[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by Thumping Soul

That's more than the cost for the radiator for similarly priced cars. Seems very high. Did you try exploring it further?

Similarly priced cars are all made in India with high level of localization. Most of them sell in big four digit numbers every month too, even the flop ones - thus giving them a huge logistics and procurement advantage.

Hence a direct comparison between these two segments can never be made!

A bigger shock comes with the cost of wear and tear parts like tyres etc. A set of five tyres for a similar priced car can be had with similar or less money as compared to a good set of tyres for these two wheelers.

[atul.ktm]

Hulk completes it's first 1000 kms

Been quite some time I updated this thread. So me and Nandita were thinking to go on a short night ride last Saturday and just asked couple of friends if they would want to join. Both of them agreed and we thought of heading towards Shoolagiri McD (approx 60 kms from BTM, Bangalore).

The only worry in the back of my mind was that this was the same road where the radiator damage happened. So was a bit wary in the beginning but riding V on an open highway makes you forget all your worries and we reached McD in no time.

We reached by 10 pm. Chatted for some time and then had good amount of junk for dinner

This was brilliant

Initial plan was to return by 1 am max, but that was never gonna happen. We kept talking about bikes, cars and other random stuff and it was 5 am already. Nandita took a power nap in between.

Time to head back home, and on the way back this happened

Bid everyone goodnight and reached home by 7 am.

Now need to service Hulk and explore the full potential of this machine!

[kailashnj]

Originally Posted by atul.ktm

[center][b]
Now need to service Hulk and explore the full potential of this machine!

First milestone complete which means you are ready to go faster -

Its good to know that your HULK is performing good after the repairs. By the way did you complete the first service, if I am not mistaken, you did it at 800kms itself.

[atul.ktm]

Originally Posted by kailashnj

First milestone complete which means you are ready to go faster -

Its good to know that your HULK is performing good after the repairs. By the way did you complete the first service, if I am not mistaken, you did it at 800kms itself.

Thanks Kailash. I didn't get the service done as wanted to finish 1000 and give. The bike was stagnant for a long time and wanted to check for any issue that may have cropped up all this while and then report to the service guys. Fortunately no such thing was there, giving for service this Wednesday.

[Thumping Soul]

Hey Atul! I believe I spotted you on the EC flyover this Monday evening. 'The Hulk' sticker was a give away!

[atul.ktm]

Originally Posted by Thumping Soul

Hey Atul! I believe I spotted you on the EC flyover this Monday evening. 'The Hulk' sticker was a give away!

Yes that's definitely me!

[dkaile]

Many, though slightly late, congratulations on the bike. Hope all is well now with the radiator and the bike. It does seem that the Kawasaki spares are very exorbitant. BTW the radiator could easily have been disassembled and repaired at any good radiator shop. Got it done on my Qualis a long time back and it never troubled again till the time I sold the car. And had you installed even the AliExpress guard, I doubt if the radiator would have been damaged. But bad luck happens sometimes.

Have a enjoyable and safe ride with the beauty. Cheers...

[atul.ktm]

Ride to Dhondenling Tebetan Settlement

After finishing 1000 kms and the first service, the itch to ride was killing me!

Oh by the way 1st service bill was 2800/- which included oil change, oil filter change and labour charge. The service guy was quoting 6000/- to 7000/- but on thorough questioning about details I skipped all the unnecessary things that I can do it myself or get it done elsewhere. Anyways now it was time to ride!

It was 6th of Aug, me and Nandita were going for a vacation in the next week so wanted to ride for a day atleast. Checked with few biker friends and most of them seemed busy. So it was me, Nandita and Arun (Duke 390) for a ride to Dhondenling Tibetan Settlement, near Kollegal, Karnataka.

Located within the beautiful countryside, Dzogchen Monastery is surrounded by an impressive mountain range, and an animal reserve that protects many endangered species of wildlife. 180kms from Bangalore, this place has abundance of beauty, serenity and peace!

