[mobike008]

Happy New Year-2017

I got an opportunity to ride for about 100kms yesterday early morning (after landing into town and reaching home at 2:00am...so imagine the anxiety and impatience levels)



Used the Bell Helmet for the first time and a short review coming up in my follow-on post to keep the review clean and in a single post



Also, waiting for me at home was this beautiful contraption that was developed by a fellow V owner. It's a simple and sweet equipment to clean and lube your chain and is quite small so portable



A video that explains how this Jack and Spool works !!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJdtE2O_qUg

[mobike008]

Finally got a chance to fix the spools on the bike and then used the Jack to lift the bike up and clean and lube the chain

What a brilliant contraption----Jack is easy peasy to use and can lift the bike up in a jiffy for easy cleaning of chain

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by mobike008

Finally got a chance to fix the spools on the bike and then used the Jack to lift the bike up and clean and lube the chain

What a brilliant contraption----Jack is easy peasy to use and can lift the bike up in a jiffy for easy cleaning of chain

You might already be doing it, but a gentle reminder to others reading it here.

Better to put a band over the front brakes and lock them in place before jacking the rear up. You don't want the front wheel to roll when the rear wheel is on the jack.

[mobike008]

Dark Knight completes 10,000kms over the weekend

It has been a phenomenal run !!! Now with this happening a gloomy news is also looming in front of me.

An imminent expense of changing the rear tyre/both tyres

[mobike008]

During the last week, we decided the first ride of 2017 and it has to be reasonably long and were scouting for locations where we haven't been.

One of the friend suggested "Etunagaram" it is a place that you normally hear related to Naxals as that place is right on the border of Chattisgarh (if we had gone another 16kms further then we would be inside deeper forest and crossing over into Chattisgarh and is apparently not advisable as Army/Police have lot of presence there)

So it was decided that Saturday we'll ride to Etunagaram which is roughly about 275kms away from here so, the overall ride was ~550kms

Immediately it struck me to call a close friend (son of India's intelligence department ex-head and also a famous politico) who hails from that area for route guidance and general inputs on what all is worth visiting.

He immediately said "Lunch will be organized at his construction site (part of the famous Bhagirath Project) which is right on banks of River Godavari"

Knowing him, squeezing out of that offer was near to impossible

All of us met at 6:15am at a famous coffee place near home and started our journey towards Warangal after a couple of brief stops to meet 2 more friends (Street Tripple and Bonnie) who joined us for about 100kms into the ride as they had done this route just last week. It was nice of them to join us till a coffee break and then both of them headed back home around 8:00am

We rode on and crossed Warangal which is about 150kms around 9:00am. Route till here was just average. 80kms of 4-lane and then rest was double lane with lot of 4-lane work happening and little patchy on and off.

By this time, we were all hungry and were looking out for breakfast spots en-route. We spotted a cute looking stall serving hot breakfast right in the middle of a empty highway stretch between Warangal and Etunagaram. From a distance it seemed to be doing roaring business as lot of people were flocked around.

We stopped and enjoyed a leisurely breakfast and loitered around as we were too early as Etunagaram was just 90kms away and roads from Warangal were simply superb with forest on both sides and smooth tarmac

I called my friends driver/site supervisor and he said lunch will be ready by 12:00pm sharp. It was only 9:30am then so, we decided to continue riding and reach the destination and spend time around that area.

Continuing with our ride, reached the location after a couple more stops enroute forests for some pictures and water break. Each time we stopped we used to get thronged by passerby who would want to stop and take pictures. So cute !!

Reached the destination around 11:15am and removed the jackets, gloves and kept them inside the huts there and decided to ride a few kms ahead and get some tea and return by noon.

Seshu (Driver) whom I know pretty well was waiting for us in a black KUV which was used to get our lunch. He then guided us down to River Godavari and we spent around half hour near the banks where he was explaining about the importance of the river and the project that they are working on. We all poured some sacred water from the river and headed back for a sumptuous and lavish home-cooked spread which was served a hut with much needed shelter from sun

As I know from previous experience, they (4 of them) were standing all through our lunch and serving us and forcing us with food. Great gesture by my friend and was truly appreciated by all my riding buddies and they loved the experience and food quite a bit

We headed out by 1:30pm and targeted to reach home by 5:00pm but, we made around 3 stops en route for coffee/water and this delayed our arrival to city by an hour

I was home by 6:00pm after a fantastic first ride of 2017 !!!

P.S: Plan to make a ride calendar for next 3 months (a.k.a King Fisher Calendar)

Enjoy the pics from this ride.......

[shifu]

Originally Posted by mobike008

During the last week, we decided the first ride of 2017 and it has to be reasonably long and were scouting for locations where we haven't been.

Given the number of 'bike meets' you are having I am inclining towards buying a bike just so that I can join you guys. Would a Hero Splendor do?

Great to see the various places you are visiting! I'll use this thread to find good places to visit close to Hyd .

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by shifu

Would a Hero Splendor do?

Certainly but, be prepared to start riding 6 hours before us so we can catch up with you enroute

Originally Posted by shifu

Great to see the various places you are visiting! I'll use this thread to find good places to visit close to Hyd

AP/Telangana has hordes of undiscovered places and we have decided to explore the unexplored. For e.g : Discovered a new tiger safari park before Nagpur (not Tadoba) which is being targeted soon

I forgot to share the group picture that we took at the site of my friend



And, a short video clip at the banks of Godavari River

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIh1pM02Zhs

[Joxster]

Originally Posted by shifu

Would a Hero Splendor do?

