptions thatgave mobility a whole newperspective with the mantrao Fill it, shut it, orget it.Its a phenomenal eat, tosell in such huge numbers,and still run without a ault,in every single instance orages together. And thats

why Honda, the originaldesigners o this engine

are such a revered brandacross the world. And thatsprecisely why, Hero Honda,ater ruling the Indian roadsor ages together have a very,very serious reason to worryabout.

Te CB wister eatures, what may potentially beconsidered the biggest shitin the Indian two-wheelerindustry ater the advento Hero Honda. Te new109cc single cylinder petrolpowerplant is the latest whatHonda has to oer in thebread-and-butter commutermarket. Honda have notshared this engine with theirriends at Hero Honda,making this engine the rstmajor aberration rom thelegendary sloper mill that we

were discussing in the earlierparagraph. Being a Honda,reliability is a given, and wehave every reason to believethat this is going to be thenext big thing in the Indiantwo-wheeler industry. Andthats the whole essence o thisstory, to nd out, what exactlyhas changed ater almost30 long years, and whetherthe newest oering romHonda is capable o doingthe unimaginable snatchingthe bestseller crown rom theormidable Splendor.

Tere couldnt havebeen a better way to beginthis comparo than puttingthe new contender throughthe ultimate test parametero this genre o bikes uelefciency. Over the years,the Splendor has proven itsmettle as a bike thats utterly


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March 2010

reilable. It may not be the most uelefcient commuter around, butit delivers a very respectable uelefciency gure that hovers aroundthe 60kmpl mark very consistently.

We wanted to be absolutely spot-on with this test this was a zerotolerance zone or us. We drainedthe two bikes empty and ran themuntil they spluttered and died down.

We now lled the same quantity ouel in the tanks o both o themand rode them around the city,

while swapping riders all the whileto compensate or a dierence inriding styles and see whether thenew engine manages to overshadowits elder sibling. And while thatsurely was the best way to begin the

shootout, were araid youll haveto wait till we reach the end o thiscomparo to know which o the twoeventually won.

As both these bikes are notmeant to be ridden on the highwaystoo oten, and are meant to servetheir owners primarily within thecity connes, we decided to test theduo in the urban jungle during thepeak trafc hours. We decided tostart o rom our ofce at 8:30 inthe morning, travel all the way tothe other end o the town in rushhour trafc and come back.

Bringing the wister to liemakes one thing very evident very ew companies in the worldcould make engines which are as

rened as a Honda. Not even hala dab o the starter button and theengine comes to lie, and gets to

work in the silkiest ashion possible.Te Splendor, which is a smoothrunner itsel, eels slightly gru incomparison to the new 109cc unito the wister. With the new mill,Honda has taken engine renementto a new level; the smoothness othe CB doesnt have a parallel in thecommuter segment.

Swinging a leg around the seat othe wister introduces you to one othe liveliest looking consoles in thebusiness. It doesnt eature anythingdigital, but the choice o shape,colours and the sporty design lendsit a very resh appeal. Its basic in

terms o unctionality though, with a speedo, tell-tale, highbeam, uel gauge combo.Once aboard, the sculptedtank ts snugly between thelegs and charms you with its

well proportioned, yet angularstyling its a eeling that younever get while being aboard a

100cc commuter. Everythingis perceptibly more stylish andupmarket. Te Splendors ageshows though. Hopping on tothe Splendors saddle makesits old design evident. Tewister eels resh, vibrant andvery today.

O course, being a newbike, the wister is bound tograb more eyeballs, but thepencil guys at Honda have

pulled o a abulous job with the wisters lines. Teperception about the wistersvisual superiority is urthersubstantiated as you get on themove. Even ater belongingto the most basic segment inthe Indian market, the wistermanages to make necks twist.

Be it the sharp, angular, tank,the chunky, sabre-like panelhanging o it, the cute, stubbyexhaust or the two-tonetreatment the wister hasthe goods to stand head andshoulders above the rest o thecommuter pack.

Slotting the bike into rstgear introduces you to thegenerous amounts o torqueavailable at the bottom end.

Te bike tends to whinadvertently in the rst i you twist it a little much. Even in the second there is a tendency to shyou behind at low revs. shit eel is a slightly nothough, and you have to man eort sometimes tryin

pull up that sporty gear sh with your toe. Te eis even more pronoun

while shiting rom the gear into second. Te sismooth engine is a joy thoHandlebars dont get more ree than this. Te Splendengine is smooth enoughend o any competition the new age pretenders, the new Honda mill some


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March 2010


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March 2010

EvEn aftEr bElonging to thE most basic sEgmEnt in thE indian markEt, thE twistErmanagEs to makE nEcks, Er, twist!

manages to achieve the lotyeat o bettering the HHin smoothness. Te powerdelivery is very progressiveater the initial rev-band andthe wister surges ahead in areassuring yet jerk ree andsmooth manner once set inmotion.

So ar so good, but likemost things in lie, twistertoo has its own set odownsides. o start with, the

suspension is way too harshor a commuter bike. I couldeel very undulation onthe road getting translateddirectly into my spine,making me conscious o myback which has been in aterrible shape o late thanksto long hours o sitting inthe chair. I am sure there aremany others like me who willchoose to overlook the otheroutstanding characteristicso the bike or the sake o

health. Surprisingly, thereisnt even an adjuster toreduce the stiness.

Dynamically, thewister turns out to be anaccomplished bike, as werealized when we took thebike to the amous twistieso Lavasa ater our city run.Te skinny tyres create someapprehension but arent asdisappointing when you tiltthe bike on dry suraces.In a straight line, however,

the lack o a central groovemakes things precarious asthe bike slides at the slightesthint o the rear brakecoming into action. We getthe shivers thinking about

what would happen whensomeone tries to tread the

wet and oily monsoon roadson this rubber. Te rear tyre

on the wister requires tobe replaced. Te Splendormay not be as accomplishedas the wister in terms oengineering and dynamics,but it denitely sports abetter rear tyre.

Te twister sprints to60km/h rom a standstillin 7.02 seconds, about 0.7seconds quicker than thesplendour. It has a better top

whack and a substantially

better in-gear perormancein third and ourth gears as

well. Tere isnt a shade odoubt that the wister is abetter perormer no matter

which way you look at it.Te top speed o 94km/h isa good 5km/h better thanthe splendour too. However

we think that within thecity connes the splendorsperormance is reasonablygood too, and practicallythere isnt a reason why you

should choose one bikeover another as long as youdont wish to head out othe town. Having said that,even the wister with itsslightly better perormanceisnt much o a highway bike.

