@kernal

im not yaser

I know this is OT - Yes Ajay I got your PM.

Thanks aargee, Srikeerthi, yaser, binoy, Adil & Ajay. Feels nice to finally ride my GS in apna country. Shall put up a small log and pics of my maiden ride from cochin to bangalore- 542kms...Do I need to explain what an experience it was.....

Terrific isn't it?

Already holed up in my dingy hotel in cochin for 4 days, I was desperate to get back to Bangalore. Besides, the wonderful baby in the parking lot was eagerly waiting for me. So, after a good night’s sleep, I wake up at 5:30am on Saturday morning and after checking on TV about the general news/weather etc, I get ready and pack-up. Check-out of the hotel and I am all ready to go at 7:15am.




All geared up, I fire up the engine and it starts right away. Sitting on the bike with the engine idling, its a familiar feeling that I am used to, but today was different as it’s the first time I am going to ride long & hard on a big bore bike on Indian soil. I engage the first gear and as I move, I get goosebumps- its hard to explain. Anyway, as I head a few meters from my hotel, pedestrians start signaling me that my headlight is on! This continues for some time & as its not going to be easy telling everybody that the headlight comes on with the ignition, I decide to start flash my headlight when anybody signals again. I gas up on the way and also check my tire pressure. At the petrol bunk starts the 2 standard questions which till date continues by most people- What mileage and whats price. Anyway, I head from Cochin to Trissur to Palghat. I am maintaining a good pace of 90-100kph on most good stretches, but as I slow down at traffic signals or jams, cars come close & I see mobile phones clicking away pics of my huge bike and its cosmonaut looking rider I guess! Some good stretches of road, some bad stretches, lots of deviations for bridge constructions and as I finally arrive close to Palghat, I stop for breakfast at a roadside drive-in restaurant.



As I park and remove my gear, I see all the diners are staring at me as if I just landed from outer space. As I find an empty space I settle in there as I am hungry, but the stares continue. Anyway, I enjoy a nice meal of appams, vegetable-stew and hot tea. I depart immediately after and just after Palghat as I am riding at about 60kph in good traffic and closely following a KSRTC bus, I suddenly encounter a big & deep pothole. Too close to avoid it and although I brake, I hit it pretty hard, but I carry on. I cross Walyar check-post & enter into Tamil Nadu and head towards Coimbatore (I actually bypass Coimbatore) and a few kms later, I stop for a tender-coconut break and that’s when I notice that my front alloy wheel has taken a small dent on that pothole but it seems ok.











Feeling refreshed with the tender-coconut, I proceed towards Salem which is still some distance away. But somewhere after Avinashi the roads become heaven. They are mostly toll roads, but bikes have to take the extreme left lane and its free for bikes. From here on there wasn’t anything that could come between my GS and my destination. I open up and my constant cruising speed was 110-120kph. On some really long & open stretches I touched about 170kph and the bike was rock solidly planted.







As I crossed Salem & was heading towards Dharmapuri, I had already done 370kms and then my dashboard started flashing the fuel sign and showed ‘distance to empty 80kms, which means my 20 liters of gas would see me doing about 450kms. I stopped for lunch/fuel at Koppur, which is before Dharmapuri. It was a nice place with lots of holiday travelers (being Gandhi Jayanti). Again the mileage & price question crops up. In a polite and friendly manner I answer each of the curious queries.

I then ride non-stop, passing Krishnagiri, Hosur, elevated flyover, Silkboard flyover, Koromangala, ring road and finally arrive at my home in Indiranagar at 4:30pm. Total distance traveled for the day 542 kms. I must say the beemer did the trip effortlessly and I was still fine to go atleast another 300 more kms. No body fatigue of any other discomfort.



The next day as I started to clean my bike, my daughter & son were very excited about helping papa and here they are fully engrossed at work!!



To wrap up, I went thru a lot of heartburns in the whole shipment/clearance process etc, but this ‘trial’ ride boosted my morale and I am psychologically ready for my big trip inshallah in December.

A thank you note again to one & all of you for your kind words, support & guidance and hope to see many of you in December during the trip.

The best bike on the planet is in Bangalore... Awesome.

When are you putting her for public display so that we beings can see her for real.

grr.. you were supposed to call !

well.. lets catch up !

Time and date please

Good, small & sweet write-up; I'm waiting for December for you to make the trip. But remember, the roads you're planning aren't like Salem-Krishnagiri stretch.

BTW - I'm sorry that I couldn't tell you about a better road between Thrissur-Palakkad. Instead of the regular route, you may want to take Thrissur-Pattambi-Palakkad, though it puts on 20 more click on ODO, the roads are way better than the regular road. Sorry @Haroon.

A fantastic start Haroon bhai. I guess we will soon moving our focus to the Tourer thread to envision your escapades .

Thanks guys.
I have finally parked the bike, locked it, disconnected the battery, covered the bike and have surrendered the key to the commissioner customs as I have returned back to Saudi Arabia.

Once my travel schedule is finalized for December, I will get back the key from the customs and then get going with my trip and meet up with all of you on a G2G.

Curious - how much did you have to deposit for the Carnet?

Nothing needs to be deposited.
You have to buy the carnet document from the country where you are bringing the bike from (Saudi in my case) and I bought it here for SR. 500 (which is approx Rs 6,000). Other than that I only have to pay for the clearance charges at the seaport in India, which is a small amount. Anyways, once I complete the whole process including shipping the bike back to Saudi, I will start a separate thread on the whole Carnet procedure, costs, etc.

I was asking, because in India you have to pay a refundable deposit equal to the highest rate of duty and taxes (on the vehicle) in the applicable country.

Then I guess this is unique to India - a Carnet with a babudom twist.

Whoa!!! Guys, what's this Carnet custom & handing over keys to custom department? Can you or Bluevolt shed some light pls? I couldn't understand the point either.

OK, for starters- here below is what the Carnet de Passage means:

EXEMPTION TO CERTAIN VEHICLES IMPORTED BY TOURISTS* UNDER TRIPTYQUE OR CARNET DE PASSAGE

Basically, as a tourist you are allowed to bring into India your foreign registered car, bike, van etc for a limited period (6 months, but sometimes with a special extension maximum upto one year). You have to buy the Carnet/Triptique document from your local Automobile Association in the country where your vehicle is registered. Its normally valid for 1 year. With this document, and some other simple procedures, you can bring the vehicle and use it in India with the foreign number plate. ONLY additional thing to do in India is to purchase a Third party or comprehensive insurance to use the vehicle on the road. But if you do not take back the vehicle out of the country within the stipulated period, the customs will confiscate your vehicle, slap a hefty fine running into few lacs (yes, few lacs) and you have to run around like a headless chicken at the customs department to release your vehicle.

I know of only one country, Egypt where you have to pay a refundable deposit of something like US$ 3,000 to take your vehicle there. I hope the babus in India are not reading this

BTW, the carnet book has many pages in it, therefore I can use it in as many countries during its validity of 1 year.

In India, I am supposed to bring the vehicle and depart with the vehicle. Whereas, in my special case I am leaving it there & returning to Saudi due to my work commitments here and hence I will come back in December for the trip. Therefore, I am supposed to surrender the vehicle to customs during my absence as it is not to be used by anybody else during this period. This is complicated, so I managed to show them the malayalam newspaper article about my europe trip and my seriousness to do a bike trip in India and also gave them a notarized affidavit & they somehow agreed for only surrendering the key which will be returned when I go back to India.