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Before I shamelessly boast about my new pride, I will have to thank the following people who made the Ninja a possibility.


Allen


Prithiv


Prathap



Thanks to Praful for his contribution to the photos as well!

This article is an experience on how I made my Ninja dream a practical possibility. If you are probably interested in the ownership experience, you can directly jump to this link.


Earlier

The Ninja was finally launched in India after such a long wait. I even stopped waiting for the product and was blindly saving money for the next bike. Suddenly, one day I saw a Ninja standing in one of the Probking showrooms in Pune. It got me run for more information and I got the news confirmed that the launch had happened. I called up folks trying to find out their reviews on the bike. I couldn't get much except for the reviews written for xBhp. After the very short research, I had decided to wait, though I had the money in hand. And trust me, it was a tough decision for me.

I flew down to Chennai on a weekend to take up some exams. Generally my exam centre used to be Velachery. For once, it happened in Adyar, where the Probiking showroom was located in Chennai. I had to pass through that and look at the beautiful bike standing there. It was a heavy dose right in the morning and it forced me finish the exam earlier than I expected to finish it. I ran to the showroom to check out the bike. I had already been a customer of Probiking for a few years now and I knew most of the people there. When I looked at the bike in flesh, my jaws dropped! It was huge!!! Much much bigger than how it looks in a photo. I almost decided to book it, when my mind again stopped me. I looked down and told the folks there that was going to come back after 6 months, and walked away.

Just after lunch, I had to take up my next exam. I had to pass through the same showroom, and looking at it, I had now gone overboard. This exam was shortened as well and I went back to the showroom. I saw the Manager of the showroom patienetly explaining to one of the customers about the price of the bike and its features. By now, I was completely familiar with all those. I waited patiently until the Manager was done with that customer, and he finally came to me and said, "I'm sorry to have made you wait, Sir. How can I help you?" I didn't have much to say except, "One Ninja please. Make it green!" I paid off the advance right that moment without further questions, to book myself a slot for delivery. I was assured a delivery in a few weeks' time.

I was depending on my savings to buy the bike and when I really needed it, I wasn't going to get it for various reasons. Thats exactly when my cousin, Prithiv helped me source the huge sum for a temporary time until I got hold of my cash. I had problems getting the cash from him to the showroom. Allen was helpful soul who ran between the ends of the Chennai city to complete all the formalities for my bike.

After all this was done, I got a call from the showroom telling me that the bike was ready for delivery and all I had to do was just come down and pick it up!


Wednesday

It happens before every ride. Its so hard to sleep and I just don't understand how the excitement just is so high. This time, apart from a the fact that I was planning to ride down to Chennai from Pune, it was also the fact that I had booked myself a new Kawasaki Ninja 250R. I was going to head to Chennai on the 220 and return on the Ninja with the engine breaking in pretty much in mind. I had informed my other 2 pals staying with me in the apartment that I would be gone by 4:30 AM and I was ready as said. I packed the saddle with basic clothes and some spares. I put the gadgets in place and started the engine, that woke up the security sleeping nearby. He didn't do much, but turned the other way around and fell asleep!




We had a team outing at Chandni Chowk the previous night and I was just recalling about it as I passed the place and touched the highway. The NH4, so early in the morning, so empty and quiet. It was a pleasure to enjoy the cold wind and slow moving sparse lorry traffic. I passed through the first toll gate and chuckled thinking of the numerous toll booths I would be crossing the next few days. Pune to Chennai and back would be around 2,600 kms and that single factor kept me smiling constantly. Just before the Khatraj tunnel, I was passing by the vast highway that ran between two mountains and there was absolutely no illumination except for the reflectors on the road. The stars covered the entire dark sky patched between the mountains. All this reminded me of the 8-bit car racing video games that we used to play with the night mode on. I passed through the tunnel that echoed the engine grunt of my bike as well as the lorries. Pressure was mounting in my ears and I found it hard to control.

