Hi Rahul, It was great meeting u as well. Hope to meet u soon. I think it is a great achievement doing the kms you have, i guess it makes even more cool given number of days. I "SALUTE" you, cause i do not think many of us could have done it in the timeframe. Best Regards - Karan.
PS: Call me anytime you visit Mumbai.

ABOUT HIGHER TYRE PRESSURES: When i have driven 300-600 kms .. all my experienced driving friends have always told me to keep the tyre pressure 2-4 PSI's below the recommended tyre pressure for cars..cause once you drive for 50-100+ kms the tyre pressure increases due to the heat which might cause a tyre burst...does'nt that apply to bikes? anybody .... & bluevolt cause u've done a hell lot of kms on the ninja ..thanks - Karan.

^^ for a higher speed, and in general for a smoother cruise on the highway, its better to increase tyre pressure by 2 psi.

Congrats but u should have taken a black one

Part 2 - Sunday, February 28th 2010

Since the day of delivery, I have been doing a lot of late night riding covering 70-80 kms per night within Bangalore; however the 800 mark was still far far away.

So on Sunday, I woke up late (as usual) took a shower, had 3 sunny side up Eggs with a few slices of bread and rode off to Cramster showroom on Cunningham Road.

There I got the Raptor Jacket and the TRG2 gloves which go very well together. Now the only thing left was to go on a long ride. I had been on Hosur Road (NH7) on a trip to Hogenakal Falls in Tamil Nadu last year on my 180 and had loved the highway. In fact it was the first time my 180 touched 125 km/h.

So that was the logical place to go. So I headed off towards to Silkboard Crossing in full Riding Gear in the sweltering heat (Bangalore was hot that day). On the way I had two dudes on an R15 in front of me, the rider was in a Balaclava inside a Motocross helmet and gloves. At a redlight the pillion turned and spotted me and nudged the rider. I heard him say… “Dekh… Ninja …. Ninja”. That did make me a feel a bit good. However that was not all, after a minute or so, I passed them and I spied the pillion taking pics of me (rather the bike ) with the help of the nice rearview mirrors. I felt like showing them the thumb ups sign, but let the thought pass.

Soon I was at Silk Board, had a strong urge to go up the new 10 km Hosur Road Elevated Highway, but had to fill up my tank with Shell, which is on Hosur Road. So chose to take the Road than the flyover, but promised myself to ride it on my way back.

Once the tank was full with Shell Super, the only thing that would keep me restrained was the 4 k limit. It was still sunny so I was wearing my Aviators inside the helmet. In the meantime a kid in car was literally hanging out of the window out of excitement, at the sight of the Ninja. When I came close I gave him a wave. Suddenly, he vanished inside the car and came back wearing his dad’s oversized goggles. He had spotted my Aviators and wanted to show off as well . At this I gave him a big wave and sped off.
It was already past 4 pm when I left the Shell Petrol Pump, so wasn’t sure how far I would be able to go, but nevertheless I decided to go as far as possible and turn back as soon as it starts to get dark.
Maintaining it within 4k was tough especially when just about every bike and moped passes you by and you start thinking … is this why I bought a sportsbike. Put the small voice inside, told me to be patient.
Hadn’t eaten much since morning, so the next thing to do was to stop somewhere and have a refill. Found a decent looking place next to an Engineering College after crossing Hosur. The Egg Fried Rice was ok for a highway joint. I took a few pics of the chef and the head waiter before I started my journey again.


The head (only) waiter and chef




All this while I was maintaining the 4k limit riding on the 6th gear at a speed of 60. Only at certain stretches downhill, the tacho went up to 4.5 k and speed to approx 65 kph.

After some time a passed a town on NH7, I crossed two guys on a Pulsar on the side of the road and within a few minutes there were next time and pillion rider was blaring “This is Pulsar, right???” and the rider was “No.. It’s a Ninja”. Finally I had to clear the stalemate and confirmed that indeed this was Kawasaki Ninja. Both of them showed me the “thumbs up” and were out of sight in a few seconds. However I kept chugging on.

The Fried Rice I had for lunch had started to make my drowsy and I desperately needed some Coffee. On my last trip on this highway me and my buddies had stopped at the A2B food joint and coffee was good and I knew I was somewhere close to it.

