[ebonho]

Originally Posted by AC_genius

I just realized that the key to world peace is HOGs. Make Obama and Putin join this community and without doubt you will see more ICBM. Not the missiles fellows..Inter Continental Biker Meets! World peace coming to a showroom near you for 4.1L ex showroom.

Peace rules. Ride safe.

[carrazy]

Originally Posted by AC_genius

[b]
Rode through Gurgaon and finally made a stop at the Harley Showroom near Hero Honda Chowk. Blissful ride and I am all smiles for my beast.

Good times. Anyways, can you please let us know where exactly this NEW showroom is in Gurgaon. I haven't heard about this showroom till date. Has it officially been opened? Where exactly near Hero Honda Chowk?
Thanks. Keep riding. Cheers.

[ankitwanchoo]

Originally Posted by carrazy

I haven't heard about this showroom till date. Has it officially been opened? Where exactly near Hero Honda Chowk?
Thanks. Keep riding. Cheers.

On the NH8 towards Jaipur, take exit 11 and then the second right turn, the showroom/ workshop would fall on your right 200mtr down the road and yes it is open.

[Turbanator]

Some jaw dropping rides to stare at. This is biker nirvana.

are these only for display or for sales as well , few looks similar to the one they displayed in Auto Expo .

[vulcanize]

I almost traded in my R6 and bought one of these beauties last week, but thankfully, better sense prevailed. There was an open house and gathering at Gengra's and the black one was indeed very beautiful.

https://www.facebook.com/GengrasHarleyDavidson

Harley will be my mid-life crisis twenty years from now

[AC_genius]

Flirting with Triumph

Ok, here comes an honest confession. I have transgressed, gone to the other camp and been less than faithful with my partner. Practically, it took me to the party and I just got carried away. Now I know why affairs happen!

Now don't get judgmental on me. If it looks that hot and sounds that amazing I can bet my bottom dollar no one can keep their emotions under control. Before you let your imagination go wild and I am on the receiving end of some moderator censorship, allow me to clarify that I affectionately refer to a beautiful, smooth, curvaceous... DAYTONA 675

Triumph finally started giving test rides in Delhi. I just had to be there and the beautiful weather beckons a neat ride on my beast. By the way, they are still in process of opening of their showroom so currently run from the Mini Showroom in Vasant Kunj. The beauties were lined up and I was drooling. I can tell as I found drool marks on my riding jacket later

Post the basic documentation we were off. Now they had all the models but my eyes were set on the Daytona 675 and the street triple. Started with the 675, and boy it is something! The seating is high and initially I felt I would topple over the handlebar as soon as it hit the first road bump. Then I realized I was riding a superbike like a cruiser. Ah, stance adjusted and it totally came around. 128 BHP with the 675's pronounced induction whizz and an exhaust sound forged in the deepest recesses of hell. Oh boy that was something. Have not felt this accelerations since my UK superbike days. Touched amazing speeds and it handled like a dream running through traffic. Reminded me of Trinity and the Keymaker in the Matrix series on the black Ducati.







Jumped over to the Street Triple next and gave up in 500 mts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Once you have had the taste of the Daytona the other models don't add up.

2 scents of practicality - You can get a quick one on the Daytona but you have to have a back of steel and exactly same for your nerves to live with this every day. I am certain too much of adrenaline everyday can't be good for the heart!

My one true love continues to be my IRON 883. The benefit of true love, it never complains when you stare at that hottie in the mall a tiny winy bit longer than the passing glance as long as you know your limits and come back home. Thank God I am blessed in that department with both my wife and my ride. AMEN.

[ankitwanchoo]

@AC_Genius: Like the way you write and was nice riding with you today. Look forward to more riding!

[AC_genius]

Originally Posted by ankitwanchoo

@AC_Genius: Like the way you write and was nice riding with you today. Look forward to more riding!

