[ku69rd]

Originally Posted by aviorp

Completed 8000Kms. Will post the pics and details soon.

Wow 8000 kms? At this rate am confident you will reach 30K in one year's time

Ride safe and keep the rubber side down mate.

[aviorp]

6000, 7000, 8000 Kms

Service update :

1. Engine oil and Oil Filter replaced
2. Topped up the coolant, rear break fluid, cleaned the air filter

Total cost : 2789/-

Few pics :

Getting Ready for the service



Draining the old oil



300V 10W40 - costs close to 1K for a liter



Colour of the old oil (6K)



Coolant level

[aviorp]

Chikmagalur Ride

After the service, did multiple short rides and one ride to Kolli hills. Unfortunately, dint click any pics. So, will move on with the Chikmagalur ride.

4 bikes : 1 Classic 500 DS, 1 Electra 350 CI and 2 Ninja's.

Since all of us prefer riding during the night, we left Bangalore around 1AM and reached Chikmagalur around 7. Yup, we took 6 hours to do 250Kms . Well, we had a lot of time and hence stopped multiple times for pics and tea.

Route taken : Bangalore -> Nelamangala bypass -> Kunigal -> Hassan -> Belur -> Chikmagalur.

Road Condition : Superb roads. No problems anywhere.

Mileage : Sedate speeds - 30 ; Sprints : 25-27

Few pics enroute :







Tried few panning shots, but this is the best I could manage







After breakfast, we planned to visit Mullyangiri, however, we missed the left turn and headed towards Kallathigiri. Only after some 30 odd kms we realized this, when we asked some locals. Reached Kallathigiri around 11AM and spent a good 2 hours.





We then headed towards Kemmangundi. The road just after Kallathigiri deteriorates into a uneven gravel and red sand surface. This was about 20 odd kms. So, after Kemmangundi, we dint feel like visiting any other place due to this stretch.

View points from Kemmangundi







The bullets flew through this stretch, but we both had a very tough time. The concern mainly was the small stones might hit the radiator and also because of the low ground clearance, the bottom most fairing might scrape. So, we rode at 10kmph and took almost 2 hours, but, not without a stop to click some pics of our beauties.









We reached the homestay/resort - 'Beanstalk Bagmane'. We could not make out much during the night, but the room was exemplary. The dormitory that we booked could accomodate atleast 12-14 people, but it was just 4 of us. All our gear were dumped on some of the beds. Had sumptuous food and crashed. The next day, this is what we saw.

View of the dorm - cost 1500/- per head



Our steeds loved the place too



The bungalow costs 2500/- per head



We started after lunch and reached B'lore around 11PM. In all it was beautiful place and loved the 600 odd km ride. This place would be best to visit post monsoon. So, we might do another ride in September.

Coming up, a ride through bikers paradise.

[joshuasam400]

I'm glued to this Thread.... Damn how did I miss it... Good job so far Lightning

[samcan123]

Man.. This is one gorgeous looking Ninja. I never knew Ninja would look so great in white. I always had a crush on green Ninjas, but a white one is now added to the list . Ninja is the only fully faired bike I drool upon seeing.

[aviorp]

Originally Posted by joshuasam400

I'm glued to this Thread.... Damn how did I miss it... Good job so far Lightning

Thanks Josh

Originally Posted by pratap.pratu

Thanks for these detailed updates. very useful for the next batch of customers willing to be a part of Ninja club.

Thank you. Will share more experience with the service guys after the 3rd Service, due next month. Guess I can do a couple of more rides before that.

Originally Posted by samcan123

Man.. This is one gorgeous looking Ninja. I never knew Ninja would look so great in white. I always had a crush on green Ninjas, but a white one is now added to the list . Ninja is the only fully faired bike I drool upon seeing.

Thanks samcan123.

Here is a teaser of what's coming up. Any guess, where this might be?

Photo credit : Preetam Bose

[Motormania]

One fine motorcycle that is!

Wanted to know if you are facing or have faced any problems with respect to the brakes or chain-sprocket or uneven wearing out of the rear tyre? A friend seems to be facing this problem since long, with no resolution in sight.

PS :- That looks like enroute Ooty! Is it so?

[ashwin23]

Originally Posted by aviorp

Thanks Josh

Here is a teaser of what's coming up. Any guess, where this might be?

Wow! Lovely picture that! It certainly looks like Valparai and you also said bikers paradise. Am I right?

[tharian]

Originally Posted by joshuasam400

I'm glued to this Thread.... Damn how did I miss it... Good job so far Lightning

Joshua,

I knew I saw a familiar bike in the pictures and could relate to the ride you told me about, with the 2 Ninja's. Good to see the good old CI350 thumping with the big boys.

[aviorp]

Originally Posted by Motormania

Wanted to know if you are facing or have faced any problems with respect to the brakes or chain-sprocket or uneven wearing out of the rear tyre? A friend seems to be facing this problem since long, with no resolution in sight.

Nope, no issues so far (touchwood). The only thing I can think of is, if he has not cleaned/lubed the chain every 500/600kms and not checked the air pressure, this could happen. Also, depends on the riding style too. Which service center did he report this problem to?

