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Actually under the circs, I wouldn't overtake him unless I was in a hurry as 140 for our roads is not slow. Just latch onto his tail and let him clear the road for you - no way he can out run you, and you get to ride tension free at that speed. If there is anything that pops up suddenly to be hit - he'll do the honours, and you have 2s more to brake. Such drivers try to shake off the bike, and give up after 20 - 30 min once it sinks in that their cage is no match/ run into traffic in which case it is game over anyways.

Did a one-day ride amidst lovely weather (super rains) with my friend Satyajit to Shirdi. No darshan nothing...just rode to Shirdi and came back. The pics will do the talking better

My route: Mira Road-Thane-Igatpuri-Ghoti-Sinnar-Shirdi and back: 485 kms


Just love this bridge...unfortunately never been in a train on this route :'(



The railways tunnels at Igatpuri



Another shot of the bridge...am going to walk over it someday



Drenched Igatpuri roads



Breakfast stop at Ghoti...this should be certified a 5 star restaurant. The bill makes me say that. The good thing was I came to know of an interesting place here.



It was pouring...and whenever the rains subsided- a click stop. Wish I could capture the hills in the distance as beautiful as they looked to the naked eye. Camera limitations but



Lets go GREEN, red and tricolour



The Sinnar-Shirdi Road. Minus a small bumpy stretch...it was awesome.



Ghoti-Sinnar Road



Errr...lets go GREEN again



Wish I could ride till the top...well I could have...turning back would have been a problem



The near-barren landscape



Land-blasting in the distance...wish could zoom in more.



Satya rides off



The CBR with the GSR (Ghoti-Sinnar Road)



They only lug around for 10 kms a day. And had stopped for the day and could only pass after the powergrid was switched off. The power cables are too low for these giants.



Lunch stop on Ghoti Sinnar Road.



The food was nice..maybe coz of the weather outside.



The clouds resting on the hills



Igatpuri was awesome on the way back...all cloudy and foggy.



The complete album here:

https://picasaweb.go...nyRideToShirdi#

It had been some time since I took a ride to actually laze around and “do nothing” as it were, recent rides being frantic dashes to distant places to save time. The agenda for this ride was to reach, relax and get rid of the chicken strips on the way back. The destination was Tapola, on the shores of the Koyna reservoir. There was no booking, I would choose the place to stay on arrival, a luxury that one can afford on weekdays.

Start:



There was no traffic, I was at Panvel in 45 minutes. Unfortunately, the rest of that ride was not so nice. It was cold. I was not wearing the usual insulated jacket but the denim one with armour, knowing that the day would be searingly hot. I mean, cold in APRIL? I wasn’t even carrying any long sleeved T shirts. NH 17 is also  a pretty crappy road at night, what with the construction work that has started and the fact that you face an endless stream of high beams. All the same, it was just about daybreak when I turned from Poladpur towards M’war and started to climb. As I reached the Pratapgarh junction  the weather changed. Til then it was cool, which, combined with wind chill, made it cold. Now, it felt like a direct blast from the freezer. Time to thaw out and take a few pictures.







The only real plus point of reaching at the crack of dawn was the fact that the extortion cell which penalizes tourists for visiting M’war was not manned yet, so  - no entry  tax. I think they should give discount vouchers redeemable in M’war as a gesture of appreciation instead – without them the economy of this place would collapse. Anyways he bitter cold made me stop at the first food joint that was open for some chai and Omlette pav. Feeling much better, I moved on towards Tapola.

First view of the lake.



Boat on the river.




Village far below





The Dutt Mandir (tourist attraction), trek required to reach it, on the opposite bank




You’ll be able to see both as specks on the first photo



Finally I reached Tapola and made sme enquiries about the boating, accommodation, etc, and finally decided that I’d rather stay in tented accommodation some distance away, where they had watersports activities in the package itself. Mahabaleshwar agro tourism, boat ride, water scooter, swimming in the lake , all the kayaking you want, bullock cart rides, all meals + acco @ 1.5K for 24 hours. Considering the fact that the boat ride itself costs 600 bucks at Tapola, this was not an unreasonable package. More important – tent, no hotel like atmosphere and I practically  ad the whole place to myself.

