[sammyboy]

Snehal, I have had the privilege to ride with you on some of my most memorable rides. I have seen how your eyes light up at the mention of each long ride and the way you have taken feedback and improved after every ride.

This phase is temporary and with the passion you have for riding, is going to be very brief as well Maybe you are right, you have probably outgrown what Baron can do for you or you have evolved into a rider whose style of riding requires a different kind of bike now.

Keep riding and keep posting brother, we look forward to reading your biking experiences.

[Snehal Sekhar]

Originally Posted by sammyboy

Snehal, I have had the privilege to ride with you on some of my most memorable rides.
Keep riding and keep posting brother, we look forward to reading your biking experiences.

Thanks Sammy! We've been on some great rides and I loved every one of them. Anyway, the break may do me some good. It'll give me time to spend the weekends with my family who otherwise keep complaining that I spend more time with the Baron than with them.

I sure won't let this 'feeling' get the better of me and will be on the saddle riding on new roads and to new places in a couple of weeks.

BTW how's your new pocket rocket doing? You must be having a blast on that and doing things you would've never dreamt of doing on the kwacker.

[sammyboy]

Originally Posted by Snehal Sekhar

Thanks Sammy! We've been on some great rides and I loved every one of them. Anyway, the break may do me some good. It'll give me time to spend the weekends with my family who otherwise keep complaining that I spend more time with the Baron than with them.

I sure won't let this 'feeling' get the better of me and will be on the saddle riding on new roads and to new places in a couple of weeks.

BTW how's your new pocket rocket doing? You must be having a blast on that and doing things you would've never dreamt of doing on the kwacker.

haha that is true, the lil princess and her highness do need your time too
The Duke is doing great, was out of town for a bit but started running it in from last weekend.
Initial feedback is posted here : http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/motorb...ml#post4267074

Am quite enjoying it, and I am really liking this type of bike as well. Faired was great but these Naked bikes are something else

[Snehal Sekhar]

Got my replacement gloves from Spartan today. The entire process of the return and delivery of the replacement gloves was very smooth. They have a super efficient customer support team and every query that I emailed them regarding the return of the gloves and the replacement was answered within minutes. Very impressed on how customer centric they are.

The original invoice, which has to be sent back to them along with the item to replace, has an option on selecting the item being returned and also options to chose from other models if the same model was not available in the requested size. I selected a perforated semi gauntlet glove and a full gauntlet glove as my other options. Luckily for me, I got the XL size of the same model that I purchased earlier and they fit perfectly.

Now this gives me an excuse to ride. Will have to do a 'testing the gloves ride'.

[Snehal Sekhar]

The Baron and I went on a small spin yesterday. It must’ve been more than 3 months that the Baron and I went out on a proper ride. Mashblue, another TBhpian, messaged me on Friday asking if I was game for a ride and I promptly responded in the affirmative.

We were to meet at the Nelamangala – Hassan road junction at 6 AM on Sunday. I woke up at 4:30 AM on Sunday and after a quick shower left home at 5 AM and was greeted by an insistent drizzle as soon as I hit NICE Road. Even though I didn’t wear any rain gear, my riding jacket and pants did a good job of keeping water out. Visibility was bad though and I had to keep my helmet visor open to get a better view of the road ahead. It stopped raining though by the time I reached the NICE Road – Tumkur Road Exit.

Met up with Mashblue at the Nelmangala junction and from there the both of us headed out to Shark Food Court in Kannasandra to feast on soft as cotton Thatte Idlies. Breakfast done with, we turned back and took the right at Annapoorneshwari bakery and rode on to Magadi. From Magadi, we took uncharted village roads towards Bidadi and from there we took the road to Kanakapura.

The total distance covered was 200 kms and I was back home by 10:30 AM.

A few pics from this ride.







With this, it looks like I’ve kicked out my riding blues.

[Snehal Sekhar]

The 3rd week of November I wanted to do a SE Coastal ride. The route I've planned is as follows.



Day 1 - Bangalore to Puducherry - 319 Kms
Day 2 - Puducherry to Rameswaram - 413 Kms
Day 3 - Rameswaram to Kanyakumari - 318 Kms
Day 4 - Kanyakumari to Bangalore - 665 Kms

Needed advise on the route condition from Puducherry to Rameswaram via Velankani and from Rameswaram to Kanyakumari via Thoothukudi and Tiruchendur.

It's going to be a hit and run ride with not much time to spend at any of these places, but this is the best I could come up with based on my leaves.

[Snehal Sekhar]

A couple of months ago I had bought the Bolt Mobile Charger. I never got this fixed on the Baron all these months though. Since I am not a DIY person, I was looking to take it to a local mechanic or to another Tbhpian’s place to get this fixed. Procrastination got the better of me and the thing was lying at home for close to 6 months.

The Bolt charger comes with a battery connector and base unit that has to be attached to the handle, a main charging unit and zip ties. The charger can be unplugged when the phone is not kept for charging that way not causing any battery drain.

