Daily commute in Mumbai

Yes Aargee, my commute is much more than two hours in mumbai, most of the days. the other days, its no commute, but i still take her for a short spin to mindspace

Like yesterday it was Borivli - Kalina - BKC - Chembur - Powai - Goregaon west - Andheri east - borivli. In all clocked 109 kms.
The last leg was in peak hour traffic.


My commute now extends to the southern tip of cuffeparade, colaba, parts on central suburbs like ghatkopar, mulund. I need to update my thread now and include these destinations

and some times the traffic can get way crazy beyond imagination
But after Despoine got the Two Bros, getting right of way has become easy
Call it being a Bully
Just Joking.

Have you ridden the Streetfighter, or been near to one yet to suggest this?

Disagree Disagree !!!

@Sen, I know many SBK owners now. Not all of them are Richie-Rich's like TenHut - He can buy a stake in Honda and HeyRam - he said he travels to south-mumbai for his business; you can expect him to buy a Ferrari in couple of years .
Most of them (including yours truly) are not Sunday's Child. They have to break their backs working on weekdays. The Sunday rides dont consume energy, rather pump in more energy in to you. Its all in the head, isnt it? I read Ram's post on FB about his Sunday ride that said 'getting up at 4am was totally worth it'. I can tell you from my own exp that you hardly sleep a night before your ride. Its so exhilarating! You relive the experience throughout the week and look forward to the next ride. Its not exaggeration; I think our fraternity will agree with this.

Except you, no one has asked this and I am sure few have ridden the SF.

So, what makes you suggest otherwise?

Very well said. Riding with friends on Weekends is an insanely huge stress busting activity, that said, Ashtorque why are you busting my balls ? The only reason why I end up buying new bikes is because I crash my old ones and I am ruining my life and my finances doing this lol.
My idea is to steal yours next for California Superbike School for I cannot AFFORD (and I mean it) to crash mine anymore \
Now if we talk of RAM...well yeah the guy is gonna get a ferrari to commute to south bombay for sure. And will get a veyron to commute back home again.
But I am in agreement with you. Buying an SBK to park it in the garage for weekdays only to ride it on weekends alone merits its purchase completely. Not everyone has exploit the bike and try to be rossi. The mere pleasure of possesion and the unrest that one undergoes the night before a weekend ride pays off for the price of an SBK

Sunny - I've ridden the SF and it is an absolute hoot around town. The motard style handling feels right at home in the city environments but on the open highway it isn't fun at all.

Sunday Rides are FUN and Energy Boosters...

@ Ash : i dig the Lambo more, but sadly cant take that for work everyday. I find Despoine the perfect WorkHorse if i may say so. She is more a Beauty who now works hard to. You said it about the Sunday rides. Most people look for a break on sunday, for me its Nirvana. Wake up @ 4, get ready n reach bkc @ 5.30. No chore at all when you cover borivli to bkc in 15 mins, the roar waking up the entire neighborhood, bonding with fellow bad boys bikers and then the symphony of those massive machines roaring all the way to lonavala/khopoli/amby.

That 4-5 hour session literally recharges the entire coming week and believe me, mondays are super steroid days, people asking me whats the reason for your monday celebrations ;-) i wink, its the after effect of sunday


@ TenHut : those weekend ride surely is the biggest stress buster i have ever known. A snooze after you come back from the ride is the cherry on the cake.

Just wondering where this Ferrari rumors started
Not complaining.

As for owning a SBK, just having it there is a big kick for all of us.
When i bought mine, i din think of using it as a daily ride in the true context.
I did know that i would be using it more than a weekend ride machine, but now i am hopelessly addicted to it. More so, now almost all my clients, including the Firnangs expect me to turnout in boots and on Despoine.
One day i take the innova, and everyone asks, why despoine is missing

It does take a lot of juggling to do this on daily basis, but anything for superbiking.

Personally i would not like to ride it in traffic, especially Indian traffic. Anurag who has ridden 8k+ might corroborate this.

Traffic is another story. So far the only bike that has behaved tolerably in traffic is the MT-01. I am sure other slow-revving, air-cooled big bikes may also be able to tolerate stop-go traffic a little better than our zippy liquid cooled cousins. Naked bikes are better in traffic and the ones with conventional riding posture will be easier to live with.

When will they let me road-test a KTM-690? I've done a few laps around the track with it but that isn't a real-life test.

I would say the sbk could be another reason for bidding adeu to monday blues

hi.. i have done 40 kms one way daily (20 kms on highway and 20 on city roads) for a couple of years on my pulsar 200 (clocked 30k+ kms in 2 yrs) and all i can say is,i have never felt the need for more power on city roads but it feels disappointing to max out ur bike on the highway knowing u can safely do a lot more.. this is with regards to the speed perspective so you can better evaluate between choosing a 600 cc or a 1000 cc bike..
personally, like all aspirants on this forum, i too have a small savings scheme going on - the DUCATI 848 fund My ambition is more driven towards the excitement and passion of owing an italian beauty than practicality though :P

but if your friend is one of those aspiring owners who fancy an SBK more because they can afford it than being attached to a particular bike, then i would suggest a couple hundred cc's less than 1000 would not make a noticeable difference for such a short ride.. so your friend should be foremost concerned about the riding posture than engine power, in which case tourers would be a better alternative (yes, tourers are attention grabbers too!!). Personally, the only nakeds i like are ducatis (no offence guys but cant help it !! )
i think you can take a look at HONDA CBR 150 that will be coming to India in April 2011 since it looks visually appealing and hopefully has enough grunt to get a smile to its owner's face!

@all - please correct me if you feel my viewpoint merits a new angle of observation and i will be only too happy to learn!!

Everything is right except for the fact that CBR150 wont be making it to India.
CBR250R will