Parked outside the tent. 10am, and the day’s riding is over.




Inside




View from the tent towards the reservoir

The Prelude:
7^th March, 2012
More than 2 years of @$$ slogging, job dis-satisfaction reaching at its all time high, and with a new Job in hand, made me type my Short and Sweet Resignation Letter .
I walked into the Company Director’s room and gave him the “Love” Letter. Three minutes of silence, and then 20 minutes of talk and I was walking out of the room.
Pulled out the phone from the pocket, called Her and told- Chalo Ji, Tayari Karo. Himalayas are calling!

9^th March, 2012
This was the last working day in the office. A lot of people around me were wondering how did I manage to get the approval with just two days of notice period, and I left it all for them to ponder upon. One week salary was at stake and I couldn’t care any less. The evening had the cake cutting Fare-well ceremony. There were few who had a tear or two rolling down their eyes, and then there were a lot of them, you were Happy and “Gay”, as if I care!
The 45 minute drive from the Office I had just quit to my Sweet home was perhaps the longest I ever drove. I just could not wait. Perhaps after a long time, I was free.
21:30 hrs and we still hadn’t packed a thing. The plan was to leave by 12, so as to touch the foot hills by 5am. I was too tired with all the work I had done on my last day at the office and so was my wife. So we decided to sleep for some time and will leave, once we are good to go. After all, Leaves from the office was just not an issue.
So after a little nap of around 3 hours, we woke up at 3am and started the packing. I am pretty (in)famous in my friend circle for collecting things that I just might need on a rainy day and so, we dint have to worry about the shortage or lack of  anything.
At 5 in the morning of 10^th March 2012, me and my wife began our travel to Spiti, in our 2003 model Maruti Zen LXi, that had more than 1L kilometres on the odometer.

Tomorrow the Bike turns completely One Month old and 3500kms on the Oddo.

After a Quick user review its time for a Detailed Ride Report, Review.

Writing this after I took the bike on a Tour this weekend, I chose the route:
Delhi-Meerut-Roorkee-Dehradoon-Mussorrie-Badkot-Yamunotri-Badkot-Juddo-Vikasnagar-Ponta Sahib-YamunaNagar-Thanesar-Panipat-Karnal-Delhi.



This route consists of the toughest terrains in India, Off the Road may be like 400kms out of 950kms of the Trip, and the Best of tarmac as well.

Prelude:
Since the time I had covered its launch, the itch had been there to buy it, ever since I got it in my hands, It is for sure, it was not put to rest .


The running in was finished in 3 days, in city's traffic and mostly with pillion, the duke got serviced, and the Guy at PBK advised to not open it fully as of now, try to do the Second running in for next 1000kms which was riding at 90-110 kmph on open stretches, did as advised.
I witnessed / read / spoke to many duke owner's - Big rallyists, Real Rider's, SBK owner' did a test run on it, and gave their feedbacks, but this is not what I am gonna write here, i wanted some real long time to be spent with it. and my own some cents over what I feel as the owner and a Rider for Duke.

Going by the Format of DOC, which I found was utterly nice

Looks:

You BET!! Its an Attention Grabber




Nothing seems to be out of proportion, Saree guard even is pretty logical. Leg Guards, Pretty Decent  to Protect the bike from the lightest scratch. You look great on it even if you are 6'Ft.



First thing on Road, when some wanna-be-biker see's it: "Ye to FZ hai, issney thodi aur Modify kara rkhi hai".

Yeah it does look like it, but that doesn't it is FZ, Anyways, Even a kid can tell is not FZ



Fit And Finish:

The bike feels very well planted, everything seems to be in place, except for the footpegs, looks like they placed the Pillions a little ahead to make it for the rider, This should have had a little more ahead to made it real comfortable, pain for long tours.

