Forgot to post my update here

Major Karnataka Roads Update!!!

Mysore-Madikeri [SH88] : Final 2-3 Kms which was under construction about 3 months back now complete!

Madikeri - Sakleshpur : Via Sanivarsanthe and Kodipet. Good roads till Sanivarsanthe, litte broken here and there post that.

Sakleshpur - Chikmagalur : Do not take SH12 which touches Arehalli, there is NO road for 10-15 Kms

Chikmagalur - Balehonnur : Fairly OK roads, deep potholes around the turn off for Muthodi

Balehonnur - Kalasa : Superb piece of Tarmac, good roads almost all throughout

Kalasa - Kudremukh : Slight drop in quality of roads inside Kudremukh

Kudremukh - Sringeri : Roads in a bad state, pothole ridden uptill the last 10 Kms to Sringeri

Sringeri - Tirthahalli [NH13] : Decent road quality almost all the way

Tirthahalli - Nittur (Kodachadri) : Roads alternate between smooth and really rough

Nittur - Sampikatte (Ferry to Cross Linganmakki) : Good roads, not very rough

Ferrying Point - Sagar : Very bad roads for first 5 Kms, after that very fast and smooth roads till Sagar

Sagar - Jog Falls [NH206] : Roads in bad state inside and a few Kms outside of Sagar, gets better with approach to Jog

Jog Falls - Sirsi : Via Siddapur, super smooth roads with minimal traffic

Sirsi - Yana Rock : Narrow, but good roads all throughout

Yana Rock - Gokarna : Don't take the direct road from Yana to Gokarna, there is NO road as of now. Go back to Devimane Ghat

Gokarna - Karwar [NH17] : Standard NH17 kind of surface, smooth but broken at places

Karwar - Hubli [NH17+NH63] : Very good surface and very fast roads all the way till Hubli on NH63, Be careful very accident prone though

Hubli - Bagalkot [NH218] : Good surface almost everywhere, speed breakers need to watched out for as they are unmarked.

Bagalkot - Hungund [Raichur Road] : Very good surface, and almost devoid of villages can do decent speeds

Hungund - Hospet [NH13] : Terrible condition, lots of truck traffic and road widening in progress. Find alternative routes if in hurry

Hospet - Chitradurga [NH13] : No widening work, still heavy truck traffic and not so good tarmac. Gets better as we approach Chitradurga

Chitradurga - Bangalore [NH4] : Good, standard GQ quality. Bad surface in a few places, and speed breakers out of no where. Some speedbreakers have been removed, but the board still remains.

Phew! That was a long KA update from my end

This is an update as of June 11th, things could have gotten better/worse over the last month!

@ praful,
thanks for the detailed update..

Road conditions of the following route as on 24-07-2011

BANGALORE-HOSKOTE-KAIWARA-MADKERE CROSS-RAYALPADU-MADANAPALLE-HORSLEY HILLS:Four lanes till Hoskote.If you are a four lane fan, take NH4 and head towards Mulbagal. If you want some single fun,take the above route. Road conditions are very good for a single lane.Speeds of 70-80 easily manageable throughout, at times even 100+.Road conditions start to deteriorate a bit Once you cross the AP border, but very much rideable by any standards.Madanapalle-Horsley hills can be dangerous with Mad truck and SUV driving at their whims and fancies

HORSLEY HILLS-ANGALU-VAYALPADU-PILER-RANGAMPET-CHEROPALLI-TIRUPATHI: Again proper single lanes.Make sure you have enough fuel.There are very few petrol pumps on this stretch ( hardly 6-7) on a 130/140km stretch.Again roads are good. The ride becomes even more interesting once the ghats before tirupathi start.Not to mention the fantastic Tirupathi-Tirumala ghats

TIRUPATHI-CHITTOOR-PALAMNER-MULABAGAL-KOLAR-HOSKOTE-BANGALORE:One might find difficulty getting out of tirupathi via Kaalur, as the road is being replaced with Cement.Post Kaalur , its a breezy single lane till malabagal( except for some places in the border, where trucks are stopped).Palamner forest roads are undescribeable( may be the rains added value) , they are too good for riding.Once you cross Mulbagal, its like you are almost in bangalore,complete fourlanes till K.R.Puram

How are the road conditions from Belur to Sringeri? I plan to take Belur->Gendehalli->Aldur->Sollebail->Sringeri. Is this road good? How long would it take? Feedback would be very helpful!

Petrol Bunks on NH4?

Guys, I need some help on Petrol Bunks from Bangalore - Pune (NH4).

1. Which is the longest stretch on this road with no bunks inbetween!?
(Assuming, I am wanting to bypass all the cities in between).

2. Are the Petrol bunks attached to the main NH4?
(I see, on google maps, that I have to drive towards a city to get to bunks!)

My bike is Yamaha- Fz 16 ( range 400 kms ~ from full tank to reserve - But, I intend to tank up at next bunk I see at 350+kms each time)

The trip is this weekend! Please reply urgently!

Prompt reply appreciated!

Thanks,

Ace.

Bangalore to Kozhikode

Hello All, I am planning a bike trip from Bangalore to Kozhikode. The route is going to be through Mysore and through Bandipur/MM park. Google maps shows me two NHs - NH212 and NH209. Anyone have any idea about these highways?

