[ex-innova-guy]

What a coincidence!

Just today a friend mentioned that big bikes passed her while she was outside her college. This was around 9-9:30 am. Guessing it must be your group only.

Originally Posted by Axe77

Which college and where?

College is SMBT Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre, Dhamangaon. This is quite close to the windmills.

[Axe77]

Originally Posted by ex-innova-guy

What a coincidence!

Just today a friend mentioned that big bikes passed her while she was outside her college. This was around 9-9:30 am.

Which college and where?

College is SMBT Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre, Dhamangaon. This is quite close to the windmills.

Ah that could very likely have been us then. We were exactly in that area around the 9 am window and surely passed by this place.

[abhi_tjet]

Beautiful review Axe. Loved the detailed explanations of engine, features and other unique traits of GS along with the crisp pics.

My first encounter of GS was in Pune itself sometime around 2010 at my friends society in Aundh. It was a white unit with EU plates which some dude would have either rode down or imported. The bike was massive and I was absolutely in awe.

1300 GS is literally pinnacle of everywhere riding. They don’t call it big daddy just like that
Further, full marks to you for handling this 250kg plus behemoth smoothly and taking it to off-road courses, trails, etc.

Like many others I will too prefer the older look of 1250 than the new one but over the time, I have became neutral to the 1300 looks.

Wishing you lots of safe miles Sir! Happy riding .

[sf-24]

As an imagination, I just swapped out the KB 100 RTZ for an RX100 and the buddy's Yezdi for a Rajdoot (RD)350, also the common passion for the Desert X and Africa Twin really resonates with my growing-up years and the love for adventure motorcycles.

What an amazing post—it's even more detailed than the BMW owner's manual. I've bookmarked this for handy reference, and even though I don't own a 1300, I think I'll still refer to many of the details here that are common across the new gen Beamers.

[Darkcloud]

Thanks for this very informative and comprehensive review. As a long time 1200GSA owner looking to upgrade soon, I was waiting for a reliable report on the difference between the Multistrada V4S and the 1300 GS. Your observations have helped me immensely.

I’m in the opposite camp where I plan to get the new (yet to be launched in India) Multi V4S. The thrill of riding that V4 Ducati engine and the wish to try something different stopped me from going ahead with the 1300GS. The 1300 is no slouch but nobody can do fun better than Ducati I guess.

[Axe77]

Ride to Tank Up Vol. 6

The Panchgani Edition

I was due to attend California Superbike School (CSS) from 31 Jan - 2nd Feb but some urgent work meetings meant I was locked in at office on both Thurs 30th (travel day to Chennai) and Friday 31st (the first day of school at CSS).

Had to cancel CSS at the very last minute but since my weekend was free, decided to use it to do a quick overnighter at Panchgani for Tank Up, along with my usual weekend riding group.

When: 1st and 2nd February
Where: Survey 46, Panchgani

The Architect: Vir Nakai
The Host: Adib Javanmardi and the good folks at Survey 46

Pictured below, hard at work to create the perfect weekender.

What is it: Well, in a nutshell, and straight from the horse's mouth .... its this! For more details ... read on!

The build up: The Insta stories were coming in fast and thick in the days running up to the weekender.

The ride and the event

My riding group was a pretty large contingent on this one - about 20 - 22 odd bikes in total. We started out early, around 5.15 am dep from Palm Beach Road so as to be able to check in to the hotel early and make it to Tank Up by about noon. Once we got there, we had folks slowly troop in including popular or familiar faces around like Ashish RaoRane who was there to speak about offroad riding skills as well as perhaps share his Dakar experiences perhaps, Ouseph Chacko, the folks from LABS speaking on riding gear, Rynox which introduced its upcycled gear, etc. Miles on Canvas (Ganesh) was there showcasing his work - he uses paints & his motorcycle as a canvas to document his adventures. Given it had a lot of riders from Pune and Mumbai, I got a chance to see a lot of general familiar faces too from the wider riding community.