Exiting the tunnel, the dark highway continued and the engine was getting warmer. My speeds gradually increased when it happened... All of a sudden, I saw complete darkness. I could feel the wind still blowing hard on my body, but my brain wasn't processing anything. Moments later I realized that the bike was quickly decelerating without me applying any brakes. The console, nor the head lamps were functioning. The vehicle had shut itself down and it was slowing very quickly. I didn't have much time as I was quite unsure of what was right in front of me and I was moving real fast. I controlled the bike to the best of my skills and finally brought it to a halt. When I finally rested both my feet down, I could feel sand on the left and the hard road on the right. I understood I was on the left edge of the road and was glad I was on a straight stretch.

At the end of the road, I saw some light and started pushing the bike towards it. As I neared it, I realized it was a petrol bunk. The guy signaled me to get the bike to one side so that he could fill up some fuel. I had to tell him that the bike had some issues and that I needed help. He told me that the earliest mechanic was somewhere nearby and would come only by 8. I looked at the GPS and it showed 5:04 AM.




Not quite sure of what to do, I decided to do some basic troubleshooting with the pathetic technical knowledge I had on bikes. I saw a slope nearby where I pushed the bike up and riding it down to try the 'push start' technique. It showed no signs of hope. I then decided to park it and give it a check. I unloaded the saddle and checked the console first. The tachometer was stuck at 6k, and the console wasn't working irrespective whether the ignition was on or off. I had a feeling the fuse had blown. I removed the seats and searched for the fuse box. I managed to find one and checked it. It looked fine. I knew there was one more fuse, but no idea where. I tried waking up my friends but none except Kiran seemed to pickup. He assured me that it was a fuse issue and asked me to check again patiently. Unsuccessful, I called up my cousin, Prathap, back in Pune explaining him the situation. As I was talking to him, I sat down beside the partially stripped bike, when I spotted a small box near the battery. It was the second fuse! I checked it and found that I had blown. I was happy that I found the problem and immeditely dug my bag to reach out for a spare. I installed it in no time, and the bike came back to life!

I was grinning as I packed the saddle again and happily told me brother that I'm continuing the journey. I put my leg across and pushed the bike off the main stand when it suddenly shut itself again. The fuse... gone! Now I had a strange feeling something bigger was wrong. I tried one or two fuses and finally found that there was an electrical short somewhere. I was in no position to find out where. Without wasting much time, I called my cousin again and asked him to source a bike and come to my rescue. I was about 50 kms from Pune and when I told him where I was, I was pretty sure he was cursing me from inside. But then, he didn't have a choice, did he?

I took some time resting by the bike watching the lull fuel station come to life as vehicles started coming in one by one. A good one hour, or maybe more passed by when I was getting a little restless sitting there doing nothing. The small dhabha inside the fuel station had opened up and I decided to have some tea. I slowly pushed the bike to the entrance of the dhabha when my hero entered! My cousin was there, all dressed in a slick jacket, namesake helmet and pretty decent gloves. I wondered how he sourced all these so early in the morning.



After explaining everything that had happened, we grabbed ourselves some tea and got back to work. I unloaded the 220's saddle and loaded the luggage on the other bike that he had brought. I asked him to sit on the 220 and I got on the other bike and started pushing it. I was sure he hadn't done things like this before and ensured I was gentle with every push. Honestly, I didn't want to slow things down with another clumsy fall! I must admit that Prathap did a great job for a first timer and gave me enough room to push through. We continued this exercise for a while, before we found ourselved in the city traffic.

Wading through the vehicles, we were heading for the Probiking showroom on FC Road. We were there minutes before the service center opened and grabbed the first position in the queue. The guy who had service my bike a few days back was sitting right there, as I walked to him and explained the problem that happenned earlier that morning. He started check the issue and found that a wire under the fairing had a small cut that made contact with the fuel tank that resulted in an electrical short. I was frustrated as this was a result of the servicing he did, when he had to remove the fairing to fix some fork issues. He didn't take enough care to insulate the wires back properly and thus my problem. I was still smiling on the outside since I didn't want him to screw up things again. I waited and spoke about it to the service center's Manager. That fellow was least bothered and just nodded to everything that I said. I wasn't surprised at things, as I didn't have too much hope on these guys.



