[Snehal Sekhar]

My solo 1200 kms 3 day scorching summer ride to Gokarn-Murudeshwar-Mangalore

When there’s an itch you have to scratch it and I had this terrible itch to ride and no amount of advising from my riding buddies or my better half would make me change my mind.

After my last overnighter in March to Chikamagalur with buddies from the forum I hadn’t ridden anywhere. The roads and my Baron were calling out to me asking why they were being ignored. This summer, the heat has been extreme but that didn’t change a thing and my ride plans started taking shape. A coastal ride was playing in my mind for a long time and Mangalore being the closest, that was the destination selected. My plan was to ride to Gokarn and then ride along the coast to Mangalore and then take the Shiradi ghat road to Bangalore.

Chatted with well travelled TBhpian Added_flavor and finalized on the route, best staying options and restaurants along the way and armed with this knowledge I started making route plans and room reservations at Gokarn (first night halt) and Mangalore (second night halt).

On Thursday morning I fueled up the Baron and filled up nitrogen in the tyres. I packed my clothes, shoes, extra bottles of water and a couple of bottles of energy drinks in my Viaterra claw tail bag and I packed along the puncture kit, air pump and camera in my Viaterra tank bag. I also filled up the Viaterra Marine with water and put the bladder in the freezer. Next morning I had a bladder rock solid with ice. I took a half day from work and returned by 9:30 PM thinking I could grab a couple of hours sleep and wake up by 2:30 AM and leave home by 3-3:30 in the morning.

I managed to sleep only by 11 PM and didn’t hear the alarm go off at 2:30. Woke up by 4 AM and after a quick bath did a small pooja seeking blessings from God to make this a good and incident free ride. Even though I was late by 1.5 hours, I was well rested for the long day of riding I had. I had an early breakfast and was all set to leave by 5 AM.

After reading Added_flavour’s trip log about the route he took to reach Gokarn (via Shimoga), I decided to take a less taxing route. When I say less taxing, I mean any route with minimal twisties and hair pin bends are the routes my Baraon and I prefer. So, the route I decided to take was Bangalore – Davangere – Haveri – Sirsi – Gokarn.

Breakfast was at Kamat Upachar at Ranebennur. After that I rode on to Haveri but overshot the turn to Sirsi by a couple of kilometers. I had to turn back and return to Haveri. At Haveri I was guided by the locals to the road to Sirsi. From Bangalore to Haveri it’s a national highway and clocking good speeds on that is easy. After you turn left to the Sirsi road, it’s a single lane road and after a couple of kilometers the road leads you to the Western Ghats. For the most part, the roads were pretty desolate until Sirsi. After Sirsi the traffic picked up but still not much though. I had to stop and ask for directions, because there were no signboards in most places.

Somewhere between Haveri and Sirsi.


Coconut water break just before Sirsi.


Reached Gokarna by 2:30 PM. I had made reservations for the night at Kudle Beach View Resort and got lost finding my way to the place. I parked the bike at a shop and kept my helmet on the seat and went to ask for directions to go to the resort. In a matter of a couple of seconds, some wise fellow decided that he wanted my helmet (with my Sena headset on it). He cooly picks up my helmet and goes to sit pillion on another waiting motorcycle.

Me: Hey Boss, that’s my helmet.
He: Is it? Oh Sorry! I thought this was my helmet.
Me: What do you mean? How can this be your helmet when it’s on my bike?

He gave me back my helmet mumbled something and sat pillion on his friend’s bike and sped away (with none of them wearing any helmet). After having got the directions to the resort (on the way to Om Beach), I managed to overshoot the right turn I was supposed to take by a couple of feet. The roads were narrow with deep ditches on either side. I wanted to take a u turn and tried doing that on the Baron. I first turned a bit, reversed and then turned a little more again. The second turn I took, led me to the end of the road and almost near the ditch and it was on a decline, I couldn’t get of the Baron, since I had no proper footing. I couldn’t reverse the bike as well since both my legs were not reaching the ground and there I was stuck in the middle of nowhere, not knowing what to do. I switched off the bike and tried putting it in gear. That wasn’t working as well. I couldn’t go front, couldn’t reverse and couldn’t get off the bike. I was in that place for close to 5-10 minutes and it seemed like eternity until a kind soul with his wife and kid on his bike passed by. I shouted for help and he parked his bike and helped me get off the Baron first. Then together, we pulled the Baron back to the road. Thanked him profusely and gave a silent prayer to God for getting me out of this mess.

