Re: Ek couple's Ladakhi adventure. Tadka maarke!

What an awesome Travelogue that was !! Every pic was thoroughly enjoyable .....& Congratulations to both of you as a couple !! & taking the Bonnie up there is quite an achievement !!! keep it up !!

Re: Ek couple's Ladakhi adventure. Tadka maarke!

One cracker of a ride that was! Completely glued on to this thread. I have similar plans sometime in future.

PS:- Surprised to see that you did not make a list of hotels or pre-book any place, considering you were travelling with your wife. My friends and I usually do this only when its a boys' group only. Glad it worked in your favor though. Keep the pics and logs coming!

Re: Ek couple's Ladakhi adventure. Tadka maarke!

Amazing Travelogue...This will certainly inspire young couple to make such kind of adventures!!

Re: Ek couple's Ladakhi adventure. Tadka maarke!

Brilliant ride report with lively commentary and absolutely amazing pictures to accompany.

I could fully relate to many of the lessons & experiences when traveling as a couple. I think it also strengthens your understanding of each other in many ways. Plus as a bonus you have a full time photographer at the back. I dont know if I missed, but are you using an intercom? If not, go for it, it multiplies the traveling fun many folds when you can share things constantly on the move (and also makes it easier to have arguments on the move).

Lastly, regarding suspension, I fully agree that such a bike is not the ideal bike (esp for pillion) on those kind of moon surfaces. BTW, I dont know if you are aware, a Bonnie rider in Pune (Pawan), has replaced his rear suspension with the shocks of the new RE Continental GT and says the results are amazing including a lighter feel to the handlebar. I think the cost was about Rs 11.5k and it was fixed at the Triumph dealers place. Please do look into that aspect. Also for the seat, I suggest you have a look at the OE King & Queen accessory seat and ask any local seatwallah to make it identical to that.

Ride safe and waiting for more

Re: Ek couple's Ladakhi adventure. Tadka maarke!

Amazing Stuff. Loved the narration and pictures. Hooked!

Re: Ek couple's Ladakhi adventure. Tadka maarke!

Super ride report. Congrats Anirudh and your wife for pulling off an epic ride. I am sure both your days will be filled with rich memories of this trip. Hope to catch up with you soon when we out riding in the hills around Pune. In the meanwhile I await the rest of your travelogue.

Re: Ek couple's Ladakhi adventure. Tadka maarke!

Hi,
Thanks! Yes I did meet up with Pawan and also tried his Bonneville with the Conti GT shocks. It was a great improvement. I have already ordered a set of Ikon shocks with added travel and features and will get them fitted soon.
We did not have intercom but yes we did feel the utmost need for it. Communicating with the pillion was really tough without it. I can imagine how much fun that can be.


And a thanks to all for your words of appreciation.

Re: Ek couple's Ladakhi adventure. Tadka maarke!

Really beautiful log. Made my wife read it. She is up for it but first ride will be in plains. Maybe soon. Inspiring

.................................................. ............
we r all gonna die so let's get high \m/

Re: Ek couple's Ladakhi adventure. Tadka maarke!

Brilliant log. Wishing you two a never ending journey!

Re: Ek couple's Ladakhi adventure. Tadka maarke!

Day 9:
Leh-Khardungla-Hunder
Olgok guest house, Hunder.
Cost : 1750/- room + snacks+lunch+dinner.
Distance: 130 kms approx. Time taken 7 hours.



The day before we left for Khardungla we witnessed a very risky couple who had a very unplanned ride to Hunder and back. They were on a rented Bullet and were staying at the same hotel.
When visiting places north of Leh the most important thing as per my opinion is to have an early start whatsoever. Early start means no traffic on some of the adverse conditions and adverse roads, less intensive water crossings and plenty of time to reach the destination. If you dont do this you would end up having a bad, exhausting and a painful ride. The couple in question had started off from leh at 11.30 am and had reached Hunder at 10.30 pm. The next day they visited Hunder in the morning and again started at 12 pm and reached leh at 10 pm. Classic example of how not to plan a ride. They did blame it on traffic and extremely bad roads... And we took it with a pinch of salt..

As for us we started off at 5.45 am sharp. We had very little luggage so did not need a lot of time to set off for the ride. We encountered very little traffic on the way. The road is initially better but soon gets worse. And it gets more bad once you cross the Khardungla top and start descending on the other side. I lost count of how many times my bike bottomed out over there even though I was riding carefully. But we made it to the top without any incident or much trouble.
A few pictures:

Reaching the top instils a sense of achievement in itself.



When you see so much snow after so long time... this is what you do..


this is one photo every Leh bound rider will always have...







We continued on towards Hunder after a quick photo session at K top.
The road from k top running down towards north Pullu is extremely bad with many water crossings.
This was the worst patch and you really need to have a good rear and front suspension to tackle this terrain. Bonneville stock suspension being extremely hard is not at all comfortable for such roads especially with a pillion. And Sayali had to bear a lot of jerks due to the bad suspension. Ultimately by the time we reached Hunder her back had started to pain. We had a back protector belt with us but that did not seem to make any difference.
The problem when you have a pillion is that you as a rider cannot ride the way you would when you are riding solo. You have to slow down at every pot hole, bump on the road and make sure the pillion does not bear the full grunt of it all. At the same time you have to make sure that the bike does not hit the bottom too many times and have to control the speed at which you go over bumps.
When riding solo you could just take the weight on to your legs and go through the bad parts of the road. That tactic is struck off when riding with a pillion.