What matters eventually isuel efciency, and i morepower equates to the bikeguzzling more uel, then itdoesnt make much sense tothe sensibilities o the greatIndian urban commuter. We

shall see how the CB ares inthat department towards theend o this shootout.

Panel gaps, shoddy tand nish and thin, imsyeeling panels are some moredisappointing aspects o thewister. Its disheartening toknow that a bike which looksso cool rom a distance turns


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March 2010

ovErall, thE nEw honda turns out to bE a vEry flamboyant, modErn looking machinEwhich has bEEn robustly built and ExcEls in most dEpartmEnts, including pErformancE

out to be a rather not-so-neat job when looked atclosely. No complaints about the quality o thepaint though, the nish and the gloss make thewister look like a machine more rom the premiumsegment.

Overall, the new Honda turns out to be a veryamboyant, modern looking machine which has

been robustly built and excels in most departments,including perormance. Ride quality, t and nishand the imsy eeling plastics is a concern area,

which Honda will have to look into i they dontwant to disapoint their customes in the long run.But the most crucial aspect o these bikes, as wediscussed at the outset, is uel efciency. Atertrundling around in the city or more than 5 hours,

we were getting irritated, as we expected these bikesto run dry by this time. Surprisingly, they werestill chugging along happily without any signs osplutter. I had put my money on the wister, whilethe rest o the team believed that the Splendor willtake the ultimate efciency accolades.

And nally it happened, the trusty old Splendorgave in to the new tech and came to a halt atercoughing a bit. Te wister kept going somedistance to prove that new technology, at the endo it, matters. We managed to get a uel efciencyo 64kmpl rom the Splendor, while the wisterreturned a substantially better 71kmpl.

Te price comparisons dont make much sensehere, as the wister is decidedly a better packageand there has to be a price dierence. At Rs 2500or base models, that dierence doesnt looklike much, making the new Honda a value deal.However, more than a head-to-head, this comparois about whether the new wister can has the goods

to replicate the success o the Splendor (and therest o the products on the same platorm) a eatwhich no other bike has managed to achieve. As ananswer, we think that while there are a ew roughedges to the wister, it still has the makings to do it.

A new revolution is just about to begin!

TWISTER SPLENDO

0-60

Top Speed

7.06 sec 7.82

94.03 89.31

7.58 12.41

13.81 21.26

3rd gear r oll on

30-70

4th gear r oll on30-80


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Pradeb Biswas, ventures to a place where time stands still, the calmness envelopessouls and tranquility prevails in abundance

One Helluva Salty Adventure!

Words PhotographyPradeb Biswas Arup Das, Biplab Deka, Sanat Tanna

It was a usualMonday morning

at the Motoroidsheadquarters. Te

schedule or the weekahead was being planned.

Work pertaining tovarious sections o themagazine and website wasbeing delegated by theEditor. Like usual, the Edmade an announcemento a press invite havinglanded up in his mailbox.Everyones eyes lit up.Te Ed urther revealed

that Royal Eneld isorganizing a tour o

Rann o Kutch and themanuacturer had asked

Motoroids to participate.Generally, when apress invite involving amotorcycle ride arrivesthere happens to be nodearth o takers or it.

Tis time the scenariowas quite dierent. Forstarters, there are twoBuleteers in our ocenamely Praveen andGauri. Unortunately,neither o them couldgo or the ROK trip.

Praveen had representedour magazine at the

recently organizedSouthern Odessey while

Gauri had some othercommitments to ulll.Rohit immediatelyrealized that he had some

work pending work inChennai which couldntbe postponed! Amit wasrequired to be in oceor taking a nal call onall Motoroids relatedmatters. So he couldnt goeither.

Without askingme, it was unanimously

decided that I wasree o any editorial or

personal commitmentsand should be attending

the trip on behal oMotoroids!! Frankly, I

was not excited aboutgetting to participate inthe Rann o Kutch tour. Iam not a big an o RoyalEneld motorcycles. Teproposition o ridingone or a week was a bittoo much too accept ina dignied way. Addingsalt to my wound was acall rom the organizerinorming me that

I would be riding aTunderbird BS and

not the Classic. I wasaware about the Classics

abilities having riddenone beore.

Te TunderbirdBS was an unknownentity to me. I was surethat riding a Bullet or a

week wouldnt be a veryenticing experience or aperormance bike reaklike me. Ironically, as thetrip ended, it turned outto be my best one on amotorcycle till date! Inthe week that ollowed,

I traversed through ruralbackroads, let my treads


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The route plan for the trip

gets charted out.

All motorcycles were first subjected to scrunity and afew of them were subjected to minor tweaks.

At the pre-trip briefing all participants were given route maps and informed about the schedfor the trip.

March 2010

on the little and greater Rann, made newriends and came away impressed with theTunderbird BS. Heres a thump bythump account o it.

Day One (Arrival at Ahmedabad)As per the tour schedule, we had to reach aparticular hotel ater arriving in Ahmedabad.

A ew participants arrived by morning whilethe rest came in by early aternoon. Tere

were a total o 14 participants in the ROKtour with 7 representing media houses. A

ew participants rom Pune and Mumbairode their steeds all the way to Ahmedabad!By 2pm all participants had arrived and theirmotorcycles were subjected to scrutiny. Allminor problems were sorted out. Te mediamotorcycles were up or grabs and everyonemade a beeline to choose the best ones romthe lot.

In true non-Buleteer ashion, I waitedor the organizer to hand me a key. He told

me to choose rom amongthe two remaining keys. Isaid what dierence wouldit make and requestedhim to give me any one.

A ellow participant andmedia rides veteran,inormed me to choose themotorcycle with the lowest

mileage on the odometer. Iollowed the advice whichlater made sense or nomajor mechanical troublescropped up.

A customary introsession took place ollowedby a typical vegetarianGujju lunch. Post lunch,

everyone headed backto their allotted roomsor a power nap. In theevening we all gatheredin the lobby or thepre-trip brieng. Tebrieng was done byKanwardeep a.k.a KD,our guide or the trip.

Te route was chartedout and participantswere inormed aboutthe destinations thatthey would be haltingat on each individualday. Ten we all wentto KDs room whereall stories pertainingto Buleteers and

their motorcyclingexperiences were sharedbeore retiring or thenight.

Day wo (Ahmedabad-Dasada-Little Rann)

All participants

assembled in thehotel lobby beore thescheduled departuretime o 7am. Ater abrieng session by KD,about the immediateplan we all thumpedo to the Royal Ridersshowroom which wasthe trips fag o venue.

