Re: Updates on Road Condition: Maharashtra

Vadodara-Ahmedabad Old NH8(not expressway) is very awesome. Took just 1 hour 10 minutes from Vadodara to Ahmedabad. Awesome 6 lane road.

Re: Updates on Road Condition: Maharashtra

chalo finally its complete. great news.

Re: Updates on Road Condition: Maharashtra

Rode from Pune to Daman and back Jan 2. The roads are all good with the Gujarat highway being excellent. Route taken Pune - Panvel (JNPT bypass) - Thane (Airoli Mulund road to Fountain Hotel) - Charoti - Vapi - Udwada - Daman (Devka beach). One way distance 350 km.

Re: Updates on Road Condition: Maharashtra

guys any idea about the solapur hyderabad road condition? any city where one can safely spend the night?

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by the way, how was the bhuj trip?

Re: Updates on Road Condition: Maharashtra

Rann of kutch trip was awesome. will upload travelogue soon...

Roads upto Indapur are super awesome, till solapur are good, after that its okayish. But not as in you will curse yourself..... Based on Feedback from friends and internet.

HAlt at Gadital(Pune) or Indapur or Solapur. Makemytrip should help you.

Re: Updates on Road Condition: Maharashtra


yeah, looking forward to the travelogue. i was just wondering how much distance you were able to cover from pune on the first day.

secondly, actually im looking to stop somewhere after Solapur, and am unable to find anything online. i guess im gonna have to search when i actually cross the area...

Re: Updates on Road Condition: Maharashtra

As planned, I went a day before to Malad, Mumbai. So day 1 was just 180 kms . However, next day was 1000 kms starting morning 3 am to 9 pm. Left Mumbai at 3:30 am. Reached Valsad at 6 am. Resumed at 6:40 am after Namaaz and chai. Reached Surat by 7:45 am. Reached Ahmedabad at 10:45 am. Had my first gujju brunch by 11:30 am. Reached Anjar at 3 pm. Picked up my friend who came by train and carried on towards Mandvi for beach and Palace by 4:30 pm. Left by 6:30 pm. Finally reached BHUJ guest house by 9 pm. Mandvi to Bhuj was a slow 50-60 kmph cruise. Rest all was 120+.

For hyderabad, I suggest you leave mumbai a day before in evening and take halt in Pune near gadital. Then next day on the actual day one of your tour, hyderabad is 600 kms drive, doable in one day. Also, when are you going and for how many days. I can atleast give you a Farewell. My house is near this highway at Fatima Nagar. And If you dont mind, maybe I may join you.

Regards.

Re: Updates on Road Condition: Maharashtra

my effing gawd!!! you're crazy man i just can't manage being on the bike 18 hours straight. i would require an ass transplant for sure. but congrats. its quite an achievement.
about hyderabad, i was thinking of leaving for Hyderabad on monday, 11th, and need to reach before 12th noon. i have to meet relatives there before then. your plan also makes sense. i would reach hyderabad on 11th itself then.

and of course we can ride together man. i have absolutely no issues on that. but will you be able to come on a weekday? and I plan to continue forward to chennai from there the next day.

Re: Updates on Road Condition: Maharashtra

Yes! had it not been a 220f, i definitely would have needed one bum transplant. However, its seats are real comfy.

As for hyd, u carry on bro.... I will PM u my number. From 9-6 pm I am near Pune University(my office) and by 7 pm I reach Home near Fatima Nagar. Do let me know the time u will reach pune so that we can do a quick rendezvous and I can bid u farewell..Not that u need ione but I wud love to do that in the spirit and brotherhood of biking. ..... Cheers and Regards.

Re: Updates on Road Condition: Maharashtra

I had been on a trip from Hyderabad to Anjarle, a small town (village?) on the west coast, close to Dapoli.

Route- HYD-SOLAPUR-PANDHARPUR-SATARA-MAHABALESHWAR-POLADPUR-ANJARLE

Find the route here: https://goo.gl/2K0k2d

HYDERABAD-SOLAPUR by NH 65 (NH 9-old numbering). The road is being converted to 4 lane and hence lot of diversions. During daytime, speeds of 85-90 kmph can be maintained on a bike because you can dodge the imperfections on the road. But the road gets really bad towards Solapur, especially after Omerga. I rode on this stretch at night and it was hell. No street light, shitty road, oncoming vehicles on high-beam, basically everything . You cannot dodge the bumps on the road that is possible in daytime. I did not risk going beyond 65kmph.

SOLAPUR-Pandharpur. NH 65 is excellent from Solapur till Pune. But I had to take diversion for Pandharpur after about 40kms from Solapur, onto NH204. The road was not great but you can consistently maintain 80 kmph during daytime if you can aim the front wheel for the tarmac between various potholes, a skill I mastered on this trip . The road is pretty secluded, passing through typical maharashtrian countryside with farms and small towns in between. I really enjoyed this leg of the trip.

Pandharpur- Satara. It is state highway from Pandharpur towards Satara. Road condition similar to Solapur-Pandharpur stretch.

Satara town- Kaas Plateau road was good and very, very scenic after the climb up the hill. I went in Septemer last year and with monsoon just receding, the place was painted in various hues of green and looked beautiful.

Kaas- Mahabaleshwar via Bamnoli, Tapola, Taldeo. Road was good at the start and very scenic. But deteriorates rapidly and is almost non-existent at some locations. I would suggest people to avoid this route to go to mahabaleshwar and take the alternative route that is available.

Mahabaleshwar-Poladpur via SH72. Was good enough and very scenic through the ghats.

Poladpur- Anjarle via Katetali, Latvan, Kadivali. Road condition varied from bad to worse to horrible. But, the routes go through small towns, farms, small hills with yellow wild flowers growing on either sides of the road. It was heavenly, beautiful, calming- I am running out of adjectives here. But I do not think the route will be this scenic in seasons other than monsoon. The view more than made up for the road condition. In a way, the shitty road forces you to take it slow and enjoy the view.

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Firstly, very very sorry for the very very late reply . I could not find time to log in as I was preparing for some exams.

Yea, that was me the other day . Happy that you recognized me .

The trip was awesome. I have posted an update on the road conditions on this thread. You planning any trips for the winter?

Re: Updates on Road Condition: Maharashtra

Sawantwadi to Malvan via Vengurla- Good to very good roads, but either single lane or double lane roads, very little traffic, passes through numerous villages

Malvan to Ratnagiri Via MSH 4- Good roads, again single or double lane roads, little traffic, scenic routes with the route almost continuously going up and down ghats. adventure tourers will love it, cruisers would hate it.

Ratnagiri to Chiplun- 2 lane roads, heavy traffic, too many speed breakers, roads are good to very good, but beware of sudden short passages of broken surfaces. bus drivers, especially STs drive recklessly, forcing 2 wheelers offroad.

Chiplun to Dhopve- Road again 2 lane, most of it well tarred but internal roads have some broken surfaces. little to no traffic, can easily cruise at 80kmph

Dabhol to Dapoli via MSH 4- single lane poorly maintained road with max speed on N300 not exceeding 30 kmph. broken surface, little to no scenic beauty, little to no traffic.

Dapoli to Mandangad to 'Tol' Phata - Single lane state highways in extremely poor condition, speeds do not exceed 20 for long stretches, mostly barren landscape, few villages, no rest stops, surprisingly medium amount of traffic, mostly taxis going god knows where.

'Tol' Phata to Panvel- NH66 (17) heavy traffic 2 lane (undergoing 4 laning) road surface in poor condition after Kolad with frequent speed breakers (as many as 5 within a kilometre)

Re: Updates on Road Condition: Maharashtra

Great write up mate
Thanks for the informative article

Re: Updates on Road Condition: Maharashtra

PUNE - HYDERABAD Route

Pune- Solapur: As everyone knows, this, the NH65 part of NH9, is an awesome 150+kmph inspiring flawless expressway.

Solapur-Hyderabad: My research showed that NH9 is in horrible horrible state, taking away every bit of riding pleasure a biker seeks.
Hence, I opted for the following option and it was awesome.

Solapur-Aland-Gulbarga-Sedam-Pargi-Chevella-Hyderabad

This whole route is a state highway, hence single laned, but 90% is just 120+ kmph inspiring, specially the roads in Karnatak. The 10% is 70-80 kmphish and speed breakers and potholes in MAH.

Note: Solapur-Aland can be done via Omerga or Akkalkot. Both roads have about 20 minutes of 5-10 kmph offroading with road construction going on.

I did Pune-Hyderabad in just 7 hours excluding breaks, no exaggeration here.
Return journey was done in a mere 6.5 hours.

Re: Updates on Road Condition: Maharashtra

Thanks Parvez for the update... I am going from Pune to Kurnool this Saturday and was searching for the route condition from Aland - Gulberga as I heard very bad reviews about it... I think 20 minutes is manageable as per ur update... Will be following same route till I reach Sedam... Also how safe it is ride at about 90 on these state highways?? Level of danger of crossing trespassers/animals?

And about the 7hrs Pune-Hyd ride, man you are on endurant-endurance rides Keep riding and safe as usual... Will be glad to see more updates from you

Re: Updates on Road Condition: Maharashtra

Hi.

google maps: Paste this in browser. https://www.google.co.in/maps/dir/So...09!1m0!1m0!3e0

The only time saver is the Pune-Solapur NH65 Expressway. Try to safely go as fast as you can here. I did it in a mere 2.5 hours on Pune-Solapur and 2 hours on Solapur-Pune (All 140+ kmph riding) No hurdles for a whole 240 kms of it. Watch out for the Indapur exit. It looks like the main road and the solapur highway looks like a diversion. But that is not the case. The indapur exit is on the left and the solapur highway is the right of that Y type intersection. You have to take the one on right which is the Indapur bypass. If you take the straight going road on the left, you will go through the Indapur's horrible traffic.

I suggest you take the Solapur-Akkalkot-Aland. I took this on the way to Hyd and took Aland-Omerga-Solapur on the way back. Solapur-Akkalkot-Aland is shorter and the 20-30 minutes offroading is tolerable though frustrating. Mind you, offroading means proper offroading. I had to stand on the foot pegs motocross style for some 10-15 minutes, that bad. Solapur-Omerga-Aland is longer and more boring.

As compared to the NH9(Solapur-Omerga-Zaheerabad) route where you have to be patient throughout the 300 kms, on this alt route, you have to be patient only for some 25 kms(1 hour). Please refer to GPS between Solpaur-Akkalkot-Aland. Somewhere between Akkalkot and Aland is a place called Hiroli. This is were the Karnatak SH10 starts. Awesome. In telangana, SH4 is also very good, but not awesome. This alt route is 3-4 hours shorter than NH9.

The roads are usually straight, so you will be able to see an cow herd,etc.. from a distance. As it is in blind turns and blind straights you will have to slow down accordingly. Roads There are no scary speed breakers also. Speed breakers are marked with sign boards. Being state highway, no police checking at Toll. Pune-Solapur can be done in night without much problem if you want. But I suggest you do Solapur-Hyd in daylight, easier. NH7 needs no explaination. Pure awesomeness.

Are you going to visit Belum caves as well?

Also, if you come at a junction where there are multiple roads and no direction signboard, just ask some local pan wala, chaat walal, banana wala, etc for the next immediate place. For example if you are at Akkalkot and heading towards Aland, just ask someone road for Aland. Most of them do not undertstand Hindi, so just ask Aland? If you have crossed Aland, ask for gulbarga. Also, take Gulbarga Ring road to bypass Gulbarga's horrible traffic. From Solapur side, take left on Gulbarga Ring road, go for 8.5 kms and take left again to rejoin SH10. Refer GPS as and by before taking any turn.

90Kmph on these statehighway is more than safe. I was doin a 120+kmph without much problem. Just be sure to slow down while taking turns as you may go wide. I had a freaking out experience once or twice. Being single laned, turning radius does not inspire cornering at all.

Aland-Gulbarga road is just fine. It is the Akkalkot-Hiroli stretch thats off-roading...