And more awesome landscapes:


This one I really don't remember whether it was while going towards ChangLa or KhardungLa but its super anyways-


This is a river after Shyok and Nubra rivers are united...


A beautiful road through the sands of time...




An awesome view of two valleys with two rivers. The photo does not do justice to this. It was much more beautiful in real.




And so we reach the Olgok guest house at Hunder at 12.30 pm. And that was almost a 7 hours ride with ample time to rest, sighseeing and relax. Thats how one must plan to enjoy the ride.
This guest house was suggested to us by Sanchit ( a fellow rider) who had been there a few days back. A special thanks to him.



The guest house owner and the cook had cooked some delicious home made food. Felt like I was eating at my home after a very long time. We ate the lunch appreciated the cook and took rest for a while.
A few more pics:
The view from the guest house was just superb. Spent almost the whole evening looking at the mountains and admiring the beauty



In the evening we visited the sand dunes of Hunder.







Day 10: Hunder to leh
This was a return ride from Hunder to Leh after spending a night at Hunder. The ride was smooth as we already knew the conditions of the roads. We took very few stops while returning as we already had pics of that route and we reached the Leh hotel at 12.30 pm.
Though this time by the time we reached Leh we both had aching backs more so for my wife and we decided to take the day off.

Day 11: We had kept this day asa rest day as we wanted ourselves to be in good condition for the trip back and we had another tough road to Pangong Tso the next day. We roamed in the local market trying out different food, pizzas, momos etc.

The motto of our trip was to ride a lot, spend maximum time at and around Leh, relax aand get refreshed and not get bogged down with visiting too many places in a very short time. Hence we got to stay a total of 5 days in Leh.

So in 20 days of the trip we spent 7 days in reaching Leh, 5 nights stay at Leh, 2 nights stay at Hunder and Pangong Tso together and 6 days in the return journey back to Pune.

More on our ride to Pangong Tso soon...

Re: Ek couple's Ladakhi adventure. Tadka maarke!

Superb. really appreciate the details shared and the trip seems to be properly planned with more fun kept in mind than 'conquering' things. A much needed lesson for us newbies.

Re: Ek couple's Ladakhi adventure. Tadka maarke!

Ohh man, i was also planning for this kind of trip with my wife but then we were stopped by our baby who also planned to visit this world, now he is 8 months old and we are waiting for him to be independent for atleast 3-4 days so that we can start to plan this kind of trip again.

Good luck to both of you and happy riding keep updating this thread.

Re: Ek couple's Ladakhi adventure. Tadka maarke!

After reading the first post, I knew this was going to be one cracker of a Tlog! You managed the whole trip from Pune with your wife as pillion, kudos to you! and awesome pics as well!

Great to see Bonnie at the highest motorable road in the world

Re: Ek couple's Ladakhi adventure. Tadka maarke!

Great travelogue there Aniruddha! Beautiful pictures and crisp writeup!

It takes a lot of courage and determination to do such long rides on a 'premium' bike like Bonneville, that too with a pillion! Fortunately, we have a handful of those brave men and women on xBhp already, and you with the missus are the latest joinee of that club of elites!


I knew you'd be keeping an eye on this thread. You'll end up buying the Bonne one day sir

Re: Ek couple's Ladakhi adventure. Tadka maarke!

Wonderful progression. Keep it going strong.

Just as I was on the Pune to Sri Ganganagar trip, you too must have been bothered by trying to shift up to the non-existent and much-missed 6th on the bike. A solution is in sight - changing the front sprocket. I am giving the details here (and not as a PM) for the benefit of any other aspiring/extant Bonnie owners who are into long-distance touring and have faced this issue. The OT is for general happiness

I have been making enquiries about the front sprocket - replacing the default 18 tooth one with a bespoke 19 tooth one. Most users have given a very favourable review of the changeover. It gives the benefit of 1000 rpm lower in 5th plus smoother torque plus higher FE. Virtually no difference in 1st while moving off.

The dealer in the UK:-
intobikes.co.uk :: the motorcycle parts and accessories store

The exact part. Fits the 525 pitch chain of the Bonneville A3 (i.e. your bike):-
Renthal Front Alloy Sprocket suitable for a Triumph Bonneville (2014)

The emails I exchanged with the Sales Division:-

From me:

Dear Intobikes,

I am a resident of India and wish to place an order for a Renthal front sprocket part number 341-525-19 for the Triumph Bonneville A3.

Kindly send me a quotation for the item including the price and shipping costs.

Regards,
Maneesh Joshi

From the dealer:

Dear Maneesh

Thank you for taking the time to email us. We will try to deal with your enquiry as quickly as possible for you.

Please be assured that we are treating your enquiry with the utmost importance for you.

Shipping would be The part costs about GBP 16 (about Rs 1500 or so) and the shipping is Rs 1300. If you want, I can order two in the same pack to save on shipping. Do let me know asap as I will be placing the order next month.