[scarecrow]

Day 16: Panchkula -> Gurgaon
Riding time (Start 09:00 am, End 17:00 pm) – 8 hours (including breaks)
Distance – 278 kms

General
The ride from Panchkula to Gurgaon was quite eventful. Mehernosh faced his second puncture of the trip, though luckily there was a puncture wala a little distance away only. I also faced a mini scare when my bike (Duke) suddenly lost power and stopped. On checking I found that I had run out of fuel, because of the non-working display.
The roads were good, though entering Delhi we had to tackle the traffic. With the help of Google we managed to find our way, though it did take us through some adventurous shortcuts. Stopping at our final stop was quite a nice feeling, though it took time to sink in that our trip was coming to an end. In parallel we also called up our courier person to ensure they reach on time the next day as we had our flight to catch as well. Overall a great ride, thanks to a great set of friends and now that we have tasted Himalayas, we will definitely keep coming back for sure. Hope by penning down our experience, we have been able to share a few points which will be useful for the others.

[scarecrow]

Day 17: Couriering of all 3 bikes to Pune

General
The last day was spent ensuring the bikes are well packed and loaded safely in the truck. Post the bikes been taken away, we spent time catching up with a few friends, before catching the flight to Pune. Thankfully the bikes reached safely (few minor scratches) and on time through Agarwal packers and movers. There is still a big scope of improvement, but compared to the horror stories we have heard, it was still ok. But given a chance, I will still prefer to ride my bike, rather than courier it.

Summary of the different bikes performance
By riding within our limits and not pushing the bikes, we overall faced no major issues with the bikes. The only issues we faced were
• Standard 500 – sprocket getting worn out (3 no’s)
• RE Himalayan – Oil leakage from the engine, loss of power at high altitudes
• Duke 390 – Display issue, front tyre (knobby) spacer breaking off
The Himalayan was the most comfortable to ride, with the best fuel range as well. The standard 500 is an all-rounder and is only limited by its double digit top speed. We generally cruised in the range of 80-90, to avoid engine flooding in the standard 500. The Duke impressed with its handling and power, but you need a hard butt to ride long distances. I somehow managed with the cycle riding shots and gel seat, but it does get quite tiring, especially on long straight roads. On mountain roads, because we were moving around in the saddle more, it was slightly more bearable.
Based on our personal experience, we recommend the following mods / additions for all bikes planning to ride this terrain:
1. Fuel bladder
2. Bike charger (e.g. bolt)
3. Reflective stickers and strategic places (to increase visibility)
4. Communication systems (e.g. Scala, Sena)
To summarize, all these bikes proved that they are more than capable to ride on such terrains. There is no one ideal bike. As long as one rides within limits, respects nature and rides sensibly, any bike can be taken on this terrain. We saw people riding scooters and cycles up these roads. End of the day it’s the rider which matters.

Hope our brief write-up helps other riders to plan their trip.

Ride safe
Regards
Hashim, Mehernosh and Ronald.

Signing off with a few random snaps

[STraiTDriVE]

Amazing travelogue ..the three musketeers ! We had seen so many travelogues but anything on bike is always very special. You have covered it very well with nice pics but what really impresses me is your fitness levels. It takes real mettle to ride for thousands of kms for that duration. Prodigious determination.. Thanks for sharing !

[CrazyToDrive]

Excellent TL and nice pics. It takes lot of courage to drive all the way from Pune to Ladakh.

[jd10ent]

Awesome travelogue and pics too. A brief summary of places stayed with their reviews will be helpful. I've been planning since 1.5 years myself to make the trip, however, professional commitments have played spoilsport. Finally will be visiting Leh in July 2017, but not via bike trip. Will be flying in to Leh and plan to hire bikes there.

[roamer]

Very crisp TL and pics. Riding to Leh is always on top priority of any biker! BTW what was that small fine on riding on E-way from Pune to Mumbai? :-)
Also if you can give bit more info on that gas you used to bail out of tyre puncture.

[Harshal.Bhosale]

Just started reading the travelogue, very rousing read indeed!

One thing though - Day 2 (Ahmedabad to Jaipur) seems to be missing - is it not uploaded yet?

Originally Posted by scarecrow

Day 1 (butt initialization): Pune -> Ahmedabad
Riding time (Start 5:30 am, End 20:30 pm) – 15 hours (including breaks)
Distance – 663 kms

Originally Posted by scarecrow

Day 3 (Traffic, ruts in the road): Jaipur -> Gurgaon
Riding time (Start 3:30 pm, End 8:00 pm) – 5.5 hours (including breaks)
Distance – 234 kms

[scarecrow]

Day 2 (Best road, Cows): Ahmedabad -> Jaipur
Riding time (Start 7:30 am, End 8:00 pm) – 12.7 hours (including breaks)
Distance – 677 kms


General
Day 2 started at 7:30 am. Post a quick breakfast, the first thing we did was to tank up our bikes at a petrol pump near the hotel. Post this we quickly navigated our way out of Ahmedabad, specifically trying to avoid the morning rush hour. The outer ring road, along the river was beautiful to ride on and it helped us to quickly get onto the highway. Post hitting the highway we made good time, till our next tea brake.