Reached the resort all tired and drained. The resort has their cottages on a hill slope with a view of the Kudle Beach when you sit at their restaurant. They have well appointed rooms, but don’t serve liquor or allow you to smoke on their premises.

Checked into the room and freshened up. Since it was way past 3PM, lunch wasn’t available so I had to make do with a chicken sandwich. After my meal, went to sleep and woke up only by 7:30 in the evening. All my plans of going to Om Beach to see the setting sun went down the drain. Went to the restaurant and ordered dinner of fish rava fry and rice. The rava fried fish was salt free and masala less. It was bland. I thought this being a coastal area they would do a good job at their sea food, but I was wrong and disappointed. The food overall was bad. The only plus point was that the rooms were good and comfy. After diner I retired for the night and set the alarm for 5:00 AM next morning since I wanted to leave early and reach Mangalore before the heat got to me.

Pics of and from the resort.


Salt pans in Gokarna


Day I: 29th April, 2016

Route Taken: Bangalore – Chitradurga – Davangere – Haveri – Sirsi – Gokarn
Time Taken: 9hrs 30 mins (including one food, 3 fuel and several butt brakes)
Total Distance Covered: 550 Kms
Fuel Filled: 18.03ltrs
Cost of Room: Rs.4,119.00 (after a Rs.300.00 Cleartrip discount)

The next day the alarm rang at 5:00 AM, but I switched it off and went back to sleep. The bed was too comfortable to get out off. Got up at 6:30 and rushed myself ready. Settled my food bill at the resort and was ready to leave by 8 AM. The road from Gokarn to Kundapur is being readied to a proper 4 lane highway, so there is a lot of road work all along the way. The entire stretch is a 2 way road now, with no road dividers. It is very time consuming riding on this stretch and the slow moving lorries blocking the way make it even worse. Stopped at Murudeshwar for a quick breakfast at RNS Hotel and then rode up to the beach to take a couple of snaps.

RNS Hotel.


The thing about doing a solo ride for me is I can’t park my Baron un-attended especially when I have my luggage tied to the Baraon. All my stops are considered with one thing in mind, does the place have a safe and guarded parking? Getting off the Baron and going to the beach was a big no –no since there was no safe parking. So all I could manage to do was, sit on the saddle and take a photo of the big gopuram (tower). I desperately wanted to take snaps of the big Shiva statue, but that was being hidden by the gopuram.

Temple at Murudeshwar.


After Kundapur the road work until Mangalore is complete and it’s a proper 4 lane highway except for a few small stretches where the road work is still going on. My average speeds increased and was able to reach Mangalore by 2:30 PM (again with several butt breaks).

My reservation in Mangalore was at Ginger hotel, so I checked in there and had a quick lunch at their restaurant (Red Salt). Lunch consisted of Fish Meals and a fish masala. The fish was good and done well. I wanted to go to one of their famous eateries (Narayana’s , Shetty’s or Maharaja Restaurant) but was too tired to venture in the scorching sun again searching for these places. Went to the room, freshened up and then went to this bike rental place near Bendoorwell Circle (in the parking lot of the building that has a Dominos Pizza outlet) called Royal Brothers (made prior reservation in Bangalore for a Honda Activa). I needed a non geared, city friendly vehicle for my travel in Mangalore, something I could park anywhere without people staring or fiddling around with. I got my Activa and rode to Panambur Beach and then made my way to Mangalore’s famous ice-cream parlor.

Panambur Beach.


