ketan_r15

I recently bought this wonderful bike- Yamaha y zee f R15.. I was absolutely blown away by it's performance and handling capabilities and was waiting eagerly for it's running in period to be over and for a long ride to test it's performance in true proportions..

It was quite a long time since i had gone for a long ride. My last long ride was with the Mumbai Bikers Club's guys to amby valley, Lonavala, on my Pulsar 200. And I needed a long ride desperately. I was sitting with my friend at Worli seaface the other night after dinner and all of sudden this trip was planned by both of us..

We wanted a small but exciting ride so as to test the bike very well.
We wanted long straight patches to test the bike's straight line capability and we also wanted zig zag hair pin curves to test the handling.

Mumbai Pune old highway. The paradise for biking. This was the name that popped up in my mind. There are lots of straight patches where one can literally rip apart his bike and then there is khandala ghat, where one can test handling on the curves. The road is in top class quality, hardly any potholes and two seperated lanes by dividers.

I had been to Shivneri before but my friend had not. So we finalised the destination as Shivneri. The trip was set then.

We also wanted to visit the planet DSG shop since long time. So we decided to do that in the same trip.

So the routes were set then.

Day1) Mumbai - Pune - Khadki - Chakan - Arvi - Shivneri

Day2) Shivneri - Ganesh khind - Malshej ghat - Kalyan - Thane - Mumbai

The day we finalised were 8th and 9th of November.

- - Day 1 --

I got up early in the morning at 4.45am and started packing my bag. Most important tool was the Camera.. Canon SX100 and Maharashtra map. Got fresh and called up Umesh to check if he's ready or not.

Washed the bike clean and did an overall check up like checked the tyres and all. I left my place at sharp 5.50am and headed to umesh's place. Picked him up and the actual journey started at sharp 6 o clock-as was planned.

It is always great leaving Mumbai early in the morning so as to avoid the traffic chaos and also enjoy the winter. Our next immidiate aim was to get out mumbai before the sun rise and get some shots of the rising sun from behind a mountain.

We were cruising at a breeze 75-80km/hr. Bike is just a marvelous peice of engineering. At 75-85km/hr the bike doesnt even start to breath, it's that smooth. On the way we met a few other bikers, who apparantly were riding with their gfs to a near by spot.

After a 45 minutes journey we were well out mumbai and on the Mumbai Pune old highway somewhere near Mahad. We waited there for few minutes and managed to get these shots.









Now the sun was out. It started feeling better as we were riding till here in cool air. We moved ahead. After some time we stopped at a small "tapri" type stop for the tea break. Ohh what a tea. simply awesome. and that too for mere 3 rupees per cup. Simply awesome.

Pic at tea break--


after being refreshed by the tea we left for the further journey. We rode non stop till we cross the khandala ghat and reach to the Pune expressway. I must say this bike is quick and it runs.. It was so fun cruising at speeds of high 80s. No vibrations at all. In khandala ghat i could take turns at such low angles and that too with a pillion rider which were earlier unimaginable. The delta box chasis really adds in to the bike's handling. The only thing I didnt like was that due to low torque one needs to get down to lower gears while climbing ghats and all. Rest the bike was fantastic.

We reached the Pune expressway in a breeze.
Waited there for a few minutes and took these shots.




Then after this hault it was flat out till the Lonavala exit on the Expressway. The climate was just perfect for riding. and road- glass finish.

With R15 such straights patches become like fast lanes of Autobahn. It was fun taking the bike to it's limits on Expressway.


And with R15, these curves are meant to be bent hard.


Then We took the diversion from the lonavala exit and rejoined the Mumbai pune old highway. Kept riding continuously untill we reached Talegaon.
We stopped at a gas station for refueling. Where ever this bike goes it attracts people like anything.




After refuelling we were flatout till we reach Pune.
We were there in Pune by 9.30am. Pune city was buzzing with people heading to their offices on their two wheelers. I have stayed in pune for quite some time for job reason and being there again after long time relived my memories of the traffic jams, moron 2 wheelers, no disciplin, people jumping signal lights as if they are color blind, no pavements for roads and so one has to share the road with people walking on it, animals and what not.

Our next stop was going to be the M. G. road, Planet DSG.
I was happily showing the Pune city to my friend who was there for the first time. On the way, I took him to Durga coffee shop in Kothrud. Ahh..what coffee you get there..A glass full of cold coffee with espresso like feel for just 7 rs. We had 3 glasses each.. We moved further. I took my friend to my girl friend's place. Didnt wait there for long and continued the journey.

I had never been to planet dsg before and there it took us quite some time finding it on the M G road. One way traffic lanes added to the confusion. What was disappointing was that no one knew bout the shop in that area. Some how we managed to find the shop. We were stunned seeing that range of biking accessories this shop had.