Sometime back, Hashim had mentioned that his Harley group which had passed through the same area a few weeks back had told us to beware of cows. We had taken it lightly initially, but today we understood the reason for the caution. Basically, because of the Gau Rakshak thingy, lot of cows have been abandoned by their owners. Now these poor things keep roaming around trying to find food. Unfortunately the open areas of the road, dividers attract them. This is a big safety hazard as we found lots of cows, some standing in the middle of the road. At one time, we just rounded a corner doing around 80k and we see not 1, not 2, but 10 cows standing in the middle of the flyover, with their horns pointed towards us. We had some scary moments (Mehernosh hit a cow with his handlebar), but luckily with good regimental riding, we cleared this area safely. At one of the stops to mount the cameras, Hashim in his haste to catch up with us, forgot to put the tank bag on and it flew off without him noticing it. Good thing we didn’t ride through this area in the night, because that would have compounded the danger.

Post this hazard zone, we rode through one of the best roads in the country. This is specifically the road which heads to Mount Abu. We bypassed Mount Abu, but the road was a dream to ride on. Butter smooth tarmac, with greenery all around encouraged us to cover some good distance. We ended up doing some night riding to reach Jaipur, but good riding enabled us to reach Jaipur around 8 pm.

One thing which we did throughout the ride was to ride in a proper formation. Specifically been 3 riders there was one leader and one sweeper. The slowest rider was kept in the middle so that we rode as per his pace. The leader and the sweeper were connected through Scala Rider and this enabled us to properly call out hazards, navigate through cities, while keeping an eye on the middle rider throughout. We also rode with our headlights on throughout as this made our group visible at crossings, while also enabling us to identify each other. All riders been seasoned riders rode at their own pace and in-case anyone felt sleepy or tired, we ensured we stopped and rested.

Through the initial 2 days were long, this was important as it helped condition us for the ride ahead. We also became one with our respective bikes and had started gelling as a cohesive riding group.

[scarecrow]

@Harshal - apologies, missed posting the day 2 write-up. thanks for bringing this to my notice.

@Administrator - if possible, request your assistance in moving my day 2 post up so that its in sequence.

[scarecrow]

@jd10ent - most of the places we stayed enroute were booked through OYO rooms. In a few places we leveraged our friends for the accommodation. All accommodation in J&K was booked through a local contact, who had blocked the places for us in advance. This was important for us as my friends wife joined us in Leh and was their for the whole Leh - Pangong lake - Nubra valley ride.

[scarecrow]

Originally Posted by roamer

Very crisp TL and pics. Riding to Leh is always on top priority of any biker! BTW what was that small fine on riding on E-way from Pune to Mumbai? :-)
Also if you can give bit more info on that gas you used to bail out of tyre puncture.

Sure, to clarify the mentioned product is applicable for tube tyres only. The product can be viewed at the following URL http://www.amazon.in/Inflator-Sealan.../dp/B00Z9YIC0C

[Madmax_SP]

Oh my! An excellent TL and a gutsy journey! Pics are inspiring! A drive to Ladakh is a dream trip, and your TL adds to the info bank! Thanks a ton!

[VijayAnand1]

Let me tell you, it was so surreal reading through the tale. But, call me greedy, halfway through it, I just skipped to last to read how the bikes handled. It's neat of you to epilogue as to how the bike performed.

I have two questions regarding the Duke? The speedo conked off, did it rectify itself again. Part of the display went off or the whole display, no warning lights nothing? Did you get the speedo replaced.

Secondly, the Hemelyen, apart from being comfortable, any broken components?

Thank you!

Cheers!
VJ

[scarecrow]

Originally Posted by VijayAnand1

Let me tell you, it was so surreal reading through the tale. But, call me greedy, halfway through it, I just skipped to last to read how the bikes handled. It's neat of you to epilogue as to how the bike performed.

I have two questions regarding the Duke? The speedo conked off, did it rectify itself again. Part of the display went off or the whole display, no warning lights nothing? Did you get the speedo replaced.

Secondly, the Hemelyen, apart from being comfortable, any broken components?

Thank you!

Cheers!
VJ

No issues, i knew that would be relevant, hence had already included it. Good thing was there were 3 different bikes, 3 different individuals and with 3 different types of electronics and luggage as well.

The speedo initially kept going off and coming on intermittently. After sometime it totally went off. I got it repaired when i gave the bike for servicing in Pune. The issue was narrowed down to the fog lights which i had installed, which were causing an issue. Removed the fog lights and post that i haven't faced any issues.

Nope, no broken components. The only issue with the Himalayan was the engine oil leak and one bent brake lever (post a parking time fall).