8-9 hours? Are u kidding here man? I did the same route 1 month back in a Safari with my cousin.
To the best of my knowledge, Mumbai to Bangalore is around 1020km. This includes ghat section of lonavala, kambhatki, and then the bad section between Haveri and Chitradurga, ie around 125-130km. Dont forget the two railway crossings etc.
1020 in 9 hours means 113km/h average speed. Take out half hr for fuel / snacks etc and the avg increases to 120km/h. To maintain 120km/h, you gotta hold your bike at 135-140km/h through out the 1020km. Not happening.

After the Haveri to Chitradurga stretch is done, even then, i would say, even on a superbike, it will take around 10.5 to 11hours atleast.

I just did the trip from my door in Thane to Rossiter's door in Vijaynagar in 12 riding hours. If you want to standardize it as Panvel to Nelamangala then I can easily cut off another 2 hours from this trip time making it 10 hours with the roads as they are right now.

Improve the roads and Panvel to Nelamangala can be done in 8-9 hours easy. I cruise at 130 all day and only stop for fuel. I carry biscuits and drink gatorade on the way.

You will not believe how much time people waste while refueling or stopping for meals...

I'll say it now - with the GQ completed, Mumbai to Bangalore can be achieved in 8-9 hours.

Just FYI - I don't kid around. I did the 360km distance from Rossiter's door in Vijaynagar to my door in Adayar, Chennai in 3.5 hours this morning. If I decide to measure time from Electronics City to Poonamalee I probably did it in about 2 hours.

Road conditions from a recent trip - Dec 25-29, 2009
Bangalore - Srirangapatana => Excellent divided.
Srirangapatana - Hunsur Rd Junction => Ok. No potholes but not smooth.
Hunsur Rd Junction - Bylakuppe => Excellent with bad patches while crossing small towns/villages.
Bylakuppe - Kushalnagar => Ok. No potholes but not smooth.
Kushalnagar - Madikeri - Sampaji => Horrible. Significant potholes.
Sampaji - Jalsoor - Kasargaud => Excellent
Kasargaud - Kanhangaud => NH17 - Excellent; Old Highway - Ok. No potholes but not smooth.
Kanhangaud - Kannur => NH17 - Excellent
Kannur - Mattanur - Irriti - Kottiyur => Very good. Excellent in places.
Kottiyur - Mananthaady - Kalpetta - Manjeri => Very Good. Excellent in places.
Manjeri - Mannarkad => Ok. No potholes but not smooth.
Mannarkad - Anaikatti => Ok. Rough in places.
Anaikatti - Coimbatore - Satyamangalam - Dhimbam - Excellent with some bad patches in hills.
NH209 - Kollegal via the BR Hills route => narrow but excellent in Tamil Nadu. Horrible with no road in Karnataka.
Kollegal - Malavalli => Road construction going on. Pretty bad in stretches.
Malavalli - Maddur => Ok. No potholes but not smooth.
Maddur - Bangalore => Excellent. divided.

Bangalore-Munnar

Road updates from my trip to Munnar last weeked
Bangalore-hosur-krishnagiri-dharmapuri-thoppur-mettur-bhawani-perundurai-dharapurm-udumalapettai-marayoor-munnar


Bangalore-Hosur-Krishnagiri-Dharmapuri-thoppur - NH7 4 lane all along. In fact i was surprised that i could exit Bangalore so quickly.

Past Thoppur toll booth>> right turn to mettur- bhawani-perundurai
Thoppur to Mettur 2 lane roads all patched up and no problems
Mettur to bhawani 2 lane roads lots of potholes some starting some 15kms before bhawani.
Bhawani to prundurai - 4 lane NH47.

Exit at Perundari town and move towards Chinnimalai-kangeyam-Dharapuram- udumalapettai
2 lane all the way without any problems. At perundurai you need to cross railway below a underconstruction bridge.

Udumalaipattai-marayoor-munnar
Forest roads single lane decent roads untill marayoor.
The road starts to worsen 20kms before munnar. The place was under complete cloud cover and the visibility was down to few meters.

Road updates from Kerala ride (24th Dec - 31st Dec 2009)

Route taken:
Bangalore-Mysore-Nanjangud-Gundulpet-Bandipur-Ooty-Coonoor-Kothagiri-Mettupalayam-Coimbatore-Palakkad-Trissur-Angamaly-Kottayam

Kottayam-Muvattupuzha-Kothamangalam-Adimali-Munnar

Munnar-Adimali-Kothamangalam-Perumbavoor-Aluva-Cochin-Allepey

Allepey-Cochin-Trissur-Palakkad-Coimbatore-Bhavani-Mettur-Thoppur-Dharmapuri-Krishnagiri-Hosur-Bangalore.