Ater the fag o wegot out o the cityonto the highway andre-grouped at the turno towards Dasada. It

was a unique experienceto ride alongside 14Bullets in two bytwo ormations in the

heart o Ahmedabad.Amid the chaotic fowo trac, all road users

were stopping to makeway or the Buleteers.People all around us

were smiling and givingus the thumbs up!

At every tracstop we were being

questioned by the loabout our intentionSome o them evenstarted riding withus to eel a sense obelonging. It took uabout an hour to getout o the city andreach the brieng

point. Ater a 15 misutta and pee breakwe headed o towarthe Rann Riders resoin Dasada which waour scheduled lunchstop. A sumptuouslunch awaited us an

we didnt hesitate inrevealing our digesti


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prowess.We let the resort at around

3pm and ollowed the backroadsleading through villages to enterinto the little Rann. Our triporganizer KD had done a recce othe various destinations and waysto reach them. He was well versed

with the village roads and couldcomortably thump along at speedon the northern side o 80kph. W

were all trying to keep up with himSensing our enthusiasm KD decidto get us into little rann throughan unconventional route. Actuallythere was no route. It was just atrail leading through elds withbarely enough space or a human

walk through. KD rode his classicover the path eortlessly. We toopampered our egos and rode obehind him.

For the majority o participanit was our rst o-road experienceon a Royal Eneld motorcycle. It

was getting dicult to maintainmomentum on the sand lled traiTe rst timers were sh-tailing alover the place while the experiencriders were easily maintaining spein excess o 50kph. On paper thatdoesnt sound much. Te rst timon sand including me, were ndinit impossible to cross 15kph withodragging both eet along to avoid all. A ew words o wisdom and a15 min break later, we were pumpup to tread on the little Rann.

By the time we entered little

Rann, the sun had already set. Tvisibility around was low or theother bikes were spewing trails odust around us. Like a herd o she

we merely ollowed the supportvehicle that was leading us. Ridinga motorcycle on the little Rann is eat that one should experience atleast once in their lietime. It is a fvast ground covered by loose sand

While passing throughvillages, we would become anattraction for the local folks .

Before entering thelittle Rann, KD madeus ride through fieldsto help us get familiarwith the nuances ofriding on sand.


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on top! Intially it was a weird eeling asthe ront was rolling o in a dierentdirection while the rear was trying to gosomewhere else.

Soon we got the hang o it and gavemild doses o counter-steer wheneverthe situation demanded so! At night, westopped near a temple and had packeddinner under the illumination o amillion stars. I have never seen such a

clear sky and bright stars ever beore.Tat night, I really cursed my city lieand wished to stay in a village awayorm the pollution. Ater dinner, a ewstar gazer participants decided to sleepin the Rann itsel under the bright sky!

While the other guys moved to a nearbytemple to grab some orty winks.

Day Tree (Little Rann- Dholavira)

At around 5 am, the head priest otemple started perorming the dairituals waking all o us up. Once tpuja was done, he took some timeout and made tea or the entire pao riders! By sunrise we all reshenup and completed breakast. Beopushing o, two participants ountheir ront tyres had gone fat. Alo

with the service vehicle, they head

Riding a motoRcycle on the little Rann iS a Feat that one ShoUldachieVe at leaSt once in hiS liFetime.

During daytime the temperature in the Little Rann reaches up to 40 degreeCelsius drying up the land completely resulting in cracks appearing on thesurface

While the other group members went to get their bikes topped up, I pulledover to satisfy my sweet tooth and experience a local sugar rush.


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01

02

01.Te Archealogical Museum at Dholavirain Kachchh district is an excavatedsite which was home to Harappancivilization back in 3rd millenium BC

02.

A large cache o antiquities have beenunearthed rom the site including thesevessels o chlorite schist.

03.Te unique eature o this site is its waterreservoirs that were used or storing resh

water

o to the nearest village to get themrepaired.

Te rest o us, under the leadershipo KD decided to explore the Rann andspot some wild asses. In the morning

we nally got to see what little Rannlooks like. A vast patch o barren land

which seems to stretch till the horizonin all directions! Te gujrat governmentis trying to extract whatever salt thatremains in the Rann. For that it has duga oot deep trenches which tread acrossthe entire bed. Water rom the riverNarmada is being pushed into the Rannthrough these trenches. During daytimethe sun heats up the land causing waterto evaporate and the salt remains behind.

Owing to the combination o waterand salty barren lands, some portionso the land become very sot during thenight and early morning. It is very easyor people and bikes to get stuck in thesequicksand patches. While riding throughthe little rann, one rider suddenlyencountered sot ground. He lostcontrol and had a nasty all. It shook thecondence o other riders and everyonedecided against riding fat out. A ewminutes later, we spotted a pack o wildasses and chased them around.

We soon got bored and had a chaibreak at the Mendhak Mata Mandirbeore exiting little Rann. Ater gettingout, we stopped or lunch on the

March 2010


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highway enroute to thedays nal destination.

We reached Dholaviraat around 5.30pm. It isan excavated Harappansite, spread over anarea o 100 acres whichdates back to aroundthree million BC. Teunique eature o thissite is its reservoirsthat were used to store

resh water. We strolledaround the site or anhour taking picturesand asking questionsabout its history to thegovernment ocial incharge o it.

Our stay or the

night was arranged ata government hotellocated nearby. Aterchecking in we rstreshened up and got ourmotorcycles tweaked upby the accompanyingmechanics. Once theminor mechanical issues

were sorted out, we haddinner and slept o onlyto ride another day!

Day Four (Dholavera-Greater Rann-Bhuj-Nakhatrana)Day-break seemed tohave arrived sooner thanexpected. We somehow

managed to get out oour beds, reshen up,nish breakast andgather around in timeor a 6.30am brieng.Post brieng we headedout o Dholavera withthe intention o enteringGreater Rann providedthe salt pans had driedup enough to not suckbikes into it!

While getting outo Dholavaira we againtreaded through villageroads. Riding on theseroads requires one to bein an alert state o mindbecause along with slowmoving tractors the road

space gets utlizied bshepherds guiding herds o cows to thgrazing ground! W

we entered into greRann, the conditioseemed perect at

Alas, luck was not side.

