Re: Saddlesore is a child's play

Yes not all highways are 80, but AFAIK the speed limits on highways outside city limits is irrespective of 2 or 4 wheeler.

Re: Saddlesore is a child's play

i haven't been through any highway with speed limits of 80-100 kms for 2-wheelers..
what i have seen around jaipur-ajmer highway, its written 40 km/h for 2 wheelers..

Re: Saddlesore is a child's play

Is it? HVK showed us an RTO doco that clearly states the speed of two-wheelers is 50 Kmph; I'll try & find that for you.

BTW, I'm very sure you know the speed of trucks is not to exceed 50 Kmph IRRESPECTIVE of the speed limit of the highway (PROBABLY...probably barring the Pune-Mumbai, Baroda-Ahmedabad & Yamuna Express Highways, not sure though)

Re: Saddlesore is a child's play

excellent thread.. loved every post. keep going. its my life.

Re: Saddlesore is a child's play

May be it is time to petition for a change in the speed limit law for motorcycles of larger capacities in India, at least on highways?

Re: Saddlesore is a child's play

Speed limit for motorcycles on the highway was recently (legally) set to 80 kmph unless mentioned otherwise.

Re: Saddlesore is a child's play

80 kmph is about 50 mph. That is still too low for a country that has Harleys and KTMs and other superbikes around. Above 500cc or so, or may be 50 bhp, the limits should be the same as for a car, IMO.

Re: Saddlesore is a child's play

As they say, a chain is as strong as the weakest link. Speed limits aren't framed keeping in mind the sharpest braking distances/fastest vehicles, rather a safe limit so that all make vehicles can drive/ride/brake without issues. Roads aren't anyways meant for 100+ kmph.

Re: Saddlesore is a child's play


I fully appreciate the need for speed limits and their rationale, but the point I was suggesting was to end the discrimination between cars and large displacement motorcycles, to get India in line with a majority of the riding countries, that is all. As the infrastructure improves in India, superbikes could find themselves locked out of motorways and super highways too based on such low limits that do not apply to cars as well.

Re: Saddlesore is a child's play

I understand your point. But what India needs the most is road sense. With all living organisms ambling around incoherently on the highway, it would be dangerous.


Sent from my phone. Kindly avoid it while riding.

Re: Saddlesore is a child's play

LOL! I know exactly what you are talking about. My first 100,000 km of riding were in South Asia and the PTSD from those days still continues! :P

(But then again, we know what we do is dangerous on a motorbike, and yet we still do it.)

Re: Saddlesore is a child's play

Reviving a very old but definitely relevant thread, But i realized the importance of the above words recently.
Sadly, I don't heed advice easily and often land up in trouble. But sometimes the outcomes are overambitious too. Sadly the ratio is highly skewed towards landing in trouble part.
I have long quit long distance biking. especially after marriage when i realized that suddenly, life has become even more valuable. Now i mostly drive since it is inherently safe. so all the below is regarding cars. But the topic of building endurance and understanding your limits still stays.
Last year I had a road trip to Ooty. on return, a decision was made to skip the stay in Bangalore and drive to pune overnight. Now this is a 20 hr drive!
Now, i have done a 28 hr ride in my biking days, and a 24 hr drive too. So this didn't seem any risk to an OVERCONFIENT ME. On the way back, somehwere near kolhapur, a dog stood in our path while my car was doing stupid speeds. A "trying to avoid maneuver" moment later, scraped the carcass of the poor dog off the highway. Completely shaken, finally reached Pune by 4.30 am.
Now this seems like a normal incident. however, a review on the dash cam clearly revealed that the dog was visible for a sufficient time for me to take evasive measures, but i didn't until the moment of impact. What actually must have happened is weakening of the reflexes and me not reacting on time.
Now, i might be lucky to being able to drive off to destination after this, but if the dog is replaced by a human, i wouldn't be typing this message since jails dont have internet.

I have since learnt to cut my teeth, and accept the fact that i am a human. I have learned to think twice before attempting such feats.
You might walk away from an incident, but somebody could never ever get up. Or If karma catches up, YOU might never wake up.

So live to ride / drive another day, assess the repercussions of your decision before you act on it. especially ones in which the risks are evident.

Re: Saddlesore is a child's play

[emoji3581]

Re: Saddlesore is a child's play

Totally agree at this point. Valuable advice too. [emoji3581]