The Instrument Panel is fully loaded with stuff like: Kms to empty, time you started riding in Mins, AVG speed, Mileage, Oddo, TRIP1, trip2, F-Trip, Next Service, Any malfuctions, Low fuel, Side Stand, gear indicator, Nifty RPM, gear shift indicator and it even tell you much money you have in your pocket and what is in dinner today at home

The Tank's Lock Quality is pretty cheap, the handle is very light, A Slight fall bends it, not mine , saw it on someone else's

The Radiator Grille is Pretty useful


The Horn is pretty weak still, looks like some scooty behind you is trying to make a sound.


CITY Commuting:

A Hot Knife through Butter.

Short gearing makes it worth riding in city, you don't have to shuffle between mars and moon to change gears if you are stuck in traffic, if you are in the third, it can pull you out, I have personally not put First gear ever since then in first gear, second gear does the Wheelie, so no need of one either.

The Mirror's are pretty good, once you have set them, no need move your head, just by moving eyes you can see even on 120-125 kmph.

Brakes are pretty efficient., Tyres, wonderful, detailed tests later...

and for people like :

Revmaster, on 06 May 2011 - 11:35 AM, said:

Bhai Sahab: 32kmpl, while on the way back- ekdum pelum-pel no-where below 100kmph



Brakes and Tyres:

Absolutely Wonderful - though the Disc brake rear is a little bity, and you will find feel brooding about it.

Tyres are a Little soft compound, expected to last like 15k-20k kms, max.
The tyres 150/60 R and 110/70 F, are bloody awesome, lean as much guts as you have, they wont go off, unless there's something wrong with the tarmac, I felt bike sliding a lot earlier, one has to get to understand the powerband and for city also the Rear Suspension Preload should be atleast 3, but if you are riding in hills, 4/5 is what I can recommend.

to test the tyres fully to potential you definately need to take this to track, no way on roads you can do that.
Compared to FZ, I was doing the corner's effortlessly, when a frnd took the curve at 85kmph, i took the same corner at 115 , and over took him during the Lean only, though I scared the Crap outtra' him but it was fun. He was on CBR 250r

Rear:


Front:





One Self portrait Shot Admiring the machine :




Aaagley dharawahik me dekhiye - Touring Aspect, Electricals, Seating, Engine, Suspension, Tank and the Final Verdict

ZMR is nowhere in this league at all, apart from being fully faired, unlike the 200NS which promises to be real VFM, and a deserving entrant to this club. The CBR250 with pillion, can open distance rapidly against the ZMR, any speed, and the antiquated engine, chassis and suspension design belong to another era.

If off roading the chain should be kept dry (to avoid picking up grit), then cleaned and oiled before regular usage. Unfortunately if you are doing both twice daily all you can do is to clean the stuff on a more regular basis, and oil it  with 90W oil every couple of cleanings (as the chain lube is more viscous and picks up more dirt).

maverick1, on 01 April 2012 - 10:10 AM, said:

again,i felt may be i am wrong that cbr does put effort on wrist mroe  but back was more comfy on cbr then duke.

I think you are sold for the CBR  Get one...not a bad bike at all!

Just came across a small pricelist from a N250R owner on XBHP:

16k for a single front fork (so 32 for two- more expensive than the USD forks of the KTM)
25k for rear shock
38k for radiator
26k for rear alloy
3.5 k for sidestand
15k for starter motor
6k for front fender(mudguard)
25k for speedometer

PHEW!!!

BTW on my way to BWM this Sunday...I was shocked to see Yogesh taking those tight corners so effortlessly on the Duke- specially considering that he has major of his experience riding an Avenger. I was all like a bheegi billi thinking ke "abhi gira, abhi gira"

You need an infusion kit, some 25mm aluminium strip 1.5mm thick and about 5" long, a nose plier and a drill bit with a 10mm bit. Apart from that, the oil dispenser. I'm planning to use an oil can later, right now, I'm feeding it through a syringe.