Ater covering akilometer the groustarted getting sot

our bikes started gestuck. It became obthat the ground wa

wet. We stuck aroua while clicking pico each other and hthose who got stucSoon we turned aroYes! I didntshy away from

p r a c t i c a l l ytasting the saltsof adventure

It looks a lot like snow buttouch it and you realize that itssalt, in granular form

The Greater Rann hadntdried up completely and ourmotorcycles started gettingstuck in the soft ground.

d d d h d d l d i i d W h i i di i l hil h d d


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and rode o towards harder ground.During our brieng KD told us

that we had to reach Bhuj beore 3pmto get our permits or visiting the nextdays locations. All o us had to go tothe Police Commissioners oce and seehim in person in order to get permissionor visiting the scenic locations which

are located in restricted areas. Wedecided not to waste any more time androde o towards Bhuj.

En route to Bhuj one participantsuered a fat tyre while another neededa chain sprocket replacement. We waitedalongside them as the mechanics setabout to bring the motorcycles back to

their running condition.Once the work was completed

we headed o to get our permits.Ater receiving our permits, we wereabout to set towards the next location

when another participants motorcycledeveloped a fat. One participant hadended up burning his motorcycles cutch

plates while another one needed tochange the engine head. Te guys whosemotorcycle required servicing went overto the nearest workshop. Te rest o usrode down to a nearby restaurant o havean unusually late lunch.

At 7pm we were inormed that itwould an hour more to get the repairs

Riding along theSe RoadS ReqUiReS one to be in an aleRt State oF mind

becaUSe along with Slow moVing tRactoRS the Road Space getS USed by

ShepheRdS gUiding theiR heRdS oF cowS to the next gRazing gRoUnd!.

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done. Instead o waiting or theother group, we decided to pusho and reach the hotel where we

would be staying or the night. Teroute that we were instructed toollow traversed through remotevillages. Tere were no signboardsand it would be a ew kilometersbeore humans could be spotted.

We decided against continuingon the same route and searchedour way to the nearest nationalhighway. It was a smooth ride and

we easily ollowed the signboardsto reach Nakhatrana, our nal stopor the night.

Once there, we checked in at aour star hotel which oered us theprivilege o a non-vegetarian meal.

We could nally relish non-vegood to our hearts content. We

were so mentally exhausted owingto the route asco that we slept oearly hoping that tomorrow neverarrives.

Day 5 (Nakhatrana-Kala Dungar-Mandvi)

A ew participants were o theview that they were taking partin an army boot camp and nota motorcycle tour. Everyday we

were going to sleep post midnight

Our scheduled lunch stop was took us a 1kmdetour from the main highway into a villagewhere a local family hosted us.

The lunch was one of the few memorable ofor we he had the pleasure of relishing on nvegeratian food!

only to get ready and ride away by 7am the next morning! One couldnt disagree. Te resort had a hwater pool which was too tempting or one to resist a dive in! Sensibility got the better o us, or wegot ready, nished breakast and rode o towards Khavda. Te plan was to reach a scenic view poinatop Kala Dungar hill.

From the view point on top o the hill, one can see the vastness o the Greater Rann whichendlessly stretches or miles in all directions. Te Greater Rann looks like a big, fat, sheet o whitepaper containing numerous water pools acroos it. Te area beyond this hill is under the control o


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BSF and entry is prohibitedor civilians. ourists and localsare allowed access only till theIndia Bridge which connectsthe northern boundaries othe Rann. Te internationalborder with Pakistan is only70 kilometres away rom thebridge. Locals say that at times

when visibility is clear, one canspot the Pakistani outposts onthe other side o the border.

We rode down rom KalaDungar till the India Bridge.

We spent a ew minuteshanging around and chatting

with the BSF ocer on duty.Ten we rode o towardsMandvi beach which was ourscheduled stop or the night.It was an enjoyable ride romKhavda till Mandvi beach. Tespeedo needle was consistentlyhovering around 100kph.

We reached Mandvi beacharound hal an hour beore

sunset. Looking at the beachwe couldnt resist going ora stroll on our motorcycles.

At rst only, two participantssuccumbed to the pleasures oriding on the beach. In no timethe others joined in too!

Te beach was motorablerom start to end whichcomprised o a distance oaround 4 kilometres. Likepucca holligans we rode upand down the beach a coupleo times till we got tired and

had to stop. We parked ourmotorcycles, and made autile eort in showing o ourmasculinity by playing beachrugby. We ran out o breathin the next ve minutes anddecided to take it easy. We gothold o a ew chairs, sat aroundeach other and chatted about

our experiences on the tripar.

According to the origiplan we were supposed to on the beach in our sleepibags. We dumped the planresorted to an impromptuo sleeping in the mosquitcrab ree hotel rooms.

Day 6 (Mandvi-Little RaDasada)

We were scheduled to leavMandvi by 7am. Owing tolack o sleep and tirednessmanaged to get ready and only by 9am. While gettinout o Mandvi, one Classihad a mechanical breakdo

We all stuck together andwaited or the backup vehto arrive. When the mechaarrived and opened up theengine, it became clear thathe job at hand would taktime to complete. With ar

350 kilometers let to covewe participants decided tocontinue riding ahead insto waiting in a pack.

Te roads were fat, stand completely boring. Wall started eeling sleepy anit was becoming dicult tconcentrate while riding.

We pulled over or a breakand had two glasses o sugcane juice with the hope oenergizing ourselves and eresh. Ater covering aroun

70 kilometres we got elateto know that the remaininroute ran through the natihighway!

We immediately orgoour atigue while the sleepseemed to have sel-medicitsel. We all went fat out the butter smooth and per

eVeRyday we weRe going to Sleep poSt midnight only to get Ready and

Ride away by 7am the next moRning!


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Inside the little Rann, we only have the moon, a million starsand fellow trip members for company

Hot Chocolate (?!) is a local delicacy inMandvi. Its a fried maida cone filled up

with the regular dabeli filling.

This is how a wet patch of groung in the little Rann looks like.While riding there, always saty off the white patches on ground

curved our lane highway tillAdesar. Upon reaching Adesarwe stopped or a 10 min chaiand smoke break. We thenentered little Rann and re-grouped at the Mendak matamandir. We waited or the otherparticipants and the back-upvehicle to arrive. By 8.30pmeveryone had arrived and we let

towards Dasada where we wouldbe staying or the night.o reach Dasada we once

again had to traverse throughlittle Rann. Everyone among us

was excited about the prospecto riding on little rann again.Te condence level and ridingspeeds o all the participantshad improved considerably.Unortunately, two participantsgot stuck in the wet patches. Ittook us about an hour to rescuethem as their motorcycle tyres

were covered with muck whichended up blocking the wheel.

