[govigov]

Originally Posted by ashwinprakas

13 days, 14 states, 7600 km's.

Completed the Golden Quadrilateral circuit on my CT100B.

Nice. Congratulations on your feat! I know I will never be able to do this on two wheels. I hope that the TL will be out soon.

[ashwinprakas]

Shortest distance was around 300+ km's per day and longest haul was 750+ km's per day. I do not have all the photos with me, once collected would post them.

As for the CT100B, it is by far the most reliable motor I've used to date and that is something coming from a person whose done 1300+ km's in a day on the Hero Honda Karizma. My co-rider was riding a Royal Enfield Bullet 500, the motor was running at relaxed RPM's with short bursts to 120+ kmph at times and by the end of the ride the speedo started getting stuck, the ignition set malfunctioned(key would slip out in ON position), front forks(straightened and overhauled before ride) started leaking, the bike started giving out smoke at high RPM's due to clogged air filter(Newly changed before the ride). In short the motorcycle was serviced for 20k+, where as the CT100B started with only new oil, the air filter had 1.5k km's on it when the ride started and wasn't changed(only because I forgot to take the spare along).

Total cost of fuel was 8982.74/-(Roughly around 60 kmpl, decent for so much riding at WOT)
Total cost of Food/Water and Accommodation(Shared by 2) was 6000/-.
Total cost for Motorcycle Consumables(Oil) was 1400/-.

So in short the total expense for the ride was under 16.5k, as expensive as a decent smart phone.

[viggienomad]

Surprise! Just in January, the bike was un-ride-able after a power wash?! Now it's on a long 13 day tour!

Glad to know it withstood the ordeal. Please post more details of the travel & also the photos as possible. Thanks!

[knightrider_7]

Originally Posted by ashwinprakas

13 days, 14 states, 7600 km's.

Completed the Golden Quadrilateral circuit on my CT100B.

Hi Ashwin,
That's quite remarkable achievement with CT100B. Congratulations.

Waiting for a detailed travelogue from you.

[R-Six]

Originally Posted by ashwinprakas

13 days, 14 states, 7600 km's.

Wow! That is quite an achievement, Ashwin! Take a bow!

Your passion for riding and having toured on the CT100B extensively clearly shows that for a rider who is passionate about traveling, it doesn't matter whether you are on a high-end adventure tourer or a commuter bike.

Ride Safe
R-Six

[ashwinprakas]

Originally Posted by viggienomad

Surprise! Just in January, the bike was un-ride-able after a power wash?! Now it's on a long 13 day tour!

Glad to know it withstood the ordeal. Please post more details of the travel & also the photos as possible. Thanks!

The issue then was water shorting the stator connector, remedial measures included sealing all connectors with bearing grease and re-positioning the stator connector to sit under the tank, efforts paid off when I pressure washed her a few days ago and she came back to life without skipping a beat.

These machines are built to withstand a lot more than we give them credit for, which now goes without saying as in the latest episode of the Grand Tour Richard Hammond took it to the next level by riding a 100cc TVS Start through Mozambique!

Though TV show's aside, personally I would choose the Bajaj CT100B over any big bike if I were offered a choice to tour the toughest roads in India, simply because there are less things to break and if by chance anything breaks then its just a DIY away from getting back on the road, at least most of the time that's the case.

I'm more into riding than photography as a result of which photo breaks were minimal to none at times, so please bear with me;

This is a picture of the CT100B captured en-route Chennai to Rajamundry on Day 2 of our ride.



This is a picture of the CT100B captured on our leisure day when we rode from Puri to Bhubaneswar and back.



This is a picture of the CT100B when we returned after visiting the Sun Temple at Konark on foot, the puppy resting just melted my heart.



This is a picture taken while riding from Krishnagiri to Kollam, Bangalore <> Kollam used to be my frequent route on my Bajaj Discover 100 4G during college days but this was the first time that I encountered so much fog, guessing this is the after effect of the Ockhi cyclone.



This is me and my co-rider when we rode to Delhi from Agra to see the India Gate.

Originally Posted by knightrider_7

Hi Ashwin,
That's quite remarkable achievement with CT100B. Congratulations.