Originally Posted by mobike008

Certainly but, be prepared to start riding 6 hours before us so we can catch up with you enroute

Originally Posted by mobike008

Discovered a new tiger safari park before Nagpur (not Tadoba) which is being targeted soon

Is the tiger reserve you are talking about called Kawal? If yes, it's been on my list for some time, but I haven't gotten around to making a trip there yet.

I will look forward to your review of the place, if you get there before me (most likely), as there are mixed reviews about it online.

Cheers

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by mobike008

black KUV

Looks like a TUV.

You guys seem to be having a lot of fun there. I'm hoping to find some similar riding groups here in Bangalore who have got such a wide variety of bikes, and go on such frequent short rides.

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Looks like a TUV.

My bad! These type of vehicles are so mundane with so little purpose in life that I cannot really make them out properly or rather do not wish to know them deliberately

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

You guys seem to be having a lot of fun there. I'm hoping to find some similar riding groups here in Bangalore who have got such a wide variety of bikes, and go on such frequent short rides.

When I resumed riding with a Bullet, I used to ride with 50+ guys and used to get thrilled with crowd but, as I started riding more, realized less is more

With Bonnie, the numbers drastically reduced to 10-15 each time we used to ride and then such bike groups usually have lot of splinter groups

Now with V, I have decided to ride only with "Friends" irrespective of the bike they own as brand is immaterial to me

Most of my biking friends are known to me offline (like we meet for dinners, outings etc) so there is a better bonding and understanding of each other and trust me riding with such people really adds to the fun instead of riding with random people whom you meet only for the rides

Originally Posted by Joxster

Is the tiger reserve you are talking about called Kawal? If yes, it's been on my list for some time, but I haven't gotten around to making a trip there yet.I will look forward to your review of the place, if you get there before me (most likely), as there are mixed reviews about it online.

Actually, it's Tipeshwar which is 400kms one way and is on same route of Kawal which is also on the "to-do" list. Need to find out where the sighting and facilities are better and may hit that place first

Looks like you ride too and based in Hyderabad. If interested, do join us for our fortnightly saturday rides

Here is a pic of Tipeshwar sign-board

[atul.ktm]

Originally Posted by mobike008

Thanks Atul. Did you helmet come with a photo chromatic visor or plain visor?

I was hoping for a photo chromatic but, it did not come with it despite the high priced category helmet

Btw, how much did you get this helmet for? If not comfortable to share here, you can PM me



You can get the updated version in 2017

It came with a plain visor. After numerous suicidal encounters of insects on this visor, i think it's time to upgrade to the Bell exclusive photo chromatic visor.

Got the helmet for 13k from www.sportbiketrackgear.com

Are there any major updates on the 2017 model?

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by atul.ktm

It came with a plain visor. After numerous suicidal encounters of insects on this visor, i think it's time to upgrade to the Bell exclusive photo chromatic visor.Got the helmet for 13k from www.sportbiketrackgear.com Are there any major updates on the 2017 model?

Yes, I too was slightly disappointed that it did not come with the photo chromatic visor. How much is that visor for Bell RS1 and where are you sourcing it from?

I have just used it once and find it extremely difficult for my specs to slide in and I believe will need some break-in before it really becomes useful. So will have to do some short dry runs for the Bell RS 1 to settle in. Otherwise fantastic quality and is super silent

Btw, I don't think a new model comes every year but, is same model since it was released. Also, 13K for that helmet is a superb deal. I reckon it's sold in India at a 35K price point

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by ani_meher

Your versys looks like Shifu

I decided to get rid of the "Shifu" look for the Dark Knight and get something more acceptable

These are much lighter than Shifu lights and have a better visibility (SPOT)

While I was fixing the new lights, I got them to fix a new horn as well as take care of wiring issues due to which the coocase lights were not coming up. This problem also got resolved

Such a brilliant guys, they spent about 45 minutes and took care of all my problems and charged me a measly INR 250/-

I will use their services again as they are close to home and also seems to be very knowledgeable with wiring related work and claim to work on big bikes regularly

Attachment 1597258







Also, requested them to fix the new product made by Srivathsa from Bangalore for the Versys. These are the front fork protectors and such amazing quality that it beats or is equal to the ones sold by Puig at INR 5,500

Don't ask me the rate for these forks as they came pretty cheap thanks to Srivathsa who first experiments on his Versys and then shares it with rest of the V riders

[kailashnj]

Originally Posted by mobike008

Such a brilliant guys, they spent about 45 minutes and took care of all my problems and charged me a measly INR 250/-

Loved the update a lot. Have been following up with your thread for long time now and am amazed to see the way you love your Dark Knight.

By the way did you take the bike to a normal garage and not a Kawa garage. If that is so, don't you loose warranty on the bike?

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by kailashnj

Loved the update a lot. Have been following up with your thread for long time now and am amazed to see the way you love your Dark Knight.

Thanks Kailash. Yeah, I like to share even minor updates here as that's the point of having a thread. Isn't it?

Originally Posted by kailashnj

By the way did you take the bike to a normal garage and not a Kawa garage. If that is so, don't you loose warranty on the bike?

Well, I personally don't get intimidated or worried about the "Warranty Scares" people generally throw into you

I normally wait for a few months/kms to realize that vehicle I own is not a lemon and then take the decision of getting it attended for minor stuff outside of regular garage as it's more convenient and also many a times you will find better skill and service at such places

To answer your question, this small shop (almost like a hole in the wall) does only "Wiring" related work and did a fabulous job and will now go to them regularly

Now, all my energies are focused on which tyres to get for the Dark Knight and it's putting me through sleepless nights