How to:

• Roll one end of the strip such that the tube of the infusion kit passes through it (get rid of the needle).
  
• Bend as shown in the pic below and use the nuts and bolt at the end of the swingarm cap to fasten it after drilling the 10mm hole at the appropriate place.
  
• Using the left side footrest extrusion, secure the flow control mechanism. On Indian CBRs this can be wedged between that and the saree guard, else use cyanocrylate adhesive and tie wraps.
  
• Take the tubing diagonally upwards into the fairing such that it come out somewhere near the tank. Please note, it should feed properly with gravity!
  
• Connect oil source/alternately push in about 5-10ml oil with a syringe after every fuel stop as you get underway

A few things to bear in mind.

• The syringe can be a large capacity one, but if possible try get one with a plastic plunger as rubber plungers and spent oil are not the best of friends.  Inject the lube just before starting off.
  
• Adjust the flow control such that the oil takes at least 20min to empty, too fast and you'll have one messy rear wheel.
  
• Secure the other end of the pipe without kinking it or blocking it after injecting the lube, unless you dont mind it dribbling all over your bike as it drops down somewhere onto the crankcase instead of the chain, remember, gravity is doing the job, let it act in the right direction.
  
• You can use any oil as you will be lubing the chain very frequently (every 300km or so). Spent engine oil/90W oil all these will work as the lubing is being repeated very frequently, courtesy the tiny tank.
  
• To keep things from getting messy, inject a little AIR into the tubing after you inject the oil, so that you are dealing with an empty tube (at the top when you are securing it, not one filled to the top with oil.

I think you can see the saree guard mod as well, which makes for an improvised luggage rack, designed to carry heavy stuff like your tools etc, which otherwise are a royal PITA as they are heavy and have the potential to tear through bags and damage paintwork.

The bending is done on a press, and the bends are reinforced with welds subsequently as the tube gets squashed  and is therefore a weak point

^^ which, I think, is better for most of the owners in any city. In Mumbai, the "uniform" for many CL500 riders seems to be a beanie "helmet" and shorts with sandals/rubber chappals.

The RE is in it's element puttering around town, threatening to do a long tour at any given moment, but do remember that in this day and age most of them have ONE fuse for the entire electrical system (the starter gets another), and the non counterbalanced engine design has not changed significantly since the days of Rajendra Prasad  when some not particularly talented possibly hungover engineers suddenly realized that they had to submit some some sort of motorcycle design  to their employer in a hurry....

Tata Launched its Safari and Offered a Drive in it.

Will write up more,here if this seems appropriate place for it.

Hello all,
Some of you might be confused on why you don’t see me as an admin of this forum anymore. While some might be just happy
Well, It was time for me to let go the responsibility… . A few admins of this forum had left this community without any announcement as such, but I feel I owe one here. Especially for the opportunity it has provided me.
I first met  the then team of Motoroids at the Chakkan race track when the Ninja 250R was being previewed.
I (as a freak enthusiast) had a go on the bike along with other “journalists”
This was a BIG thing for Indian Motoring and so it was perhaps this excitement that made me talk with everyone there. Infact I had a short discussion with almost all of them. From journalists to camera crew to the blokes at Bajaj. The discussion that mattered to me was obviously the one with Bajaj, and then the other with Amit, Rash and Eshan. I was glad to have finally spoken to some blokes who knew what they were doing!!!

Then one fine day, I sign up on this forum and see a lot of old friends here and I decide to stay. Did my bit helping manage the show. Did my bit helping kickstart the activities. Did my bit contributing to the community. And may I add, got my share of expletives for being a “Motoroids Agent\Mole\Employee” for any and sundry! But that didn’t matter ..   I had my share of fun and I am happy with whatever I got from Motoroids!

I would be taking up a role soon that would prohibit me from “managing” any social community. And hence it’s time for me to step down as an admin. I may not be hyper active as before, but yeah I shall lurk around….