We had to remove the muckrom the tyres to ree up the

wheels.We managed to reached

Rann Riders around 2am. Itwas the most tiring day o thetrip as we were on the road oraround 14 hours. We somehow

gulped down some dinner andcrashed on the super-comybeds in our rooms.

Day 7 (Dasada-Nalsarovar-Ahmedabad)I reckon everyone would haveslept till late aternoon on thisday. Unortunately, we were

woken up by the hotel staat 11am. Tat is because, therooms were reserved or anotherbatch o tourists that weresupposed to check in anytime

ater noon! Te earlier nightwe were too tired to evenchew ood properly. We

woke up with a hunger pangthat could be satised onlyby a heavy breakast. Aterhaving our ll o parathasand toasts, we headed backto our rooms or a quick

shower.An early check out

later we lazed around inthe resort premises. Soon itdawned upon us, that weguys are here to have unand not laze around. Wedecided to have un in ourown way. In simple termsan impromptu stunt sessionollowed. A ew wheelies,burnouts, and drits later we

were all back to our smilinghappy avatars. KD brieed

us that ater lunch we wouldride to the Nalsarovar birdsanctuary and then proceedto Ahmedabad.

Ater a delicious lunch,we started contemplatingabout the idea o giving

Nalsarovar a skip andheading straight to ouhotel rooms in Ahmed

Aterall we were not hwatch birds! Besides wall tired and desperateneeded hours o sleepminutes later we awokthe act that we are he

ride. We are here as a with a schedule to ollTe advantage o goinNalsarovar would be t

we will able to ride ovlonger distance. Soon all rode o towards thsanctuary!

We reached thesanctuary close to sunbasically comprises o islands which are hommigratory birds. At suthe birds fy away whi

at sunset they head bahome. We hired a ewto get closer to the islaand increase our chanspotting a ew rare bir

We were lucky enoughsee the saras crane and

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With not much ridinto be done on the finaday, impromptu photbreaks became thnorm on that day.

We said our finalgoodbyes to eachother post a finalgossip and bitchingsession

famingo among the many migratorybirds which fock to the sanctuary as it isa breeding spot.

Te short boat ride had a soothingeect on us. We could not spot manybirds but all the mosquitoes aroundsure spotted us! For the majority oparticipants, it was their rst visit to

a bird sanctuary. It was a memorableexperience; we had our biker buddiesor company. Once o the boat, a suttabreak was announced ater which werode back to the scheduled hotel stop in

Ahmedabad.

Memoirs from the tripTis particular trip across Gujrat andinto the Rann o Kutch was organized byRoyal Eneld or the rst time. It allowed

all participants to indulge in motorcycletravel, meet new people, photographscenic locations and return home withthe desire to thump down the same routeagain. Te trip armed us motorcycleenthusiasts with a sense o achievement.It made one realize the importance obiker buddies. raveling on a motorcycle

to explore unknown destinations withlike minded people or company is a greateeling that cannot be rightully expressedin words and needs to be experiencedonce at least.

Tis tour into the Rann o Kutch,allowed all participants to analyse andimprovise on their riding skills and themotorcycles abilities. As bikers, we werenot only exposed to new riding scenariosbut also got to deal with them. In the

end, we all came out o it with enrichedbiking skills. I or one, am now morecomortable with riding a Bullet ondirt. I also got to witness rst hand theamount o beating that a Tunderbirdcan endure.

It allowed the participants to doun stu which o therwise we wouldnt

have even bothered about on a solo trip.I mean can you imagine riding yourmotorcycle solo to traverse across thelittle rann? Now image yoursel doingthe same thing your biker riends..!Get the drit? I not, then take part inuture trips organized by Royal Eneld.Te experience will be really worth themoney spent. I or one, will surely tryto attend all RE motorcycle expeditionshenceorth.

March 2010


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Team 456, a biking club from New Delhi embark upon a weekend ride to catch the glimpse of the famous Nanda Dev

A View from the To Words Photogr Abhishek Thakur Tea

Ihadnt elt this excited aboutanything in recent years as I wasor the Devbhumi Ride organizedby eam 456. Te eeling I had

was very similar to the sort o eeling

you have when going on a rst date. You look orward to it until-your-eyes-pop-out with a lot o expectation,lust, even trepidation. Now, i you arelooking or sex, murder, drugs, highspeed motorbike chases, treasure huntsor escape rom high security zones,then this is not the place to be. Tisis about how ew strangers who arepassionate about biking get together

on a demanding ride into the hills andget to know each other; all in love witheach other and live happily ever ater.

I have travelled quite a bit acrossthe country mostly in cars and also

have little motorcycle riding experience.However, the DBR was quite uniqueor me as it meant about 1100 kms omotorcycling in a group o about 35riders. I had had no such experience; andI was very eager to test my motorcyclingskills and to meet the other 34 mentallyderanged guys who wanted to do thisor pleasure. In the event, it turned outto be a motley ensemble o guys ranging

in ages between 18 to 48 years. Some were rom a proessional background;ew o them were reelancers while somehailed rom a Business background.But the common denominator which

brought us all together or this ride wasthe manic obsession with motorcyclesand riding.

So, we were all to assemble on D-Day(Tursday, 1st October, 2009) at theGhazipur Petrol Pump at 18.30 sharp.

And like good boys, we were all there by20.00. Te organisers had orgotten tomention that they will wait till eternityor all the riders to show up who were

running late. So, ater about two hourso smoking countless cigarettes, drinkinginnumerable sot drinks the moment odeparture had nally arrived! We werea group o 27 bikes and 35 guys with

a ew pillions. We also had Mayank, who had hurt himsel in an incidentprior to the ride and thereore chose toaccompany us in his car, which servedas a backup vehicle and a mobile wineshop. Parmesh was to lead the pack andSreejith was designated to sweep. So

with that, the engines roared to lie andwe were o on or ride.

Te trac was heavy, because o

which we could not keep a good pauntil we crossed Ghaziabad. Tereatthe trac thinned, the air cooled, thpollution receded, and the ride starteeling dierent. We reached Hap

without any incident and halted dinner at a roadside dhaba. Atdinner, the riding got a little dicuas drowsiness began to set in. It wdecided to take halts ater every 80 kmor so, which were religiously taken.

Ater about 200 kms o ridon smooth highways, we turned lerom Rampur. It was 03.30 a.m in tmorning and the weather was beginni


29/69

to get chilly.Most ot

he

wind cheaters, jacke

ts,

track pants, etc. slow

ly

made their way out

o

the luggage bags. Soo

n

we crossed Rudrap

ur,

Haldwaniand reache

d

Bheem aal at 05.

