[nomadabhi]

It was Sunday, a holiday for most of us. But for me it was special. It was a day when I be bringing my NOMAD home.

My point A being Kalyan and point B being Malad

The last glimpse I remember of my NOMAD was chottu (Riyaz) washing it.



Sunday Morning was so exciting that I woke up at 0730 Hrs without any alarm. Packed my waist pouch with necessary documents, Helmet and stuff and left home by 0830 Hrs. It had been raining since last night and it still was.

Plan was to catch a local to Dadar, then to Malad and a rick to where my NOMAD was ready to be in my arms.

Being it Sunday Morning and a rainy day, thought of taking a SC ticket (Rs.14)instead of FC (Rs.126).

Handed a 100 Ruppes Note to the lady on counter who refused to have change for that. Since I did not want the fuss, handed her another 100 for FC ticket with a smile. She took it and then with a SC ticket returned me 186 INR. Either the smile worked or the Gandhigiri made her feel guilty. Never mind, I was on cloud # 9 and moved ahead.

There I found the Fast CST local parked as if it was there for me right at time with no waiting fuss.
Next Stop Dadar...

Wow, as soon as I reached to west end of Dadar, found my valet parked Borivali Fast.

The roads @ Malad seemed to be deserted as if I was in some other place. Eventually I missed to update a turn to the Rick driver and had to take a long U-turn (Never knew that it was just a start of U-Turns for a day) to reach D-place.

1030 Hrs. I was at the Place and first glimpse of my NOMAD, getting glimpse of that Bridal red color I was mesmerized.
Did a close check (Technically PDI) and was happy to see front Michelin M45 and long long pending sparkling chromed chain cover.

As soon as the acceleration kicked in, the whole place was filled with beastly roars and foggy smoke. Did a test ride in rains, though could not pull up more than 80 because of rains and water logging. Feed the beast with 600 INR fuel and took off after exchanging some experiences and garage talks.

Next stop, to Imran Perfect Seats, Andheri for seat to be redone with fiber plate...

[nomadabhi]

Reached near Andheri flyover @ 1300 Hrs and the guy from very first shop came waving hands. I know this is the same guy who pretends their shop being Imran's and have cheated lot of people who come in search of Perfect Seat. Called up Imran for exact location and finally landed in front of his small compact shop standing alone.

Even though it was raining and shops get closed by noon, Imraan showed no shortcuts and took adequate time to get the best out of fiber frame. It was 1500 Hrs by the time I said adios to Imraan after appreciating his work.

I was enjoying the rains and remembered some of my old trips done in such conditions. Took a turn under Goregoan flyover to aarey road towards Powai. Road conditions are awful, with no place to be saved from pot holes and just when I crossed under pipeline, NOMAD started misfiring and finally came to stall.

With no place of shelter pushed the beast under a tree shelter to nearby taxi stand. Lend an umbrella and started the investigation,

Tail Lights, no response
Neutral Light, nope
Head light, nah
break light, :-(

Pulled up the seat, checked Fuse which was blown. Used the spare one and switched on ignition, voila, got the green signal. Kicked and the fuse blew.

Now, troubleshooting with phone support:

kept engine switch off, ignition off, all light switches off. Short the wires, no spark means my harness is good
Kept all lights and engine switch on and ignition switch off. Short the wires and no spark but wire getting warm. Somethings getting short in some where apart from rectifier, coils being in good shape.

Nothing can be done more by me. It was already 1700 Hrs. so decided to get a tempo and load the bike but none was found any near. Something that never happened to me in these 11 years of relation, I knew it would be for good and found a tempo coming of nowhere who agreed to take Nomad back to garage despite of fact that the Midchowki/Marve area are water logged.

All the while I was thinking of the mis-adventurous adventure I was having and the U-Turn but felt good as it did not happened to me on any long trips.

Reached garage, paid and thanked the tempo guy and we get down to the dirty business. After verifying with voltmeter, that rectifier/coils/switches are OK, it was to jump much deep into wiring and circuits. Since it was already 1900Hrs decided to leave in Meru with no more energy left and reach home in relaxed way.

Dialed 4422-4422, Hold time 2 min, Hold time 1 min, Hold time 2 min, got bored and decided to catch rick to station and local to home.

Being Sunday, 2000Hrs and rains, considering mega block, took FC ticket to home.

Luck still favored and got a fast to Dadar just in time while I was grabbing (banana chips) packs. Sat comfortably and got myself engrossed into the chips packets (being on nothing than my morning light breakfast). As Dadar was nearing, planned to grab something to eat before catching the Home Local, but there I saw another Fast Titvala and could not resist to loose it (though crowded managed to allocate a seat to myself and my helmet).

Called home to update and came to know that it is still raining heavily. Back in my mind was a 'who cares' thought as I was happy and relaxed that at last with end of day, I will be home and the first thing despite of hunger will get a warm water bath.

Reached Kalyan, and no one ready to go up to home. Found that guys have opened damn (Dam) gates which caused flooding. Finally got a rick who got ready to leave up to the point of water logging. With no sign of water logging and rains disappearing to drizzles I was skeptical of what rick driver said.