Everyone in my riding group had been giving rave reviews of this place. So, off I went to Pabbas. Pabbas has this great system of allotting seats to customers. You go to the fellow standing at the door and let him know how many people are there in your group. He then gives you a token and you wait patiently for your token number to be called once they have sufficient place for your group to sit down.

At Pabbas, I gorged on two ice-cream sundaes. One was the Tiramisu and the other was the Pabbas Special. All said, I still feel there our very own Corner-House serves better ice-creams desserts. Again this is just my opinion and no harm intended to Pabbas lovers.

Pabbas Ice-cream parlor.


Dropped off the Activa at Royal Brothers and caught an auto to Ginger Hotel. Since I was stuffed with those ice-creams, I wasn’t feeling hungry and so I skipped dinner. Set the alarm for 6 AM and hit the sack by 11 PM.

Day 2: 30th April, 2016
Route Taken: Gokarn – Murudeshwar – Kundapur-Malpe-Mangalore
Time Taken: 6hrs 30min (including one food, 2 fuel and several butt brakes)
Total Distance Covered:
Fuel Filled: 12.68ltrs
Cost of Room: Rs.2,527.20
Activa Rental: Rs399.00/day (excluding fuel)

The final day of my ride saw me waking up by 6 sharp since I was now desperate to head back home. Got ready and was all set to ride by 7 AM. On my last leg, I took the Shiradi ghat – Shakleshpur-Hassan-Nelmangala route. I was so excited to head back home early that I didn’t even stop for breakfast until 12:00. The roads until Shakleshpur are all twisties and my speeds were just average. At times I felt absolutely frustrated that these twisties and curves were not coming to an end. My prayers were answered once I crossed Shakleshpur, open straight roads.

Between Shakleshpur and Hassan.


My joy knew no bounds and I made good progress. I stopped at the Coffee Day outlet at Channarayapatna for a fuel break for both the Baron and myself. From there on riding to Bangalore was a breeze to ride as the traffic was minimal and I reached Bangalore and home by 2:00 PM.

Day 3: 1st May, 2016
Route Taken: Shiradi Ghat road – Shakleshpur – Hassan – Nelmanagala – Bangalore.
Time Taken: 7hrs (including one food, 1 fuel and several butt brakes)
Total Distance Covered:
Fuel Filled:6.44ltrs

All in all, the ride was well worth it except for the weather. I’m sure I wouldn’t have felt this tired if I had planned the ride sometime in December, but as I said earlier when there is an itch that needs to be scratched then nothing else will do. It has to be scratched. Period!

Total Trip Distance: 1,192.00
Total Trip Fuel Filled:37.15ltrs
Best Fuel Economy (full tank to full tank): 28 kms per ltr on some stretches.

Now the Red Baron needs some TLC and will have to get him serviced sometime this month. Until later, have fun and ride strong all.

[barcalad]

Very well written. Praise the lord that you are finally shooting good photos!

The road, terrain and most of all your bike makes me very nostalgic. Good choice of hotels too! I find South India to have better motorcycle friendly roads than up here North. I'm glad that you had a trouble free ride.

The helmet incident was amusing, to say the least. You handled it well. I would have probably speared the person through his bike if he walked off with my helmet.

Hope to see you and the Baron on the road soon. Godspeed!

[djpeesh]

Excellent travelogue Snehal. Got me to ride the Bonnie to work today so the horrible sweat patches on my shirt were thanks to you. 😀

[Snehal Sekhar]

Originally Posted by barcalad

Very well written. Praise the lord that you are finally shooting good photos!

Hey Barca! My photography skill is similar to my riding skills. I'm not good at it, but I won't give up. Anyway, my long overdue coastal trip is done with. Now to plan for something longer and more exciting, something like a Bangalore - Leh - Bangalore. I'm sure it won't happen this year or even the next but when ever it does I surely would want to make it the ride to remember.

Originally Posted by djpeesh

Excellent travelogue Snehal. Got me to ride the Bonnie to work today so the horrible sweat patches on my shirt were thanks to you. ��

Thank you!
I'm sure you must have been cursing me after your ride in Mumbai's swealtring summer heat.