Fixing the bike, I decided not to risk it by starting the ride on it again. I wanted to have it throughly checked at some other place. So, on the way back home, we stopped by some bus offices inquiring tickets to Chennai and alternatives. I settled for a 4 PM KSRTC bus to Bangalore, after which I was planning to take a train.



Bidding farewell to Prathap and thanking for his help, I was back home. I quickly refreshed and checked for train tickets. The bus generally reached Bangalore by 8 AM and so I booked myself a 8:15 AM ticket in Chennai Express. With a few hours left for the bus, I wrapped up some pending office work and got ready for my bus. Meanwhile I wrote out a small letter to share what I had in mind...

Dear Ninja,

I heard that you have been registered by now and you're waiting for me to pick you up. I started from Pune early this morning with your younger brother Mr. 220. He has not been in a good mood today. He decided to shut himself down in the middle of a highway and refused to start. When I checked up on him, he had his fuses blown and also had an electrical short somewhere. It has taken me a while to tow him back to Pune and to get him back to his senses. He seems to smile now, but I need to get him thoroughly checked, before I can attempt this ride again with him. I've therefore decided to ground him here and I'm coming there by bus, train, magic carpet, or whatever god damn thing it takes. Just hang in there, I will see you soon.

Love,
Praveen

I left home at about 2, had lunch on the way and headed to board the bus. I was helped by a friendly auto rickshaw wala who traced the bus stop and dropped me there for a good price. The wait was short and the bus arrived. I got some snack packs and a bottle of water and crashed into one of the last seats even before the bus started. Even before I realized, the bus had come out of the city and made its first evening break somewhere near Satara. I just got down to get into my senses and make sure the bus was on time.

When it started again, I stared outside the huge window pane beside me. In the back of my mind I was just imagining how it would have been if had been through these lovely ghats on my bike. Somehow I could console myself thinking of the amazing ride back. The bus played 'Rangeela' and 'Dil Chatha Hai' back to back. I knew both of them were worth a watch. But without any translator, I chose to doze off as much as possible. With very limited stops for dinner and midnight passenger pickups, the bus made it on time to Bangalore.




Thursday

When I woke up to broad daylight, I found the conductor shouting out place names and the name boards in all the shops outside read 'Bangalore'. I was watching out for the railway station outside which the bus stop. The moment I spotted it, I was thinking of ways to quickly cross the roads and catch my train. I was well ahead, it was just 7:3o and I had 45 minutes for departure. At platform 3 stood the train, for which I had to do the morning exercise through the overhead crossings. I remember booking a window tickets, but to my surprise, the type of bogie allotted had a different seat alignment and I had a middle seat. I was already tired after the 15 hour bus journey and I was worried if I could even recline a bit.

To my surprise, nobody boarded to either of my side and I had the entire seat to stretch myself for a while. I did try to doze off, but the excitement that I was just hours away from the green monster kept me wide awake doing every single activity to keep me engaged. I watched families trying to switch seats, kids staring outside the windows, heard chai walas shouting loud, TTE helping people, smelling hot dosas, and the loud thug thug noise from the rails. Stations passed by until I finally stepped out on Chennai land. I literally ran out of the station trying to cross the road to the local train station. I bought a ticket to Guindy and impatiently waited staring at the empty tracks. For a moment I thought I should probably take an auto, when I spotted the train slowly approaching from the corner. I sighed out of releif and boarded the crowded train and found a small place for my bag and myself.






From the Guindy station, I took an auto ride home, where I waited for my parents to arrive. Meanwhile I refreshed and got ready after the 24 hour ride from Pune to Chennai. I hadn't told my parents that I was going to buy this bike. I wanted to make this a surprise for them. The previous sentence can also be rephrased as... I didn't know how to justify my need for a second (expensive) bike and thus, this excuse. The moment they arrived, we took the car to the Probiking showroom in Adyar.