CV....his budget is 20-30 lacs and you are quoting the Thar & Bolera. Doob mar

Hi All,

Tyre change is the thing right now doing rounds of many people who have had ownership of CBR 250 for over a year of time. Its actually a sad state of affairs that you have bikes of your choice but when it comes to choice of shoes to be worn on those two wheeled beauties comes into discussion its mum everywhere. You either shell out exorbitant amount of dosh to get a pair of choicest tire from abroad or stick to the stock tire. If you get lucky you might find an odd pair or single tire you want which is very very unlikely or still a very costly affair.

Now since my CBR 250 silver had done over a year on road with over 17000 kms on odo I was on look out for new pair of tires. Asking absoultely everywhere in Pune and Mumbai all I got was disappointment. Until one of my close friends found a new dealer in Pune who has started a MRF authorised dealership (pardon me but Pune is a mystery when it comes to locating a place for me always but this dealer is located in Kothrud next to Suzuki bike showroom after Durga Cafe, go figure :-) and he provided us with MRF Revz 110-70-17 (front) and 150-60-17 (rear). This is the tire which comes stock on KTM Duke 200. The fitment was done yesterday on 08 September in rainy conditions in Pune. Me and my friend who own CBRs (sorry baby CBRs ;-) traveled from Pune to Mumbai in the late night time after much stress owing to new set up of the dealer and lack of expertise on fitting tires on two wheelers; since these guys are more into four wheeler tire dealing. Which ensured we were travelling after 8 pm in the night from Kothrud.

This travel ensured we got good first impression of how this tire behaves on CBR owing to

1) Varied road conditions
2) Lots of rains and some dry spells

Here are my personal impressions of this tire especially from CBR 250 angle

- This is one gem of a tire coming from MRF I believe for the first time. Felt very consistant and no nasty surprises encountered in a travel of close to 160 kms
- This is pure road tire. This will have immense nausea if you ever happen to go on off road trail. Not meant to go on those territories
- The CBR automatically felt a lot nimble, light and sure footed on cornering (wherever dry surfaces were encountered. I did not have stomach to experiment on wet surfaces since trying this tire for the first time)
- Straight line stability (consistency) was equally evident with maneuvering the bike was much much easier than the contigos which CBR comes fitted as stock tire.
-With contigos I felt the bike used to be a lot more lethargic and lazy when you want to commit into any move say threading through traffic or committing on to curves but with the Revz the bike feels absolutely planted on most road surfaces.
-This tire is different from one perspective that it heats up pretty quickly. Even after a spirited sprint on Palm Beach road which is I think a short stretch of good tarmac the tire was pretty warm. I am keeping my fingers crossed that this tire doesnt wear out fast.
-Since the rear being a low profile tire (which I prefer since some nostalgic times on my earlier ZMA  with Street Shark Sakuras which I distinctly love on corners) you do end up getting a tad firm ride than squishy ride that I experienced for over 17000 kms on my earlier contigos. Please note the tire pressure was elecronically measured and put in by the dealer while fitting the rubber and we never checked tire pressure through our short ride.Hence I am trusting the dealer had put in appropriate pressure which I shall get back to you tomorrow once bike is in my hands. (Up for 4th service).

-I felt bike to be a lot more free moving than the stock tires. Now this could purely be a psychological aspect but I actually felt acceleration and the feedback was much more there and available at just twist of the wrist which I felt lethargic on my stock tires

-Look wise (which was least of my concern) the tire looks a tad small from a cross angle. Bang behind the bike and it looks pretty much ok quite similar bar grooves with stock contigoes. With low profile you would notice a larger gap between the tire and the plastic tire hugger actually visible since this is overall 10 inch smaller tire as compared to contigos which can be a turn off for a few blokes who do have a significantly larger space reserved for such an aspect in their hearts. If you get over it then this tire is worth it in my opinion.