Hey Ankit, it was an absolute pleasure riding with you yesterday. The ride to alwar and the breakfast was grand. Need to do more long rides...Till next time.

[AC_genius]

A Twin Rajasthani Twist

Hello folks, I have been travelling as usual so missed posting my last ride. So double the fun now - Round 1 : Alwar and Round 2: Neemrana.

Delhi has been a virtual oven the last couple of weeks. You can't step out during the day without losing a pound of water in sweat in addition to the wonderful albeit unwanted two shades darker tan. Beat that Fair & Lovely Men!! Not the best weather for the biker and not to mention the sauna like heat from than charming motor between you feet. This is what separates the true biker from the average rider.

Glad to say I survived not one but two outings to the beautiful neighboring state of Rasjasthan. Both rides have been with HOGS to Alwar (150+ KM) and then Neemrana (100 KM).

ALWAR

Alwar is a beautiful city located around 160 km south of Delhi, and about 150 km north of Jaipur. As always started early at 5:30 am and had a good gathering of riders. Some local clubs joined the bigger HOG event. Motorheads is a prominent club that joined the ride making some 100 odd bikers in the group.


Proud owner...


A quick stop on the way


Destination in Alwar. Always miss photos of the actual riding but safety first. Thinking of getting the riding video camera. Ankit - Wonderful catching up with you on the ride.



The way back was sweltering hot so had to make a couple of pit stops. Also had the misfortune of experiencing an idiot truck driver cutting me off at 90 km/hr. Managed some hard braking along with some classic satanic cuss words. Anyways the bike was supremely planted but it did call for a good ABS system. Memory Note - Ask the Harley Santa for an ABS on the Sportsters.

Good ride and a good sleep made up the day

Neemrana

Allow me to indulge is a completely useless banter. If you know someone who is perpetually getting late and running behind on everything, I have a perfect solution for them. Buy them a Harley and get them into HOGS. The Sunday morning regime is so ingrained that irrespective of when I sleep, I wake up at 4 am without an alarm
If that fervor can be imbibed in people the world would become 200% more effective overnight. HR people - Food for thought.


At the showroom for the ride assembly. Started an hour earlier to beat the heat.


Finally the 750's deliveries have started. The group today had at least 4 - 5 new bikers. I am still not convinced on the road presence but heck who am I to judge if the guy riding is enjoying himself. The screamin eagle exhaust is a must on that.


An amber whisky belonging to a friend. Complete stage 1 done!


The traffic near neemrana was terrible. Had to stop for half an hour at a road side dhaba due to an accident on the road.


Neat ride and breakfast on the house at a hotel belonging to a fellow HOG. Fuel stop and a pretty much non stop 100 km served with a 100 smiles and total satisfaction served beast style.

Parting thought - Riding a HD is like going to a SPA. It gives you a vibrating massage with an engaging V-twin rumble to drown your stress. In most cases you also get a complementary mud face pack. Have fun

[AC_genius]

Laziness thy name AC_genius

Hello people of this awesome forum again. Guess the title makes up for a part confession and part apology for not been as active as I had planned for myself. While I have been religious on the weekend ride ( and the concessional weekday outing!) with the beast, it has been a completely different affair with respect to putting it down on paper. As always, I have a self justification ready...Year End Appraisals. Ok, who am I kidding no serious biker will take that seriously!

Right, so where do we start. Well I will do a 3 in one here.

Ride 1 : Midnight sojourn to India gate
Now all the party animals in town seem to be heading for that neat disco or that amazing microbrewery but I'll be damned if I had thought India gate is the party Capital(Literally). Now fun maybe closer to home than you suspect. It was more of an improvisation to beat to summer heat when our gang decided to do a later ride Delhi ride. Started at 10:30 and reached India gate at about 11ish. Couldn't imagine the tsunami of folks that thronged India gate at this late hour. Some of you hardcore delhietes maybe asking where do I come from not to know this and the quick answer to that is "married man with a school going kid"

Real awesome environment and we ended up doing rounds of the phenomenal "Chuski". Be there and do that. The swarm of people paid more than a fair share of attention to us inquiring everything include "Kitna mileage deti hai?" - No true blooded Indian is every satisfied with a vehicle without having the answer to that specific question.