[Snehal Sekhar]

Got the Baron its much needed service last week. The odo was at 11 thousand kms and after my last ride to Mangalore the Baron needed a good wash and an engine oil change. Fixed an appointment with Tusker Harley (Indiranagar branch) for Saturday last week. Asked the SA to check the brake pads as well, which he said were as good as new after checking on them. The benefits of no-city riding I guess!!

The total cost of the service came up-to Rs.6029.00 and this is the break-up:

Synthetic Engine Oil - Rs.1925.70
Drain Plug - Rs.36.68
Oil Filter - Rs.390.83
Service Cost - Rs.1920.00
Consumable charge - Rs.500.00
Vehicle Wash- Rs.480.00
VAT - Rs.341.22
S.Tax - Rs.435.00

I haven't been riding the Baron as much as I would have liked to for the past couple of months. So this weekend, to make up for all these weeks of lethargy, may see me and the Baron going on a day long solo ride to some new place, hopefully.

[Snehal Sekhar]

I got the fourth service done on my Baron this week. Since the last service, done in June this year, I haven’t been riding much. Since June, I’ve ridden only 2000 kilometers. This was due to the fact that my right knee has been acting up and the treatment and corresponding rest decommissioned me from riding for 3 months.
Got back to riding in December and did a couple of short rides to Basavana Betta and Male Mahadeshwara Hills. Link http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/motorb...-rides-41.html

Called up Tusker Harley on Monday and fixed an appointment for Thursday. I left the Baron to the expert hands of the service engineer on Thursday and also asked them to get the mirror extenders fitted since the current rear view mirrors don’t give me a complete view of the vehicles behind me. I opted for the OEM extenders since I they looked premium and well-made compared to some others I’d seen online. The mirror extenders, though expensive, have been a good investment. The height has increased by close to an inch and the mirrors extend out by around 2 inches. Seeing what’s behind me is no longer an issue now.

The Street 750 without the extenders


After getting the extenders installed the height has increased and the mirrors extend out by 2 inches.


It looks like Harley finally listened to their customers and decided to do something about the non-existent brakes on the Street. While at Tusker, I got to see the new 2017 Street 750 which has ABS as standard fitment. The tank badge has changed as well. Apart from the tank badge change, indicator design and colour options, I didn’t notice any other cosmetic changes on the new Street 750. The inclusion of the ABS and colour options has also seen a drastic increase in cost. They said the new Street 750 would retail above 6 lakhs. Also the price of the bike increases with the colour selected. The black being the cheapest, other colours increases the cost by 10K and the two tone increases the price by another 25-30K.

The new tank badge. I felt the ones on the earlier streets looked better though.


This is the break-up of my bill for the fourth service. The odo reading at my fourth service was 13600 kms.

Mirror Extender Kit – Rs. 4,053.71
Synthetic Engine Oil – Rs. 2,610.30
Oil Filter – Rs. 390.83
Coolant – Rs. 32.18
Housing Plate – Rs. 540.17
Service Cost – Rs. 1,920.00
Consumables – Rs. 500.00
Vehicle Wash – Rs. 480.00
Part Repair – Rs. 240.00
VAT @ 14.5% - Rs. 1,105.94
Labour Service Tax @ 15% - Rs.471.00
The service, including mirror extenders, cost me Rs.12,344.00.

I’m looking at getting a Mobile Charger installed on my Baron sometime soon and am checking on various brands before I decided on the right one. The one I’ve set my eye on for now is the Bolt Mobile Charger and will decide on buying that if nothing better comes up.

Until later, Ride safe and strong.

[Snehal Sekhar]

After close to 2 years in my ownership I’ve realised that the handle bar on the Baron vibrates a lot post certain speeds. Never felt the vibrations though and the only way I could make it out was after getting the mirror extenders installed. On this Sunday’s ride, the RVM’s were vibrating a lot post 100 kmph. The view post this speed is all hazy.

