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Rode my 3 week old CBR150R from home (Thrissur, Kerala) to Bangalore via Palakkad-Coimbatore-Salem-Hosur.
This was my first proper long ride, the previous best having been a 250 kms nightout around Bangalore in 8 hours (it had lots of breaks and took a whole night, so doesn't even count!).
Total distance 475 kms
Covered 200 kms in first 5 hours (shitty roads, traffic was sparse though). Mileage: 34kmpl.
Next 250 kms in 3 hours. Long NH with sparse traffic, consistent 100+ kmph. Bliss! Mileage: 38 kmpl.
Top speed: 130 kmph. I had seen reviews stating 140+, but my aim was to stay at a consistent 100 kmph anyway. I was carrying considerable luggage, I'm a stocky well built guy at 80kgs and quite broad shoulders, plus didn't lean much, so 130 is a good speed for a 150 cc engine.
Loved the high speed twisties. Seriously, who can resist cornering at 110 kmph? :P
Felt doubtful of completing the ride before starting.
First 100kms was fun, next 100 was boring (due to bad roads, heat and traffic) and the last 250 was a blast (due to great climate, sparse traffic, high speeds and twisty roads).
After around 250 kms, I saw a Hyosung ST7 cruiser pass by. Kept riding along and saw him come from behind again (must've taken a long stop). Tailed the ST7 for a long time since it was doing 'only' 100 kmph and I was doing a HUNDRED kmph!
Good preparation goes a long way towards an enjoyable ride, so over the weekend, I read up everything I could find about long rides, touring, safety etc. Made a checklist of things to carry, and packed everything the night before. Being a new bike, I was not overly worried about reliability.
Filled up the tank from a good petrol station after a a brief 20 km ride to check that everything works proper, and did chain lubing. Did basic pre-ride checks on the bike the night before: engine oil/coolant/brake fluid levels.
The plan was to sleep 8PM-4AM and start by 5AM. You know the restlessness and eager anticipation the night before a big ride? It caused me to sleep at only 09:45 PM, leaving me with under 7 hours of sleep. Not ideal, but I reckoned the adrenaline would keep me going.
Started at 5AM precisely. That was a record for me - I've always been scolded by my Dad for not being punctual. I think it had a lot to do with my interest for the ride, I didn't want anything to go wrong, or get an earful from Dad for being late.
Had breaks of 2-3 mins every half hour to stretch, drink water, refuel etc. After the first hour of riding, I cleaned up the visor and helmet - it had seen its fair share of squished bugs. Lucky that I got a good visor retro-fitted before the ride.
Fully faired bikes being farely uncommon in most places even today (esp. CBR is rare, unlike R15), a lot of heads turned while I was riding. Got the first "kitna deti he, and what price OTR?" questions at the refuelling and first stop at Palakkad. That was after about one and a half hours, and 90 kms of the ride done. That was most of the slow city riding done with, now I could focus on riding fast on highways to make up for lost time (or so I thought, I'll come to the details later).
So much for my hopes of riding fast and reaching in record time - there were a lot of terrible roads, many even had all gravel and should be called as offroading, to be precise.
But the highways were simply a pleasure to ride - early morning on a Sunday meant the roads were almost empty, with the odd truck or two wheelers every few hundred metres. Now you know how I did the last 250 kms in 3 hours!
This was my favorite part of the ride: long, winding roads and sparse traffic. That was a first for me, so you can imagine the fun! Been always amused by scenic shots (with bike+saddle+helmet) of tourers on xbhp, finally I took one such photo myself!
Scenic. Cool and windy. Long and high speed twisties (110 kmph+). This was the best part of the whole ride.
Took only a handful of pics, because I was focused on reaching home during the second half of the ride (reason: lost my room key, and had to reach early to get lock open and duplicated).
Looking back, that was the only thing I regretted about the whole ride. To be fixed in any and all future rides.....!
This was my first proper long ride, the previous best having been a 250 kms nightout around Bangalore in 8 hours (it had lots of breaks and took a whole night, so doesn't even count!).
Total distance 475 kms
Covered 200 kms in first 5 hours (shitty roads, traffic was sparse though). Mileage: 34kmpl.
Next 250 kms in 3 hours. Long NH with sparse traffic, consistent 100+ kmph. Bliss! Mileage: 38 kmpl.
Top speed: 130 kmph. I had seen reviews stating 140+, but my aim was to stay at a consistent 100 kmph anyway. I was carrying considerable luggage, I'm a stocky well built guy at 80kgs and quite broad shoulders, plus didn't lean much, so 130 is a good speed for a 150 cc engine.
Loved the high speed twisties. Seriously, who can resist cornering at 110 kmph? :P
Felt doubtful of completing the ride before starting.
First 100kms was fun, next 100 was boring (due to bad roads, heat and traffic) and the last 250 was a blast (due to great climate, sparse traffic, high speeds and twisty roads).
After around 250 kms, I saw a Hyosung ST7 cruiser pass by. Kept riding along and saw him come from behind again (must've taken a long stop). Tailed the ST7 for a long time since it was doing 'only' 100 kmph and I was doing a HUNDRED kmph!
Good preparation goes a long way towards an enjoyable ride, so over the weekend, I read up everything I could find about long rides, touring, safety etc. Made a checklist of things to carry, and packed everything the night before. Being a new bike, I was not overly worried about reliability.
Filled up the tank from a good petrol station after a a brief 20 km ride to check that everything works proper, and did chain lubing. Did basic pre-ride checks on the bike the night before: engine oil/coolant/brake fluid levels.
The plan was to sleep 8PM-4AM and start by 5AM. You know the restlessness and eager anticipation the night before a big ride? It caused me to sleep at only 09:45 PM, leaving me with under 7 hours of sleep. Not ideal, but I reckoned the adrenaline would keep me going.
Started at 5AM precisely. That was a record for me - I've always been scolded by my Dad for not being punctual. I think it had a lot to do with my interest for the ride, I didn't want anything to go wrong, or get an earful from Dad for being late.
Had breaks of 2-3 mins every half hour to stretch, drink water, refuel etc. After the first hour of riding, I cleaned up the visor and helmet - it had seen its fair share of squished bugs. Lucky that I got a good visor retro-fitted before the ride.
Fully faired bikes being farely uncommon in most places even today (esp. CBR is rare, unlike R15), a lot of heads turned while I was riding. Got the first "kitna deti he, and what price OTR?" questions at the refuelling and first stop at Palakkad. That was after about one and a half hours, and 90 kms of the ride done. That was most of the slow city riding done with, now I could focus on riding fast on highways to make up for lost time (or so I thought, I'll come to the details later).
So much for my hopes of riding fast and reaching in record time - there were a lot of terrible roads, many even had all gravel and should be called as offroading, to be precise.
But the highways were simply a pleasure to ride - early morning on a Sunday meant the roads were almost empty, with the odd truck or two wheelers every few hundred metres. Now you know how I did the last 250 kms in 3 hours!
This was my favorite part of the ride: long, winding roads and sparse traffic. That was a first for me, so you can imagine the fun! Been always amused by scenic shots (with bike+saddle+helmet) of tourers on xbhp, finally I took one such photo myself!
Scenic. Cool and windy. Long and high speed twisties (110 kmph+). This was the best part of the whole ride.
Took only a handful of pics, because I was focused on reaching home during the second half of the ride (reason: lost my room key, and had to reach early to get lock open and duplicated).
Looking back, that was the only thing I regretted about the whole ride. To be fixed in any and all future rides.....!
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