chi_red

Hi guys,
My name is Chi and I live in Seoul, Korea (and NYC). I have been to Northern India and absolutely love your country. My fianc?and I are thinking about going to India for our honeymoon. We want to buy an Indian motorcycle that is big and reliable enough for a long cross country trip in India. We will have a lot of gear, such as a tent, a laptop computer, lots of photo/video equipments, two sleeping bags, emergency kit, clothes etc. Anyway, it is going to be an adventurous trip and a lot of planning to do. We don't plan to stay at 4 star hotels. Here is the route we want to take.



Question 1.
How long is good enough to cover everything on the map? I want to ride slow(maybe 3 hours of riding a day), stop at major sightseeing places and stay longer, and do plenty of sightseeing. 3 months long enough? I will be going to India sometime in August this year. I will probably head toward Ladakh area first since the road closes after October, and then head toward south after the monsoon season is over.
Rouhly how many Kilometers do you think my route is?

Question 2
What Motorcycle do you recommend? Must be comfortable enough for two people. Also big enough for lots of luggages(Pannier), reliable brakes!!! Mechanically reliable (I don’t know anything about fixing motorcycles), parts easily available everywhere in India in case it breaks down.
How is Royal Enfield 500? I have never ridden a motorcycle that has gear shifts on the right side. I am also a little skeptical about its brake performance and mechanical reliability.

Question 3.
How much is motorcycle modification? If we decide to go with Royal Enfield 500(seems like it is the most popular for long tours in India), how much is it for better disk brakes? Is it possible to put double disk brakes on Enfield? How much for very big and rugged steel panniers? Also gas tank, louder horn, backrest, engine guard etc.

Question 4.
Roughly how much is gas(petrol) in India?

Question 5
Am I crazy? Should I just hire a car? The roads in India look very dangerous for someone who is not used to Indian roads. Do you think it is too dangerous? By the way, I am not the greatest rider, but a fast learner.

Question 6
Do you think I should hire an Indian guide? Someone who speaks some English and owns a motorcycle (or I could rent/hire one for him) and also knows Indian roads and situations? I know I am going to get into a lot of troubles such as getting lost, getting into small accidents, being stopped by policemen in every city for some baksheesh etc. Where could I find a guide? And how much do they charge?

I would really like to get some advices from you guys.
Any advices welcomed.
Thank you.
Chi

mask_00007

thats not a problem....there r more than 5000 xbhpians all over india...if everyone helps u out in there own city u r done...wat the hell do u think u need a guy for

__________________
Life is biking....or I\'m dead

mask_00007

thats not a problem....there r more than 5000 xbhpians all over india...if everyone helps u out in there own city u r done...wat the hell do u think u need a guy for

__________________
Life is biking....or I\'m dead

reactor

thats an interesting endeavour you are planning for.
but i guess bunny hs given quite a precise answer to most of the questions asked above.
I guess meeting out and getting more knowledge shud not be a problem, xbhpians ARE quite widespread and wud be able to guide you. They probably wud be knowing more than anybody else at least in their own region.
only thing is that I wud suggest you to go ahead and try using enfield because, it s still a cruiser and has a better stance for extremely long long rides like you are planning and it shall be very very easy to repair on the road side shops any where, anywhere in India rather than getting reall frustrated for not getting some cable or something else or the other for karizma, especially, for you shud avoid getting into a trouble of minesweeping the best repair guy or spare parts.
I still face problems in my cbz sometimes on a god-forsaken highway in UP on my CBZ, what to say about Karizma. Sorry bunny and other loyal karizma owners..!
thats an interesting effort to go and explore the greatness and magnificence of a rgeat scenic country like India, so biking is the best thing. but yes, it is very very cumbersome. plan it ahead..! best of luck.

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::< : >::
:: >:< ::
::< : >::

Thats the figure of my bike

reactor

thats an interesting endeavour you are planning for.
but i guess bunny hs given quite a precise answer to most of the questions asked above.
I guess meeting out and getting more knowledge shud not be a problem, xbhpians ARE quite widespread and wud be able to guide you. They probably wud be knowing more than anybody else at least in their own region.
only thing is that I wud suggest you to go ahead and try using enfield because, it s still a cruiser and has a better stance for extremely long long rides like you are planning and it shall be very very easy to repair on the road side shops any where, anywhere in India rather than getting reall frustrated for not getting some cable or something else or the other for karizma, especially, for you shud avoid getting into a trouble of minesweeping the best repair guy or spare parts.
I still face problems in my cbz sometimes on a god-forsaken highway in UP on my CBZ, what to say about Karizma. Sorry bunny and other loyal karizma owners..!
thats an interesting effort to go and explore the greatness and magnificence of a rgeat scenic country like India, so biking is the best thing. but yes, it is very very cumbersome. plan it ahead..! best of luck.

__________________
::< : >::
:: >:< ::
::< : >::

Thats the figure of my bike

tiger

yup reactor is right go 4 enfield coz u want to cary a lot of luggage and that wont be possible with karizma also if u wana enjoy a true bullet and still want electric start and disk breaks u can go 4 electra or thunderbird(if u dont care for the orignal thump of the bullet and want gears on the right side) bullet 500 is damn gud only problem being that it returns low millage <25kmpl. rest assured we will try to help u on the trip as much as we can.

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Four wheels move the body. Two wheels move the soul.

tiger

yup reactor is right go 4 enfield coz u want to cary a lot of luggage and that wont be possible with karizma also if u wana enjoy a true bullet and still want electric start and disk breaks u can go 4 electra or thunderbird(if u dont care for the orignal thump of the bullet and want gears on the right side) bullet 500 is damn gud only problem being that it returns low millage <25kmpl. rest assured we will try to help u on the trip as much as we can.

__________________
Four wheels move the body. Two wheels move the soul.

Bunny

but den he will hv to adjust to the opp gears on the 500 tiger buddy

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tiger

bunny i know but main thing is the feel of the 500 which no other bike has so u win some and u loose some and ne ways as far as i know it takes only a few hours to get use to the gears on the left

__________________
Four wheels move the body. Two wheels move the soul.

tiger

bunny i know but main thing is the feel of the 500 which no other bike has so u win some and u loose some and ne ways as far as i know it takes only a few hours to get use to the gears on the left

__________________
Four wheels move the body. Two wheels move the soul.