Announcement

**pistonheadz** · 10-15-2009, 02:03 PM

Originally posted by Jonak View Post

Finished reading this part also.

Now bring the rest of the log.

Can't wait.

Tonite.. hopefully !!

**rx100.7050** · 10-15-2009, 02:21 PM

Dada: Liking every word or yours...so beautifully written. Feels like am experiencing the trip myself. Great photos too....seriously good photos. Need more dada, need more ASAP

**praveenkm** · 10-15-2009, 06:17 PM

Trademark HOW pictures capturing the vastness of the hills. Nice travelogue going on

**pistonheadz** · 10-15-2009, 06:57 PM

Thanks a lot guys. We apologize for the delay in posting logs and pics. but please bear with us for a while. we have over 1,000 photos and xbhpians deserve the best ones. so sorting and editing takes some time. i get time to write the trip logs only after coming back from office which is usually 10-11 pm in the night. But we assure all of you that its going to be worth the wait.

Thanks again.
The HOW ! team

**diffuser911** · 10-15-2009, 08:57 PM

I went through the entire thread in one breath! The part that I loved the most was preparing the bike for the trip. Boy, sounds so exciting to be going off on a trip and the anxiety of riding the new Bullet. How did the bike perform on the trip? I read a speed of 120 on the thread, compared to 100 that the company claims! Lovely stuff Pistonheadz

.

**pistonheadz** · 10-15-2009, 09:50 PM

Originally posted by diffuser911 View Post

..How did the bike perform on the trip? I read a speed of 120 on the thread, compared to 100 that the company claims! Lovely stuff Pistonheadz

.

The bike performed beautifully. way above my expectations. had a couple of cable snaps (cables were 10k old when this happened) but were sorted out smoothly.

Regarding the speed of 120, its speedo indicated inclusive of speedo error. No idea abt true speed. But my partner in his pulsar 180 claimed to be doing 118 (digital odo) and having a tough time catchinh up to me. This was done in NH7 - while coming back from Munnar.

The best thing was it was in the prime of summer, and we were doing 100-120 all the time. ambient temperature would have been 46 deg C, yet the bike never missed a beat.

I must say, after 12k kms (current reading), the fact that the bullet siezes at high speeds is nothing but a myth. It all depends on how deeply you know ur machine.

**diffuser911** · 10-15-2009, 09:58 PM

Originally posted by pistonheadz View Post

The bike performed beautifully. way above my expectations. had a couple of cable snaps (cables were 10k old when this happened) but were sorted out smoothly.

Regarding the speed of 120, its speedo indicated inclusive of speedo error. No idea abt true speed. But my partner in his pulsar 180 claimed to be doing 118 (digital odo) and having a tough time catchinh up to me. This was done in NH7 - while coming back from Munnar.

The best thing was it was in the prime of summer, and we were doing 100-120 all the time. ambient temperature would have been 46 deg C, yet the bike never missed a beat.

I must say, after 12k kms (current reading), the fact that the bullet siezes at high speeds is nothing but a myth. It all depends on how deeply you know ur machine.

Speedo error apart, this really sounds interesting and busts quite a few myths about the RE bikes. Will love to have a long chat with you if I come to Bangalore

.

**L.P.** · 10-18-2009, 02:15 AM

This was lovely,Piston Head!!
You should have pinged someone from delhi, we were so many people here, And malviya nagar, not less than 20 xBhpians live in the vicinity of 5-7kms!

Now!! God know what that Means

, but I can understand you expression!

That's where my office is, Damm , you guys!!!
And 10/-INR is the standard rate!!

Beautifully Written!

Originally posted by pistonheadz View Post

The best thing was it was in the prime of summer, and we were doing 100-120 all the time. ambient temperature would have been 46 deg C, yet the bike never missed a beat.

I must say, after 12k kms (current reading), the fact that the bullet siezes at high speeds is nothing but a myth. It all depends on how deeply you know ur machine.

Truly Said PistonHeadz, I have heard a lot about Bullet, I tried my hands on it when i went on hills,i wa riding close to 2.5k or 3k RPM on hills and hit the 4th gear,and it still keeps on climbing,where as pulsar,my own discover and many more bikes had to Strive a bit!!! it went on carelessly!

