Hey MG.. I haven't forgotten ur question.. Actually I was gonna answer ur question in the trip log itself.. But unfortunately I couldn't reach till that point when i stopped writing it last night.

Well the roads on NH17 are absolutely beautiful. No prob at all.
The route i used was..Panvel - Mahad - Kashedi - Khed - Chiplun. From chiplun I took the diversion towards Hedvi. Locals told me bout the route. It goes thru the chiplun market.
So the route was Chiplun market - Marg tamhane. Till Marg tamhane the road was neat n clean but there's a diversion from Marg tamhane to hedvi. It's a very small road and gets even worse as u close in towards hedvi. Full of pot holes and no sign posting. At one point there's no road at all. Only red soil on the road. It literally fckued the shit out of me and the bike. My jacket..gloves..and entire bike was covered with red truck as a truck was riding ahead of me creating a wall of dirt...

Ketan if u can pls put the pics as url link to weebly or load thru zoomin.coz picasa,imageshack,tinypic are blocked in most offices

Hey darkknight.. I'll surely upload the pis on my website on weebly as early as i can...
I'll be completing the remaining log here now...

@ketan:you didnot started wearing the red jacket Some very nice pic there and waiting for the rest.
btw:how much top speed you are getting on your R15?

Continuing from where I stopped....

After that picture pit stop in Kashedi.. I got back on the bike and started riding towards Chiplun. Next village was Khed. But as mensioned in my previous log as well, The strtech between Kashedi and Khed is simply gorgeous.. You hardly need to let lose that throttle.. I reached Khed in a whisker.. Kept riding till Chiplun...

When I reached Chiplun, city traffic started increasing. I stopped where I saw the first diversion which was heading into the city/village of chiplun and asked an autorickshaw guy bout the direction to Hedvi.

He asked me to take the very diversion looking atwhich I had stopped. He gave me some simple directions including only 2 left turns and I was happy listening that and carried on. It was later when I realised how easy it was to get to Hedvi.

Once I took the right turn which was heading inside chiplun village..ohh ma god..what road... as usual.. pathetic.. Very narrow..with vehicles parked on both sides. I was stuck behind a truck and couldn't get pass him because the time was around 10.30-10.45am. Which means people storm the markets for shopping, specially women. Also it was Republic day, so students were going to their schools and the road was jam packed. Initially I thought it'll end soon but no.. It's quite long...

People were staring at me as if I was some kind of alien landed from some other world. Heat was immense. I some how managed to get through the market. Kept proceeding while asking for directions - just to confirm, to rikshaw walas. After some time I hit a road which looked like a highway. Reliefe It was.... The road was nice and wide with some really beautiful curves to get ur knees down. I started enjoying the road. That was probably the road joining Chiplun to Guhagar not sure.

One thing worth mensioning here was, the fuel which I had filled at Vadkhal, was about to finish and I was riding with the fuel meter flickering one/two sticks. I rode past an Essar Fuel station. I WAS UNDER THE IMPRESSION THAT THIS IS THE ROAD WHICH'LL TAKE US RIGHT TILL HEDVI AND THERE HAS TO BE A BETTER FUEL STATION OF HP OR BP SOMEWHERE AHEAD. SO WHY USE ESSAR? I TELL YOU GUYS..THIS WAS ONE OF MY DUMBEST DECISION....

I didnt stop at the fuel station and kept moving. After some time, I again stopped at a place for directions and that rickshaw wala told me to take the left turn when I reach a place called Marg Tamhane. It's a small village. I was cool with it. WHAT I HAD EXPECTED HEDVI TO BE AS A PLACE LIKE GANPATIPULE. WELL SIGNPOSTED. GOOD ROADS. WITH ALL THE FACILITIES LIKE TEA STALLS AND FUEL STATIONS ALONG THE ROAD.

I happily road till the diversion. A board read - Hedvi left turn:- 26 kms.
The road was narrow and not so good. Only one car can pass at a time. This was the first time I realized bout the fuel thing. I waited there for a sec and gave it a thought. I was confused whether to go back so many kms to get my bike refuelled at Essar petrol pump or just carry on with the road with faith on God that I get a petrol pump up ahead.