When I reached A2B I parked the bike and started walking towards the counter. It’s generally a crowded place and my Ninja had the attention of lot of guys standing there. After I came back from inside I see a crowd of around 20 odd people surrounding the bike and not only that an Uncleji had even bestowed himself the right to sit on it.

I smilingly walked towards the Ninja, on seeing me the guy got off. And then there were all the generic questions. Now the Uncleji was very inquisitive about the bike, however he didn’t know Hindi or English, so an older person accompanying him took the job of translating Hindi to Tamil. A full interrogation in Tamil began, Price, speed, mileage and all that jazz. He just couldn’t imagine that a bike could cost 3 lakh bucks, at which I gave him the prices of R1, Vmax and also the Ducati 1098 R TB (45 Lakhs), which his colleague duly translated to Tamil.

But that was not all, now Uncleji wanted a test ride and he was pretty adamant about it too. His translator told me that there was nothing to fear, as there Swift Dzire was there as security. After 10 mins of convincing that Bhaiya the bike is in the Break in Period, even Bajaj doesn’t give test ride, even if you pay the full amount, I haven’t even let my friends rid it etc. etc, he unwillingly relented. I shook hands with both of them and told them not to mind. Had a quick photo session and turned back towards Bangalore as it had started to get dark.


Uncleji (Plump guy in the off white shirt & Translator in white dhoti (vaeshti))

More Admirers


On reaching Bangalore I took the New Flyover and stopped at the Lay Bye area for few snaps.






The Elevated Highway

My Tank Pad



The Trip

I had just minus’d 200kms from my Break in and it felt good.

So Killer is started getting attention.... Congrats bro..... Nice writeup too...

Look forward for more like the part 3.. part 4.. and so on....

Very nice write-up there Killer! Thanks for sharing and the pictures are very interesting too. I know that the break-in period is the hardest, but the road at the end of that period awaits, literally!

well written killer. Good luck with the engine run in phase. Eat mind control tablets to control ur urge for the right wrist bravado. Not that they will help

If anyones interested in watching the trailer to a long vid I plan to make once my vids and pics reach me on a DVD from chennai, have a look.
YouTube - MM goes to CSS.wmv

All set

got a call from probiking..Ze bike is Here.Have to submit my reg docs tomorro and expecting delivery next week.

Hi All,

Where can i get a bike cover for my Ninja in Bangalore??

Ninja's cover is available with PBK, it is sold at a price of Rs 700. It fits well and it does not melt / spoil when in contact with the engine / exhaust parts when they are hot too.

It has 2 D rings, which you can secure by putting your small lock. This is a small deterant for ppl who would like to sit / remove the cover.

Not sure if they are water proof though.

@ desert fox

Thanks mate. I checked with Khivraj the largest cover they had was for a bullet, which was like a mini skirt for the Ninja. I shall check with Probiking tomorrow.

That was an awesome report Killer. Waiting for my green goblin and would love to share the spirit of riding with you. (by the time i get my Ninja your Run-In would be complete. LOL).

Keep patient and wait till the run in is over. Then the real fun starts. All others would be eating the Ninja's dust or better still be smaaaallllll dots in your RVM.

Best part of your post is the uncle keeping the DZire as collateral for the ninja. Just too hilarious. what jokers.

Where did you pick up the tank pad from and how much did it cost?

P.S. Ride safe bro.

Green Tail

Finally got my green tail covers today. Inspired by Bluevolts DIY posts, decided to do the swap myself. Thanks JD for dropping in and helping with the the installation.

Here's how it looks now...will more pics tomorrow once I get rid of the front number plate.

Great write up!

The uncleji incident was superb and also the test ride. Here it is ok, to take a test ride by others the moment you get a new bike. I had to give my new bike on several occasions as they just asked for the bike keys and then they go zoom. It becomes difficult for me to say no to my dear ones (Several of them). But the best part here is every day I get at least 15-20 hand signs that my Ninja Headlights are on. While, I am on the move I thank them by giving a quick nod but at the signals / parking areas I educate them in polite words that this bike once started the lights are on (day / night). My answer shocks them sometime.


Keep riding, Drive safe!