Ride 2 : DLF Crest Launch party
Ok, you will never find a mention to such parties in an true biker blog but I owe it to the world... This ride was a vindication of that very fact. I have never seen a bigger conglomerate of bikers come together for any one ride. It really was a "I will get lost here" kind of a turnout. DLF was doing a marketing event of their top end properties in Gurgaon for the Capital Chapter. MBA Gyaan - Neat customer segmentation : Have a right place, good food served by rather pleasing staff and you can expect to make a neat profit. A thought I should probably take to my boss (hey...its year end for me as well )




Awesome lid...can't beat this man.


Check that paint job. Super mega Awesome

The night was hosted by Joe from the Master Chef India fame. All in all a good
rreturn for the evening ride to Faridabad Twisties and a good evening.

Ride 3 : Murthal here I come
If are happen to be in the North of India and don't know where Murthal is, then you seriously need to get a life! PS to the moderator - Excuse my excess which is intended for fun. Murthal is on NH1 when you are headed from Delhi to Chandigarh and really famous for Dhabas and a popular weekend get away from Delhi.

One of those days when all your buddies ditch you. I decided to go solo and while tanking up met some of my old friends for the Motor heads group ( Mentioned in my previous threads - Good chaps with really awesome formation riding). Decided to tag along to Murthal. Got a good brief on safe formation riding and I was completely sold given I had the misfortune of riding a couple of times with a few hyper aggressive, road rage inspired, borderline maniac, overtaking champions. Trust you get my drift. Specially in group riding, make sure you know who you ride with and have a good grasp of their skills. It take one junkie to put the entire group in a tough spot.

Brilliant breakfast on aloo paranthas and way back through Delhi lal Quila via some breath taking routes. Bliss is spelt as H-A-R-L-E-Y!




And once again, the closing lines, filled with the wisdom of ages passed on from one biker to another -
1. It is hot to look and smell like a tramp post your gruesome rides
2. Compression ratios and octane value of fuel is a perfectly acceptable social conversation
3. Investing in sensible protection ( E.g. Helmet, jackets, knee guard or anything else the situation may call for) has better RoI compared to any stocks, bonds or real estate imaginable
4. last but not the least - A day lived happy is worth more than a hundred days of miserable survival.

Go out and LIVE!!

Note from Mod : There is a strict intolerance of discussion/mentioning of alcohol on the forum. Please read the rules of the forum again before proceeding further. Repeat will attract an infraction.

[tjacob]

ha! that Helmet, bad-ass SFX design. I can only imagine the look on people's faces when they see it next to them in traffic.

Correct me if I'm wrong but is that a Shark Raw Helmet next to it ?

[AC_genius]

Originally Posted by tjacob

ha! that Helmet, bad-ass SFX design. I can only imagine the look on people's faces when they see it next to them in traffic.

Correct me if I'm wrong but is that a Shark Raw Helmet next to it ?

Right on that. I believe that this is the European version that is slightly more compact if I recall the discussion with its owner.

[AC_genius]

Way to inner peace - 800 km to Pushkar and back

Hello chaps, I am back!! Riding never stopped but it was not inspiring enough for me to start writing again. Most of it was around town a couple of hours getaways but nothing to stir the soul.

