Re: Why We Ride..No definite answers (RE Himalayan, Std 500 and Duke 390, Pune - Ladakh Ride, Sept 2

Thread approved!

Re: Why We Ride..No definite answers (RE Himalayan, Std 500 and Duke 390, Pune - Ladakh Ride, Sept 2

[MENTION=47074]Divya[/MENTION] - thanks for the approval

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The Ride
Day 1 (butt initialization): Pune -> Ahmedabad



General
All the bikes were checked, fueled and kept ready on Sept 1^stst

Re: Why We Ride..No definite answers (RE Himalayan, Std 500 and Duke 390, Pune - Ladakh Ride, Sept 2

Good start to along ride. Looking forward to the rest

Re: Why We Ride..No definite answers (RE Himalayan, Std 500 and Duke 390, Pune - Ladakh Ride, Sept 2

Re: Why We Ride..No definite answers (RE Himalayan, Std 500 and Duke 390, Pune - Ladakh Ride, Sept 2

Superb start. Waiting for the rest.

Re: Why We Ride..No definite answers (RE Himalayan, Std 500 and Duke 390, Pune - Ladakh Ride, Sept 2

Day 2 (Best road, Cows): Ahmedabad -> Jaipur




General
Day 2 started at 7:30 am. Post a quick breakfast, the first thing we did was to tank up our bikes at a petrol pump near the hotel. Post this we quickly navigated our way out of Ahmedabad, specifically trying to avoid the morning rush hour. The outer ring road, along the river was beautiful to ride on and it helped us to quickly get onto the highway. Post hitting the highway we made good time, till our next tea brake.

Sometime back, Hashim had mentioned that his Harley group which had passed through the same area a few weeks back had told us to beware of cows. We had taken it lightly initially, but today we understood the reason for the caution. Basically, because of the Gau Rakshak thingy, lot of cows have been abandoned by their owners. Now these poor things keep roaming around trying to find food. Unfortunately the open areas of the road, dividers attract them. This is a big safety hazard as we found lots of cows, some standing in the middle of the road. At one time, we just rounded a corner doing around 80k and we see not 1, not 2, but 10 cows standing in the middle of the flyover, with their horns pointed towards us. We had some scary moments (Mehernosh hit a cow with his handlebar

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Day 3 (Traffic, ruts in the road): Jaipur -> Gurgaon



General^st time and were not able to lube, tighten the chain. The only work they did was to wash the bike. Overall a forgetful experience and I am guessing they were responsible for the electrical issue I faced hereon.

All the bike work ensured we all got free only around 1:30 ish. Post this we rushed to check out of the hotel as we were already way past the checkout time. Post this we caught up with a few friends for lunch and then started towards Gurgaon around 3:30 pm. We changed our plan to reach Gurgaon to ensure we cover some distance.

Though the distance till Gurgaon was only 234 kms, the high truck traffic and the fact that we left late, encountered office traffic in Gurgaon, meant we reached only around 8 pm. We also had to take a short detour backwards to retrieve the tank bag which Mehernosh forgot at the petrol pumpJ. Also the heavy truck traffic had created ruts in the road, which was a little scary to navigate on the bike. We tried to avoid them to the max by sticking to the left side of the road. Overall an uneventful, though tiring trip. Lastly the heat entering into Delhi hit us quite a lot, especially with all the riding gear, so as usual hydration was very very important.

Re: Why We Ride..No definite answers (RE Himalayan, Std 500 and Duke 390, Pune - Ladakh Ride, Sept 2

Day 3 (Traffic, ruts in the road): Jaipur -> Gurgaon
Riding time (Start 3:30 pm, End 8:00 pm) – 5.5 hours (including breaks)
Distance – 234 kms

General
Our original plan was to do Surat -> New Delhi, but since we had covered more distance, we planned to aim for someplace close to Chandigarh. Our plans were impacted a bit as the bikes needed to be checked for some minor issues. Specifically the Himalayan had some engine oil leakage, the 500’s sprocket was making noises and the Dukes front mudguard spacer had broken. None of these issues were stopping us, but we wanted to get them rectified before proceeding. So all three of us headed out in different directions i.e. to our respective service centers. Been a Sunday, we had limited options, but did find a few options.

The Enfield boys found an interesting bullet specialist in the bazaar area (will let them elaborate on their experience further)…..One thing is for sure, you will always find guys to assist with a bullet, but somehow, good / experienced & honest guys, are quite few.
My experience with the KTM service center (PLM motors) was not nice. They seemed to have seen a Duke 390 for the 1^st time and were not able to lube, tighten the chain. The only work they did was to wash the bike. Overall a forgetful experience and I am guessing they were responsible for the electrical issue I faced hereon. Important learning, if there is nothing wrong with the bike, don’t take it to the service center, especially to unknown ones.

All the bike work ensured we all got free only around 1:30 ish. Post this we rushed to check out of the hotel as we were already way past the checkout time. Post this we caught up with a few friends for lunch and then started towards Gurgaon around 3:30 pm. We changed our plan to reach Gurgaon to ensure we cover some distance.

Though the distance till Gurgaon was only 234 kms, the high truck traffic and the fact that we left late, encountered office traffic in Gurgaon, meant we reached only around 8 pm. We also had to take a short detour backwards to retrieve the tank bag which Mehernosh forgot at the petrol pumpJ. Also the heavy truck traffic had created ruts in the road, which was a little scary to navigate on the bike. We tried to avoid them to the max by sticking to the left side of the road. Overall an uneventful, though tiring trip. Lastly the heat entering into Delhi hit us quite a lot, especially with all the riding gear, so as usual hydration was very very important.

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Day 4 (Bikes Checkup): Gurgaon -> Karnal



General

Re: Why We Ride..No definite answers (RE Himalayan, Std 500 and Duke 390, Pune - Ladakh Ride, Sept 2

Wow, awesome. Keep going. [emoji7] [emoji7]

Re: Why We Ride..No definite answers (RE Himalayan, Std 500 and Duke 390, Pune - Ladakh Ride, Sept 2

Day 5 (Welcome to the hills): Karnal -> Manali



General^st

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Day 6 (The day of passes): Manali -> Jispa



General^st

Re: Why We Ride..No definite answers (RE Himalayan, Std 500 and Duke 390, Pune - Ladakh Ride, Sept 2

Day 7 (The day I almost gave up): Jispa -> Leh




General

Re: Why We Ride..No definite answers (RE Himalayan, Std 500 and Duke 390, Pune - Ladakh Ride, Sept 2

Very nice narration and equally amazing photo's

Could you also please let us know how was RE Himalayan's performance on this trip other than the oil leakage ??

Re: Why We Ride..No definite answers (RE Himalayan, Std 500 and Duke 390, Pune - Ladakh Ride, Sept 2

Sure, request you to please be patient till my day 16 post, as i have summarized the performance of each bike there
Thanks
Ronald

Re: Why We Ride..No definite answers (RE Himalayan, Std 500 and Duke 390, Pune - Ladakh Ride, Sept 2


Sure mate.. eagerly waiting..

Re: Why We Ride..No definite answers (RE Himalayan, Std 500 and Duke 390, Pune - Ladakh Ride, Sept 2

Day 8: Rest in Leh
Riding time (None)


General^st