30

a.m.Itwascoldhere,a

nd

everybodywas lookin

g

orward to hot masala

chai and much needed

sleep.However, itturne

d

outtobejustahaltoh

al

anhourwithout sleep

or

tea.Withewgrumblin

gs

unheeded,wewereonth

e

roadagain.

AterBheemaal, it

wasa60kmsuphillclim

b

upto Almora. Te co

ld

windswerehittingushar

d,

whichhelpedingetting

rid

othedrowsinessandt

he

curvy roadsthroughhigh

mountainsdemanded

ull concentration ro

m

us.Teroutewas getti

ng

more scenicwhich cal

led

or a brie halt by t

he

riverside. Te place wa

s

beautiul, andthewat

er

was surprisingly war

m.

Most ous splashe

d

around abit andI ev

en

catnappedor awhile

.I

wasorciblywokenup

to

resumethejourney.

Just short oAlmora,

it gotoggy andbecam

e

achingly beautiul. W

e

couldseebanksoclou

ds

below us in the vall

ey.

Almoraisperchedont

op

o a mountain and as

we

reached there,the sun

brokeout.Abreakasthalt

was scheduledatAlmo

ra,

wherewehadhotparath

as

withtea.Isuferrom

a

sweettoothandIcansm

ell

asweetsshoprommile

s.

Almora isamousorB

al

Mithai which is a s

ort

o a chocolate colour

ed

Burandhassmallwh

ite

homoeopathic pills-l

ike

sugarballsonit.Oncet

he

sweettoothwastakenc

are

o,wewereonthe roa

d

again.Bynow,our

backsides

were hurting like cra

zy.

We had been on bik

es

continuously or m

ore

than 13 hours, witho

ut

any sleep.So, now t

he

haltsweregettinglong

er

01.

aking on the twisties enrouteChaukori

02.

View o the parking lot outside thehotel in Dehradun where we stoppedor lunch

3.

Abhishek & Vinod posing or a picoutside a uel station

04.

Enjoying the early morningsunshine at Charkata

05.

Fully Loaded and raring to go!

06.ime to re- group

01

02

03

04

05

06

March 2010

than usual. Until now, the riders were had started o in advance o all others to poor sta, ordering omelettes, pakoras, ater the hard core riding o the previous and that heart patients, asthmatics


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t a usua . U t ow, t e de s we enot that well acquainted with each otherbut thanks to this halt at Almora,westarted socializing beyond the ormal chitchats. It was close to noon when we letrom Almora. Chaukori rom Almorais 110 kms, but it elt nothing less than300kms. It was getting hot now and ouratigue was getting worse. Te roads herein ew patches were bad and everybodysarses were on re rom continuous riding.

Ater clocking in ew more kilometers,we made a nal halt at Arai Gar. From

here, the objective was only 20 kms orso, and we made a dash or it. Parmesh

see to the arrangements at the resort thatwas booked or us. It was exactly at 1600hours that we made our grand entry intoChaukori.

Chaukori, is a small village and itssole claim to ame is that it oers grandviews o the Nanda Devi range. I hadbeen here some 10 years ago when there

was only the Kumaon Mandal VikasNigam (KMVM) or shelter. But nowthere are about 4 to 5 resorts and Ojaswiresort was one o them, where we were

put up. Soon ater settling in, like a packo hungry wolves, we descended on the

p , g , p ,and the likes. Ater which I had a log-likesleep or a good hal an hour. Te wholeevening thereater, we ate, so much so,that the dinner could only be served at 10p.m in the night, because the kitchen wasoverwhelmed with the snacks orderedby the marauders. Dinner consisted ochicken curry and some variety or thevegans. It was past 23:00 hours by thetime dinner was done.

Te next day we were supposed tohead out early to catch the sunrise and

visit the Pataal Bhuvaneshwar, a pre-historic cave temple, 35 kms away. But

g pday, I could only get up at 08:30 a.m.So, I missed the sunrise. Te skies hadcleared in the morning ater the rains lastnight, and I could have got a grand viewo the Nanda Devi. But sadly, I missedit. Nevertheless, many riders in my groupgot to see and capture this sight.

Ater breakast, we started or PataalBhuvaneshwar, the prehistoric cavetemple. Te entry to the cave was narrowenough to deter some o us rom entering.It was also mentioned clearly outside

the temple that during this period, theoxygen level inside the cave was very low,

p ,diabetics should not venture in. Te goes down 90 eet through a very narpassage, with iron chains on both sto cling on to or dear lie. Te pas

was steep, slippery and required cahandling. Most o us decided to go made it saely to the cave. Tere wvery interesting natural shapes insidecave, which our guide interpreted asshapes o various Gods. All in all, mthe mumbo-jumbo, it was an interesexperience.

I will always remember the ride brom Pataal to Chaukori as the m

01.

Walking on ice!

02.

Dont even try to mess with us!

03.

Riding in the wee hours o morning calls orregular intervals

01

0203


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romantic one o my lie. I was one with mysel and had my bull or companion. Te skies had darkened thegently swaying pines and I was greeted to a clear and surprisingly smooth road. In such August company, mythoughts wandered to all the blessings o my lie, all the loved ones in my lie, and this memorable ride. I waslled with gratitude to the Lord Almighty. On reaching Chaukori, I straight went to the place rom where theNanda Devi is said to be seen the best. Ater spending ew moments o bliss in solitude I was joined by ewother riders and together we trekked urther to the top o an adjoining hillock.

Soon the ull moon peeped out and it was time or bonre, cold beer and hot dinner. We all settled downwith our drinks around the fame and then begun another round o introductions. Tis time though we hadmade way past our ormal sel and really got to know one another. Te night was meant or bonding with theguys and lasting riendships were conceived with promises to be there on uture rides.

Te next day we were to ride back home, so ideally we should have turned in early. But everybody lingeredaround, stretching the night into wee hours o morning. Somehow, I managed to wake mysel up at 05:45 a.mand rushed outdoors to soak in the sight o Nanda Devi one last time beore heading back.

By 08:30 a.m all o us had geared up or the ride back home. As we bid adieu to Chaukori and theserene surroundings, it started to drizzle. Te journey back was long and arduous, even perilous, as it rainedincessantly. I had to pull out my rain-suit rom its hiding place. We stopped or rereshments at Almora, and

we all gorged on some excellent pakoras there. Ater Almora, the rain got heavier and we were orced to stop

just short o Bhawali, the market town. Tereater, we got separated and reached Kathgodam in grthrees and ours. We lost precious hours in regrouping. By then it had got dark making the ride evedicult.