The box that the Bolt came packed in and the parts in the box:


The Bolt Mobile charger I got was custom made for me by Bolt. The original charger comes with a regular positive and negative terminal to connect to the battery. Since I have a battery tender connector fixed to the battery, I needed a similar set up that would fit directly to the battery tender instead of connecting directly to the battery. I called the customer service people at Bolt and sent them the details and picture of what I was looking for through WhatsApp. They obliged and got this ready and shipped within 15 days. The end result is this.

Original Connector that comes with the unit


The connector that I requested Bolt to fix


Since I have my SE coastal ride coming up this week, I got the Baron a regular check-up at Tusker Harley. Since a DIY option was ruled out, I took along the Bolt charger with me in the hope that Tusker would fix it on the Baron. I wanted the connecting wires to be routed from below the tank and seat and to do that, the seat and tank had to be removed. Surprisingly the service advisor didn’t say no to installing a Non-Harley after-market part. He made me sign a liability form though. This is how the end result looks.



The Base Unit


The main charger that can be unplugged


The wire that's currently connected to my battery


The Bolt battery connector






The Bolt connector neatly tucked in



All hidden when the side cover is put on


The cost incurred in getting this fixed and a regular check-up was Rs.6,182.00 and this is the break-up.

Taillight Assembly – Rs.2,064.06
General Maintenance – Rs.2,280.00
P&A Part Repair – Rs.720.00
SGST 14% - Rs.288.97
CGST 14% - Rs.288.97
LB-SGST 9% - Rs.270.00
LB-CGST 9% - Rs.270.00

Even though the charging unit can be unplugged as and when required and as per Bolt, unless the phone is connected to the charger, there is no battery drain, the set up I have done ensures that I can remove both the charging unit and disconnect the battery connector when my phone is not on charge. This way I can be sure that the battery does not drain under any circumstance. Next is to do some real world tests on my upcoming ride.

I was also looking for a RSA for the Baron. Apart from city centric motorcycle RSAs, I was not able to find any Pan-India RSA programs. The only option left for me was to renew my HOG membership since that also comes with a PAN-India RSA. Got my membership renewed after paying Rs.7,000.00 for a year. Renewing my membership also got me a T-shirt, jacket pin, medallion, jacket patch and a car windshield sticker. Now I can ride in the hope that if anything does go wrong with the Baron during my rides, the RSA will bail me out from a tight spot.

The goodies I got with my membership renewal.


My current set of tyres, MRF Zapper, still has another 8-10,000 kms of life on it, but I was just checking with the service advisor on the cost of the Michelin Scorcher tyres for the Baron and as per the service advisor a pair of tyres would make me poorer by 36K. That is way beyond my budget. I checked online on the Michelin India website and the ‘Buy Now” link takes me to the ‘Trails of India’ website. The price per this site for the front tyre, size 100/80 – R17, is Rs.8,220.00 and the rear tyre, 140/75 – R15, is Rs.17,105.00. This is about 10K cheaper than what Tusker quoted, not including the installation charges of course. I still haven’t looked at other models or brands of tyres since I have a long way to go before I change them, but this is one of the options I have considered.

[Snehal Sekhar]

My SE Coastal Ride that turned out to a 1,300 kms Blr-Kanyakumari-Blr Ride

A long SE Coastal Ride was what I had in mind when I planned for my ride starting on the 23rd and returning on the 26th. The rooms at Kanyakumari, Rameswaram and Pondicherry had already been booked. The Baron was serviced and ready to roll and I was waiting for D Day to arrive.


On the 22nd night, my little princess requested that I cancel the entire ride and spend those 4 days with her. Explained to her that it wouldn’t be possible, but if needed I could cancel going to Pondicherry and return home on Saturday, so I would get the entire Sunday to spend with her. The idea was agreed upon and I cancelled my accommodation in Pondy.


My plan was to leave by 4 AM on the 23rd, so I could reach Kanyakumari by noon and spend the evening catching the sights and sounds of the place. The alarm set off at 3, but I shut it down and went back to sleep and only woke up at 4:45. After a quick shower and a pooja, I left home by 5:30 AM. Several fuel and ‘resting my aching butt’ stops later, I managed to reach Kanyakumari by 4 PM.


I had booked my room at Hotel Ocean Heritage in Kanyakumari and when I made the reservation, I was very particular that whichever hotel I would be staying in, had to have private parking. Hotel Ocean Heritage had no private parking and they asked me to park the Baron on the street. Spoke to the security and the front desk staff and they were kind enough to provide me parking in a gated taxi parking lot adjoining their property.


After a quick freshening up, walked down to the beach to catch a glimpse of the setting sun, but as luck would have it the cloudy overcast sky played spoilsport and I didn’t catch a glimpse of the setting sun. I ended up walking aimlessly around the place and decided to call it a day at 8 PM. Since I missed the setting sun, I thought I could catch a glimpse the rising sun at 6:10 AM (as per the front desk staff). As usual, I didn’t wake up in time. Woke up only by 8 AM and after lazing around and feeling homesick, decided to call it quits and ride back to Bangalore that day. Called home and spoke to my little princess and she was delighted to hear that I would be coming back that evening. I managed to leave the hotel only by 11 AM and by the time I reached Salem, it was almost 6:30 PM. Not one for night riding, I ended up staying in Salem at Hotel Sivaraj Holiday Inn that’s just off the Salem-Bangalore highway.