It was wondergul reading it.. and I believe i read somewhere earlier, HOW! stands for "Hills on Wheels!" .?? Ain't it.?

Kind Regards
LP

**SARAB_FI** · 10-18-2009, 03:14 PM

simply amazing stuff there!!!
yeh dil maange more!!!!

**steveburnside2001** · 10-19-2009, 10:31 AM

nice trip log, enjoyed reading it.more pics please

**yuv_biKING** · 10-19-2009, 11:11 AM

Interesting to read even for a person like me who doesn't show any interest for reading

... Some tips on HOW to get Leh'd for someone dreaming of getting Leh'd like me would be appreciated..

**Anup Abraham** · 10-19-2009, 02:01 PM

Hey Burnz....Good to see the LEH log....HOW has and i am sure will keep people glued to it...I love the photos and especially the simple narration in them...
Keep up.

Cheers!!!

**pistonheadz** · 10-20-2009, 04:40 PM

Day 2 : Mandi - Vashist

17th August, 2009 : 06:00 hrs - Mandi – A day of a “battery” of hurdles and “punctured” timelines

“Click.. Click.. khrrrr [moment of silence] click.. click.. khrrrr” !! Ladies and gentlemen welcome to the deadly sound of an engine trying to crank with a flat battery. I could not believe my ears, but yes it’s true. I can see the expression of dejection on Rahul’s face as he tries to crank up the 220 for the third time and fails.

Fact of life : The 220’s battery has gone flat overnight for reasons unknown to us. It was not 100% out but very weak. Blinkers and horns were working so was the fuel pump (could hear the whizz) but it just won’t crank. Ironically, among all the bikes only the 220 does not have a kick starter. We are also not even sure if it can be push started. But there’s always a way to find out. JUST DO IT !! Off we push the bike out of the hotel parking lot into the street. I take the controls with Indra and Rahul providing the manpower. Clutch in – second gear – roll – clutch out – throttle – VROOOM – clutch in !! Yes, for the uninformed, the 220 can be push started in case you have a dead battery. But not very sure if this will work with a fully drained battery. Now you know !!

Rahul, after the failed starting attempt. Wat an expression sirjee..

“If you really have to switch her off, do so in a downhill please”, I told Rahul. Keeping the bike idling in neutral, we load her up. Finally at 07:00 hrs we start our day. Me leading, Indra playing the tail and Rahul sandwiched between us. He was determined not use lights, horns etc.. he didn’t even want to use the brakes to prevent the brake light from glowing (but we managed to convince him against this) !!

Soon we forgot about the day’s in-auspicious start and were merrily thumping alongside the green hills. I just couldn’t have enough of it. For all those people who run off to foreign lands at the drop of a hat, no offence but please do check out your own country once in a while.. trust me it’s a lifetime experience. There was this very interesting sight of low clouds (or may be fog) slowing rising from the river Beas below us.. makes we remember the Mahabharata where they used to denote the heavens using artificial fog and clouds. Now I know where they got the idea from.. this is indeed heaven on earth, and we haven’t even entered Kashmir !!

As the greenery started to mellow us down, my bike started to exhibit a subtle fish tailing gesture. Now, I have this thing which friends sarcastically call “The Puncture Phobia”. Every now and then I would get this feeling that my rear tire has gone flat and would make me skip a couple of beats till I confirm it as a false alarm. The mild fish tailing obviously triggered this instinct and I coax to a stop expecting to see a fully inflated tire may be with some amount of muck around the sidewalls. Well, unfortunately this was not a false alarm. I indeed have a flat tire, the first one in this trip. Congratulations to me for opening the innings.

We unload the luggage and push the bike to a small clearing on the other side of the road. It was here that we take a historic decision. A decision which will prove to be a trip saver later. We were just exiting a big town when this happened. Infact we could still see the main market at a distance. So the natural instinct would be to load the tire on another bike and get it repaired from the nearest puncture walla. Would have been the logical and sane thing to do, right ? WRONG !! The thing is that none of us had any practical experience of repairing a motorcycle tire. We know the theory, we have all the tools. But what if we have a puncture in the middle of nowhere and can’t get the tire off the rim ? what if we can’t seal the leak properly ? That would be doomsday for sure. So against all rational thoughts, we decided to do this ourselves, at least give it a try in this somewhat controlled environment. If something goes wrong, we can always fall back on the nearest puncture-walla.

