all u need is good workouts in gym .. think abt racers who race even aggressive riding position all day on track .. do workouts and everything will be fine

Get a good riding pants and jacket ..just visit sometime towards south [chennai] in MMSC [race track] u will have good sessions which will cost u mear 500/- per half day session

already have 2 decent armored jackets..1 is a stars..have a bunch of gloves as well..

i've been on the MMSC track, courtesy the yamaha R15 championship a few years ago..was insane..lotta fun..amazing experience

Now they have changed some rules.. now no knee/elbow guards accepted .. only full 1 piece race suit or riding jacket and pants with armors

just got some really cool TCX touring boots, heel, ankle, toes and calf protected..not to get those armored pants..saw a great pair by Rev'it but too expensive, 18K

dont wanna spend over 10..

Thats was sad buddy. Anyways just 2 months for June session. Lets see if I come with desi RTR . And the response they got, I hope these TT would be quite often now
BTW, some of the clicks are here, in case someone want to check -- (Facebook Link)

P.S : Try getting one piece leather now. They gave us a hint that next time 2 piece will not be allowed even.

Yeah, some people have been saying that they might have allowed it this time but if it becomes a regular thing (4-6 times a year) then eventually only 1 piece racing suits will be allowed..

when I went to chennai for the R15 championship, they gave us strap on elbow n knee guards, heard that isnt allowed anymore there as well..

Back home from a scintillating 1300 kms under my belt consisting of butter smooth national highways, broken roads, no roads, hills and what not. All i can say is that my belief in the GT has grown even more, its an all rounder bike, never troubled me until the end (will get to it later), had a dose of adulterated fuel where the bike started knocking, shut off so many times in first gear but just went on and on.

As for the endurance, the bike ran non stop for 9 hours covering 570 kms out of which 250 was hills and rest was plains. Had a lot of fun on the twisties, leaning from one end to other as well as on the highways when i shot past cars doing 140-150 and they kept gaping.

The low end torque was lovely and it returned a healthy fuel efficiency figure of 21 km/l for the round trip which is good considering i was always doing speeds north of 130-140 on the highways and using mostly 2nd and 3rd gear in the hills. All in all safely back home, despite using the towel to protect rear panels, it got scratched a little with the bungee cords

Issue :-
1 . After gunning the bike continously for 5-6 hours, the gear shifts became very very hard, i am running on Motul fully synthetic oil so engine oil isnt an issue. What i felt was that after the temperatures soared and the moment i entered Delhi, there was a lot of traffic and the cooling system of the bike just couldnt keep up.

Infact, even on the highways the bike had started heating up when i was doing a 120-130 but it was normal, i checked the engine and it was burning hot. The temp guage was stable at 3 bars so i carried on.

The moment i entered Delhi and caught up with 1st and 2nd gear traffic, the bike was almost on fire, so much that i stopped by the side to check if the coolant has leaked or if the fans are not working but every thing was normal. The gear shifts turned very very hard, it was like almost forcing it into any gear.

And for the first time when i reached home, both my thighs had red burn marks on them , i have faced worst of traffic but never faced such litre class bikes like heating.

Is it because i went non stop or something else? Even the radiator is not clogged up? Am confused.

2. The stock headlights seemed really pathetic in the dark, need to get some upgrade done though love the throw of high beam dipper, goes straight in the face of those running on high beams.

@nagoo -
Well yes but still the seating position does become a tad uncomfortable after time. It wont stop you from riding, today i rode 10 hours at a stretch so am not saying its impossible. We have to sacrifice comfort for the supersports riding positon it seems.

Although, many of us clock quite a bit of highway, city, hills and ghat roads on the GT - Its nice of you to make the post sharing your experience.
Isn't it really what this thread is meant for aside anything else?

Some Suggestions for your future long distance rides;
* You can avoid any kind of scratches on the body panels by making sure none of the hooks in the bungee cord land-up anywhere near the (side/rear) panels. Making full use of the grapple hooks provided at the front and rear foot rest would help. To further secure - use rear grab rails.

Always use double cords when you know you'll be crossing 180k with payload. A slight bump on those speeds combined with wind resistance is enough to challenge your as well as your bike's safety.

* The maximum i've run non-stop is not more than 3 hours (or 300kms) - since that is more or less the range limitation while doing upwards of 150k - 170k on the highway. 21kmpl is a very decent mileage, considering the speeds and terrain involved.