My heart was beating heart as I climbed the stairs leading my parents. By now, they would have understood that I was going to buy a bike. I walked them to the corner where a green Ninja meant for display stood majestically. I turned back, looked into their eyes and told them I was going to buy this bike. I didn't know what was to follow. In the moment that followed, my brain processed every single movement my parent's body made. Seconds later, they smiled out and gracefully hid the shock I had given them. My Dad was very selective with his words and refrained from too many questions. He just said that the bike looked good. My Mom on the other end was grinning. I'm sure she liked the bike. She asked me about the price, which I never revealed to her till the end. In any case, my dad was all ears when explained to him about why this was a premium bike and what sort of advancements it offered. However, I couldn't gauge much from the reactions his nod meant. In a while, the two were happy for my purchase and left from the place, after I assured them I could take care of the formalities. Though I didn't have a 100% nod from my parents, I was glad I had crossed half the bridge. It will take them a while to digest, won't it?



The Manager of the showroom walked by and guided me to the basement, where my big boy was registered and stood ready for pickup. Surrounding the bike, were the delivery head, service advisor and the service engineer who was going to attend the bike. The delivery head, Mr. Narayanan was a courteous gentleman who gave me a warm welcome. He started with a thriller, "Hello Mr. Praveen. Congratulations! This is your Kawasaki Ninja 250R!" What do you think I could have even done? I was smiling like a kid on the outside and dancing on a wet road on the inside. My friends had arrived by then to make this event so memorable for me. Mr. Narayanan went through all the features of the bike right from the chasis number to engine breaking. I patiently listened to everything and finally gave them a shocker they were least expecting. I looked at Mr. Narayanan and asked him, "Sir, these are just awesome features. But then, I'm going to drive this all the way down to Pune and I'm starting tomorrow. Do you think anything is going to give up?" Mr. Narayanan assured me that the bike is one of the most tested bikes in the world and has a proved track record and should hopefully not give up. Soon after the briefing, the vehicle was taken upstairs for me to drive out. I was still surrounded by the elite crowd of the showroom where I got on the bike, shook hands with everyone who made the delivery so memorable and twisted the throttle gently.




I drove home and gave my sister a surprise and took her for a short ride. I'm not sure if she had ever been on all the curves of the Kathipara fly over in one single shot ever before. Returning back home, I had dinner with my family and make short trips to meet a couple of my pals in the city and show them my new pride. I returned around midnight and took good rest so that I could start my long return leg the next day.






I did try sleep for a long time, but my trouble was excitement again. Getting ready, I topped up and checked the air pressure. I made a quick trip to the Chennai office and shared the good news with people there. During my return from the office, I called one of my cousins in Vellore and told her I would visit them for lunch. But then I warned her I would be really late and would take more than 3 hours to make it.



With just one tank bag in hand, I chose to take the most vital things that I would need for the next 3 days. With a heavy and hug tank bag, I went around the house searching for and old piece of soft cloth to place on the tank before resting the tank bag on it. Setting things in place, I slowly rolled through the busy roads in the hot sun. It wasn't long before the radiator fans started spinning and I had a nice hot air treatment from the space around the handlebar and from beneath the legs. I had to bear with it until I moved out of the city and exposed the bike to a little more air flow on the highway.




I was strictly advised to follow the engine break in rules, failing which I may have undesired effects on the engine. With these conditions in place, the vehicle wouldn't do anything more than 58 (to be exact) on 6th gear. I had a great company of slow vehicles all along the way. If you had ever seen a really slow lorry overtaking another pathetically slow lorry, that is exactly how I performed every single overtake. I was also conscious not to ride in a single speed and had to vary the RPM within its limit, as much as I could. On top of this, I had never ridden a superbike every in my life time and I had no clue how to tackle the sporty position of the saddle. In less than half an hour's time, I started developing pain in various parts of the body. About 100 kms from Chennai, I was even considering quitting this ride and placing it in Vellore. At that point, I stopped by a shady location for some tender coconut. Quenching the thirst, I went around the bike mentally judging the distance between the saddle and the handlebar.




