[low-key-wiz]

Prologue: The Ride That Almost Never Happened

This was my third attempt to reach Gaganachukki Falls on a solo ride. The first two attempts were solo as well, but I could never reach the destination.

The context here is that my Interceptor has been giving me engine start troubles. I would be cruising on the highways at 80–90 kmph, and all of a sudden, the engine would just give up. I would be stranded on the road for hours, waiting for RSA to come to my rescue. This happened twice in the last month. RSA would send a tow vehicle and take it to the nearest RE service center.

Now, don’t even get me started on the quality of work done in these service centers. The mechanics are overburdened and work to finish as many cases as possible, without caring whether the motorcycle is actually repaired. They disappointed me multiple times.

Finally, I decided to sell my motorcycle off and even got quotes from various dealers—I was that hopeless.

But then, one day, I got the idea to take it to a reputed garage with talented mechanics. I went to Asura Garage, and the guys there made my day. They did three things—changed the spark plugs to iridium ones, adjusted the rocker, and cleaned the throttle body.

After that, my Zephyr has not once disappointed me. I took her for a couple of shorter rides to gain confidence. The iridium spark plugs also changed the exhaust note a bit, and now it's even more melody to my ears.

Finally, I gathered enough courage, and on the auspicious day of 420, I made my third attempt to reach Gaganachukki Falls.


The first attempt – stranded in a village called Halasahalli. Took RSA 3 hours to reach, and another hour to tow Zephyr to the nearest service center in Ramanagar.

Ride Prep: The Night Before

For me, prepping for the ride is something I definitely look forward to. The prep starts the night before. Late evening, after wrapping up work, I started on Zephyr. Cleaned her, fed her, and took her out on a short ride around the society. The new exhaust note always brings a grin to my face. After warming up the engine, I kissed her goodbye and came home.

I took my gear (Rynox jacket, trousers, gloves, etc.) out from storage. I charged both my GoPros, charged spare batteries, and prepared my sling bag. I aim to finish as many tasks as I can before going to sleep so that I have little to do when I wake up, and I can spend some time chugging black coffee and hyping myself up before the ride.

After doing a quick gear check, I went to bed. Plan was to wake up at 4:30 AM and leave the house sharp at 6:00 AM.

Ride Morning: Suit up, Coffee, and the Open Road

I woke up even before the alarm could trigger. On ride days, I am cautiously active, and it takes me no time to get myself off the bed and into action. I tiptoed my way out of the bedroom (so as to not wake my wife up) and into my den. Within 20 minutes, I had the coffee brewing and was ready to suit up.

I was out of the door at 6:02 AM.

The route was simple. I would take the Kanakapura route and continue south on NH 948. After 70 kms or so, I would turn left into Halasahalli Road and drive to my destination.



First view of the day – just rolled out of my garage, the city still waking up.

On the Highway: Sun, Coco Trees and Open Roads

After the initial early morning traffic on Kanakapura Road, me and Zephyr were out on the open, wide highways. This is the ideal road condition where the twin engine truly shines.

There was the typical early morning coolness in the air. The sun was slowly climbing up on my left—it was like we were playing hide and seek, with the sun showing glimpses in between the abundant coconut trees along the countryside. It was looking so pretty that I decided to take a short break and click some photos.



After this quick break, I continued my journey. The new Kanakapura bypass road had recently been inaugurated, and it was an absolute delight riding on it. There was a bit of an elevated road after some time, which took me through a big boulevard of coconut plantations. It was one of those images that will stay rent-free in my head forever.

Arrival: Gaganachukki at Last

I reached my destination before 8:30 AM. I made good time on the road as I did not pass through any town. Also, I did not stop for breakfast, as I was not particularly hungry after the coffee. Not for food anyway. The thirst for adventure was being taken care of—and how!

As soon as I pulled into the place, I was surprised by the infrastructure being built. Though work was still ongoing, it looked like this was being touted as a proper tourist attraction. There was a foyer and stairs leading down to the waterfall.

There were very few tourists around—probably 3 or 4 groups. Some small hawkers and vendors were selling tea, coffee, and snacks. It was pretty calm around, but I’m not sure how it will be when the area opens up fully.

The falls themselves looked absolutely gorgeous. I was surprised at the water flow—even at the peak of summer, it hadn’t dried up. There was no way to go to the foot of the falls, though. After spending some time there, I started my return.


Made it! Zephyr parked with Gaganachukki Falls in the backdrop

The Return: Close Calls and Clean Runs

The return ride gave me a bit of a scare regarding the fuel tank. I had started my ride with 60% fuel and was hoping to find a Shell petrol pump in the latter half of the ride. I learnt the harsh way that Shell pumps are pretty rare once you’re outside Bangalore.

Add to that the disgusting unreliability of the fuel gauge on Interceptors, and I had my heart in my throat for some time on the return journey before I reached the highway. There was some off-roading and narrow empty roads for quite a while—and being stranded there would’ve been a nightmare.

But luckily, this did not transpire. I found a BP pump and re-fuelled.

After that, the ride was a breeze. Zephyr tore the wind and was straight as an arrow even at speeds of 120+ kmph. The highest I reached was 125 kmph, I think.

I decided to skip breakfast altogether and have brunch after reaching home. That allowed me to get back well before noon. And touchwood—the engine failure issues hadn’t once haunted me on this entire 200+ km ride.

I’m gaining more confidence with each passing ride that the guys at Asura did a fine job.

The next thing I’m going to try is aftermarket exhausts. I got closure on this ride, but I’m not even close to getting rid of Zephyr.

There are a lot of adventures still in store for us.

[SidTheChamp]

Nice. Brings back memories from 20 years back
I had gone to Gaganachukki and Badachukki that time. Gaganachukki could see from far but Badachukki was accessible, dipped into the nice river stream that formed just after the falls.

[low-key-wiz]

Wow! That was ages back. Bet there was more of nature and less of human back then

[rajeevsulu]

This write up brought back a lot of memories. I had been to the falls after the first lock down when restrictions were just lifted partially. The falls were beautiful at that point of time.

I am so surprised at the large number of Interceptor bikes that are facing issues like these. I have an Interceptor too but have been very lucky in the two years and a bit that I have owned the bike.

Some pictures that I clicked when I visited the falls then. This remains my only visit to the falls and brought back some nice memories.

Cheers