Earlier, before getting the mirror extenders, I used to slow down and slant a bit towards the side if I needed to see anything on my RVMs. Since I was slowing down I never realised the vibrations and the view was clear.

Another way to look at it is as an automatic speed limiter, and so if I notice that I can’t see anything on the RVM’s I know I’m going at either or above 100 kmph.

Anyway, need to check if getting handle bar weights will reduce these vibrations and if that’s an expensive affair, I’ll just ride the Baron as before and slow down if I need to have a clear view of what’s coming behind.

[Snehal Sekhar]

Over the past 3 weeks I’ve been picking up auxiliary led lighting accessories for the Baron.

The headlights of the Street 750 lack enough throw and brightness and to make up for the insufficient lights, the two options I had were either to change the stock headlights to brighter ones (Osram night breaker or Phillips X-treme vision) or getting led aux lights fitted. I was looking at something that had a little more throw and helps me through Bangalore’s foggy winter mornings. Looking at the leds’ installed on bikes on our riding group, I thought that was the best route to take. So began my quest for reasonable leds. Friends suggested I go for two 20w led fog lights but the one I was looking for was not in stock. I got two 10w leds instead and as of now I think they should be sufficient. I got the leds online from a2z motorcycle superstore. They had a 45% discount and the 10W lights that were selling for Rs. 3,000.00 (per piece) were now retailing for Rs.1,650.00 after the discount. I paid Rs.3,300 + 80 for shipping for a set of two lights. Details of the lights can be got from here http://www.a2z-motorcycle-superstore...und-warm-white.








My next purchase was the wiring harness to fix the lights. I got these from Biking Spirit (Bangalore). These are manufactured by biking spirit and they shipped them to me. The total price I paid was Rs. 1,580.00 (Rs.1,499 for the harness + Rs.80 for shipping). Details of the harness can be got from here http://bikingspirit.in/product/akro-aux-light-harness/.


The clamps to fix the leds were purchased from red-line plus. I got the fork mounting clips at Rs. 820.00 (Rs.649 for the clamps and Rs.171 for shipping). Details of the clamp can be got from here http://shop.redlineplus.in/motorcycl...universal.html.


Getting the leds installed needed professional help. Tusker Harley refused to get any accessories fit that were not part of OEM products, so I had to take it elsewhere. Contacted X-torque and fixed an appointment for Saturday. They took around a hour and a half to get the lights installed and charged me Rs. 1,275.00. The leds were connected to the high beam switch. So when the high beam is on the leds get on as well.

The total cost incurred was Rs.7,055.00:
2X10w cree leds – Rs3,380.00
Wiring harness – Rs.1,580.00
Mounting clips – Rs.820.00
Installation – Rs.1,275.00.

This is the end result.


The lights on the Baron prior to getting the leds fixed.

Low beam


High beam


High beam with Leds


My ride this Sunday to Pulicat lake will be an idle time to test the effect of the Leds on road and am hoping they don't disappoint.

[Snehal Sekhar]

Our 800 kilometer one day loop ride to Sriharikota and Pulicat Lake.

On Sunday, 22nd, the Baron and I and two other riding buddies, unk9ja and Karthik, rode to Sriharikota.

The route we took on our onward journey was – Bangalore – Hoskote – Kolar – Chittoor – Tirupati – Srikalahasti – Naidupeta – Sullurpeta – Sriharikota. The distance covered was 365 kilometers.

https://www.google.co.in/maps/dir/Be...13.7423784!3e0

We started off at 5:15 AM from ITI Gate at Krishnarajapuram. Progress was good until a little after Mulbagal. The 4 lane highway permitted us to do good speeds. After that our average speeds reduced. From there on, the roads are 2 lane highways and the Sunday pilgrim traffic to Tirupati and Srikalahasti made our progress very slow. We stopped for breakfast at Nandini Garden Restaurant in Chittoor. This is a vegetarian restaurant and a good stop over for a quick bite on this route. They have ample parking place as well.