When I got back, I tried different positions to understand how they reacted on the different parts of my body. I tried various postures until I finally managed to figure out a comfortable enough posture that caused minimal stress. Learning by myself, I reached Vellore, where a delicious meal awaited. It took me slightly more than 3 hours to cover a distance of 130 kms. The heavy meal demanded enough rest before I could start again. Back on the road, I realized there are 3 common things one can expect with the Ninja.

1. People ask you the cost.
2. People want to know the mileage.
3. People coming in the front signal that the lights are on. This vehicle is a sport model and does not have a separate switch to control the lights. One the engine is switched on, the lights will glow, you get to only control the high or low beam.

It was becoming a common sight for me when cars zipped past and suddenly I saw its brakes being applied. They would pull over and wait for 'the super slow Me' to pass by and admire the bike. The Ninja has an amazing road presence and gives everyone an impression that it is certainly a bigger bike than what it actually is. It was yet anther patient 3 hours before I reached my brother's place in Krishnagiri. I called up my family and my friends updating everything that happened since the last time I met them the previous day. This was the first ride where I started after telling my parents and secondly they knew where exactly I was heading to. I refreshed myself and waited for for my brother, Prithiv to arrive. He walked in from the gate and I didn't have to tell him where the bike was parked. He went straight to the bike and had just a few words to say. "Ooh... Sexy... Sexy!" I told him about the bike and he took it for a spin. He came back and told me that he couldn't feel anything special within the 4k RPM that was to be maintained. I had to agree to it as that was simply the fact. We joined the rest of the family for yet another fantastic pasta dinner. I checked my mails after the dinner and promptly went to bed.






Saturday

4 AM. I slowly opened the door to ensure that I wasn't going to wake anyone at home. But I had mistaken. A small squeak from the door was enough to wake my Aunt, who was already expecting me to wake up. I heard he walk into the kitchen trying to make something for me to drink. I took some time to get ready and walked down with a packed bag. Drinking the chocolate milk she had prepared, I bid farewell and joined the highway.




I was constantly searching for a fuel station that sold octane fuel. The bike required a minimum of octane 91 and anything below that was going to hurt the engine. I managed find one just before Hosur, where I realized that the tank was still full. The bike had run close to a 300 kms with 9 liters of petrol and that was amazing mileage. Of course, not to forget the fact that the bike hadn't even started walking. It was still limping on one leg. I sent a message to Praful telling him about my whereabouts since he had promised to meet at the entry to Bangalore. It was quite bright when I reached the place and Praful took a few more minutes to arrive.




When I saw him stopped the bike and got down, I stepped towards him and stretched my hand for a shake. He grinned, winked and said, "Woo... Who wants to meet you anyway? I'm here to see the bike!" I laughed at him as made multiple rounds around the bike, stooping over and under, making note of every detail the bike had. Back on the bike, he led me through the 6 lane Bangalore bye pass where he tested top speeds of his 220 and I was shamelessly letting TVS 50s overtake me. At some point, he pulled over to tell me that John was going to join us in a while. While I looked around the empty roads, Praful was busy clicking pictures of the Kwacker. After a ten minute wait, I reminded him that I had a few hundred kms to cover and that we could slowly keep proceeding and could ask John to join us on the way. Praful left him a message and we moved on. I left it to Praful to ride the Kwacker and have a feel of the bike.