I KEPT MOVING, THINKING THAT THIS MUST BE A BY PASS ROAD AND EVENTUALLY WILL MEET SOME BIG ROAD AND THERE I'LL SURELY GET FUEL STATION. HOW FOOLISH I WAS....

I'll show u a pic of the road...


It wasn't long that the flickering sticks stopped at just one stick. Now I was getting a bit worried. To add to it, the road was becoming worse from bad. Full of potholes and brocken areas. The only good thing was it was covered with tree shades and there wasn't any traffic. In fact it was scaringly lonely. I was riding on and on and on.. The distance started feeling too much and because there wasn't any milestone on the way it was scary. I came to a point where there were 2 roads. No sign posting at all. Just as I was thinking what to do, fortunately a few school students came there on their cycles. I asked them the direction and carried on with the road. That fuel indicator was the only thing in my mind. I was very nervous. Then the last incident of coming across points where 2 or more roads meet started arising again and again. Everytime I had to spend some time waiting for someone to come there to guide me. ek toh sala petrol ow.. upar se no sign posting. Running some excess kms in wrong direction was the only thing left..

Now suddenly the bike was on reserve. Now I was damn worried. When another diversion came ahead, there were 3 roads heading in 3 different directions and there was a rickshaw wala waiting for customers. I asked him the direction. He said- This way..15kms! I was like.... ohh fcuk.. still 15 more kms? I asked him is there any petrol pump up ahead? He said no petrol pump in 15kms radius from here. Not at all in the direction of Hedvi as it's a very remote village. The other 2 roads had petrol pumps on them but each 15 kms away from the point where I was. I again calculated in mind that the bike has just hit reserve that means we can cover atleast 40-45kms without the bike getting stalled somewhere. So I kept heading towards Hedvi. As I moved the road simply started vanishing. There was no road at one point. Only red soil all over. It was like I was in some moto cross race or riding in a desert. Me..my clothes..jacket..gloves..helmet..the entire bike was fcuked up..completely covered with red dust. There was literally a wall of red dust as a truck had sped by just before I reached there.

I had no choice but to carry on with the road. I kept moving ahead with praying in mind that bike doesn't get stalled. I had faith on her though..

Finally I saw a milestone saying Hedvi 2kms and I could also feel that I was very close from sea shore. There was another road which was heading into the village. I just took a chance by asking a person there if I can get fuel anywhere close here? He said yes u can but it's private. A hotel guy sells it at extra price. I was more than happy paying him some extra bucks as getting stranded in the jungle with sun scorching on the head was the last thing in my mind. I went to that hotel.

That fellow charged 57 rs per litre. I was ok with it but at what quality..? Ohh god.. I really wonder to what ratio he had diluted it to.. my god.. But no choice.. I had to take it. Got 1 litre of fuel from him and took the road which lead to Hedvi beach. I reached the beach in a matter of few mins.

You can take the bike right till the shore, next to the Shiv temple. Beach is truly awesome but ideal if you come in a group. You can literally have blast there. There were a few tourists there but they seemed to be from near by villages and most of them were college students from near by villages who had come on their bikes with their gfs. They were seeing my bike. Specially their gfs... Made me think is it safe to leave the bike alone? Because they gathered around the bike in such a number when I was around the bike getting rid of the riding gear, what might happen if I leave it alone for longer and go away..

I then went to the temple while keeping an eye on the bike and those fellas..
Here are some of the pics which I took from and of the temple.








Found a guy there and asked him to take a snap of mine..but had to spend a lot of time answering his silly questions regarding the bike..like why the tyres are so thin and what not...



I could see a sense of respect when people used to see I was riding with proper gear and specially seeing my tee of Mumbai bikers club. They used to understand this fella ain't any tom dick n harry who rides with no purpose. They were surprised hearing I came alone all the way from Mumbai.

Then I went across the beach on the other side in those trees which I was seeing from this end. One can his bike right inside those shades and very close to the boudary of sea.
Proper sun light from this angle gave the real effect of water when I shot this pic..