From Naidupeta our progress was good, except that we had to stop frequently to ask for directions to go to Sriharikota. The road to Sriharikota from Sullurpeta would be absolutely scenic during the migratory season of birds. The road is flanked by Pulicat lake on either side and during the bird season, you would be able to see a lot of migratory birds, especially pelicans. I thought that the season was from Oct to March, but I guess I was wrong. There were not many birds when we went there. In fact, the lake itself was half dry.

We decided not to come back via the same Tirupati route since the traffic would be bad, so our next option was to come back via Chennai. . On our return journey, we came via Sullurpeta – Redhills – Tiruvallur – Sriperumbudur – Krishnagiri – Hosur – Bangalore. This route was longer and we did 447 kilometers on our return journey.

https://www.google.co.in/maps/dir/Be...13.7423784!3e0

After a leisurely lunch at Swathi Residency in Tada (on National Highway 5), we started with our bellies full to tackle the road towards Chennai. The route from Redhills until Sriperumbadur takes you through small towns and are two lane roads. After Tiruvallur (the road passes right beside the Veeraraghava Swamy Temple) up until Sriperembudur the road condition deteriorates. There are several large potholes on this stretch. The Baron had a hard time tackling the umpteen potholes and hit hard on a few of them.

From Sriperembudur until the toll on the Chennai – Bangalore highway, the roads are patchy again and have potholes. Not sure why the concerned authorities are not getting this stretch repaired even after collecting tolls from users.

Past Sriperembudur, our average speeds again increased and we made good progress. I was at home by 10 PM after riding 812 kms in 17 hours. The return journey also had a lot of weekend traffic as well, but the Chennai – Bangalore highway being what it is we didn’t encounter any hassles in getting past the vehicles and having a smooth ride back.

My riding buddies proved to be very patient, disciplined and mature riders. Me being the slowest rider, I was given the chance to lead the ride throughout and they slowed down to my pace. Never once did I have to go beyond my comfort zone.

The cycling padded shorts that I had worn on this ride seemed to have done a good job in preventing a sore behind. Highly recommended I would say for anyone planning on doing a long ride.

Updates on the leds – Though the leds performed well in pitch-black stretches, if there is oncoming traffic or a poorly lit road, I felt the throw of light could be a little more. Since I don’t prefer riding during nights, I think I will stay with the existing set up.

Apart from that, the Baron performed well. I’ve cruised through crater sized potholes and unmarked speed breakers on this ride, but the Baron accepted all that in its stride. No niggles and no fuss. As long as you know and respect the Baron’s capabilities, it could go on and on through day and night just that the rider needs to be willing.

The Baron’s second birthday is coming up within a month and I’m planning on going on a long due overnighter to celebrate.

A few pics from the ride.


























P.S: I owe credit to unk9ja for some of the good pictures that you see.

[Snehal Sekhar]

The Baron’s insurance had come up for renewal and since my insurance was with ICICI Lombard, decided to continue with them and save me the trouble of searching for a new carrier. Logged onto their site and the annual premium for a comprehensive policy was showing up as Rs.6,700/ with 25% depreciation and 25% NCB. Seemed reasonable and proceeded to make the payment when I noticed that the policy start date and end date was showing up as 1/2/2017 to 1/31/2018. My existing policy was valid until 18/2/2017 and the new one should be starting from 18/2/2017 until 17/2/2018. Called up ICICI to clarify on this and they said that this was a system error and they would send me a link which would have the correct details and I could proceed with making payments on that link.

In the meantime I searched Policy Baazar for other options and there were Insurances offering 0% depreciation and bumper to bumper coverage at reasonably lesser costs. The only thing was that the IDV of the vehicle was showing up as pretty less. I wanted to have a higher IDV and so called their customer support to try and negotiate a better deal. Policy Baazar is known for hounding you with calls when you contact them for insurance policies, but this time round I was very surprised that no one bothered to call me and even my calls were not responded to appropriately when I approached them for my renewal.