From the place where the good stretch of the bye pass ended, we had to fight through really horrible traffic for more than half an hour until we finally stopped by a decent hotel on the highway for some breakfast. Our first round of food and John arrived in sync. I was real glad to meet John after quite a long time. He was so excited about the bike and I could see that happiness all over his face. He borrowed the key to move the bike a little to click some pictures. Praful and myself spent a long time eating and discussing the route I was going to take. Along with John we noticed people surrounding the bike admiring it with a million questions in mind. In the middle of this, I got a call from an unknown number. The person on the other end was none other than our dear Mr. Narayanan who had called to enquire about the bike's performance. He assured that things were fine and also gave me the contact to the service engineer in Pune. He added that he had already informed the person in Pune about my travel and that I would be arriving there for service very soon. Just after the call, he sent me a message with all the information to contact the Pune folks. Now, I started wondering if I had purchased a Kwacker or a Mercedes.

Bidding farewell to the two riders, I got back on the saddle to continue my patient journey. I was promised by Praful about great roads till Chitradurga, after which it might be quite unpleasant until Hubli, which was my target for the day. I was making a lot of lorry driver friends on the way as they waved to their superbike pal, and rocked their heads with me to the music I was listening to. Shortly before Davangere, I was joined by a 'Bajaj Discover' friend who requested to ride beside me. I chuckled and nodded to him and to this moment I honestly didn't expect that level of courtesy from him. Just before Davangere, my throat was dry and I pulled over at a small snack bar for some Pepsi. It was coincidence that the guy pulled over as well and that his shop was the one just beside the snack bar. He took the initiative to buy me everything that I needed and even before I could pay, he settled the bill. When I tried to pay him back, he refused to even get a penny from me. Man, is this the power of a superbike in India?



A little after Davangere, I saw really long stretches of road that went on and on as long as my eyes could see. I stuck to the leftmost side of the road fearing to be hit by even the slowest moving traffic. Good cars were doing 140+ speeds comfortably and I couldn't risk moving to the right. I stopped by a hotel for a mini lunch, with nothing but curd rice and a cool drink. I continued my ride after this as the sun was slowly setting. The bad roads Praful was talking about had started. I had to wade through mud patched and had to also ensure that I wasn't going to hit this bike with very low ground clearance. I crossed every speed breaker with extreme caution and avoided every possible sharp stone. I remembered some of these places and we had ridden this same highway at pretty much the same time, some time back. The only difference was that the direction was right opposite.






It was certainly a pain to fight the dirt every lorry contributed to and to find my best possible path in the turmoil. The hard exercise continued for about an hour when the happy incident happened. My bike reached 800 kms on the odometer. I was now licensed to cross the 4k mark on the RPM but again, had to limit myself to 6k. I had been thinking about this milestone for the past 100 kms. It was now time to take it on. I waited until the mud patches came to an end and the highway began. I chose to rev it 4th gear on. So made sure I had enough clearance on the road ahead, advanced to gear 3, then twisted the throttle with anxiety. I was stunned by what I heard. It sounded nothing less than every other bike till the orange needle crossed 4.5k. Immediately beyond this point, I heard a sizzling 'VROOM' sound from the engine that comes out of a superbike and I was glad all those money that I had saved didn't really go for a toss. I shifted gear after gear until I reached top gear on 6k RPM. I looked at the speedo and found that I was doing slightly less than 90 kmph. Now that, was amazing. I was so happy about how much surprises the bike held for me in a matter of 2k RPM. Though the baby Ninja started its roar, I couldn't let it scream beyond that point. Well, what's life if you get everything one shot, right?



Happy with what I had got at the fag end of the day, I crossed Haveri and almost reached Hubli when I passed by a good hotel on the left. About a km later, I realized that maybe that hotel was the right spot to halt. Should I have entered Hubli, I would have had to hunt for a secure hotel with good parking, etc. So I turned the bike over and entered the place. I was really glad at the parking setup and the security guard there. There were rooms available for the night and I inquired for the price. Looking at the hotel, I was expecting a tariff of 1,000 bucks, but the guy gave me a slick deal, just 350! He didn't have a single occupancy, so gave me a double occupancy. I thought the good times were really rolling! I ordered some food, went do to clean the bike's chain, tipped the security chap a 50 bucks and hit the sack right after dinner.