I was about to take a pic of mine with my bike using the self timer but that's when a guy came ahead by himself and said i'll take the pic for u. That was real nice of him. He himself seemed to be a local photographer as he had a sony SLR in his hands. He asked me bout our group and bike. He asked if I was there on a stay or will I be leaving. I said I'll be leaving shortly and also asked him for the directions because by now I had forgotten those lefts and rights which I had taken. He said if it's ok with you I can come with you on ur bike and show u the route because He was about to leave for his home. He said he stays at Marg Tamhane. what better thing than having a local guide behind u and showing you the route. I immediately agreed and said we'll leave after some time.


I sat there on the stones and spent some time under the cool shade of trees seeing the sea.. And got up to leave after half an hour. It was around 1.00pm and looking at the amount of time I took to reach here I thought I'll be home by 6.30-7.00pm. Took that fellow as a pillion and headed out of Hedvi. He was giving me the directions and that made it real easy getting out of that bhul bhullaiyya of roads and back on the main highway at Marg Tamhane. We both thanked each other there went in 2 different directions..It was now clean route and I was riding at good speeds. But even though I had filled 1 litre of fuel, I wanted that Essar fuel pump as soon as possible so as to not run out of fuel.

slowly and steadily I was nearing Chiplun. I took a small pit stop in between and took some pics. Even after coming so far from that dusty road, you can see the condition of the bike. The dust was so much that it didnt go off even after cruising at 80km/hr.




I then reached Chiplun after riding for some time.. Not exactly chiplun but a few kms before chiplun where there's a by pass road which takes us directly to NH17 skipping that bad road through the Chiplun Market. I wished I knew this route before.

Before taking the left turn to NH17, I stopped at the Essar fuel station and refueled with Rs.200 worth of petrol. That was good enough to take me all the way to Mumbai - around 270kms.

Once refueled and refreshed, I hit the NH and was riding very fast because time was passing by. I decided that I'll stop for the afternoon meal at Kashedi, right on top of the ghat where there's a small stall. I rode non stop and reached Kashedi after some time. Stopped at the stall and found out that there's nothing but Vada pav left.. I ordered one vada pav and a clod drink.. Guess what, the vada pav was colder than the Cold drink.. Pathetic..! Had no mood of eating food like that but was helpless. Some how gulped it in and carried on with the journey. This bike is so much capable in ghats and around corners, that I could easily catch up with the cars which overtook me when I made the pit stop. People now started recognizing me as they had stared at me when I first overtook them in the ghat. It was a nice feeling..

Milestones were passing by quickly...I crossed the ghat... crossed Mahad and was between Mahad and Indapur...Just as I reached close to Vadkhal.. I saw a huuuuge traffic jam.. easily stretching for atleast 2-3 kms. And those dumb a@# car drivers had blocked the opposite lane by adding up their lanes.. I was already feeling a lill down after so much riding - almost 500kms.. and seeing this traffic jam I was scared like hell...

I didn't think twice before getting on the rough and bad shoulder of the road and was literally off roading as I passed by the huge traffic jam. Other bikers followed me. I met a guy coming in the opposite direction and asked him the reason behind the traffic jam and he said casually.. no no.. nothing has happaned.. just the over load of cars..

And why not.. people had gone crazy on that 3 day vacation.. Lots and lots of people had gone out of city and now were returning home creating traffic jams on almost every major junctions.

I some how managed to get myself out of the jam and kept riding towards Mumbai. Stopped once near Pen for refueling and carried on with the journey.

My body was paining by now and seeing even little of traffic jam used send waves in my brain. I had some minor traffic jams near Panvel - JNPT junction and then near Chembur... Other than that the journey was smooth. Final traffic jam was at sion and once I got through it I reached home safely before the sun was down.

Meanwhile, when I was stuck at the traffic jam near Vadkhal, I saw a lots of biker's groups heading back home. Most of them were on thumpers. A friendly wave was the only interaction between them and me..

When I reached home, I was as good as dead on the bed. I was damn tired. Practically I had ridden quite more than 615kms in a single day but what made me so tired was the bad road, directionless riding means mental tiredness.. and those traffic jams after such a long ride.

I need some Rs.600 worth of fuel and total kms run were 615kms.
Bike was rock steady on any kind of road laid in front of her...be it off roading.. cornering..riding in sand..anything..