That looks like enroute Ooty! Is it so?

Originally Posted by ashwin23

Wow! Lovely picture that! It certainly looks like Valparai and you also said bikers paradise. Am I right?

Spot on Ashwin Will share the pics and vids by this weekend.

Originally Posted by tharian

Good to see the good old CI350 thumping with the big boys.

The CI amazed all of us. It was not just Josh's CI in this ride, we had another one too. Will share that part of the story with pics.

[ashwin23]

Originally Posted by aviorp

Spot on Ashwin Will share the pics and vids by this weekend.



The CI amazed all of us. It was not just Josh's CI in this ride, we had another one too. Will share that part of the story with pics.

Do let me know if you have a ride planned either this upcoming weekend or the next. I'd love to join!

[joshuasam400]

Originally Posted by aviorp

Here is a teaser of what's coming up. Any guess, where this might be?

aviorp any update on this bit?

[aviorp]

9000Kms

Sometimes we plan so hard to do a short ride and nothing works out. Then there are times were you just go with the wind and that's how this one happened.

We were planning a short ride over the weekend and had decided on Horsely Hills, untill one maniac came up with a plan to ride to Valparai. He managed to convince 7 others in a span of 2 hours, by showing us some mindblowing pics of the vistas and black tarmac. Well, that was more than enough for any of us to fall prey.

Unfortunately, one day before the ride, the guy who came up with the plan dropped out (some personal work). Now, the rest of us were in a fix, whether to cancel the ride or go on with it. After exchanging several mails and meetings, we decided to move on. However, not without a twist - twists in the tale and a lot of them on the road

A 1200km ride, planned and executed in less than 5 days time.

Day 1 :

Bangalore -> Krishnagiri -> Salem -> Erode (bypass) -> Perundurai -> Tirupur -> Pollachi : 395 Kms

The plan was to start by 4AM and target to reach Pollachi by 3PM. As usual, I could not get sleep, so I left to meet the 't-bhp' hero of the moment and who decided to join for the ride, with just a day's notice - Typical Biker. The 4AM start was with atleast a one hour window, but for everyone's surprise, all of us were at the meeting point at 4.

Nothing special about the Krishnagiri stretch - Typical truck traffic and we managed to reach in about 90 minutes. After a quick break, we decided not to stop till Salem. We crossed Salem around 6:45 and hit the highway towards Erode. About 30Kms later, stopped for breakfast.

We managed to do 220Kms in exactly 3 hours. At this rate, we knew, we would reach Pollachi before noon. Well, that thought dint last too long.

The guy who dropped out of the ride, called me, when I was just about to swallow my first bite of hot Pongal. Told him about our whereabouts and how the ride was, when he said, he was 30Kms from Salem. I went
Unfortunately, after the Thoppur ghat he had a glitch with his bike. I passed on the phone to Josh, who rides a CI as well, who did some troubleshooting over the phone and got the bike running. So, as we waited for the 'Captain' to join, the camera's rolled out.

Hauute

He doesn't need an Intro

Indian beasts and the Jap beauty - Aint they look great together

After nearly 2 hours, the Cap joined. The issue was related to 'catch can', which was full and sprewed out the excess oil to the air filter. He did some jugaad and got it running. He quickly gulped some pongal and we were off.

Less than 50Kms, his bike had another glitch. The bike wouldn't start and 6 of us were a head of him. The gap had increased by almost 30 odd kms. Luckily for us, Narayan, who rides a DS was along with him. The problem was related to the battery terminal and they found a way out temporarily. In the mean time, we got hold of a local mech and when they reached us, the mech fixed it in no time. In all this, we had lost about another 2 hours.

By now, the sun was having his day out and we were getting tired. Soon, stopped for lunch and lost about another one hour. Though we had lost about 4-5 hours, we only had 75 odd Kms to reach Pollachi. So, after the lunch we decided to ride non-stop, but the heat was too much to handle and riding through traffic, took away half our energy in no time.

Finally, at 5PM we reached our hotel and that's the approx. time I had provided at the time of booking too. We dint bother clicking any pics but we have a video instead.

Summary :

220Kms : 3 hours
175Kms : 10 Hours

Day 2, coming up

[aviorp]

Day 2

Pollachi -> Valparai -> Chalakudy -> Thrissur : 210Kms

Since we dint have a long distance to cover, we were up till late night, no to mention why and the following day few guys had to do some routine check on their bikes, which delayed our so called early morning start from 7AM to 11AM. By then, the darling Sun was inviting us with his arms wide open to taste the heat.

In quick time, we reached the Aliyar checkpost and after which started the scenic ride, any of us had experienced.

Aliyar dam



Beginning of the twists



Drool maal



She was on fire



A beautiful place to recoup ourselves



Black tarmac has never looked this pretty



Only way to keep the heat away



The 'Family'



Me and Preets stopped by to join the nature



Which one do you choose? This,



..Or this?



Nature and Riders at their best



Vazhacal Checkpost

[aviorp]

One for the album



Green Glory



Mini Island





A lifetime Experience



Her's too



A lovely Church in Thrissur



Yummy Food



A final and goodbye shot

And here's what a 'GoPro' can do.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKku0e26nhM