Sunday

I was up on time for once. Packing all the things quickly, went down and switched on my bike. I left it idle for a while for the engine to warm itself up. The hotel was in the middle of the highway and most of the lights were switched off so early in the morning. I looked up to see the dark sky with stars decorating it to perfection. It was pretty cold and I paid attention to properly tucking my jacket sleeves under the gloves to avoid the rush of cold air.



The highway was literally empty at this point. The major traffic was the route buses that ply across cities. Some of the Volvo buses were really fast. They can be spotted on the rear view mirrors as those monster size vehicles with numerous lights in front. When I was doing about 80 kmph, they nearly zipped pass at speeds higher than 110. It made complete sense on how one such bus could take me from Pune to Bangalore in a matter of hours. I passed through small ghat sections, but I couldn't appreciate the beauty around as it was still dark. As the sun slowly came out, I was nearing Belgaum, which was the first major city I wanted to cross that day.

Just near a place called Sankeshwar, I went in search of a fuel station that has octane fuel. Surprisingly, none of them had octane fuel and I had to proceed 30 kms before finding one. I realized that it was getting close to noon, when I could no more have my jacket sleeves tucked in. I had to unbutton them to let air circulate into my jacket. At some point, I noticed a huge 'M' sign on the left side of the road. It was a McDonald's in one of the fuel stations. I decided to stop by for some breakfast. The parking was literally empty so early in the morning and I parked the bike in a spot that would be visible from inside. I didn't want to leave the bike unattended. The moment the security guard saw me, he came running and claimed it to be a car parking. I tried convincing him that I would return soon, but he insisted that I move the vehicle. Just as I pushed the vehicle to the nearby two wheeler parking lot, I saw a guy walking out with jackets, a packed shoulder bag, helmet and gloves. Then, I noticed a bullet parked nearby.


Not bothered much about any of these, I went in, removed my biking gear and placed the order. As I waited for the order, I picked up the camera and stepped out for a couple of pictures. I noticed that the guy was still there, staring at my bike. I picked up a conversation with him and in came into my story, Wilson Fernandes! We got to know each other a little bit and talked about bikes, when a lady shouted through the delivery window that my order was ready. Wilson left the place as he was in a hurry to make it to Mumbai by 5. I got back in and enjoyed a happy meal!






Back on the highway, roads were becoming a little irritating as they had minor bumps everywhere though they appeared to be flat, at least visibly. After covering close to a 100 kms in one stretch, I decided to take a break. I was slightly more than just a 100 kms from Pune. I messaged all my pals in Pune inviting them for a party that night. I called up my brother and asked him to get ready to cook some chicken. I got back on the saddle and started to ride. In less than 5 minutes, I saw someone on the left side of the road, waving a hand asking me to stop. It was Wilson!

I remembered him telling that his bike had a problem and I was suspecting that it was the same thing. When I took and turn and met up with him, he told me that the bike wasn't starting. I have a pathetic knowledge on the technical details of a bike, but decided to give it a shot. After I heard the problem from him, I found it to be similar to what happened to Allen in the last ride. I tried to recollect what he did and we tried the same stuff. But it didn't seem to work. I called up Allen and he asked us to try a couple of alternatives. Nothing seemed to work, when a man just walked by. To our luck, he was a mechanic and offered to help. Checking out the bike, he told there was a problem with the tapets and started work on it. In a matter or 15 minutes, he got the bike to start. He took another 15 minutes or more to fine tune things and also to ensure nothing else was a problem.