No problems with rims..even after banging the bike accidentally on stoned with real sharp edges while I was offroading.. Though I used to get worried about tyres after reading all the horor stories in the Ownership threads. I never forgot to check my tyre and rim after every few kms..

To conclude..this trip was one of the most horrifying from running out fuel point of view..most unplanned and memorable.. Enjoyed every minute of it thoroughly..

Which Red jacket you talking bout brother?
Actually I have 3 jackets which I use while riding..
This grey n yellow Fupai wear biking jacket..
The red n white Yamaha jacket which I wore during the last xbhp g2g at Amby..
and another black one..cotton jacket..

Are you talking bout the Yamaha Jacket?
Well it depends on the mood yaar...

And bout the top speed.. I have managed to reach 133km/hr on this bike but tht was on a slight slope.

I must admit that this bike takes a lot of time and distance to get that top speed specilay once u cross 120 mark. And this days am finding it really difficult to even get pass 125. I m gonna take this issue to the ss in my next servicing.

I managed to touch 124km/hr in this ride. Not more than that...


and yeah.. thanx for the comments...

yes i was talking about the red one presented by your brother

thats a real honest confession i heard after long time,do you feel the bike is capable of doing beyond that speed ?

HAPPY RIDING.

Oops...how do u know bout it? Did u read bout it in my trip log or from where...? Well that jacket is still with me... Yeh bas aise hi dal diya tha...

yup..that was a honest confession.. What's the point in boasting any bike's superiority when it's not performing well?
But frankly speaking this top speed issue doesn't bother me much because I m not gonna race with some one on the track and that's where the top speed is very imp.. I m happy with my bike because she gives me a never before cruising speed of close to 100km/hr and that too for a long long time.. without any hick ups. I really love this from touring point of view..

Well the bike surely seems capable of doing more than this.. Because while I managed to get the top whack of 125km/hr the needle in the RPM meter was hovering around 7-8k RPM(not sure though)..that means there's still some power left and bike can go faster than this..

Why I said i'll take this issue to SS is because I m planning to do my 3rd service at the factory outlet at Malad and not Thomsun Auto, where I have been servicing my bike for past 2 services. Servicing there isn't bad..but they just dont seem to be that much intelligent and they do just the basic stuff. Very basic. If u ask them any thing out of the box they are left with fingers in their mouth.

Let's see if there's any improvement after this service. But the bottom line remains the same... this is a very capable bike and can easily go beyond 140km/hr if everything is tuned perfectly. And I love this bike's high cruising speed and the consistency of doing it everytime u ask her to do so.. Amazing...

@Ketan: You went Alone???
Sorry dint read the blog yet, figured it out frm ur pics...

it was there in your goa trip and liked that very much and jealous that i dont have a brother like yours.
I asked the top whack just to know the fact,because i found it quite difficult reach top speed and here in my place someone is saying he is getting 138kmph.

Yup...I went alone....

Ohh I c....
Well yeah.. Sagar from pune has managed to touch as high as 148 mark and also someone from MBC has claimed 149km/hr speed on R15.. Seeing our bikes performance in top speed department it's realy hard to believe in those numbers.. But I still feel the bike is surely capable of doing such numbers...

Hey ketan,

Don't worry we will get our machines tested, i have clocked 1920Km on Odo till now, my sec service is pending which i will get it done next week,

Then we can meet at Airoli bridge, there is this quarter mile stretch straight patch right from toll, i think it extends more that quarter

if we properly launch , i think we can touch anywhere in 130 region,

i have never ripped my R15 till date only on my way back from panchagani, i gave a short bust till 7k Rpm on 6th gradually and it went till 106Kmph.. which was very smooth..

Reason i never ripped: coz i wanted my machine to gradually get used to speed and start ripping only after 2service. The engine is ultra smooth now.


The Airoli patch is dead straight with superb tar road not cement so braking is also perfect.

I shall let you know once i am throught with my sec service.

^^^ no probs what so eva bro.. any time....

Hey darkknight... I've uploaded the pics and the log on my web site.. u can check it there now...
Just click on my signature to go to the site..
or click here..
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