After a quick lunch, mostly from the grill and then some, we headed back to the hotel for some rest to return to the venue around 5 pm. Around late afternoon, there were some open informative sessions by the above folks but we happened to miss some of that. Overall, it was just a basic easygoing cozy atmosphere where you could have some laughs, meet some likeminded riding folks, enjoy some great food, coffee and of course the local strawberries to boot.

Legacy Ducati had also supported the event thanks to which we could see a bunch of gorgeous Ducatis strategically placed around the Survey 46 site, including the Multistrada, a couple of Desert X (including the new rally variant) and a few Scramblers. There was a small paragliding and paramotoring demo on as well and I've dropped a couple of videos showing these around. The venue makes for a really stunning evening in particular with a view of the valley and the setting sun.

Most of us had to make an early return to Mumbai so couldn't attend the second day of Tank Up. For Sunday, they had planned a scenic ride around for those up to it, Adib had planned some off road training at the Survey 46 site, and I think the more adventurous could sign up for some paragliding and paramotoring at Panchgani. We instead opted to do a short ride to a lakeside view point early AM and catch a quiet coffee watching the rising sun before we returned to the hotel for a quick brekker before we took off back for Mumbai around 9:15 am.

Nothing more to add really I'll let the pictures sum up the overall weekend. All in all it was a wonderful way to spend a day / day and a half with great riding company, good conversations, fantastic food and of course the nicest venue. Survery 46 makes for some incredible views and I’d love to come and just stay here at some point in the villas they’re running above this space. The riding around on their track would be a happy bonus.

Early AM start on Saturday meant we were at our usual quick-chai halt at Lonavla as early as 6.15 am.


Sunrise somewhere beyond Lonavla. RayBan Meta coming to good use.


Easy long breakfast halt at Amruta - a good 20 odd kms after the Khed Shivapur toll.


Reached Ravine Hotel at about 10.45 am. Ravine is located right at the beginning of Panchgani and while the rooms are all right, they have absolutely lovely views of the valley.


Riding out to Survey 46.


The parking lot at Tank Up. No dearth of space here for bike parking.


Got to see these two beauties arriving on a pick up. One was a KTM ….


… and the other a gorgeous modified RE (the older GT 535).


Here’s another close up of the GT.


That’s Ashish RaoRane’s little spot with the folks who train with him.


He had these three gorgeous beauties parked in front. Don’t miss the beautiful custom imported Kove in the middle.


The main man and his grill!


Pork chops to die for with some delightful fresh strawberries and feta. Topped it off with some chorizo after.


Miles on Canvas …


… and the lovely art work on his bikes.


Rynox displaying its new upcycled product line


… complete with the team that creates it.


The figure of 8 area for training how to ride on camber.


I don’t think I’ve seen this many pick ups at any one place. At least 3 - 4 Hilux / Isuzus that I could see at the event locale as well as a couple at our hotel.


Getting dibs on the perfect parking spot for some sunset photography later.


Much cooler once the sun had gone down.


Next up were some paragliding and paramotoring displays - videos following below.




Some paragliding

https://youtube.com/watch?v=sBlYutd5...2M_L-MortX1_-Q

And some paramotoring.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=IovxGntl...5GVz-LkFOsOCIr

Nothing like catching a setting sun over this beautiful valley. Can’t wait to be back here next weekend to spend the evening watching this from the villas right above.




Then there are endearing images like these. Two kids just going about their business on their little bikes. They were around the last time I was here too for the GMT training.


How would you like your Desert X served please. Smoking hot black …


.. or ravishing red rally!!


Parking dibs paying off for that perfect sunset pic.


Tanked Up yet??


Finally back at the hotel for the night.


Where we had seen this beautiful Husky parked a little earlier in the evening.


A few of us headed for short early AM ride to a lakeside spot.




Coffee and a view. My pal brought some of the brew they were selling at Tank Up to make for that perfect early AM caffeine fix.




How many 1250s does it take to match up to one 1300!! Just kidding.


The breakfast area at the hotel has this lovely view of the valley.


Ravine is known for its fantastic kullar chai. I’m not a tea drinker but I’ll take the word of my buddies for it.


Waiting outside Mapro for some last minute strawberry shopping.