Am I better off sticking to two lane State Highways, there are a few passing through on this route. It seems like the rains are intermittent and not too heavy right now. The one way trip will be around 350+km and I expect to do a round trip in 4 days with chilled out relaxed riding.

This is my first ride in Karnataka. I've mostly ridden in in TN and AP. Is this route scenic? Will I need any permits/documents (other than bike docs) to pass through the parks?

Any help/info is much appreciated.

Why do you want to take NH 209( bangalore-Dindugal via satyamangalam,coimbatore) if you want to go via Mysore (SH17)???????

You will not be Even touching Mudhumalai, if you are not planning via Gudalur-Meppadi.... So the ideal route would be B'Lore-Mysore-Gundlupet(right turn)-Sulthan Bathery-Kalpetta-Kunnamangalam-Kozhikode. Carry you original documents.If the Checkpost guys want to do some time pass with you they will definitely ask for the originals.Apart from that you will not need any permits/Docs if you are going by bike.The route is very scenic post gundlupet.

Thanks phanikar for the inputs. You're right about the route. This is one of the three routes that Google Maps suggests. I have time for Mudhumalai and will be doing it mostly. But I wanted to confirm since this is interstate boundary and protected reserve area.

I won't be carrying my Bull over to Bangalore. I will mostly be renting out from Bangalore. Although I could arrange for a bike through a friend too. I still havn't convinced him yet to tag along.

Thanks again for the quick response.

NH206-Bengaluru->Gubbi->Tiptur-Arasikere->Banavara-Kadur-Birur->Bhadravati-Shimoga-Asphalting is inconsistent and some strecthes have big pot-holes. Kind of tricky. Cannot get carried-away. Never know when the good times (or road in this case) ends here. Be particularly careful near SarveKoppalu.

Shimoga-Thirthalli-Excellent (no median) road. Enjoy the twisties
Sringeri-Agumbe-Last 9kms towards Agumbe is BAD.
Agumbe-Thirthalli-BAD roads till Megaravalli.

Hi, Phanikar is right on about the route. No worry about the check posts, just slow down then ride through unless they stop you and ask for the bike papers which is not an issue. As Phani said, the route is really scenic after Gundalpet. Do try to leave Bangalore as early as possible - to beat the out of Bangalore rush and also go through Wayanad as early as possible to enjoy the scenes. We had done the route recently and enjoyed every bit !



Take Care & Ride Safe

+1,Its not joy if you leave bangalore by 7-8, reach gundlupet around 12 and then enter the forest range.If you leave early , there are good chances of spotting wildlife as well

Road conditions on the following route as on 15/08/2011

BANGALORE-KUNIGAL-CHANNARAYAPATNA-HASSAN:very good four lanes till Bellur Cross( Near Aadichunchungiri Institute of Medical Science(AIMS)).Post this point four laning in progress.Have to be extremly careful(especially at night).If it rains in late evenings , it will just make the matter worse. So as far as possible clear this stretch in day light.

HASSAN-BELUR: one f the best motorable roads in Karnataka, have given way due to some heavy rainfall in this area.few potholes have sprung up, one or two extra humps near the villages.But all this doesnt dampen the spirit of riding

BELUR-YAGACHI DAM-CHIKMAGALUR: Roads not in the best of condition with potholes here and there, but very much motorable.And yeah , roads inside chikmagalur have be improved.

CHIKMAGALUR-MULLAYANGIRI-ATTIGUNDI-DATTAPEETHA/BABABUDANGIRI-MAANIKHYADHAARA: The curves on this route are way too tempting than 36-24-36 Have to be extremly careful during this season.The last few curves on mullayangiri are total blinders in the fog.Climbing up Bababudangiri and Manikhyadhara is shear fun for an off roader

update as of 16-aug-2011:

penukonda -madakasira-rolla-sira: Good 2 lane roads with acceptable exceptions .

sira-chelur-nittur: Except starting 10 kms and few 1-2 kms stretchs in between roads are horrible . Not recommended to drive .

nittur-tiptur: Good 2 lane hightway .

tiptur -hassan: Very bad roads .

hassan-belur: Very beautiful roads with some minor exceptions. Very scenic road .

belur-chikmaglur: Good with some bad stretches

chik-kudremukh-hanumangundi falls: just after entering balehonour road some 5-10 kms are not good . Till hanumangundi falls roads are good with some bad stretches .

chik-mullyanagiri-kemmangundi: last 15 kms to kemmgundi are bad , rest are all good and very scenic to drive .

kemmangundi-tarikere-badravathi-shimoga-harihar: till shimoga roads are good , badravathi to shimoga is excellent . shimoga to harihar is bad except some 10 kms start

harihar-raichur: good roads

raichur-mahaboobnagar: Good roads till marikal [ap] , till mahaboob nagar some bad stretches , after jadcherla that till hyd race track.

Both of us were in Chikmagalur about the same time I saw a black apache(AP-28-.......) the guy was wearing a yellow DSG,anybody from your group.Saw him climbing up Baba Budan Giri

yeah that was vishnu on his apache on which bike were you.. i was on blue zmaR and one black ZMR was also in our group .

Didnt see the ZMA and ZMR, saw only the Apache. Was in a cage when i saw him clicking pics of cows and sheep :P Waited for him to reach the top, may be he took his own time , wasnt able to meet him