Bangalore-Ooty(300 Kms): The Roads are excellent between Bangalore to Ooty, with some rough patches between Mysore to Nanjangud.

Ooty-Coonoor: It’s a ride through the town roads. Good

Coonoor-Kothagiri-Mettupalayam: The road between Coonoor and Mettupalayam is closed for construction. So, had to take a de-tour to Kothagiri. Coonoor to Kothagiri is deluxe. Curvy and well-banked roads. Kothagiri to Mettupalayam is also good.

Mettupalayam to Coimbatore is average. 80-100kph is maintainable.

Coimbatore – Kottayam(230 kms): Kerala roads have always been very pleasant for bikers. It continues to be that way. Some bad stretches between Angamaly and Kottayam which are very manageable.

Kottayam to Munnar(150 kms): No issues. Curvaceous roads throughout with excellent surface.

Around Munnar : Places like Mattupetti dam, echo point, top station cannot be missed for a biker. Superlative roads.

Munnar- Allepey(170 Kms): Pleasant to ride. Desirable average speed can be maintained.

Allepey-Bhavani(350 kms) The combo of Kerala roads and toll roads of Tamilnadu are splendid.

Bhavani-Mettur: Rough patches. If your riding towards Bangalore from Coimbatore, you’d rather take the L&T and NHAI toll roads than the Mettur route. The Mettur route is neither picturesque nor a smooth road.

Mettur-Bangalore(200 Kms) : Mettur to Thoppur is good Two-lane roads. Thoppur onwards, its 4 lane almost everywhere until Bangalore(Toll roads and Flyovers). In Bangalore, the Electronic City - Silk board junction has drastically improved. No more dusty roads and diversions, or maybe just one or two instances. Not more.

Was about to raise a query on kerala roads but it seems you already answered more than 60% of them before I ask...

Thanks man!!! PMing you soon...

Anytime! whats your ride plan? if there's a familiar place in your route, i could update you with the road conditions.

Bangalore - Pondicherry - Chennai

Hi Guys,

Planning to go to Chennai for a friends engagement over this weekend.
Thinking of covering Pondicherry also along way.

Can anyone guide me the best route for Pondicherry from Bangalore. We plan to leave on this saturday (16th Jan, 2010) early morning. And reach Chennai in the night. this would be via Pondicherry ofcourse.

blr-hosur-krishnagiri-take left , after 1km , u ll see a board pondy 220 kms ,take right there , continue towards tiruvannamalai . then to pondy.

the road from k'giri-pondy is a two lane road , its pretty good with odd potholes here and there .

Pondy-chennai -ECR is the best.

Santa

Thanks Dude !!

Dude I just travelled on that strip of road in dec 2009 and I dont remember it being two laned. It is just a regular country road and there are no odd potholes but there are odd patches of good road between potholes.

The road is only good between bangalore-krishnagiri from krishnagiri till pondicherry the road is very bad. Some of the potholes are fully across the road.
I recall there was construction going on for a two lane highway but a major portion still was under construction and the way infrastructure projects are done in our country I don't think it might have been completed.

Yeah I agree blr-chennai-ecr-pondy is the best route.

Elec city elevated expressway

EC to Silkboard in flat 7.2 mins on a puny 97cc mill

Had a blast ride for 10kms on a passion plus. the roads are amazing to say the least! there are 2-3 lay bye's where in you can rest n take some snaps of the traffic below.
Neat banking done. Overall pretty good work done...

PS: Be very carefull down the ramp @ silkboard.. The traffic joins at the right most corner of the road! there will be a** driving local buses from the left, high spirited drivers on the right and in the middle will be the bikers
except the down ramp, rest all izz well

Road conditions from Bangy to Goa

Does anybody know the road conditions on the following route:
Bangalore -> Tumkur -> Shimoga -> Sagar -> Sirsi -> Ankola -> Karwar -> Goa?

Also any suggestions on the best route from Bangalore to Goa would be of great appreciation.

Thanks in Advance guys!!

Riding to Hyderbad from Bangalore. Any idea how the road conditions are?

Bangalore to Hyd NH7 is pretty decent. Work is going on to make this a 4 lane road. So here and there there you will find a bad patch of road occasionally.