Kindly take one more point into consideration that I am just about an average rider and not a track junkie or pro rider hence when cornering is considered please take more of a touring angle to my above statement than a track oriented perspective.

All in all I am very happy with this change and especially when you consider cost of a pair (which was a steal in my openion-Rs. 4450 for pair of tires) I think the decision seems to be pretty much in line of what I was thinking of. The only aspect I am not sure of is how many kms this tire will last.

Also take cognizance of the fact that this experience is based on new tires hence I would update on this same space my experience with decent kms on the odo with these rubbers to actually take you through the journey of this tire's life and if it changes its basic behaviour

I shall upload some pics tomorrow since yesterday was a quick dash to Pune and back home hence not really a click oriented day.

I hope this small experience from my side would help in decision making process for all those looking out for a change of tire/s.

Regards
Parimal

Delhi to Goa is 2000 km, which  is not going to be tough on the CBR, even two up as the CBR is well capable of running at a true 110 (speedo 116) all day without getting stressed. Delhi Mumbai - pretty much all dual carriageway, remember that bikes are not allowed on the expressway and you have a much longer route via Ahmedabad and the old NH8 which is totally some 120+ km of crowded, slow road. You could consider bypassing the mess by turning off NH8 at Shamlaji and going directly south  to join NH8 again just before Baroda, some 10 - 15 km before the six lane runway begins again. The internal road was in good shape when I did it in June this year.

I'd look at Surat/Baroda as the midway halt point, preferably Surat (or even a bit further south, but not Mumbai) as the next day's riding will be rather slower.

To bypass the mess that is Mumbai, take a left onto Ghodbunder road just before it enters Mumbai, get onto the eastern express hwy at Thane, and the Airoli bridge thereafter. If you have a GPS use the Palm beach road to take you all the way till the point where you have to choose between the Pune Kolhapur route and NH17. The Kolhapur route is a bit faster, NH 17 is a lot more scenic, good and plentiful eateries on both roads.

The most important thing now - the timing. You want to go through Mumbai while it is still half awake , ie between 3 and 5 am. As an added plus, it will reach you to Goa during daylight (the last bit, whatever route, will be ghat), and anyways NH 17 is no fun at night. At all. Tertiary benefit - if going through Pune, they'll be asleep too. Assuming Surat as your midpoint halt, this means that you will be getting the wheels rolling from there at midnight.

Again, assumiong a restful 12 hr halt (meals, full 8 hrs of sleep, etc), it means that you have to reach Surat about noon. Which is not bad at all as you will do the Shamlaji Anand stretch in the morning when you can ask directions, and the gorgeous twisties just out of Udaipur with the rising sun. You can work out the Delhi departure time accordingly (yes, you can actually do this after the day's work if you are packed and ready).

Obviously, running like this means NO rest halts at all except the midway point, and only one or two meals during the ride + water in hydropacks. But you had better be clad warmly for night 1. Rajasthan at night - direct line from the north pole. And pray real hard that there is no fog.

Be in NO hurry!

Read up reviews especially competitive reviews if you can find them and then stalk ebay (india + US) for best possible deals, sometimes you may have to wait but it is worth it. I bought my cam as it was just being phased out for the next model - the showroom quote of 26K was already 22 and 23 in most places and then I got this deal on ebay.in with bundled freebies (proper camera bag + 8GB 4x card) for an effective price of just over 15K. So if you do your homework, you should get top of the line stuff for just the cost of the lens that you are planning to buy, no reason to even think of selling the SLR you have. The SLR is still special for the flexibility it offers and the large sensor where low light shots, esp action shots come out crisp, unlike the best prosumers with their smaller sensors. However, to match the zoom that say an FZ40 pana offers (about 50x optical albeit at the cost of a smaller image), you'd need a lens like a howitzer with it's own tripod for an SLR.