[nomadabhi]

No sooner did I reach the signal to my home lane, saw the surprise awaiting.
Never was so desperate to reach home getting tempted with a warm water bath, I decided to walk thru with video mode on my N8 (the file is 130MB so could not load it). But here are some snapshots of it.

[nomadabhi]

The next day I woke up and looked out of my window and the view was not less than camping near a water body;





















What else can be said? All is well, that ends well

[pjbiju]

Nice little experience there Abhi. I think the Nomad knew about the flooding and did not want to be swimming home and blew its fuse to protest. Hope to see a continuation of this with many more photos, when you finally get the Nomad home.

[ASHISHPALLOD]

Originally Posted by pjbiju

Hope to see a continuation of this with many more photos, when you finally get the Nomad home.

+1,
initially, i was not sure about what Abhi wanted to convey through this logue.
hope to read many travelogues of nomad and abhi in coming days.

[amitwlele]

@Nomad - Good write up on the experience and the train names ( Dadar Fast, Titvala Fast) took me down memory lane when i used to travel by Local trains albeit mostly via harbour line.

But one basic question:
- Did you purchase Nomad from a seller in Malad and were going there to pick it up?

[nomadabhi]

Originally Posted by pjbiju

Nice little experience there Abhi. I think the Nomad knew about the flooding and did not want to be swimming home and blew its fuse to protest. Hope to see a continuation of this with many more photos, when you finally get the Nomad home.

@pjbiju, for sure I trust NOMAD as observed on lot of trips, Specially Nagpur and Mahabaleshwar ones and on Harihareshwar's it surprised me with an average of 32kmpl. Sure, there will be more to it...

Originally Posted by ASHISHPALLOD

+1,
initially, i was not sure about what Abhi wanted to convey through this logue.
hope to read many travelogues of nomad and abhi in coming days.

@Ashish, Not a travelogue this was, though based on twist-full day, good enough to put in here . What I wanted to convey can be very well understand by one who has restored RD and owned. No wonder why few of them sold them off and later regret or keep them in their garage. To tell you the truth, if you got RD, you will come to know that females have less tantrums than RD and you have to be in a relation like a jockey and his horse.

Sure soon you be seeing more of RD logs, technical and much more on this.

[nomadabhi]

Originally Posted by amitwlele

@Nomad - Good write up on the experience and the train names ( Dadar Fast, Titvala Fast) took me down memory lane when i used to travel by Local trains albeit mostly via harbour line.

But one basic question:
- Did you purchase Nomad from a seller in Malad and were going there to pick it up?

@Amit, It was a once in a year servicing week for my Nomad. It's 11 year old relation of me and Nomad. I avoid travel by locals ( but for Nomad everything is possible). You need to look out for my RD350 travelogues surprising yourself what RD can do.

[naturaldisaster]

great write up. brought back memories of college days back in Pune. however, my valiant steed was a Pulsar 180. there were many such trips, in the rain and long ride.

and reading something like this makes you wonder, once you start riding... can you ever stay away from 2 wheels?

[nomadabhi]

Originally Posted by naturaldisaster

great write up. brought back memories of college days back in Pune. however, my valiant steed was a Pulsar 180. there were many such trips, in the rain and long ride.

and reading something like this makes you wonder, once you start riding... can you ever stay away from 2 wheels?

Bike for Boys is their first GF and wife can make them stay away

The old pulsar's with round headlamps were my fav. They were far better than today's.

[naturaldisaster]

Originally Posted by nomadabhi

Bike for Boys is their first GF and wife can make them stay away

The old pulsar's with round headlamps were my fav. They were far better than today's.

righto! going thru clouds while riding down the panchgini ghats is something iam dying for! i have no bike currently but might just take a leap again!

[pjbiju]

Originally Posted by nomadabhi

...
The old pulsar's with round headlamps were my fav. They were far better than today's.

I have one of those, the first gen Pulsar 180. I love to take it out when I am going somewhere alone.

[nomadabhi]

Originally Posted by naturaldisaster

righto! going thru clouds while riding down the panchgini ghats is something i am dying for! i have no bike currently but might just take a leap again!

as a matter of fact, on Mahabaleshwar ghat I was close to dying Here it is: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...ar-mumbai.html

Originally Posted by pjbiju

I have one of those, the first gen Pulsar 180. I love to take it out when I am going somewhere alone.

As they say old habits die hard. Personally, I too do not like any of my members to travel with me on bike. A Honda Deo do the job better.

[naturaldisaster]

Originally Posted by nomadabhi

as a matter of fact, on Mahabaleshwar ghat I was close to dying Here it is: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...ar-mumbai.html

wow. that indeed was an interesting ride. i have been to mahabi, lonavla, lavasa, etc many times.. and we used to ride like maniacs, but i had crashed out only in the toughest twisties, the trip to kashid beach... i had crashed it a steep sweeping left hander.... with gravel :P


but i must say, i like the way you catalog your trips.. its really good for keeping track of all the old memories...