Time for some pictures:

[atul.ktm]

Originally Posted by dkaile

Many, though slightly late, congratulations on the bike. Hope all is well now with the radiator and the bike. It does seem that the Kawasaki spares are very exorbitant. BTW the radiator could easily have been disassembled and repaired at any good radiator shop. Got it done on my Qualis a long time back and it never troubled again till the time I sold the car. And had you installed even the AliExpress guard, I doubt if the radiator would have been damaged. But bad luck happens sometimes.

Have a enjoyable and safe ride with the beauty. Cheers...

Thank you, and yes it was pure bad luck on our part and I hope nobody has to deal with such a situation!

[atul.ktm]

Ride to Charmadi Ghats

This monsoon was one of the driest (in terms of rides ) for us. Multiple issues and factors kept us from enjoying the 2017 monsoon on our Hulk.

Office work was getting too stressful so we decided to head out towards the hills for some peace and rain

Like last time nobody else showed much interest so this time it was just me and Nandita without any specific destination in mind.

We casually started from home at 7 am and on the way decided to head towards Charmadi ghats as the place would be beautiful right now owing to the incessant rains in the Western Ghats.

Stopped for breakfast at Mayura near Belur Cross, met a group of bikers consisting of few fully pimped up Tigers, a Multi 1200, a KTM 1190 ADV and few Indians.

Done with breakfast and oggling at those beauties, we started and in no time were near Mudigere.

It had started to drizzle slightly so stopped and put on our rain gear. Just 10 kms before the ghats, filled up fuel as we had no clue where we were gonna head after descending Charmadi.

By the time I finished paying, the entire place was covered in fog!

Now the climb started and the rain also. It started raining pretty heavily but thankfully the road condition was still decent so the ride was very satisfying.

On the way we stopped at a place to click some pictures as the rain had slowed down a bit.

After a fantastic rain frenzy, we decided to return to Bangalore via Ujire-Shiradi-Sakleshpur-Hassan route.

Road conditions from here on till Sakleshpur was absolutely pathetic with moon size craters, we took close to 2 hours to cover approx 40 kms of distance. Highly advised not to take this route!

It was a big relief on hitting the Hassan highway as the stock lights were absolutely useless on those pothole filled roads. Reached back home at around 11:30 at night with the tripmeter close to 658 kms.

Until next time..

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Nice! Even we were riding near Sakleshpur last weekend, but towards Bisle instead. The rain and the fog made the ride beautiful, and it looks even better in your pics. Can imagine what an enjoyable ride it would have been.

You are clocking kilometres way faster than me.

My trip log here

[atul.ktm]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

You are clocking kilometres way faster than me.

Still not as much as I would have liked, planning to change that real soon, Versys is a hoot to ride on the highways

[mobike008]

Wonderful pictures Atul.

Nandita as I can see enjoys photography and has a keen eye for it as each picture is captured lovingly and framed really nicely. My compliments to her

I too enjoy riding in rains but, being in the Deccan plateau region we have more of boulders, steep rise and slopes for company which is also enjoyable but, the lush greenery outside the city is missing as we are surrounded by 4-lane highways on majority of all corners except a couple of them

I am envious of Bangaloreans just for this fact of having so many weekend destinations

Originally Posted by atul.ktm

Versys is a hoot to ride on the highways

How about a brief comparison about the Versys with Duke 390 as you have munched enough miles on the Versys?

[nandita_bayan21]

Originally Posted by mobike008

Nandita as I can see enjoys photography and has a keen eye for it as each picture is captured lovingly and framed really nicely. My compliments to her

Thank you Avinash.

[atul.ktm]

Originally Posted by mobike008

I am envious of Bangaloreans just for this fact of having so many weekend destinations

And we are envious of the Kawasaki SVC labour charges and of course biryani

Originally Posted by mobike008

How about a brief comparison about the Versys with Duke 390 as you have munched enough miles on the Versys?

Going for a really long ride soon involving different type of terrain, will definitely post a comparison once I return!