It is best to make the most of those fuel breaks by letting the GT cooldown for a bit (~15min). This will help prevent those progressively hard gear shift experience over time. I use a 15w50 300v - Never gives up on shift quality even under extreme endurance runs, although this is not the stock grade, its better to use an oil grade suitable for your ride style. This one suits city, track as well as tour.

* In the highway, the air hitting your radiator is in excess of 150kmph. Even if you were doing 200+, your temp gauge wont cross 3 bars as a standard measure. This is more than enough to provide exceptional heat dissipation for the coolant, even if you were constantly redlining. Entering a metro from a full fledged highway run will most definitely cause the temp to spike up and result is tandoori thighs.

When on tour, i try to find a good bite to eat right before entering city, this helps bring down the temp of boiling hot coolant and also brings one back to his senses after blasting away at highway speeds.

Happy touring on the GT and for next time, a few pics would be most welcome.

Thanks Brat and agree to each word of what you say , we should post our pics, experiences and not just limit it to new bike posts and once a while queries.

I had seen the pics you had posted of your laptop bag and had done the securing in entirely same way, using the hooks near rear foot rest and grab rails but while coming back one of the bungee some how came out and i was left with only one which some how caused a bit rough marks.

I stopped at the fuel bunk but only for a say 5 mins or so to give a call to my family of my whereabouts and then again, just seems that the coolant was already hot as the engine was running almost at a stretch for 6-7 hours then and got no time to cool down the moment i entered city giving "tandoori legs"

Thanks, as for the pics presenting a few i clicked, couldnt carry the dslr, just iPhone quality pics.

Stopped at Ambala to have some water and also give the bike some time to cool off


I took the GT all the way up, that was the parking where my relatives are, caused quite a stir with the rear wheel spinning like hell


GT resting 600 kms away from its home - himachal


A birds eye view from the agv k3


Almost crashed here near chintpurni, leaned out a corner and the moment i see next i see this, the roads are in a terrible condition




Una, Himachal, dont miss the wonderful tarmac below, the bike was all over the place on such roads


Rough ride


[/b]The delicious Kurali - Anandpur sahib stretch, no traffic, butter smooth roads, i did 150-170 throughout here for 60-70 kms[/b]


One of the best highways of this country - NH1

@rajat : Now that's what I call some makkhan pics . I can see that the 650 still looks brand new even the tyres. The highways pics are tempting

gr8 pics and writeup dude..... answered majority of my queries regarding the gt650r...

Can anyone share economics of owning this bike. Would like to upgrade to GT650N. Can someone tell me how long stock tires last, how much all servicing cost, and how fuel efficient it is, any other maintenance costs you would like to share?

Tyres:
I am not sure how many miles others have clocked on their GT's - maybe someone who's already had their stock rubber replaced would be in a good position to comment, I've done about 10000+ kms so far and about 1000 of those kms have been on ghat roads, dirt pass, etc. Rest were on solid well laid highways/city roads.

I'd expect it to last for 20,000 kms (or one year) at a minimum, for my riding pattern. The stock Bridgestone Battlax costs ~10k for the replacement.

Servicing:
Service intervals are set at 5000kms. It costs a maximum of around 3k - 5k per service for the usual routine. The cost appears to vary (though not significantly) for various SVC's, across the country.

Consumables are a bit on the higher side. A regular service with a rear pad replacement cost around 11k for one of the older members here.
Other than that, a regular service includes the cost for 3L of FS engine oil, Insurance would set you back 10k per annum.

Fuel Efficiency:
To be quite honest, i really dont know what is the city mileage because i've never bothered to check. On highway's the GT returns around 22kmpl (160kmph with occasional bursts to 200k) - 27kmpl (100kmph flat - no bursts) depending upon average speeds maintained.

Thanks for prompt and relevant reply. Also people are complaining rather harshly on this forum. Are problems with all GTs or few of them??? saw gt650r in showroom. quality was a bit low but gt650n seems rather good value for money. Also most GT owners appear to have R15 as their first bike. There is no way you can stop thirst of riding a more powerful bike after that bike for sure. maybe its underpowered or maybe it instills a bit of confidence in rider I don't know.

The people who complain more harshly on this forum are mostly not owners but folks who've went online, read a few reviews, watched a couple of videos and start going out gung-ho after taking a test ride.

For a more realistic view, you can post here - there are more than a handful of unbiased owners who can provide you with their experiences.

Not clear... when you mention "Are problems with all GTs or few of them???", what problem are you referring to?