Bided my time and yesterday I got a call from an ICICI agent stating he could get me a good deal on my insurance. For an IDV of Rs.3,67,500.00 (last year the IDV was Rs.4,00,000.00), 0% depreciation, 25% NCB and a bumper to bumper coverage, he said that the premium would work up to Rs.9,849.00 (inclusive of taxes and cess). He also said that he would refund me Rs. 1,000.00 to my account and so the actual cost incurred to me would be only Rs.8,849.00. The reason he said that he was willing to offer me a refund was so he could grow and retain his customer base. The deal seemed good to me and he sent me the link to make the payments on. I paid Rs.9,849.00 and he promptly did an online transfer of Rs.1,000.00 back to my account.

This is the breakup of the insurance:
Basic Premium – Rs.7,105.00
Zero Depreciation – Rs.2,389.00
25% deduction for NCB - -Rs.1,776.00
Premium for TPPD – Rs.796.00
PA Cover – Rs.50.00
Service Tax & Cess – Rs.1,285.00
Total – Rs.9,849.00
Rs.1,000.00 was refunded to my account which brought down the actual cost to Rs.8,849.00.

[IronH4WK]

Snehal, you shouldn't have renewed your insurance with ICICI. These are the biggest cheats in the insurance sector. I had zero depreciation cover from them, paying 15k per year, and look what they did when I raised a claim with them.

[Snehal Sekhar]

Intact your experience with ICICI was a big deterent. A lot of buddies from the 'group' as well referred to your incident and asked me to check with other insurances. I did, and the only other carriers willing to offer a zero depreciation insurance were HDFC Ergo and another insurance, whose name I don't recollect now. The thing is both these insurances had brought down the IDV of my bike to around 2.7 lack. I checked this through Policy Baazar. Since Policy Bazaar wasn't responding to my calls and enquiries and time was running out, I had to get back to ICICI after they offered me this deal.
Now all can do is keep my fingers crossed that nothing goes wrong this year and my Baron stays strong and healthy.

[Snehal Sekhar]

It’s a known fact that the Street 750’s brakes are bad but I’m now used to how the brakes handle and I plan my ride accordingly. No sudden braking, engine braking in times of emergencies, all moves need to be planned, no fast riding unless the roads are clear of traffic and simple thing like that.

In the meantime, sometime last year, I was also enquiring around for options to upgrade the brakes on my Baron and contacted a few friends who got their brake upgrade done. They gave good reviews on the change and said that the new brake system they have is a definite improvement over the existing ones.

It’s sad that none of them still ride their Street 750s now and have upgraded to bigger capacity bikes from other brands. I was really looking forward to getting a long term review of the brake upgrade and if there were any issues that I would need to be aware of.

The job, as per the garage that does this, involves changing the front master brake cylinders, brake liners and pads. The front master cylinder is changed to a new aluminum master cylinder and the rear master cylinder is raised in height from the present location because the present rear master cylinder reservoir is very close to the exhaust and the radiating heat from the exhaust effect its performance. The pads would be changed to SBS Ceramic Pads or EBC Sintered Brake Pads (don’t recollect which one exactly) and steel braided brake liners would replace the existing ones. They gave a ball park figure of 15-20K (without the brake liners) which seemed reasonable. Not sure of the technical details of how all this put together would work or improve the performance, but they said that it would be an investment well worth it.

I was also advised that a change in tyres from the current stock MRF Zapper to Michelin Scorchers for the rear and the Pilot for the front would add to the braking performance as well.

There were a few things that kept me from taking a decision on changing the brake system and the top most on my list was that there is no long term review of the performance after these changes. I’ve known people tell me that the change has shown a marked improvement in the braking and now sudden braking is no longer an impossible thing. But none of them still ride the Street now, so really not sure how the performance is after a year of changing it.

The other issue is with Harley either refusing service on my bike for getting an after-market brake system fixed or citing the new brake system for any damages and repairs carried out. Also, since these are not stock brake systems, I fear the Insurance will not cover any claims in the event of an accident.