We decided to tag together from there on. I thought Wilson was going to be a little slow, considering that he had a bullet and it was an old 350 STD. But I must admit that he accelerated very slow, but touched good speeds of 80+. I had a hard time keeping up with him in some places. We stopped in a shop for some refreshments and clicked a picture together. Very soon, we passed through a small tunnel, after which Wilson pulled over. He asked me if something was wrong in the back side of his bike. I thought he was asking about the engine grunt, as said, "No." He was actually pointing to the tires that had very less air. We were lucky again to find a puncture shop just around the corner. When the guy inspected, he said that the tyre had a problem and was because the tube being used did not belong to a bullet. Wilson later told me that on his way to Velankani from Mumbai, his rear tyre bursted, and had to replace it in the middle of nowhere. The guy he managed to find, put in a tube that he had and did not actually belong to a bullet. He also added that, he had to spent that night in a bus stop on the side of a road in the middle of nowhere. This guy also had a fishing kit in his bike's storage box and said he likes stopping by rivers, for a fresh catch and some live cooking.






I had already told all my friends about the evening party and it was already 3 PM. I made sure that Wilson was going to be fine, and I had to part with him at that point. I didn't stop anywhere after that and headed for Pune. I skipped the first few entries from the highway and took the one through Chandni Chowk. The busy Sunday evening had a lot of Beemers and Audis filling the road. Inside Pune, I had the radiator fans coming back to life. More irritating were the people on bikes who wanted to show off by racing with me. How could I ever tell them that I had a really painful sore butt after riding for more than a 1000 kms, and that my intention was not to race? I did manage to touch Viman Nagar from Chandni Chowk in less than 30 minutes. The moment I saw the entrance to my apartment, I thought about the numerous days I had imagined about entering that very spot on the Ninja. And finally, it was actually happening. I slowed down for every single speed breaker and took a right around a corner, to head for the parking under my apartment. I was someone walking towards the life, who turned back listening to the engine grunt and ran towards me. It was Prathap. He had just arrived at the apartment. The moment I parked the bike and removed the tank bag, he had the same words as his brother, "Ooh... Sexy... Sexy!"

With a sense of accomplishment and excitement, I went up to the apartment, called up everyone and confirmed the party plans. As the food was getting cooked, I took a friend with me and went in search of a bed sheet to cover the bike. We bought one and came back, but the bike was much bigger than we expected it to be. We went back and bought a couple of those, to finally cover it up and tie them in place with thin jute ropes. The nights party went well, and I kept boasting about my new possession, the Kawasaki Ninja 250R!

Also read:

Ownership experience

Picasa album

Please visit My blog: Thrills of touring: One Ninja please. Make it green! - Part 1

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Aryan

Topic Approved.

That's a huge article! Will be reading it now. Although, technically speaking, it deserves to be merged with the 'Ownership Thread' of the Ninja 250R, but looking at the sheer content and the way in which you have penned it down, it is ofcourse being approved as a new thread.

And yes, lest I forget, CONGRATS!

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dineshsamtani

Congrats buddy....Huge and wonderfull write up...

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Respect the nature and it will respect you back.....

Cheers!!!!
Dinesh


First Ride to Malshej Ghats.....

windy_torque

congrats bro....happy to see ninja and that too a green.i am also saving money to buy one but it takes some time. i already saw these pictures somewhere, did u post them somewhere else?

mav1234

Congrats mate for your 250R..

Well written and nice pics..
All together it was nice reading your article.

Ride Safe.

Aparajith

Lazy bugger Praveen... Having bought the bike a looooong time back, he is posting the article only now!!!

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Puneet1

congrats man ! i also remember seeing some pics and parts of the text earlier nice writeup

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Bi-xenon Projector Hid up for sale ! click

born2lead

OK, this one is new ;P

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Ride often, ride well, have fun.

bhpistorqintorpm

congrats!!
i distinctly remember that i've read this somewhere few months ago.. on this forum..?

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Binoy

Man i haven't read it full as i need to leave my office now and i had CTRL+D your thread and will read it full tomorrow, oh sorry i forgot to congratulate you...

superbly written thread... especially your dad & mom part... when i read it thought of my father who don't ask more questions and he's a man who solve his queries by himself... a good mathematician...

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...Ride Long...Ride Safe...

When you dance with the devil, you wait for the song to stop...