Let me start with sharing some words of wisdom on work life balance (I was on a receiving end of this for complaining about too much work!) - Assuming your life is 80 years and you retire at 60 then effectively you live and enjoy life after 60 and perhaps the start till you are 20 years. This knocks off 40 years and the 40 years in the middle you only slog and work. WORK - LIFE Balanced

Now with the "Genius" in my name I figured I can do better. I followed my doctors words - To live longer you need plenty of fresh air, exercise and meditation. Therefore off i went to Pushkar with the 3rd Northern Hog rally. ...and already I feel like I have extended my life by a couple of months Allow me to explain - Ride over 800 Km @ 80km/hr average in 2 days and you will have more fresh air in your face than months on the jogging track. Also 18 hours of V-twin humm under you will blow the biggest stresses in life away effectively increasing your years. Married men please take note and buy a Harley!

Now the HOG rally was from November 7th to 9th in Pushkar which is a religious town in Rajasthan some 30 odd km ahead of Ajmer. The event was organized by the Dune Chapter of HD. Like any other national HD event it has participation from all regional chapters and people drive insane distances for the fun and party. This time, I chose to buzz off work and live life.

I struggled with the same old insomnia of losing sleep before an exciting road trip i had as a child. I suspect I am on the same list of men who never really grow up...Its good to feel childlike. Sharp assembly at 6:30am in Gurgaon showroom and flag off at 7:30 with the throaty roar of over 60+ bikers in group.




Now I suspect the excitement got to people as for the initial part we were like school kids let loose. People were going all over at every speed imaginable but thankfully the Marshals kicked in and organized. People got themselves in groups and speed they were comfortable in. The road to Jaipur was being constructed in patches with some serious biker hazards including steps and channels on the road from the top layer being removed for repairs.

We stopped for breakfast after around 150 km at a Highway king hotel. The people there were seriously fascinated with sheer number of bikers and swanky riding gear. A barrage of typical questions - kitne ki hai, kitna deti hai and aapki light on hai and we were off. Just to make a note - A friend was taking a car along so we were spared from carrying our luggage. But if you do carry stuff on bike make sure it is secured. A fellow HOG almost lost his luggage on the highway.

Awesome sights ahead as Rajasthan welcomes us.



It was strangely comfortable doing 250+ km on the Iron despite the distance till Ajmer. While waiting for our gang, we gave into that the very human vice of updating everything on Facebook and furiously liking each others posts.



The rest of the road was bliss except for a drunk driver who nearly got me off-road from his idiotic driving near Pushkar. This town has the only Brahma Temple in the world and is one of the sacred places in Rajasthan. Also it is famed from the great Pushkar Mela which is the largest market for horses and camels. We were lucky to reach a day after the mela so were spared the world that throngs down to this little town. The destination was a camping site on the outskirts of Pushkar. The road was decent but we had to struggle with the small town traffic over the last mile finally reaching the site.





I was taken back with the sheer excitement. There were people who had ridden over 800 km to reach there and were so charged up like they had slept through the journey. There was also some superbikers who had come down from Surat. I was wondering how their backs were treating them given the distance and stance.





This is called power recharge. I thought I could run a marathon then.

We stayed offsite as we were only there for 1 night so after checking in came back to the venue for the main function. Serious stuff but thoroughly enjoyable.





Eat, drink and be merry ruled the evening. A scintillating rock show, tug-of-war and arm wrestling. Men will be men It was a giant tsunami of biker regalia, excitement and party. The place gave a very authentic desert experience with the sand that got everywhere. I suspect we landed back to our hotel around 2am after getting lost in a myriad of back road and village paths from the venue to our hotel.


Late to bed and early to rise makes you a damn good biker - We were up and about by 7am. After a healthy breakfast, we gathered our bikes and took off for the way back.



Exhilarating ride except for the traffic near Gurgaon. We struggled with some fuel pumps in Rajasthan but a hugely rewarding ride. 2 days later with a NHR patch and a mildly sore back, this proud biker reach home to a comfortable bed and a warm hug from the better half and kiddo.

BE A BIKER and LIFE IS BETTER. Cheers!!