All those who wear glasses can vouch or the diculties o riding in the night when it rains. Trom oncoming trac scatters on your glasses, hampering visibility to a great extent. Also, the adiscourteous and ignorant drivers o this country do not know to dim their lights i there is trac c

rom opposite direction. On one such stretch, I completely lost sight o the road ahead, and went intoon the sides o the road. Fortunately, I somehow escaped the all but the incident shook me to the coTereater, we stopped at Rampur or dinner at a roadside dhaba. Few o bikes had some minor te

issues which were being sorted out by the mechanic we had on board. It was a slow progress but nevewe reached Ghaziabad at about 03:45 a.m. Once the group reassembled, we took onto our separate wahome but not beore we made promises to keep in touch.

I reached home at 04:45 a.m, bone tired, lthy and grimy, but with a sense o accomplishmennot know what is it about riding and travelling that I love so much. I have tried to analyse it manyIt is certainly not the scenery, it is neither the ood nor the drinks, and it is not the wish to get anywis probably the desire to keep going and being on the move on your avorite vehicle. And while doinyoure lucky enough to make riends or lie then its just an icing on the cake!

The Team 456 Family pose for a group snap

March 2010


32/69

Immanuel VJ & Sam hop onto their Hondas and find theperfect way to spend their Chinese New Year holidays

The

Asian

VoyageWords & Photography Immanuel VJ & Sam


33/69

Ever since I got my HondaCB 400 I wanted to do along road trip. Six monthshad rolled over in wait

o a good weekend to embarkupon the much awaited ride. TeChinese New Year was approachingahead and most o my colleaguesand riends were preparing or a

vacation along with their riendsand amilies during the New Yearholidays. For me too, this seemedlike a good opportunity to hit theroad and thereore I teamed up withmy cousin Sam who also owns theCB 400. Once the dates or the ride

were decided the next thing we hadto do was to nalize a destination.Upon hours o pondering, we nallydecided to do a cross country riderom Singapore to Malaysia coveringa distance o about 1400kms. We

were to ride all the way to Kuala

Lumpur, Malaysias capital and thenhead towards Cameron Highlandswhich is a lush green hill station.

Te next ew days were spentin deciding upon the route, hotels,places to visit and other details othe itinerary. With this, began ourcountdown to the D-Day. Botho us were really excited about theadventure we were about to getinto. We got our bikes serviced

March 2010

Where-Singapore>Malaysia>

Singapore

Who-ImmanuelVJ&Sam

Bikes-HondaCB400V-techX2

When-13th-15Feb2010


34/69

March 2010

1.NighttimeinGenting 2.Takingabreakenrou

teKualaLumpurtoSingapore 3.Petronasfuelst

ation

and checked thoroughly to minimize anytechnical glitches on the ride and alsoshopped or new riding gear and someaccessories to secure our luggage onto ourbikes.

Finally, it was the Chinese New Year! Wewere up with the rst sight o day light andgeared up or the long ride ahead. Ater ewlast minute checks were taken care o, theengines roared to lie and we were o on theroad at about 08:00am. We headed straight

towards the Singapore-Malaysia check pointto cross the border. At this point, we weregreeted with heavy trafc jams in all the velanes which easily covered over 2kms o thehighway.

By 9am we cleared all the Customsprocedures and crossed the check point.

Ater reueling at the Petronas uel station we headed towards Melaka, a historicalplace located 220 kms away rom Singapore.

We kept riding at a constant speed or thenext 90kms, soaking in the warmth othe sun and resh air rom the lush greenorests alongside the road. Next we stopped

or lunch which turned out to be a longbreak which put us o our schedule. So, wedecided to ride till Melaka in one stretch.It was a ast paced continuous ride and thisis when I understood the potential o aninline 4 cylinder engine.

On reaching Melaka we took anotherlong break exploring the place. Te uelhere didnt cost much on our pockets as it

was just Rs. 26 to a litre. From Melaka weheaded out towards Kuala Lumpur whichis around 160kms urther. On our way, wesaw the sign board o Sepang and couldntresist riding to Sepang to check out the

international F1 race track. It was a detouro about 40kms but totally worth it. Onreaching Sepang, I got to know that Sepangdid not only have an F1 track, it was a

whole area dedicated to various motorsportsactivities. We tried our hand at Go-Kartingon a 100cc 4-Stroke cart in Sepang andalso met up with some track personals whoshared with us some inormation about thetrack activities and racing scene in Sepang.


35/69

Ater clicking loads o snaps, we won our way to Kuala Lumpur. Aclocking in about 40kms rom Sepa

we reached Kuala Lumpur and ouourselves a decent hotel to crash

which had secured parking. Te ended here with 410kms on the tmeter.

On the second day o the twe had planned to ride to CamerHighlands, a hill station whicharound 220 km rom where the ho

we stayed in. Unortunately, there wa pressure drop in my bikes rear brand the days journey soon becamquestion mark. We managed to nlocal mechanic to x the problem athe next ew hours were spent at t

workshop.Tis totally put us o our sched

and once my bike was xed, decided to ride to the Petronas oweIt was real treat to the eye and made

wonder about the engineering marvwho designed these towers.

Ater posing innumerable ti

at the tower, we rode to GentiHighlands, which is a small hill statlocated at 5700 t above sea level. Tplace is quite popular or its casintheme parks, expensive hotels. also known as the Vegas o South E

Asia. We reached Genting late in

evening and were welcomed by coweather to a lively evening lled wpeople bubbling with enthusiasm. Wentered a casino called 6000 t atried our luck. At 10 pm, we suddedecided to make up or the days p

which was incomplete due to technical glitch in my bike and gonto the road again to a place callapah. Enroute, my bike stargiving the same trouble as it did in morning. Te rear brake caliper was thot and there was no brake pressuTe caliper literally steamed when tried to cool it with water. With mudisappointment, we decided to r

A kidinago-kartattheSepangF1racetrack

Thefamousandver

ybusyPetalingStree

t

b k h d h d b


36/69

March 2010back to the city and reached at about 3 amin the morning. Even then, the place wasbubbling with people and activities. Witha broken heart o not having being ableto complete the days plan. We somehowcursed ourselves to sleep.

