Hi There,
below is my thoughts on above concerns:

Tandi is the last filling station at Manali - Leh route. Next filling station is 365 KM. If your ride gives 30+ milage then I would say you don't need to carry extra petrol at all. its depend on the ride's fuel tank capacity & the average.

I had Avenerger 220, it was giving me 32+ average and I didn't have to carry extral petrol at all.

For your saddle bags.. its just a thought, if you stay in Leh city you can leave your bagpacks in the hotel and go for Khardung La with out any saddle bags or weight. It would be more comfirtable.

I am sure.. after 80 kms (up/down) of highest motorable road adventure, you don't want to ride any further and take a rest in Leh city would be advisable for security and other reasons.

Good luck for your trip!

very nice.... enjoying the pics alone?????

when will you send those pics to us? huh!!!!

Update

We are in Kullu now. Covered 2300Kms from Hyderabad and 2 days behind schedule. My entire team has dropped off for one reason or the other. The last one to drop off was today at Kullu.

Me and wife Poli are continuing journey. So far weather in Kullu and around are good. Have so much updates and very little time.

So signing out. Reach me if you need. My number is available in the Leh 2012 Tag along thread.

Thanks to everyone again. Its been so tiring and tough, but we are going strong. Im proud that Poli could make it with me.

Dear Icemang, We eagerly await for your travelogue.

We did Leh

We touched LEH last night. Hyderabad to Leh 2800 Kms was one hellafa ride. I can tell you the Manali-Leh route is the worst offroad patch. More planes 60% no roads.

Is possible to upload photos of the bad stretches (if not, not a problem ). Asking, cause someone recently posted an update on that stretch so some stretches had excellent tarmac and others were just as bad as you say they are. Wondering if the excellent patches have gone bad and the already bad stretches have become worse?

Also, is it raining in Himachal (shimla, manali etc)?

Hello MAK,

The worst parts are now behind you, esp the More plains moonscape. The Leh to Jammu road is child's play for you now. We rode from the other direction and the headwind on the More plains was enough to get airborne. Horrible, horrible patch.

Hang in there. I tried calling you a couple of days ago but I suppose you were riding at that time.

on our visit to leh we found good roads at more plains...all tarmac..only the end strech is all broken..i would say 70% roads at more plain was what we found..
PS: more plains also have a parallel off-road track for the off-road biking lovers...
the raod conditions may have got worse...have no update regarding that...

Did Srinagar-Leh-Manali circle on my N250R.

Sharing few pics...

starting from blore tomm.. blore-mumbai-udaipur-delhi this weekend ..pls send a pm wud like to join in..

Dear friend,

I halted my Journey at Ambala, shipped my bike to Hyderabad as riding all alone is a risky especially after experiencing puncture at Kota, (thank god it happened after I entered the city). At that time I had Pruthvi with me a member of my team. But as he also ended the bike safari in Jammu, on best interest of safety we decided to continue our yatra via bus. I am at Indore right now, have a bus to Hyderabad tonight. Once I get to Hyderabad, rest assured I will upload all the photos I have. Please note. Pictures are deceiving. Poli (wife) clicked picture of horrible Moore Plains and looking thru camera you cant say how bad it is. Ground reality is terrible. Moore plains all the way to Tanglala is the worst patch, not that the rest of the road after manali is good. Just a few 10 or 15 kilometers of moore plains has excellent tarmarc. Hey thats what most of us click and post here on forums. But I will give you the exact picture of the Manali Leh highway. Also we came across bandits in Moore plains. I will tell you that story as well. If you are riding Manali - Leh, I advice you. Please do not do it alone.

Dear Iceman. Thank you so much for calling me. I did see a miss call late and did not call back. My apologies. That was kind of you. Manali-Leh is not for the soft hearted ones. Its for hardcore adventure groups. And I did meet many such foreigners, Indians and cyclists. I gave my salute to each one of them and I have my respect for the mountains, adventure tourists, BRO and the Indian Army, more than ever after this trip.

More Plains had just few kilometers of good tarmac. After every few kms the road was closed for construction and vehicles had to take a detour through the sand. Since we were travelling in a small car. it proved to be a nightmare for us as we were stuck in the very fine sand twice for hours after which some trucks came and helped us push our car out on the road. This made us travel the beautiful yet pathetically dangerous Leh Manali stretch at night and with the nallahs flowing at full steam in the evening, we had our hearts in our mouth on many ocassions. Leh manali stretch should never be travelled alone.

Back in office after a 12 day trip to Leh and back. Mind is still out there and will take some time to get back to monotony or normalcy, however you want to put it. This was my first trip to Leh and has left me spellbound. Had quite a few scary experiences at Zozilla, Pangong lake and the Leh-manali stretch but made it back safely. Will put up the travelogue, pictures and videos soon. One piece of advice to all fellow XBHPians -- Avoid travelling Leh-Manali or Manali-Leh stretch alone or at night.

Dude.. your last 2 posts scream 1 thing in common. 'Dont do Leh-manali' alone.

I have my best friend out there somewhere on Leh manali route all alone by himself on a bike.
No contact possible since he's in no network region for prepaids.

I just pray he reaches Leh safely.

You said Every word right mate. And I just reached home I feel so good.