[AC_genius]

Thundering Down Mountains - TLL Style

Ok folks, first things first...There is a new talk in town of a biker group that is thundering loud and righteously so from the exhaust note of their machines to the rather crass and hitting humor that laces their friendly banter. Ahem, I present to you "Thundering Loud Lads" or TLL as we call ourselves.

Now big names call for big challenges so we decided to go conquer the mountains and in comes our trip to the very special and picturesque Dharampur. The Easter holiday presents an apt opportunity and off we head to the hills. The maiden ride and twisties beckon.

All decked and checked, the rain gods decide to throw in a spanner. The 5 am start from Gurgaon was greeted with a most insane thunderstorm and the biggest rain drops I have seen in my life. 500 meters out we were drenched to every conceivable nook and corner of the human anatomy This is where men are separated from the boys...and men we were!! Off through NH8 to the first assembly at Dhaula Kuan. A quick stop to drain our boots ( You'll be surprised of how much rain water an average boot can hold) and off to the ride. The weather opened up finally by the time we got out of Delhi. Trust we made our point to the rain gods.

Our 6 bikes + better halves + 1 little one finally made way to Zhilmil Dhaba. Some pictures were in order. The accompanying car ensured our treasures were taken care of.



My 3 year old has already stated his claim on the bike and helmet. I practically had to wrestle it back :-) Biking is in the blood after all.

The ride went on through Ambala, onto Zirakhpur and off on the himalyan express way. Beautiful road designed with bikers in mind. Reminded me of my college days where the occasional college bunks resulted in uphill drives. A quick break after Timber trail gave a welcome respite and an opportunity to soak in the sights.

The route through the hills was breathtaking. The beast was completely in the zone. The Harleys' song along with the mammoth Rocket 3 (1st in India) rumbled through the valleys. Nothing like a ride through the twisting roads to give you a high. Soon we were at the hotel - Victoria Continental Inn. Awesome place and one of the best this part of India can offer.



A quick bath and a good company of friends all the way through to the dawn. What more can a guy ask for!

The next day started with a sumptuous breakfast and with some fuel up for our bikes off we went to Chail. The roads we phenomenal and the Harley was a total joy. I wish I could stay here forever.

Stopped at a road side joint to regroup and chill.



Unfortunately, the bridge at Sadhupul had collapsed and the alternate route was a dangerously steep rough patch. Nonetheless the gang persisted and we reached the water's edge. This is an awesome place where the road side eating joints put up tables inside the river bed. It was abuzz with the sheer number of people who had thronged here.

The rain gods played spoil sport here so we had to park and take refuge in a little hut serving food. Maggi and pakoras made for some fine relish in the rain. My kiddo decided to get into the biker spirit again.

As soon as it subsided a couple of hours later we decided to return back. The TLLs we tested again...rain rain decided not to go away that day. Nothing to challenge your limits more than insane weather, limited visibility and soaking wet clothes. The cold was giving numb fingers and chattering teeth. Finally landed back to the hotel. Noting like a warm shower to get your blood flowing.

The return was early next day. Beautiful sunny weather to compensate for the hell ride of the day before.





The gang caught attention wherever we stopped. The typical "kitne ki hai" to "Does this run of petrol" questions never subsided. One of my friends ride unfortunately developed a clutch problem. I suspect the uphill climb at half clutch did him in. We pushed onwards to Delhi. Quick stops at Savoy Greens and then near Delhi border.

This Rocket 3 is an amazing machine worth every scent. It looks like God's stead and sounds like a real rocket blasting off. It's amazing 2300cc engine has manic pull.

The clutch problem finally got the better of the bike but hopefully we had reached the bypass by then. Got the bike loaded and shipped to HD showroom for a quick and complete recovery.

Nonetheless, a wonderful sojourn like a finely blended cocktail of friends and family, adventure, natural beauty and our wonderful machines to give us company. I'll take this life anyday.

TLL brothers rock!!

[jocreative]

Quick question, what was the top speed you felt comfortable riding your 883 before you experienced wobbling?