Waiting for a detailed travelogue from you.

Thank you for the kind words. I did consider penning a travelogue but the emotions tied to this experience is just explosive at the moment as to be honest this trip has changed something inside me which I'm yet to sort out so I've thought of sitting on it once things settle down a bit.

Strange, but true.

Originally Posted by R-Six

Wow! That is quite an achievement, Ashwin! Take a bow!

Your passion for riding and having toured on the CT100B extensively clearly shows that for a rider who is passionate about traveling, it doesn't matter whether you are on a high-end adventure tourer or a commuter bike.

Ride Safe
R-Six

Thank you sir. I would be guilty for taking any extra credit for completing the GQ on the CT100B because if it were any other motorcycle I would've been bored to death, I do also own a tour prepped Bajaj Pulsar 220 worked on by Sahyadri, Mumbai but for some reason it fails to excite me as much as the CT100B does.

When I'm riding the CT100B it just feels exciting and fulfilling which justified the saying:

"It's more fun to ride a slow bike fast than a fast bike slow."

The motorcycle is just totally engaging and really puts the rider to test, on it you get to experience the A to Z of purebred motorcycling because I don't remember having my rear hop when downshifting into a corner on any other motorcycle, same goes with recovering from slips and slides, you're in control even when there is absolutely no traction!

If I go on I'll just keep on rambling about my love for small displacement motorcycles, they really are something and I hope everyone would keep an open mind about motorcycling when it comes to motorcycles cause if not they sure are missing a really big chunk of it!

[ashwinprakas]

Met with my co-rider after a long break and got the rest of the photo's so I'm posting a few of the CT100B along with cyclocomputer reading of maximum distance covered in a day and maximum speed recorded during the Golden Quadrilateral run.

• As you can see, I packed super light, didn't even take my usual tool kit, managed to change oil by the road side using tools that came with the motorcycle, Bajaj has won me on this front as there are tools provided which can even be used to take the wheels off the bike which is a boon when it comes to motorcycles with tubed tires.

• Couldn't resist as Puri is famous among motorcycle enthusiasts from the South of India thanks to movie-star Dulquer Salman and his movie Neelakasham Pachakadal Chuvanna Bhoomi (English: Blue Sky, Green Sea, Red Earth), a must watch if you ask me!

• The longest covered in a day, was tiresome but we had to bite the Bullet before it bit us!

• First time experiencing the expressway!

• This is the highest ever recorded on the CT100B, the speedo indicated a figure between 115~120 kmph and the funny thing being that these were normal cruising speeds, guess this is why seasoned motorcyclists always jump at the road less traveled.

• Finally the CT100B in all her glory along with the Bullet 500 and our India Gate, New Delhi.

• Off all the milestones, this ones our favorite! DEOGARH FTW!

• A dream project indeed! Can't wait to try out the other two major networks on the CT100B!

• This one was snapped at under 200 km's to home, hope to ride the CT100B farther next time, breaking more boundaries along the way!

• The motorcycle has covered around 20,000 km's on her first birthday and I believe that this is definitely going to be the motorcycle I get to ride till the odometer resets to '0', Fingers crossed!

[ashwinprakas]

Have done a 600 km's round trip to Meghamalai during the weekend;

Bajaj CT100B: 600 km’s ride to Meghamalai and beyond!


While riding through some of the bad patches I realized that during downshifting before entering corners the rear was breaking traction a lot, the suspension settings were at the softest position and hence I decided to stiffen them to see if there'd be any improvements, tried the usual C spanner but that kept slipping which got me to try a lot of other crude methods involving a hammer and a screw driver but the attempts turned fruitless, so I had to get myself a pipe wrench to get the job done.





They look pretty scratched up as a result of my antics, but nonetheless I was able to set them to the stiffest position available, will ride around a bit and update if there are any noticeable differences.

[Red Liner]

Sometimes I get the feeling a Hero Impulse should have been the bike for you.

Why didn't you get one instead of this? Are you looking forward to the Xpulse?

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by ashwinprakas

13 days, 14 states, 7600 km's.