Many of these discounts will be "manufacturers warranty" but make no mistake, those days when smugglers sold crap on baazee.com are long gone - on ebay, unless you confirm receipt  (ie, a functional proper unit) the seller does not even get the money (which is paid to ebay by you) for his goods, so he has a damn good incentive not to sell rubbish. With Panasonic/Sony/Nikon/Canon, any box packed unit is likely to be 99.999% perfectly functional, it will just be pure bad luck if you get something otherwise.

Do your research, don't be in a hurry and you won't be disappointed.

It even has a fuel gauge.

Sorry for late update (due to lots of pending items, couldn't log into forums).

Finally managed to finish a rally.

Some road updates:
- Jammu - Pir Ki Gali - Srinagar route is mostly tarmac. Between Bafliaz and Pir Ki Gali there are many under construction sections(all small in distance) & we encountered land slide at couple of places (before the rally). Between Pir Ki Gali and Sophian there are under construction sections mostly in corners, otherwise the tarmac is of very good quality. Any motorcycle/car should be able to cover this route (saw a WagonR as a service vehicle).
Sophian is the last village to have petrol pump (when coming from Srinagar side).

- The Day 2 route via Sinthan pass can be divided into three sectors. Road till the top of pass (from Srinagar side) almost tarmac (with a few diversions for bridges). Once you cross Anantnag, there are many small villages with narrow roads but once past these villages, the road turns into wide two lane with very good tarmac. For ~31km's on the other side of Sinthan is bad, first few km's are slushy due to melting ice and rest are full of gravel. There are a few wide water crossings as well. Post these 31km's, ~26km's is tarmac with under construction patches at places. (Then the rally stage ended for us, so not sure about the rest of road).
Except for the bad 31km's, it should not be of much an issue for any vehicle.
There are no petrol pumps once you cross Anantnag (I didn't see any until the start of rally stage & surely there are none in the ~87km's of rally stage).

Following are the official time's & distances given for the Xtreme category:
Day 1:
Srinagar - Heerpora: Transport, 64.12km, 160min's.
Heerpora - Bafliaz: Competitive, 65.65km, 50min, 40min's MPL.
Bafliaz - Heerpora: Competitive, 65.64km, 50min, 40min's MPL.
Heerpora - Srinagar: Transport, 64.24km, 180min's.

Day 2:
Srinagar - Daksum: Transport, 97.63km, 135min's.
Daksum - Mughal Maidan: Competitive, 85.81km, 70min, 60min's MPL.
Mughal Maidan - Daksum: Competitive, 84.58km, 70min, 60min's MPL.
Daksum - Srinagar: Transport, 99.18km, 180min's.

A couple of pics, extracted from the GoPro video camera's video frames.


Day 2 Leg 1 - Sinthan 002 by NomadicNav, on Flickr



Day 2 Leg 1 - Sinthan 001 by NomadicNav, on Flickr

Have clicked a few pictures from the camera, during the recce and when I wasn't racing, will post in few days.
Video might take time.

Do you really expect Bajaj customer service dept to tell you about problems with their product? Seriously? Maybe, if you ask them nicely they will give you an exhaustive list of issues their older Pulsars had? I do go to xbhp for light entertainment, but not for issues where commonsense, intelligence or truth is a requirement.

I'm more than a little surprised he hasn't yet got back here with a list of issues. Anybody who says there are no issues is simply somebody who loses all credibility as regards speaking the truth, and we have to view all other statements by that person regarding the bike in that light.

I can tell you one issue by just looking at the bike. Lack of weather protection at highway speeds. There are more. But we have not heard this from Satyen. Yet.

To test the bikes as their "beta testers" did Bajaj would have had to spend BIG money to hire such people AND pay for the fuel too. They got this free. And the same people who have done this (free, and at the risk of personal inconvenience, possibly spoiling a holiday, and paying for the fuel themselves) seem to be following some kind of gag order for the "privilege" of being unpaid beta testers, and getting to use the new bike FOC.

Reminds you of the joke about Adam and Eve being Indian. Scroll down...

















They had no clothes, shelter or belongings and called the place they stayed "paradise"

And, we're still waiting.