WOW, finally the thread is UP & KICKING. Good ride report Aditya, pics are very tempting. Where are the videos by the way ? What happened to Sharu ?

CHEERS,
G D

Sharath (Hifisharu) had an unfortunate spill from here - I did not see it happen, but this is how it unfolded:

Killer instinct (Asim) and Pradeep were riding at least 7-10 km ahead of the group. Alok, Aditya, Kumar, Hifisharu and I were riding somewhat close to each other. Just before the accident, Sharath and Aditya were ahead of me, and I was trailing them, with a Tempo Traveler in between.

Just when I was approaching the curve, I noticed the Tempo Traveler in front of me stop suddenly. I was the left of the vehicle, and what I saw next gave me mini heart attack. I saw a R15 lying in middle of the road and I instinctively knew it was Sharu's.

Automatic shot from GoPro onboard camera:


We rushed to the spot, and we found Sharath sitting on the side of the road, with his jeans torn near the knees. We were relieved to find out that there were no serious injuries thanks to his riding jacket, gloves and helmet - just some bruises/cuts on his knee. We immediately took out our first aid fit and cleaned the wound and applied the dressing.

The impact was such, the bike had disintegrated. Broken forks, the fairing disappeared and the headlight assembly just hanging by the connecting wire. I reapeatedly told Sharu how lucky he was to escape with minor scrapes!

Aditya and Kumar managed to talk to a guy who agreed to transport Sharu and his bike to Mysore for a fee. So after seeing Sharu off, we decided to proceed cautiously downhill.

There are a few learnings to be had from this incident, which I will sum up as follows:

1) No matter what your level of riding skill is, the fact remains that riding in India is not without risk to life and limb. Cars might want to cut you off, people might come in the wrong lane, and animals might come in your way without announcement. So be careful, very very careful all the time.

2) Wear all the gear all the time. Sharu's helmet, jacket, riding boots and gloves had definitely protected him during the fall, but even the scrapes on his knee could have been avoided if he was wearing a knee guard. So no matter what speed you ride at and which terrain you ride through, ALL the gear ALL the time is a must.

3) Carry a comprehensive first AID kit. This can make the difference between a messy wound exposed to the elements or a safely bandaged injury which would prevent infections till you get professional help.
I was talking to a friend of mine today who happened to fall while trying to catch a train and he split his arm open. His arm was bleeding for few hours till he managed to get a doctor. None of that would have happened if he had a couple of butterfly wound closures in his first aid kit.


But all in all, a great ride! Very enjoyable and would definitely up for something like that again...

sms me your email address. will send them across.

Well ninja's or not i loved the experience thoroughly. Firstly it was a large group and not just 2-3 of us like always. Secondly it was my first ride out of blore on a bike and that too an overnighter. Best of all it was unplanned with like minded friends.

Gotta pick up a pair of knee guards soon. And boots too.

Need to upgrade my medical kit too. Rahul, will need your inputs on this please.

I'm gonna also carry a cellphone charger along now onwards.

One thing to keep in mind is have everyone else's number stored AND written down. Helps big time.

P.S. Planning on an overnighter at Coorg sometime during the end of this month.

Most of my first Aid kit essentials were consumed during that crash, so I will post pictures from my replenish kit when I am back in Bangalore this weekend!

I am out of Bangalore (as usual) end of this month and first week November, so I'll be sorry to miss the Coorg ride!

Awesome write up Adi! Thanks to rahul for his timely presence. Its good to have someone like u during a ride :0

@ n aditya


hi bro ..
can you please tell me where can i get the FIAT YAMAHA jacket and wats the cost..
is it leather?

please give me som info regarding that FIAT YAMAHa jacket in ur pics

Well, the story wouldn't be complete w/o my input now will it?

First of all, I'm indebted to Raul and the gang, for their timely help and first aid. Really saved me a great deal of trouble. Also, all the gear definitely helped, except for the one exposed area, i.e my knees. The only reason I wasn't wearing a pair was because I hadn't found a set that would actually protect me. Nonetheless, lesson learnt and a trip to get a set of knee pads is in the offing.

As for the bike, the damage caused was not due the impact of the bike hitting the ground, as suggested by Bluevolt. Recollecting the chain of events, I figured out that the vehicle which was in my lane, coming towards me, partially ran over the bike, thus completely damaging the front rim, forks and radiator assembly

I'm really lucky to have got off with a little more than a scrape, but the bike will unfortunately have to be put to rest, as the repair work doesn't warrant the cost.