Completed the Golden Quadrilateral circuit on my CT100B.

The motorcycle performed brilliantly and saying that would be an understatement as she was pinned at WOT for 99% of the time

Absolutely amazing Ashwin! Missed this thread updates but read at one go! Beautifully written and I'm amazed by the way you have been treating your CT100B.

Indeed goes on to prove that - Its not about the ride, but the rider.

[ashwinprakas]

Originally Posted by Red Liner

Sometimes I get the feeling a Hero Impulse should have been the bike for you.

Why didn't you get one instead of this? Are you looking forward to the Xpulse?

Well.... Let me open up my thought process:

Things the Impulse is better at than the CT100B;

1. Suspension Travel.
2. Ground Clearance.
3. Ergonomics.

Things the CT100B is better at than the Impulse;

1. Spectacular Gas Mileage!
2. Short Gearing.
3. Round Slide Carburetor.
4. Round Headlight.
5. Minimal Body Panels.
6. No TPS.
7. No SAI.
8. No Self Starter.
9. AC CDI.
10. Better Spare Quality and Availability.

From where I look at it, the CT100B is better at being an adventure motorcycle than the Impulse simply because I find it more robust not mention that it is cheaper to run and own both in the short term as well as long term, ex-ZMA owner here.

The Xpulse is just blah! They just had to do a mix and match to come up with something that would impress the ignorant consumer, as if FI wasn't a turn off they had to go the extra mile and make sure that the fuel pump sits exposed.

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Absolutely amazing Ashwin! Missed this thread updates but read at one go! Beautifully written and I'm amazed by the way you have been treating your CT100B.

Indeed goes on to prove that - Its not about the ride, but the rider.

Thank you for the kind words.

As the saying goes "Dance like nobody's watching!"

[Red Liner]

Interesting. Do you know Deelip Menezes? Have a look at where he has been taking his hero impulse.

Not taking anything away from your bike. Its great for what you put it through.

I think the impulse also offers a bit more panache.

[ashwinprakas]

Originally Posted by Red Liner

Interesting. Do you know Deelip Menezes? Have a look at where he has been taking his hero impulse.

Not taking anything away from your bike. Its great for what you put it through.

I think the impulse also offers a bit more panache.

Indeed I do, though I'm not much of a fan. I find it commendable that he has taken his Impulse up east, and that really goes to show the kinda stuff that the Impulse is made up of. I can't find any solid reason why the motorcycle should be working as it is after running on a free flow filter in such extreme conditions. Taking into consideration the lack of oxygen up there I still find it counter productive to modify the intake/exhaust on a motorcycle intended for adventure riding.

Leaving that aside, though Dileep rides an Impulse he is on the polar end of the spectrum from enthusiasts like Narendra Kumar Gautam and Dr. Kaustubha Ray. I have more respect for the latter, which I believe is evident from my choice of motorcycle. I can relate with their logic when it comes to long distance travels which goes something like this, "if it can break, it will break, and when it breaks you will have to fix it yourself". Not to belittle riders like Dileep or Sundeep Gajjar by any means, it is just that I find it hard to connect with their style of motorcycling. I guess its true about what they say about motorcyclists that like motorcycles they come in all shapes and sizes.

Nonetheless, the Impulse is still a good beginners motorcycle, just not my cup of tea, same reason why I choose to tour on the CT100B over the P220, on the latter things can get boring pretty soon and having to spend twice the moolah for half the experience doesn't work well with my logic.

[ashwinprakas]

While riding with a pillion, my pillion noticed that the motorcycles acceleration was wavery which was something I missed to notice until notified.

So decided to change the spark plug as it has done around 10k km's in the previous 2 months.

The one on the LEFT is a brand new plug for comparison.



My observations are that the wear and tear on both electrodes are prominent , so is the gap, which due to my poor photography skills is not as clear in the photo as seen in person.

[ashwinprakas]

Replaced my stock puny horn with a Roots Smartone, the cost is Rs.260/- and the rated output is 108 dB(A) at 370 Hz, power consumption is 3.0A, which is 1.0A more than the stock horn.