Day Tree began a bit late and today we planned to explore the city o KualaLumpur. We visited a place called MasjidIndia which replicates the general Indianlayout o a busy market place with Indianrestaurants, shops, etc. From there we

made our way to Petaling Street- the Chinaown o Kuala Lumpur, which is popularor the ake stock o all the branded goods.

We were very careul about parking ourbikes here as this area is known to be verynotorious and bike thets are common inKuala Lumpur.

It was soon time to head back toSingapore and we started our ride back at2:30 pm. Te rst stop was again at Melaka

where we halted or 20 minutes and headedor Johor. Te ride rom Melaca to Johor

was one o the best routes in our trip withhills and scenic landscapes accompanying

us all along. Te inline 4 cylinder engineperormed really well on the highway

with quick acceleration with every smalltwist o the throttle. Te suspension andtyres complimented the engine or betterhandling. I managed to reach a top speedo 185kmph and the busy highway didntallow me to go any urther. We managed toride 340kms in 4 hours 30 minutes, with2 short breaks or re-ueling, photos andgrub.

We reached Johor at about 7 pm andtook it easy or the next 50kms till theSingapore- Malaysia check point. Once

the re-entry procedures were done, we were back in Singapore and had to rideagain within speed limits. Finally, our greatadventure road trip came to an end and

we got back home with some wonderulmemories, snaps, and stories to tell. Tethought o our next bike trip is alreadylingering strongly in our minds


37/69

he much awaited Republic Day long weekend wasapproaching. Such an opportunity seemed too temptingto most o the overworked I souls working theirbacksides out in the metropolitan twin cities o Mumbai

& Pune and thereore these bunch o wizards decided to hit theKonkan coast. Te keyboard tapping, mouse jostling proessionalsmoved in two teams with Praveen Sathaye on his Pulsar 180 andKedar on his Apache RR 160 rom Pune. Te second batch rom

Mumbai joined aboard with Hrishi on his Pulsar 180, Ryan on hisPulsar 150 Classic and Karthik on his newly acquired Karizma.

Apart rom having an interesting mix and match o motorcyclesrom across all generations, Manoj and Sachin hopped into a FiatPunto which was termed to be the backup vehicle or this weekendadventure ride.

Te rst meeting point was at Vatkal Naka where we allbiker brothers met each other ater a very long time. Once the

ceremonial hugs were done with it was time to sit down and gobblethe rst meal o the day - Udipi cuisine and Chai. Te troupethereater zoomed o onto the NH17 heading towards Konkanvia Kolad, Mangaon and Mahad. Enroute, we stopped or a briebreak at a point called Vashishthi Darshan which lies at the topo the Ghat section. From here you get to see the entire river linemaking its way through the low lying plains and cutting acrossthe mountains. Te bikers tanked themselves up with Kokam

Praveen Sathaye, along with his buddies heads out to the Konkan coast in searchof friendly dolphins and Malwani food

The Weekend RespiteWords & PhotographyPraveen Sathye


38/69

01

02

03

04

05

Sherbet, a local reresher which wasnow essential as the sun was soaringhigh and building up heat. By lateaternoon, we reached Ratnagiri andcamped at a local riends armhouse.

Ater settling in, we all went down tothe beach to immerse ourselves in thegorgeous sunset accompanied withlocal rereshments. As night dawnedupon, the coastal delicacies in theorm o sh curry and rice made wayinto our tummies. Ater dining, weonce again headed out or a nightride down the beach ater which wecurled up in our cozy beds and calledit a day.

Next day we woke up early withthe rst rays o sun hitting our tiredand sleepy eyes and geared up or thesecond leg o our journey. We onceagain hit the NH 17 at Rajapur andthen continued riding all the way

until we reached Kankavli via Kasal.Ater clocking in ew more hours oriding we nally crossed Malvan andreached arkali beach. Ater checkinginto a hotel and changing out o ourriding gears, it was time to hit the sandand luke warm waters. We lay thererelaxing and soaking the suns warmthand then ater a while ventured intothe waters o the Arabian Sea or theceremonial dip. Ater the holy dip, it

was time once again to east on seaood. We gobbled nearly everythingthere was on the menu. Ater stungdinner in our bellys to our heartscontent, we called it an early nightand hit the sack, as the next morning

we had to rise up early to catch upwith the Dolphins!

Te ollowing morning we wokeup in good time and headed towardsSindhudurg beach also known as the

Malvan beach. Once we reached thebeach, we quickly piled into a Suzukipower boat and set o into the deepsea in search o Dolphins. Te sighto the sea ortress was intriguing andgorgeous at the same time. Soonenough, we sighted a whole amilyo Dolpins bobbling up and downin the water while blowing air andmaking unny whistling noises. It wasdenitely an awesome sight! Once wegot back to the shores, it was time ora short round o snorkeling. So again

we dived into the deep waters andexplored the beautiul fora and aunaaround the coral ree near SindhudurgFort. Ater the action packed earlymorning activities, we were all veryhungry and made a dash to the closestshack or some cold beer and hotgrub. Post lunch we all went back tothe hotel and spent some time lazing

01Te three idiots

02Boats in the morning mists

03Farm house at Ratnagiri where we

sacked or the night

04Day break at Malvan beach

05Te devil wears Fieldsheer - Hrishion his 220 DSi


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01

08

02

07

03

06

04

05

01Te trees along the beach

were dotted with aquaticbirds and their nests

02Riding the rangesthrough Gaganbawda

03View rom Vashishithitop

04No, not all o us rodeon this single bike. Justtrying to get in a singlerame

05Seagulls prying or oover the sea

06Fly away home

07First and Latest - ClaPulsar 150 with 220DSi

08

Te awesome Malvancoast

around. In the evening, we yet again madeour way to another well known Malwani

joint. Ater dinner, we called it a day and hitthe sack early as the next day we had to gearup or our ride back home via the DeccanPlateau.

Te ollowing morning ater we woke upand gulped down a cup o tea we hit the roadand caught up with NH 17. Troughout our

way we saw Indian fags being hosted at manyplaces with children dressed up in crisp schooluniorms singing the National Anthem. Itcertainly does ll ones heart and soul with

a sense o pride towards our Nation. Wecontinued riding until we reached arele and

then parted ways with NH 17 and headedtowards Gaganbawda Ghats. Te worst parto the ride was getting out o Kolhapur which

was inested with heavy trac, roads whichwere under construction and ew commuters with no trac sense. But we soon cruisedthrough the turmoil and hit the NH 4 andlet a sigh o relie. We whacked open thethrottle to hear the mighty engines churn ouroodles o torque as we continued clocking inkilometers and descended

motoroids2 march 2010

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