Out came the tools. Here’s a detailed description of what you may need in case of a puncture :
1. Spanner – to take out the wheel.
2. Pliers – to take out the split pin (if your bike has one) and to take out the nail / stone / pin later from the tire.
3. Two long rods with the ends flattened – to take the tire out of the rim and then to put it back. You can even use two long screw drivers. But make sure that they are of excellent quality or else you might end up snapping them and then you’ll be stuck.
4. Chalk or suitable marking material – to mark the punctures on the tube. Apparently inconspicuous but very useful.
5. Sealing tape – these are pieces of rubber which you use to seal the puncture just like a bandage. You can also cut out pieces from an old tube for the same.
6. Sealing fluid – this is a heavy duty glue (rubber solution to be precise) to stick the sealing tape onto the tube.
7. Scissors – used to cut the sealing tape to the required shape and size and also to help take out the stuck nail / pin etc from the tire.
8. Valve pin remover – Very important and most people forget this. Used to remove the valve pin to release all the air from the tube. A tube which has even a little bit of air left inside cannot be repaired properly.
9. Sand paper – again very important. Needed to prime (rub) the surface on which the sealing tape has to go on. The seal holds good only if the bonding surfaces are rough.
10. Foot pump – for obvious reasons. Please don’t forget this.
11. Spare tube – you never know how badly damaged the punctured tube is. So why take chances. Infact I would recommend switching the tubes than repairing the punctured tube unless its absolutely needed. It saves a lot of time and effort plus the punctured tube can be repaired at the next town.

Guys, this is a minimalistic list and missing out on any one of the above can be a big pain in the arse.

Now, back to Ladakh. Apologies for the digression. The wheel came off easy. Bulleteers, you need to disconnect the brake lamp hook before unscrewing the rear brake rod. We tend to forget this simple act and as a result end up with a broken brake lamp hook (saying from experience). Removing the tire was tough, putting it on was even tougher. P.S. – never take out the whole tire out of the rim unless absolutely necessary. We only took out one side of the tire and pulled the tube out. That should suffice. After an hour’s labor, we managed to put together our first puncture repair. The foot pump wouldn’t pump more than 30 psi, so had to live with that till the next town. Overall the experience had been really ‘tire’some !!

As we rolled out of our pit stop my mind went into overdrive of “puncture phobia”. I was still not confident of our abilities in puncture repair and every now and then I would be pulling out acrobatics to check the tire. After a while things settled down and my reservations turned to pride. 50 kms on and the tire was still holding. Beat that !! As we rode up across the winding road, we could sense the gain in altitude due to the falling temperature. Encountered a mild drizzle just before entering Manali. Straight away went to a battery dealer where Rahul got a new battery. We did take the old one with us. One can’t take chances in these times. Got stuck in torrential rain and lost over an hour. Reached Vasisth at around 17:00 hrs. Rohtang would be risky to cross in the rapidly falling light. So we call it a day at Vasisth. For the uninformed, Vasisth happens to be around 5 kms from Manali towards Rohtang. It is way less crowded and gives one a wonderful view of the vistas. If anybody is planning a stopover at Manali, I would suggest that you drive a few kms more and break at Vasisth. Believe me its way better. P.S. : do not forget to check out the foreign babes in and around this place !! We checked into hotel Hollywood and were delighted to get a hot shower and awesome food. This happened to be one of the best stays in the entire trip. It had been one hell of an eventful day, had loads of fun and also learnt a lot of things. Faced some serious hurdles but managed to overcome them. At the end the sense of pride and accomplishment prevailed and we dozed off looking forward to conquer the infamous Rohtang pass the next day.

Coming up.. Vasisth to Jispa

**archistar** · 10-20-2009, 06:54 PM

superb photographs... but yet to read the log...

**chicane1879** · 10-20-2009, 07:56 PM

This thread is getting better and better.Lovely pics, almost all the pics look special and are a treat to drool!!

2010	The Southern Sojourn, ISG2G - Yercaud
2011	The Megha Maharashtra Monsoon ride
2012	Meghamalai, ISG2G -Chikmagalur

Announcement

HOW! Ladakh Chapter

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment