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**xBhp** · 03-04-2019, 11:12 AM

Re: Foreigner with lots of questions about a long (~8 month) India tour (buying/registering, route..

Thread approved.

**akshay** · 03-04-2019, 12:03 PM

Re: Foreigner with lots of questions about a long (~8 month) India tour (buying/registering, route..

Originally posted by stewacide View Post

Hello. I'm a Canadian who's done some long motorcycle tours (North and South America, Southeast Asia) and some other long-term travel (Africa, etc.). I'm hoping to do a long tour of India and Nepal beginning this fall, but there's limited information about India / South Asia on my usual sources for such things (AdvRider, iOverlander, etc.). I'm hoping y'all can answer a few questions:

Bike? – There don’t seem to be many dual-sport / touring type motorcycles on the Indian market. It would appear the two best options (without getting into really expensive imported bikes) are the (discontinued) Hero Impulse 150 and the (to-be-released) Hero Xpulse 200. The latter looks ideal but I’m unclear about when it’ll be available in quantify? Are there other options worth considering?

Paperwork? – As a foreigner on a tourist visa I don’t think it’ll be possible to register any vehicle in my name. What I’m hoping I can do it have the vehicle still registered in an Indian national’s name, and carry with me some sort of letter-of-allowance / 'rental' agreement. What is the necessary vehicle paperwork to have with you in India? And also to sell a vehicle? (so I can sell the vehicle when my trip’s done; it may be I need to prepare sale paperwork with whoever I buy the vehicle from that’s it’s registered to at the time of purchase, so I have it when I go to sell). How does insurance work? Is it reasonable to expect a dealer, if I’m buying a new bike, to help me out with this stuff? Is it necessary to return to the same state the bike was purchased in to sell it in the end?

Borders? – I’d like to visit Nepal as part of this trip. What is the procedure crossing to and from India with a vehicle? What added complication / scrutiny could I expect as a foreigner? Also, what internal restrictions on travel are there within India? (I’ve heard of checkpoints at state borders, restrictions on foreigners entering parts of the country e.g. the ‘Seven Sisters’?)

Police? – How corrupt are the police and what’s the procedure for dealing with them?

Route? – My trip will start likely late-September/early-October. My visa will limit me to 6 months in India at a stretch before it needs to be reset by leaving the country (e.g. to Nepal; I don’t gather Bangladesh, Pakistan or Burma are advisable or possible?). Also it looks like I’d want to visit Nepal / Himalayas region in the Summer (when it’s not cold and miserable).

So, my rough idea is to start in Mumbai in the fall, work my way down south and then back up to the Northeast over ~5 months, cross to Nepal for a month or so for a visa reset, and then another 2-3 months in the North of India before returning to Mumbai to sell. This is mostly just so I avoid the Winter; I have no idea how the monsoon works in various parts of India, so perhaps there's a better way to go about it? I could do the same sort of thing starting in Calcutta, working clockwise around India instead of counter-clockwise.

Also, what are the general highlights and areas to focus on? I don’t care about tourist attractions. I like quiet, scenic places: beaches, wilderness areas, pleasant small towns, mountain tracks.

I know that’s a LOT of questions, and I appreciate any help, particularly as far as paperwork goes. Thanks in advance!

- Ryan

I would suggest you approach a professional motorcycle tour company like Motomonks who will be able to sort out everything from the bike, visa, permits, routes, accomodation etc. In this way, your focus will be solely on enjoying the ride and nothing else

**HyperRetard** · 03-04-2019, 01:37 PM

Re: Foreigner with lots of questions about a long (~8 month) India tour (buying/registering, route..

Royal Enfield Himalayan?

**Zapps** · 03-04-2019, 11:44 PM

Re: Foreigner with lots of questions about a long (~8 month) India tour (buying/registering, route..

I'd suggest renting a bike and an ideal bike for your needs would be RE Himalayan from 2018 onwards batch. For dealing with cops and other officials, I'd suggest you have atleast one Indian fellow rider with you, the police is corrupt and being a foreigner, you'd be robbed by police as well as when buying basic stuff.

**stewacide** · 03-05-2019, 07:53 PM

Re: Foreigner with lots of questions about a long (~8 month) India tour (buying/registering, route..

Re: renting, like I said this will be a long trip so buying (and selling in the end) will work out much much cheaper, I'm just trying to figure out the best way to do it in terms of paperwork. It may be that making it look like a rental on paper is advantageous, however.

Re: general dangers, or being ripped off, as I said I've traveled around far more corrupt and dangerous parts of the world than India so I'm not too worried, although it's nice to know what to expect beforehand. The (perhaps outdated?) stereotype of India is of red-tape that necessitates low-level corruption, and a lot of petty bureaucracy. The complication of getting an Indian tourist visa doesn't bode well. Hence I want to get the vehicle paperwork as legit-looking as possible, and attract the least attention possible.

Re: an Enfield Himalayan, never having ridden an Enfield, my impression is that they're unreliable and not particularly capable - basically, that they have big-bike weight without big-bike power - but maybe this is outdated? I know they're the 'backpacker bike' people imagine touring around India on, but the bike that 'looks right' is often annoying in practice (see: giant BMW/KTM adventure bikes, Ural sidecars, Minsk 2-strokes, etc.) The price is tempting though: the Himalayan is literally half the price in India vs. the US/Canada, and not massively more than the Xpulse 200 would be (~170000 rupees vs. ~110000, correct?)

Are there used bikes worth looking at that'd do the job?

Mass-market Indian brands (Hero, Bajaj, etc.) seem to have good reputations and are affordable. You see them all over in developing markets, and are held in MUCH higher regard there than Chinese bikes, perhaps even equal to Japanese. I'd figured 200cc (with the upcoming Xpulse) is enough for Indian roads, but maybe I'm under-estimating how fast Indian traffic is?

**stewacide** · 03-17-2019, 10:10 PM

Re: Foreigner with lots of questions about a long (~8 month) India tour (buying/registering, route..

Made a map of my rough anticipated route and schedule (if it's too small to see, first - red - leg from October to February, Nepal in March, and the last - green - leg from April to June)

If I understand the general weather patterns in India, it should be really nice weather heading down south along the west coast, with the possibility of stormy weather heading up the east. Then still cold but dry in Nepal, and I should be in and out of the Northeast before the rains really hit there, and out of India entirely before the worst of the monsoon hits the northern plain.

Does that all sound about right?

**prince11592** · 03-18-2019, 12:44 AM

Re: Foreigner with lots of questions about a long (~8 month) India tour (buying/registering, route..

Originally posted by stewacide View Post

Re: renting, like I said this will be a long trip so buying (and selling in the end) will work out much much cheaper, I'm just trying to figure out the best way to do it in terms of paperwork. It may be that making it look like a rental on paper is advantageous, however.

Re: general dangers, or being ripped off, as I said I've traveled around far more corrupt and dangerous parts of the world than India so I'm not too worried, although it's nice to know what to expect beforehand. The (perhaps outdated?) stereotype of India is of red-tape that necessitates low-level corruption, and a lot of petty bureaucracy. The complication of getting an Indian tourist visa doesn't bode well. Hence I want to get the vehicle paperwork as legit-looking as possible, and attract the least attention possible.

Re: an Enfield Himalayan, never having ridden an Enfield, my impression is that they're unreliable and not particularly capable - basically, that they have big-bike weight without big-bike power - but maybe this is outdated? I know they're the 'backpacker bike' people imagine touring around India on, but the bike that 'looks right' is often annoying in practice (see: giant BMW/KTM adventure bikes, Ural sidecars, Minsk 2-strokes, etc.) The price is tempting though: the Himalayan is literally half the price in India vs. the US/Canada, and not massively more than the Xpulse 200 would be (~170000 rupees vs. ~110000, correct?)

Are there used bikes worth looking at that'd do the job?

Mass-market Indian brands (Hero, Bajaj, etc.) seem to have good reputations and are affordable. You see them all over in developing markets, and are held in MUCH higher regard there than Chinese bikes, perhaps even equal to Japanese. I'd figured 200cc (with the upcoming Xpulse) is enough for Indian roads, but maybe I'm under-estimating how fast Indian traffic is?

Get a dominar 400 thats the best choice for ur ride

**prince11592** · 03-18-2019, 12:47 AM

Re: Foreigner with lots of questions about a long (~8 month) India tour (buying/registering, route..

Contact bajaj sales team they will help u with everything and trust me they may sponsor ur ride too...

**sparky** · 03-18-2019, 08:59 AM

Re: Foreigner with lots of questions about a long (~8 month) India tour (buying/registering, route..

Hi Ryan, Welcome to India and I'm sure you will positively enjoy what the country has to offer with it's varied climate, geography and customs. You might be able to get some good inputs here regarding your mode of travel but I think you will find more appropriate answers to your questions in this forum which is used by many people traveling first time to India: https://www.indiamike.com/

I am not sure if Xpulse will be released/delivered by the time you are here so better keep alternate options. The Himalayan is definitely the top choice as it is light adventure proven on India terrain and the company seems to have sorted out all the initial niggles and now it comes with ABS and you will also find it is easy to sell when you're done with your trip, plus they have service locations throughout India. The Hero Impulse model is stopped now and will probably be too under powered for your need, the other options which come to mind are Mahindra Mojo and Bajaj Dominar which are robust motorcycles but service and finding mechanics might be an issue when you are touring and they are also more road oriented. There is the new BMW 310GS which is quite capable but I wouldn't recommend it for two reasons- one is the cost is too high and other is that trouble of finding BMW service centers are so few in the country and it will be a headache if something goes wrong.

Yes, there are corrupt officials here too but they are an annoyance more than anything but you can get all of your work done with little patience and may be a bit of bribing, but officials have been known to be helpful to foreigners so you you never know.

**pahnin** · 03-25-2019, 06:20 PM

Re: Foreigner with lots of questions about a long (~8 month) India tour (buying/registering, route..

Originally posted by stewacide View Post

Made a map of my rough anticipated route and schedule (if it's too small to see, first - red - leg from October to February, Nepal in March, and the last - green - leg from April to June)

[ATTACH]248422[/ATTACH]

If I understand the general weather patterns in India, it should be really nice weather heading down south along the west coast, with the possibility of stormy weather heading up the east. Then still cold but dry in Nepal, and I should be in and out of the Northeast before the rains really hit there, and out of India entirely before the worst of the monsoon hits the northern plain.

Does that all sound about right?

Regarding weather in red path, it probably won't be that stormy, you'll mostly experience post monsoon weather going south which is relatively colder, coming back to north by Feb, Jan, Feb would be relatively colder and probably no rains.

Regarding your bike choice, if you are intending to travel on back roads like you said, you'll probably want to go for Himalayan, because small roads in India are very hit and miss, you'll probably end up on very bad roads most of the time, so Himalayan suspension is quite good for that and has enough power for those roads.

If you are looking for mixing up some highways and medium type of roads, dominar would be better choice, I own 2018 dominar, have done 20k kms on it, you'll be able cover distance easily on highways and on smaller roads you'll be able to push through, it's not as soft as Himalayan but you can probably buy some air seats to make your ride comfortable.

Both Himalayan and dominar you can buy used ones for cheaper price but that'll come with doubt about their condition.

About cops, yes usually they're corrupt, you may find some good cops but most of them would like to earn some extra bucks. If you are putting on riding gear and cover up completely they may not realise you're a westerner, you could try that. But once in a while they might stop you, if you are in a wrong place wrong time.

Hope the information helps! All the best!

**pahnin** · 03-25-2019, 06:35 PM

Re: Foreigner with lots of questions about a long (~8 month) India tour (buying/registering, route..

Originally posted by stewacide View Post

Hello. I'm a Canadian who's done some long motorcycle tours (North and South America, Southeast Asia) and some other long-term travel (Africa, etc.). I'm hoping to do a long tour of India and Nepal beginning this fall, but there's limited information about India / South Asia on my usual sources for such things (AdvRider, iOverlander, etc.). I'm hoping y'all can answer a few questions:

Bike? – There don’t seem to be many dual-sport / touring type motorcycles on the Indian market. It would appear the two best options (without getting into really expensive imported bikes) are the (discontinued) Hero Impulse 150 and the (to-be-released) Hero Xpulse 200. The latter looks ideal but I’m unclear about when it’ll be available in quantify? Are there other options worth considering?

Paperwork? – As a foreigner on a tourist visa I don’t think it’ll be possible to register any vehicle in my name. What I’m hoping I can do it have the vehicle still registered in an Indian national’s name, and carry with me some sort of letter-of-allowance / 'rental' agreement. What is the necessary vehicle paperwork to have with you in India? And also to sell a vehicle? (so I can sell the vehicle when my trip’s done; it may be I need to prepare sale paperwork with whoever I buy the vehicle from that’s it’s registered to at the time of purchase, so I have it when I go to sell). How does insurance work? Is it reasonable to expect a dealer, if I’m buying a new bike, to help me out with this stuff? Is it necessary to return to the same state the bike was purchased in to sell it in the end?