Now it was time to continue the journey. We headed straight to khadki from where we were to take the Nasik road. We were riding non stop till we reach manchr on the Nasik road. it was 12.30pm by then. We decided to have lunch and stopped at a dhaba on the way. Food was ok but water is a serious problem in this area. One must buy mineral water and avoid water provided at small hotels and dhabas.

After the lunch we decided to move on and find a nice shady tree where we could lie down and take rest for some time also to avoid the harsh afternoon sun.



After some time we continued our journey and went non stop till we reach a small village called Arvi. From where we were supposed to leave the Highway and take a left turn to Shivneri and continue on the small state highway. Road condition wasnt that good as it was a state highway. but R15's suspension absorbed all the broken road and tarmac with ease and the ride was comfortable. Only the worst part was that there werent sign postings on road not even on the intersections. We had to take help of the villagers to find the correct route. They were very helpful, not like the arrogant Punekars, specialy rikshaw drivers.

After an half hours riding we reached Shivneri.


I knew where the hotel was and thus we didnt have much trouble finding it. We checked in and got into our hotel room. Took a hot water bath and we were quickly refreshed. It was 4.00 pm by then. There wasnt much to do on that day then. So we decided to take rest and take a brisk walk late in the evening.

Meanwhile I managed to click these shots.

There was a tree just in front of our room's balcony and see what it had on it. It was fun clicking these shots.




A few more shots from my balcony.



At around 6.00pm we left the hotel room and walked around till the base of Shivneri fort.






Then we came back to the hotel room for dinner. It was beautiful sitting in the balcony under the open sky. We sat there, chatted for some time and then went to bed.

-- Day 2--

Next day we got up early in the morning even after sleeping very late last night. We immidiately got ready and left the hotel room when it was dark. The temperature was low and the air was fresh. We were supposed to take a 1km walk from the hotel room till the base of Shivneri and climb up to shivneri after that.

There was this Datta mandir on the way to shivneri.



now it was a long climb up to the Shivneri fort.



This is called as Maha Darwaja.


Ganesh Darwaja












Finally we got on top


being a good citizen


This is the place where the great warrior Chatrapati shivaji was born.



This is the very place/room where great Shivaji maharaj was born.




A friendly froggy


Then we headed down for the return journey



Then we got back to our hotel room and check out at around 11.00am

We started our return journey by hitting the shivneri ganesh khind road. This again was a state highway. so road wasnt that good. but the road was funto ride.


Then we were at a spot called as Ganesh Khind. It was a stunning sopt for photography.



On the way back we found some flower fields. Took some photographs with the permision of the farmer.



After this break we headed straight to Malshej ghat without any stops in between.


Our bike taking a breather in malshej ghat.


We moved further from Malshej and on the way we stopped for a break.


From there we kept on moving till we reach Kalyan. it was pathetic getting out of kalyan city. The roads were poor and traffic was horrible.
We finally got back to good road that is Mumbai nasik highway, which was gonna take us straight to Thane and from there to Mumbai.

We finally reached our place at around 5.00pm.

The journey was full of fun, adventure and speed.
Talking about R15, this is unarguably the best bike around in the country. The only thing is the gear shift lever and brake paddle is a lill pain. And sometimes even wrists start aeching. but once you get used to these things there's no other bike you'll look for.

Total Kms run were 500km and total expenses Rs.570/- per person.

Hope you like this log.
Thank you.

Regards,
Ketan Nikharge.
9970078695.

Aryan

Topic Approved.

Wonderful. And congratulations for the R15..

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Praful

Bherry Naish...finally people are doing some good long tours on this bike!

Ketan, there are some really really good pics there.

Sooper Ride!

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pundrick

Very Sincere and Dedicated Write Up.

Not to forget, Nice Place to visit.

turbo>>>>

nice pics man!!

turbo>>>>

The only thing is the gear shift lever and brake paddle is a lill pain.


Could you be more accurate on that??

ketan_r15

@ Aryan
Thanx for approving the topic bro...

@ prafultripathy and @ pundrick
Thanx guys..

@ turbo>>>>
Thanx for ur comment..

Well bout gear shift and brake paddle...
Well bro everyone knows this bike is a lill shorter than other bikes. If someone is below 5ft 7-8" in height then this is a perfect machine for him. But if someone's more than that then this becomes a pain as in case of R15 the gear shift lever and brake paddle both are positioned at a higher level than the footrest. So one has to literally lift his foot to change the gear and hit the brakes.

at the time of first servicing I got the gear shift lever lowered a bit but even that has some limitations. Though it is far better than what it was earlier, it is still a pain when one rides the bike for longer time. Nothing could be done for the brake paddle though.

Next time when i'll the service centre I'll try to lower the gear shift paddle even further provided it doesnt have any effect on gears. also i'll ask if anything can be done for the brake paddle.

Sunny

Nice unadulterated pure fun stuff!

ken cool

Short of time, this looks interesting. Will go through this once I have more time.

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ketan_r15

Hey thanx Sunny and ken_cool...