Topic Name Edited, Moved and Approved.

this...for the himalayas, look no further

Edit: skimmed thru your post earlier on and didn't notice you were looking for something available in the Indian market. as far as the Indian bikes go - I would like the torque of a bullet, FI/projector lamps in a p220 and the reliability of a zma in one package. Something that would come very close to that (if not for the FI) would be the erstwhile comet 250. Great bike, killed by pathetic support from Kinetic.

^^^ Bang on.

More like the pulsar 200 if they could refine things appropriately. Else the ZMA all the way. Practicality unfortunately happens to be my middle name.

Being a biker myself.. I thought I would express my personal opinion aswell..


Let’s talk about a biking trip to Leh. Why does anyone go to such a place? And that also on a bike..? Well it's not everyones cup of tea. You prepare for the trip. You prepare yourself and you prepare your bike. You invest time and you invest money. The ride is tough and tiring. But when you reach Leh you are rewarded. You have feelings you can't explain in words. A bike trip to Leh isn't just a trip, one does it to provide the biker soul inside him/her a sense of nirvana..
I ride a Pulsar 150 in Delhi. Before that I used to drive a Discover 125. And both of them have satisfied my transportation requirements pretty nicely. Then there are days when I am at home standing in front of my Dad's thumper. Now a day it just remains in garage (fuel-efficient cars being the culprit). I clean it, fix it, invest time and money on it and then take it out for a ride. And when I am riding a bullet it gives me feelings which I am unable to express in words. Some kind of biking satisfaction.. No trip to home is complete without some long rides on the thumper.
Both these cases have one similarity – We are talking about drives which give us a sense of occasion..
So which bike I personally would like to take for a trip to Leh.. well it’s the thumper for me.

to each, their own! For me, reliability on these rides is a major factor - I do not want to worry about the bike when i'm down on these places. I did Delhi - Manali - Leh - Pangong - Leh - Manali - Delhi last August and the karizma amply demonstrated that characteristic. The only area where I found the zma lacking was the performance at high altitudes(which is why I asked for the FI). as far as carrying capacity goes, it's quite okay for a single rider but if you're carrying a pillion you need the extra power for all those climbs.

PM or talk to bunny, hitanshu - these guys have tons of experience riding in the himalayas. you can't get better first hand info!

P.S - lets not make it a bullet vs zma vs p220 comparison thread. We're discussing features, so lets solely stick to that!

Boss, why would anyone go on a trip? on a bike or car or public transport? It's just to unwind, lighten up etc etc. To each his, own if one likes to ride bikes, or take his SUV, or even cycle/trek, everything is equally enjoyable. What makes people want to go to the Himalayas by bikes is just being philosophical.

The point here is you want to design(build??) a bike that can be used for touring the mighty mountains. I haven't done any trips up north but my take is it's the same for any kind of touring

starts with reliability, build quality, torque, handling and the list goes on...

if you are looking for comfort, then I am missing the point, riding a bike to the mountains is more comfortable than peddling a cycle, and driving car would be more comfortable than riding a bike, it's all relative and can not be generalized as such.

Are you actually trying to build a bike with the torque of bullet, headlights of p220 etc etc? or are you merely suggesting if we cross breed the following list of bikes you can tour the himalayas? Haven't people taken mere Kinetic hondas/100cc bikes to the highest motorable roads etc? Or am I missing something here?

For V 310: -
Firstly, thanks for replying!
But when we are talking about designing a bike for a particular purpose (in this case touring the Himalayas), it’s important to understand the rider (target user). I am asking about the choice of bikes because that, somehow, defines the user. And that’s why I do want riders to explain why would they choose a particular bike for this purpose? I think I should make this clear that we are also talking about the styling aspect here.
It’s nice to know that you did the Leh-trip. I am also planning to go for it this June.
I would like to know the major problems you encountered during the trip. If we, for some time, forget the performance aspect, what else do you think is required in the bike for making it more suitable for such a trip? For example, features in terms of luggage carrier, seating posture, etc. Anything you wish you had in a custom-made bike for you.

This question goes to all..
What would they like to have in a bike, custom-made for them; they want to take for the Leh-trip?

For Hooligan: -
I think I have made few things clear above. What you are missing here is the understanding of the choice a person makes. Every bike has certain configuration and technical aspects (performance, efficiency, etc) but what it also has is a character. Let us take the Honda 1000RR and the Yamaha R1 for example. Both have equally wonderful performance, handling, etc. What they differ in is the character of the bike. Now this again might be due to the styling, or the way the exhaust sounds, or may be some other reason, but, it definitely affects the choice we make while buying one and not the other. While designing (not just building), it’s important to understand the reason behind this choice.
Besides, I never suggested anything like cross-breeding anywhere in my posts.

No bro, I never said you mentioned cross breeding in your posts. Then I guess I would have to say Karizma, for obvious reasons :-)


All the very best for your project :-)

rightly said. All said and done - you are looking at a reliable touring machine (faired/semi-faired or naked) which puts out about 50-80 bhp and has sufficient torque to pull two people + luggage across the mountains and passes. For me, reliability comes as the most important thing to me, followed by the performance.

Absolutely none. Woke up in the morning, thumbed the starter and she would start with no problems at all. This happened without fail every day of the ride. The tires were overinflated by 3-5 psi and I didn't even have a damn puncture on the 2500+ km. Same story for the other two zma's on the ride. All three bikes were stock except for the headlights on mine.

seating posture on the zma is good. I forgot to harden the rear suspension as a result, I had a sore back. The seat could have used more foam . for luggage, we had cramsters saddle bags and it suited us just fine. If I were to look out for something right now in a custom bike, it would only be the performance.

It would depend on the build quality. I do not want to have any worries about the bike on the whole ride.

edit - I have been eyeing the Honda VFR 800 (a.k.a the interceptor) for quite some time now. It is supposed to be launched in India sometime this year. Look it up - that would be my ideal touring bike.

Okies here are my requirements..

1) good ground clearance
2) Ample space for the luggage + pillion, i.e space should be available behind the pillion seat to tie the Bags
3) BIG fuel tank - 25L
4) The bike shouldn't go into pieces after a fall => no plastics and minimum needed metal parts, so that its easy to lift the bikes after a fall. At 17K ft we hardly ve strength to climb, so a 180 kg bike is difficult to lift
5) Button Tyres -> tubeless so that fixing a puncture is easily..
6) Should be easy(for a no vice) to replace the fuse, should ve a battery indicator(like the std bull) + Halogen (semi yellow) head lamps so that

Engine:
1) Should adopt to Altitude easily. It need not be with a hi-fi FI with O2 sensors etc etc. The air filter + Carb can ve manual adjustments which the rider can set as the altitude increases
2) mileage plus tank cap should like a run for 600kms minimum
3) Easily to replace the Clutch and Brake cables => like the Pulsars and others and not like the non UCE REs.
4) easy to start on Cold conditions.

Thanks V 310 and prabhubravo.. points noted!

All the best and keep us posted about your progress.

Requirements for a descent tourer:
1. Reliable (no matter what feature does the bike have if it isn't reliable then it wont become a good tourer)
2. A descent GC(ground clearance), so that it can handle off-roading with ease.
3. Good sitting posture(for both rider and pillion), so that rider can ride for hours without getting tired.
4. Good braking (front and rear disc)
5. Tubless Tyres
6. A good headlamp that can be effective for the night riding may be 55/60 W bulb setup.
7. Then coming on to engine, I would like a good torquey engine that can work like a charm on hills, somewhere around 30-40 bhp machine I guess would do.
8. Then finally good solid build that can handle all the abuse