Touring Query Approved

Get better bulbs like Philips Xtreme Power / Osram Nightbreaker or ride during the day.

+1. But if you cant , you can still make it. Ride slow and safe. Try to follow cars doing decent speeds at a safe distance and you can easily cut through the distance.

Or you can ride with a RTR unless the Pune folks have a nice plan for Sunday morning

Which RTR?

@TS BTW I think Ritwik will be riding to Amby on Sunday morning on his R15 to meet plenty of Mumbai folks for a G2G. You could continue on alone or ride back with the Mumbai folks..

Edit: Ritwik and Beruoist on their respective R15s

Night ride back from Pune is a bit difficult. The road edges aren't marked in many places. There are no street lights. Some road repair work is still on so you won't notice the bad sections until you are in the middle of the bumps and grooves in the road.

Wear a clear helmet visor and get an osram Nightbreaker bulb and just ride at 70-80 and you'll be fine. Stay close to the left side of the right (fast) lane...essentially close to the middle of the road but in the right lane.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions and tips.. I'm sorry, couldn't reply earlier..

I was a little skeptical about traveling on an unknown risky route with not so great stock headlights but I had no other option and I took the risk... the trip was made yesterday and gladly I am safe and sound with a great riding experience..

@antz.bin : I am planning to upgrade to Osram's but couldn't do it before the trip, will do it soon

@Hyperion : as the second best option, I did travel through the ghat part following the other vehicles on the road.. however for most parts I was on my own as not too many cars travel on that route, mostly cargo trucks.. but they run too slow..

@satyenpoojary : I wish I could travel with the gang.. but sadly my timings were a little off..

@gsferrari : yes, I agree that the route isn't the best for night riding.. although the roads are good, but there aren't any road-lights are the track isn't marked properly either. There were times I had to stress hard to look which way the road was heading.. I did travel close to middle most times though, following your advice.. thanks again.. and yes my helmet has a clear Visor, no tinting

Mumbai to Pune was pretty smooth, I started from Vashi at around 7:45 am, reached Panvel, asked a few ppl on the for directions and reached Pune at around 10:35 am. The ghat section was awsome and I wasn't expecting to hit the expressway soon after moving out of it.. At the same time, that section got me worried about the return journey, as I felt it can be a little difficult crossing that without good light.

The return journey started at round 6:35 pm from Aundh. Once again, I started off asked local people for directions and soon I was on the highway (NH-4). I decided to keep looking for the NH-4 boards along the way to keep confirming if I was on the correct track, but still I felt it was better to ask whenever I had a doubt (at cross roads or such).

I did cover most part almost fine and was closing in to Panvel, when I think I made a mistake. There was a road sign which said "To Panvel Toll by-pass" and pointed towards right along with another one pointing straight and said "Mumbai" .. I kept moving straight, as I couldn't find any one to confirm. On the same route after few odd kms, I was on a cross road again, right arrow read "Panvel 02 kms" and the straight one read "Mumbai 58 kms". At that point, I asked a policemen there for the way to Vashi, and he pointed towards the one heading straight, and I took the same. I think here, I traveled a few un-necessary kms as that was the route to JNPT and I had to divert back and move towards Kalamboli to meet the Sion-Panvel highway near MGM Medical college. After that, it was my regular route and I reached home at around 9:15 pm.

What happened at the ghats? Well, honestly.. I didn't even realize it until I had already crossed the section. May be I was focusing too much on the road than surroundings.

All in all a great first experience in touring. Lessons learnt.. get a proper riding gear for such trips, a plain tee and jeans isn't enough to save you from the cold-winds and unidentified flying insects. Btw, I am still not sure on how to avoid major saddle sore..

Congratulations for your first Mum-Pune run.
I guess, you took the correct route.JNPT route is traffic free.

Thanks @tourer_kashif it was indeed a good experience..

Yeah, the JNPT route was virtually empty, well built and had road lights in most parts, on second thoughts... it was a better choice after all.. thanks again..

A jacket and gloves really help...!
Saddle sore can be avoided in a couple of ways... move your arse around every few KMS before the soreness bites in..
Like Guru said somewhere :P A dab of Nivea is all it takes and sore butt is history!

Great! Hope to see more of you on roads

Saddle sore is mostly due to sweat and moisture in the crotch coupled with the tearing of the skin as you move around on the saddle. The sweat goes into the micro-cracks in the skin, bacteria get in there and make merry and it starts to hurt like hell.

After your shower, dry yourself thoroughly, apply 1 coat candid cream and then Nivea all around the "area" especially in the joints and edges...

I know this sounds yuck but it is the only solution!

@digitalD
I too travelled from Mumbai - Pune - Mumbai yesterday. With me was my friend on RTR 180. Started at 8:15 in morning (Planned was 7 AM but my bugger friend came late) to my place in Ghatkopar. Took Palm Beach road and from there took the JNPT road. I have travelled on both these roads many times are we were continuosly driving above 100 as I knew the roads.

Stopped at Gurudatta snacks at Panvel had a nice breakfast followed by a smoke. Left Panvel at around 9:30. Took a short smoke break at Khopoli. Stopped at Lonavala for Chikki for my friends niece again a smoke and drove off to Pune. Reached Pune at 11:15.

Followed same route back home. But it was night. Left Pune at 6 PM and till we reached Lonavala it was dark and cold. Both of us were shivering as the useless Jackets were not at all helping.

RTR's stock headlights are useless (as per my friend). Few weeks back got both the Headlights started on my Fazer so both the stock lights of my Fazer were enough for us to drive around 90KMPH.

Took few smoking breaks and reached home at 9:30 PM. Took a bath and off to bed.

^BS

IMO, RTR has the best reflectors in ANY Indian bikes...
The stock bulb and the spread is even better than my R15! I have done a decent number of night rides on the RTR...

The worst Indian performance bikes for night rides are
- CBZ, ZMA, FZ, R15..

The Best night riding tool is P220! or Avenger!

Yep I agree P220F has the best of all.