For all interested members,

There are still 8 months to go so bags of time to get oneself in shape for Leh.

Please do basic health checkups: heart, BP, BMI etc. Those who are overweight/obese, lose the flab else lose the trip. For people with known heart, lung and weight issues, it would be prudent avoid the road trip.

Vishwas Mokashi aka trustvishwas was kind enough to point me to these tips that he had written elsewhere. Thanks, Vishwas, for the permission to quote your hard work here and 'cause you saved me quite some time and effort

1. Travel / Transport Arrangements
If you wish to ride from your home town and your travel arrangements are less hassled. However, if you wish to travel the first leg by train / air, you will need to book tickets well in advance. Ladakh season starts from June i.e. peak holiday season.

I have heard several objections to transporting bike through train. However, I have experienced that bikes get transported without a single scratch. You need to pay 100 bucks more to the guy packing it, 100 bucks to the guy who loads it on the train. The risks of bike getting scratched are more or less equal to the chances of you getting a scratch on your bike while riding from your home town to Delhi / Jammu.

In my opinion, bike should be transported through train and you should travel in the same train. This helps in reducing last minute wear / tear of bike and also provides you with enforced rest for travel duration. You will be riding for next 12-15 days so one day complete rest before you start the ride is good for you.

Also do not skimp on ticket cost. Travelling in 3 tier A/c will still be cheaper than you riding your bike to Delhi / Jammu. (If you add up accommodation cost to your fuel cost)

If you are booking your bike through train, it can be booked as luggage or parcel. Parcel can only be booked between 10 am to 5 pm and similarly you can get delivery of your bike in this time only.

If you are travelling through the same train, you should book it as luggage. The charges are same as parcel. However, in this case, you can get the bike immediately after getting down from train. You just need to collect a gate pass and push bike outside train station. This avoids hotel cost in Delhi / Jammu. You would be rested and raring to start your journey immediately.

2.Bike
Please finalise the bike which you wish to take to Leh. If it is not your own bike, get acquainted with it for at least a week. Also get it prepared at least one week in advance so if any work is not properly carried out, you still have time on your hand. Details of bike preparation mentioned later.

3. Off Roading Experience
As I have mentioned earlier, I absolutely do not have any kind of touring experience on any kind of bike. So I requested couple of senior riders to accompany me for an off-road ride just to have an idea about the kind of biking expected during the ride. This 35 km ride gave me an idea of the kind of roads to expect, how to properly tie a saddle bag and tank bag and bike handling changes due to saddle and tank bag.

4. Endurance
After our off-road ride, a senior rider voiced a question about my endurance in riding. Me being 42 and not very physically fit, agreed whole heartedly to this question. Hence, once I rode from Pune to Shirval (60 km), turned around and went to Lonavala (120km) without stopping or getting down from the bike. When I could complete this ride without suffering too much, I decided that I was fit enough to go on this ride.

You should also try such a ride beforehand.

5. Luggage
You will need one saddle bag, one tank bag and one sack. Sack would be required only if you are travelling by train / flight till delhi / Jammu. You need a sack to keep your helmet and other riding gear in it. After wearing riding gear, you can roll it up and tie it with bungee cords.

Again, I sincerely urge everyone to buy / borrow saddle and tank bags well in advance, fill them up, tie them to your bike and take a off-roading trip. This would give you a feel of how bike operates when loaded.

Saddle bags need to be balanced. Fill them up and see whether they are loaded in a balanced way. If they are not, bike will tend to slightly lean on heavier side and you will need to keep on correcting. Even slight corrections for 6-8 hours a day will surely result in sore limbs.

Tank bag are normally not waterproof. Check whether you have a waterproof cover (it comes with the bag) with you and whether it is fitting properly at speeds of 80+ kmph.

Please check where the straps/saddlebags/tank bag are touching painted surface of your bike. Stick some coloured vinyl on the areas where any of the above touches. This will help you in saving bike paint and finish. I am suggesting vinyl because it is very cheap (App. Rs.20-25/sq.ft.) and vinyl can be easily removed without damaging colour of your bike. Coloured vinyl also helps in blending in so that it is not an eyesore.


6. ClothesOne correction here. No Army canteen sells any Army clothing of any nature whatsoever because it is not a Canteen Stores Department item. Also,it is completely illegal for any civilian to purchase and wear any item of Army or Armed Forces related clothing. There are two reasons why one finds so much of camouflage cloth trousers and jackets and Army woollen clothing in the open market. 1)The cloth is very cheap and ever since the Govt neglected to control its sale, any cloth merchant can stock it and sell it to anybody, even non-members of the Armed Forces. 2) The majority of such clothing has been discarded by the Army/Armed Forces after having lived its life cycle in service.

army DM shoesplastic free zone7. Maps, Geographical Info etc.
Gather as much information as possible from all the sources. Carry as many maps as you can. Once you are in Ladakh, it is very difficult to get lost as there are no cross roads but you should have at least a basic idea of where you are going and how many km you have to cover.

GPS does not help much in Ladakh. Not many roads exist in that area so chances of you getting lost are slim.

I have never been to Leh. But I suggest to do your bike check twice in your trip. 1st before you reach manali as there will be no good svc after manali.
2nd after you come back to delhi you should check your bike or svc it.

I would suggest dont get your bike total serviced at any other places. Just get the oil changed, thats it..!! As you may never what change in the tuning, they might do. Make your bikes perfect from your starting point itself, from your regular mechanic who knows in & out of it. Then later just keep getting oil changed at other local mechs enroute..!!

I would suggest dont get your bike total serviced at any other places. Just get the oil changed, thats it..!! As you may never what change in the tuning, they might do. Make your bikes perfect from your starting point itself, from your regular mechanic who knows in & out of it. Then later just keep getting oil changed at other local mechs enroute..!!

I want to do this trip badly, But, Can a 9 year veteran TVS Victor do this? OR I need to get a new ride first?

I want to do this trip badly, But, Can a 9 year veteran TVS Victor do this? OR I need to get a new ride first?

Hello Rachit Sir,
I have read your blog and waiting eagerly for the 2nd trip blog.
Thanks for the information regarding bike servicing.

I also want to know what was your total expense for your last trip to Leh in 2011.
Is there any one stop shop in mumbai where i can get most of the stuff required for the trip. Such as Saddle & Tank bags, Puncture Kit, etc

Arey, my friend.. Please remove 'Sir' from the above post
heck, making a trip log seems to be much more difficult than the trip
About expense, leaving the bike servicing & any other accessories.. Purely my trip expense never went or touched 25k both the times.

I think A.H. Helmets will be the one stop shop for you to do any shopping. He has good saddle bags & tank bags, what he made it specially. So its little cheaper then the other brands too. You can check it, if you like it buy it. Else you can go to Smart Designs. They have branded Saddle bags & Tank bags. Tubeless puncture kit, should be available with any accessories shop. Even AH Helmet has it.
Also, dont miss out the Foot Pump. You can easily, get it for 150-200 from ebay, if you dont want to go & buy..

Thanks Rachit for the info on budget and shops.
Pls complete ur last trip log as it will b very helpful for me to plan my trip better.

Specially thr trip schedule, route and places u stayed.

Hey Hoodwind...This is Siddhesh here. Even i've been planning for the ride for quite a while now. Just one request. can you please mention rough estiamtion of the total expenses that will be incurred during the trip(food,accomodation,fuel,etc.,); Thanks in advance.