Borders? – I’d like to visit Nepal as part of this trip. What is the procedure crossing to and from India with a vehicle? What added complication / scrutiny could I expect as a foreigner? Also, what internal restrictions on travel are there within India? (I’ve heard of checkpoints at state borders, restrictions on foreigners entering parts of the country e.g. the ‘Seven Sisters’?)

Police? – How corrupt are the police and what’s the procedure for dealing with them?

Route? – My trip will start likely late-September/early-October. My visa will limit me to 6 months in India at a stretch before it needs to be reset by leaving the country (e.g. to Nepal; I don’t gather Bangladesh, Pakistan or Burma are advisable or possible?). Also it looks like I’d want to visit Nepal / Himalayas region in the Summer (when it’s not cold and miserable).

So, my rough idea is to start in Mumbai in the fall, work my way down south and then back up to the Northeast over ~5 months, cross to Nepal for a month or so for a visa reset, and then another 2-3 months in the North of India before returning to Mumbai to sell. This is mostly just so I avoid the Winter; I have no idea how the monsoon works in various parts of India, so perhaps there's a better way to go about it? I could do the same sort of thing starting in Calcutta, working clockwise around India instead of counter-clockwise.

Also, what are the general highlights and areas to focus on? I don’t care about tourist attractions. I like quiet, scenic places: beaches, wilderness areas, pleasant small towns, mountain tracks.

I know that’s a LOT of questions, and I appreciate any help, particularly as far as paperwork goes. Thanks in advance!

- Ryan

About what to focus on, in the red like you are going to the desert and then to Mumbai then to South, and back up to Nepal side along east coast.

I hope you are aware of this but I'll state it anyway, coastal areas are relatively hotter in the south, from Mumbai to South(wherever you want return north), to Kolkata area. There are two main mountainous ranges in South India one to the east and one to the west, right along your red line, Western ghats are typically cooler and post monsoon very green, foggy and you'll find a lot of remote villages hill stations along your red line, if you cross the mountains into the plains, it's normal towns and cities again. The 2nd part of red line going up towards Kolkata is not as colder as west side but will be alright.

My suggestion to you would be cris-crossing the ghats, i.e, coastal beaches to inland towns via ghats then back to coastal beaches and back inside and so on, this way you'll cover beaches, green ghats, inland and beaches again. You'll have to go through some bad roads but I think you are already expecting that. Some caution above Visakhapatnam till Kolkata, stick to highways in this region, it's sensitive area.

**stewacide** · 03-31-2019, 01:24 PM

Re: Foreigner with lots of questions about a long (~8 month) India tour (buying/registering, route..

Thanks for all the info Pahnin!

I'm really dubious on the Himalayan from reading/watching reviews. Seems really quite unreliable and fragile in parts, and besides having some suspension travel everything else about it seems really lacklustre, particularly the power/weight.

Is there much that can be done to make a Dominar more rough-road capable? I assume tread-ier tires with thicker sidewalls are available, bash guards, stuff like that? Is there any provision to raise the stock ride height?

Is there any sense of when the Xpulse will release? If it was a 250 I'd be sold, but even a 200 should be sufficient since I prefer to stay off the highway if only because it's boring, I'm not a big guy (~150lbs), and I travel light. Pic below is my setup at the start of my last long (North to South America) trip, which includes a lot of camping stuff and spare parts I wouldn't need to carry in India (I assume camping isn't much if ever done in India?). That bike was a 350 but really a 250 would have been fine once I was out of the US/Canada; traffic in developing countries in my experience is usually pretty slow. What I was grateful for nearly every day however was the glorious 11" of suspension travel.

**SpeedyKol** · 03-31-2019, 11:14 PM

Re: Foreigner with lots of questions about a long (~8 month) India tour (buying/registering, route..

Hi there! When do you plan to come? Which city in India will you be landing at? You can either rent or buy a bike on someone's behalf and later sell it off before going out of country. Police are pretty corrupt and hungry for bribes, though there are a few good ones as well. Would be great if you take an Indian with you so that you are not easily fooled out there.

**Zapps** · 04-01-2019, 12:06 PM

Re: Foreigner with lots of questions about a long (~8 month) India tour (buying/registering, route..

Originally posted by SpeedyKol View Post

Hi there! When do you plan to come? Which city in India will you be landing at? You can either rent or buy a bike on someone's behalf and later sell it off before going out of country. Police are pretty corrupt and hungry for bribes, though there are a few good ones as well. Would be great if you take an Indian with you so that you are not easily fooled out there.

He's traveled thru other South Asian countries, so he knows the drill.

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