Had an awesome trip till it lasted, and look forward to more such exciting trips


Ride safe..... and wear gear, period.

Hifi - I can't tell you how relieved I was to see you with just minor injuries. Hope you are 100% ok now and we indeed look forward to riding with you again.

I had no idea that the vehicle had partially run over your R-15!!! No wonder the bike looked the way it did.

Remember Kumar and me met up with you just after Bandipur again? Around 20 mins before that, we had a narrow escape which almost crashed both our bikes.

We were riding in the Mudumalai wildlife reserve when Kumar (who was in the front) gestured to stop. There was an agitated looking wild tusker walking on our side on the narrow road. We stopped for sometime, waiting for him to disappear into the forest. But he did not, and we decided to take our chances - kumar(scorcher) slowly tried to ride past him, but the elephant saw him doing that and he suddenly turned right and charged towards him with a big trumpting noise! But kumar managed to escape because there was still some space between him and the elephant. But the problem was with me, because I was behind scorcher, and the tusker had managed to cover a lot of ground, almost hogging the entire road length-wise.

With a prayer on my lips, the Ninja in first gear and my hand on the throttle, I took the Ninja down on the unpaved part right of the road and wrung the throttle hard. The little monster screamed and zipped past the tusker, missing him by no longer than a foot. I almost touched the tusker. When I passed him, I could not believe I had gotten away, it was so close. I could see Scorcher ahead stop and keep his hand on his heart - his must be ticking at 400 beats a minute, and so was mine, we were so scared at that moment!

In the rear view mirror, I saw the tusker tearing down some branches and small trees because of his frustration in not being able to catch us. THAT was some experience.

It was sheer bad luck that my GoPro batteries just ran out 5 mins before that incident, otherwise I would have had a frame by frame shot of how that happened!

Duhan jacket

Hi raman,
its me n hifi sharu wearing the Yam jackets, not aditya. Its made by DUHAN company of china, we bought it in J.C road for 4.5K. Its a textile jacket with protectors n winter lining. Since they have no showroom or outlet, i would recommend you to buy some genuine stuff from company outlets.

@ Rahul,
It was really a scaryyyy experience with the wild tusker. Maybe my heart was doing 400bpm or more!!!!!

Whoa!!! Guys, you'd a thrilling weekend I suppose (Thrilling for us to hear , but scary for you at that moment). But neverthless, an experience is still an experience, nothing can beat it.

@Rahul - That would have been an amazing video. No worries on the batteries. There's always a next time.

On a serious note, i'm glad you guys managed to slip past without a scrape.

ROFL. Nicely put. The green ninja must have looked like a stack of fresh grass while Ram's white RTR probably looked like a block of juicy sugarcane.

Glad to know you are fine Sharu. It was fun riding with you while it lasted. Sad to know that the bike has to be put to rest. Looking forward to riding with you soon. Take care bro.

P.S. Next bike is a ninja?

@Rahul: That yellow "scuba diving suit" looks good on you..!!

Lots of greenery in the pics... I meant the Ninjas ...

@everybody
I met up with hifisharu in mysore that day evening as soon as he came and was relived to see min injuries to him though felt sad seeing the bike in the state it was as me, sharath(hifisharu) and couple of friends have done a lot of touring together around mysore with him joining us on his r15 .... Saw his boots ,they were too scratched near the ankle... at that very moment it flashed ... No more touring till proper riding gear is picked up ( knee protector, shoes, and better gloves )..

@Rahul
Your first aid skills, safety measures is really something to be appreciated ... the BMW suit seems to have done its job pretty well in case of heavy downpour .. really should help while riding in the night and day due to its colours ,people will notice you from a distance.... Love some of the GoPro shots which clearly show the motion blur

Hope to join you guys someday on a G2G from mysore or bangalore...till then ride safe and always wear safety gear

Wow, what a great adventure. We had similar experience on our recent trip through Mudumalai.

BLOODY HELL,that's one WILD experience, you guys had with the Tusker. Good to see that Sharath escaped with minor injuries, but Sad to hear about the bike. How much will the repair cost ?

CHEERS,
G D