Quick regroup and halt for some sugarcane juice at Khed Shivapur toll before finally riding onward to Mumbai.

*Some images taken from the Insta page of Tank Up ADV.

[100Kmphormore]

Lovely ride Axe. Would have loved the track sessions with the GS (been interested to see how these 250 kilo+ beasts, especially minus the sporty character of the Multis, take to the track). Yes, it takes 3 1250s to digest the sight of a 1300GS .

Are these events paid or group membership based? They sure look expensive, by the looks of it and my own research in this region, especially that offroad training you undertook.

[Axe77]

Originally Posted by 100Kmphormore

Yes, it takes 3 1250s to digest the sight of a 1300GS .

Haha … touché!! Specially with the scary alien front light.

Are these events paid or group membership based? They sure look expensive, by the looks of it and my own research in this region, especially that offroad training you undertook.

Tickets for both days were a mere 1000/- bucks when bought in early bird and Rs. 1500/- per person in normal course with a max limit of 200 tickets sold I believe. Chump change considering you’ll pay more for fuel just getting to the event.

For stay, you are free to book where you please as per budget that is to your comfort. F&B was pay as you go and reasonably priced IMO. For instance, a serving of pork chop or a service of chorizo / fried egg pav was about 350/- apiece. Desserts were similarly priced. #Panchgani.pricing.rocks!!

If you decided to do the adventure activities, I’m assuming it would be on a paid basis (not aware of rates). I think the rides and offroad training may have been complimentary for attendees, not sure.

####

On a completely separate note….

had been meaning to black out the silver panel which sits behind the upper crash bar to give it a more complete “all black” look. While at it, also got some discreet radium reflective strip put on all three panniers otherwise it’s completely invisible to other vehicles in night riding and that’s a genuine risk. Finally got both done during the last week.

A few pics, both with and without the luggage set up.

[Axe77]

Another Sunday, another sunrise and another lakeside … and just like that, 6000 kms are up in a hint over 6 months.

Have a great weekend folks!

[Axe77]

I’ve been wanting to give the bike the “all black” look for a while now with even my luggage system sort of coordinating with that sort of look. The final look came about after somewhat of an iterative trial and error process.

Step 1: As a first step, I just got the silver panel behind the upper crash bar wrapped in black - done at OCD.

Step 2: Liked the look and followed that through with getting the upper crash bar, lower crash bar, cylinder head guard and bash plate all powder coated to black. This was done at The Shed (run by Zubin Ponappa)

While at it, I also installed the proper HSRP front number plate (looks horrible there but for now keeping it on to be fully compliant with the new number plate rules) with a bracket that was custom made for these bikes by some external vendor. Dealerships should really be getting these made off the bat and hand the bike with these at delivery. No reason why customers should be running around 'procuring' such plates in the aftermarket for additional cost and time effort.

Step 3: Swapped out my headlight guard with the LoneRider headlight guard which I absolutely loved the look of. This is one change I’ve done for pure aesthetics, given the bike already had the Wunderlich headlight guard - but I just loved the twin color finish of the LoneRider. Also got some sunfilm installed on the windshield. The first attempt came out way too dark for my liking. Got it swapped out for a lighter shade a couple of weeks later. Pics below include the windshield in both the darker as well as the final lighter shade.

The final look of the bike, complete with the LR headlight guard and the final lighter shade of sunfilm.


More pics of the final look - head on here below ….


… and front three quarters.


The OG look. The silver side panel never agreed with me.


Step 1 was just blacking out the silver panel - crash guards still pending at this stage.


Step 2 was the full black out treatment. The bike went through some trial iterations. This below is with the darker tint that didn’t quite agree with me.


I had also put some yellow film on the headlight just to see how a contrasting color on the headlight looks before switching to the actual LR headlight guard.


Random sunrise on the same ride where the above pic was taken … coz, why not!


Another side on pic of the bike with its final blacked out look, with the luggage system on as well.



Couple of pics showing the LR headlight guard with the lights on.
1. With just the DRLs on; and


2. With the DRLs and headlight both on.