Most of these fears may be unwarranted, but then I’m not willing to take a chance. I’ve ridden for close to two years on the Baron that I’ve gotten used to its weaknesses and faults. If any change at all and depending on the cost, it has to be something that the company does. That way I can be rest assured they will not disown my bike if anything goes wrong and I can also claim insurance in case of any accidents.

[adrena]

I have been slowly upgrading the brakes on my XG.

For one moment, let us try to examine the problem. I am of the opinion that brakes are not the only problem area. It is a complex mix of vehicle weight, suspension settings (too soft is what I feel), tyres like you already pointed out and our understanding of road usage. Having said all of this, one still needs to use the brakes effectively in emergencies and there in lies the problem.

Like you rightly said, every turn, overtaking and manouver needs careful planning. In my case, this was taking the fun out of the ride itself. I saw myself constantly reading others on the road or worrying that I am about to hit a curve at an angle where I may not be able to make any corrections if need be. Reading others may be a good thing but I found myself overdoing it on many occasions. At one time, I basically decided to go ahead and start the work on experimenting to change all that.

Here is a brief listing of what I have done along with some costs:

1. Brake Pads - this was the fitst item to be changed and also the easiest. Unbolt some screws, remove the old pads, get new one's in after applyting some copper grease and you're set. I bought EBC's HH Sintered pads after interacting with some riders across US & UK. I did get an incremental change but nothing substantial.
   
2. Brake Lines - This is where things become interesting. I replaced the lines with custom made HEL brake lines. Sourced from a person here in Mumbai. We used a piece of transparent pipe and selected all the end fittings. In all, this came together nicely and did imporove the feel further. However, I still needed to keep distance and an eye on the horizon while speeding up.
   
3. Master Cylinder - Having had enough of these issues, watching all the protests from a distance, I decided to start trying out different master cylinders from the market. What I needed to do was planned in multiple parts. The problem with the existing 2015 master cylinder is that it houses the cylinder, reservoir and the pedal back spring in one thick metal casing right next to the exhaust. This is a deadly combination for the rear. On the front, it is just a case of poor quality. On the rear, I tried using the master cylinder of an RC390 and that from a Continental GT. RC390's master cylinder was fantastic at braking but ended up jamming & cooking the brakes as it failed after some 10kms. Switched to Continental GT's master cylinder made by ByBre and things are brilliant. relocated the reservoir (From Yamaha R15 v2) inside the right side cover and added a discrete pedal back spring from a Thunderbird 500. In all, braking is back to what it should've been in the first place. At the front, it was a very simple case of replacing the master cylinder where HEL lines and EBC pads were already in place.
   
4. Spacing everything out - on the rear, I found it necessary to break up the braking system into three parts to avoid any heat buildup. Reservoir was moved up into the side panel, master cylinder naturally had more space away from the exhaust and the spring was nicely nestled inside the food peg bracket. I must point out that connecting mechanism between the brake lever and the master cylinder already has a provision for a spring that was never added for some reason. I just added a lil bolt and a spring.

Net net, all is good. Let me know if you want help with getting all of this. My mech here can put the kit together.

[Snehal Sekhar]

Originally Posted by adrena

I have been slowly upgrading the brakes on my XG.
Net net, all is good. Let me know if you want help with getting all of this. My mech here can put the kit together.

Thanks adrena! Appreciate your response on a long pending issue. Looks like you've done a lot of research and been through a lot of trials and errors before getting it right. Good going man.

How long have you been on this set up for and have you had any issues with the folks at Harley refusing to service your XG after these mods? That is one of the top fears I have.

What was the total cost involved and did you also happen to change the tyres or will the current set of MRF Zappers suffice?

These were the similar kind of mods that the guys at Xtorque suggested (except for the brake linings, offcourse), but since I hadn't got any long term review of the same I was kind of apprehensive in getting it done.

It seems you are pretty happy with your current brake mods and it's doing what it was originally ment to do, stopping the bike when you want it to.