Next morning, left the hotel only by 11 AM and reached home by 2 PM.


The Baron was a dream to ride on as usual and did not disappoint me one bit. The love for the Baron has now been revived. Though I may not go for any overnighters, as per strict instructions from my daughter, day long rides have been given a definite go ahead.


A few pics that I took and blame the poor resolution on my mobile camera for the pictures taken at dusk:

[Red Liner]

Lovely ride baron. Why doesn't your daughter accompany you on such rides? I am sure the bike is very comfy for a pillion and you could add a nice back rest and plonk saddle bags. Would be fantastic time to bond for a father-daughter duo.

I am sure you already considered this, but just wanted to put this out. Maybe she is too young.

I have been keen on taking my brother along for such rides, just need to get him a helmet pronto.

[Snehal Sekhar]

Originally Posted by Red Liner

Lovely ride baron. Why doesn't your daughter accompany you on such rides? Maybe she is too young.

Thanks mate! The Baron is a lovely ride indeed.

Oh! I have seriously given it a thought to install a sissy guard and cruise with my daughter on the trips I go, but she is just going to be 8. Eventhough both of us love the idea and she can't wait to ride with me, I keep putting it off. Don't trust her capability to stay awake on the saddle for so long. Will wait it out another couple of years before I venture out taking her pillion on the Baron.

In the meanwhile, to satisfy her need to travel pillion with me, I take her on my Gixxer 155, a.k.a Red Sonja, when I run household errands on the weekends.

[mobike008]

Snehal : I have been following your thread for a while and truly enjoy your spirit for solo riding. I can never do solo long distance riding (my mental breaking point limit is 200kms) as I need at-least one rider for company

Do you make a conscious effort to do these rides solo? And, also do you face any issues with brakes?

Btw, as you may have noted I'm not a fan of Harley motorcycles and the brand itself but, 750 is only bike which I loved riding and is a lovely smooth motorcycle

Keep riding and will continue to look forward to your updates on this thread

[Red Liner]

Originally Posted by Snehal Sekhar

Thanks mate! The Baron is a lovely ride indeed.

Oh! I have seriously given it a thought to install a sissy guard and cruise with my daughter on the trips I go, but she is just going to be 8. Eventhough both of us love the idea and she can't wait to ride with me, I keep putting it off. Don't trust her capability to stay awake on the saddle for so long. Will wait it out another couple of years before I venture out taking her pillion on the Baron.

In the meanwhile, to satisfy her need to travel pillion with me, I take her on my Gixxer 155, a.k.a Red Sonja, when I run household errands on the weekends.

I understand. 8 might be a little too small for overnighters. Do try breakfast rides which wont be more than a few hours. A ride to shoolagiri McDonald's should perk any 8 year old up.

I would recommend getting a twin helmet intercom system either from AliExpress or you want to go branded, theres sena. You can keep talking to her through the intercom all through the ride to keep her up and awake. Plenty of stops also help with lots of hydration.

However, you are dad, and you know best

[Snehal Sekhar]

Originally Posted by mobike008

Snehal : I have been following your thread for a while and truly enjoy your spirit for solo riding.
Do you make a conscious effort to do these rides solo? And, also do you face any issues with brakes?

Thanks mate! The only reason I ride solo is the freedom I get in going at my own pace and stopping as and when I please. It also gives my mind the time to relax and enjoy the ride without constantly having to think about other riders who are in the group. In a group ride, I feel I have to abide by the rules of the group and that limits my freedom of doing my own thing. Though the fear of something going wrong always plays at the back of my mind when I ride solo, there’s a certain thrill associated that gives me a high.

I haven't faced any major issues about the brakes. Yes, they lack bite but nothing major so far that I feel that they need to be changed pronto. It could be because of the kinda riding that I do. I am a very sedate rider and try not to throttle or brake hard. I plan my moves much in advance and keep a constant lookout for any slight signs of trouble.

Originally Posted by Red Liner

I understand. 8 might be a little too small for overnighters. Do try breakfast rides which wont be more than a few hours. A ride to shoolagiri McDonald's should perk any 8 year old up.

That seems like a great idea. Should take her one of these weekends on a short breakfast ride to Shoolagiri. It's just 40kms from where I stay and that could be a nice introduction ride for her on the Baron. Thanks mate!

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by Snehal Sekhar

That seems like a great idea. Should take her one of these weekends on a short breakfast ride to Shoolagiri. It's just 40kms from where I stay and that could be a nice introduction ride for her on the Baron. Thanks mate!

You might want to consider getting a pillion backrest though! Or a strap to hold the child to yourself - many such models are available online.

[Snehal Sekhar]

Yes! A pillion back rest is what I have in mind and never taking anyone pillion without that. Thinking of getting an OEM Harley backrest since I've heard of stories where buying cheaper alternatives online have led to them breaking off and the pillion falling down. Not worth risking it.