[pjbiju]

Thanks everyone for the kind words of appreciation and encouragement. If it were not for Team-Bhp, I may never have undertaken such a long trip with my family by car.

Originally Posted by vkochar

Ditto !! Same here, I have a verna Crdi since the last 7 months and I have no ICE.

I use my Sony network Walkman or my newly acquired Xperia to listen to Music if I am on the highways.

Very well written travelogue.

I hope we are not banned because we have no ICE in our cars. My wife uses her cellphone to listen to songs, since I am not ICEing the car.

Originally Posted by emkay456

Nice report, good to see that you got a mileage of 16+ with 100% AC !!

Please give the total cost of the list of accessories that you have mentioned.

I will let you know the total cost - I will need to dig up some old papers to get that. So give me a couple of days.

Originally Posted by sparkguy

Preparation part was very elaborate (Cylinder of oxygen is the only thing missing :-) )
Photograph of sunflower is excellent and if you permit I wish to use the same as my desktop background.
I also wish to know the cost of tools you purchased and specially Cobra Magnum pepper spray, Car Lamp, tubeless tyre puncture repair kit, Tyre pressure gauge Accutire and Tyre pump.Have you got a chance to use any of them?

Please feel free to use any photograph that you want. If you search the forum a little you will find much better photographs of sunflowers. My flowers can then be thrown into the Recycle Bin. I will give the cost break-up in a couple of days. I have used the tyre puncture kit twice already. Ever since I bought the pressure gauge and pump, I have never inflated tyres from fuel stations.

Originally Posted by Technocrat

Wow thats one nice Trip & an interesting Trip Log

I was wondering if you ever did that trip

I am glad I could of help (Btw I did Pune-Bhopal :-))

Any more long trips planned?

I did Pune-Bangalore-Mysore-Ooty-Kotagiri-Ooty-Mysore-Bangalore-Pune a couple of weeks back. That's for another travelogue coming up.

[mobike008]

Very detailed report. I can never bring myself to carry any safety equipement ( like a pepper can) when i travel by road.

Like the pictures with those broad black borders and the tone of the pictures look quite nice. I am assuming taken during late evening. Btw, what was the color balance setting?

[akroy]

Nice pics and report there pjbiju, I too keep more psi on highways (2 psi more). The tyre will have lesser flexing and hence lower heat generation. When is your Ooty log coming?

Anyway you have already mentioned the funda. ok, just saw it.

Abhi

[pjbiju]

Originally Posted by mobike008

Very detailed report. I can never bring myself to carry any safety equipement ( like a pepper can) when i travel by road.

I hope I will never have to use the pepper spray. The caution sheet accompanying the product itself is quite scary to read. So I am not sure what the after effects of using the spray would be. I bought them because of certain incidents that happened to some people I know.

Originally Posted by mobike008

Like the pictures with those broad black borders and the tone of the pictures look quite nice. I am assuming taken during late evening. Btw, what was the color balance setting?

The car pictures were taken during early morning. The only balance setting that I used was to keep myself balanced, so that I did not fall while taking the pictures.

I still use a film SLR.

[HappyWheels]

Biju,
Nice travelogue.

With respect to the over-inflating tire, even I had the general understanding as most of the rest. Never knew that over-inflating for long drives is recommended.

I actually thought that over-inflating will lead to more expansion and hence chance of bursting, but never that it is the way to do! Thanks for the eye-opener!

[pjbiju]

1. Open ended spanner set (JK) - 319.00
2. Ring spanner set (JK) - 452.00
3. 12" adjustable wrench (JK) - 175.00
4. Carpenter's pincer (JK) - 87.00
5. Long flat screw driver (JK) - 31.00

All of the above where bought at Home Town and I got discounts of around 20%. The cost given above is after the discount.

I am giving the approximate cost of items below. I cannot find the original bills

1. Air Pump (Durabuilt) - $25.00 (from Walmart/Target)
2. Acutire pressure gauge model MS-4350B - $15.00 (Target stores)
3. Tubeless tyre repair kit - $15.00 (from Walmart/Target)

All in all I would have spent close to Rs. 5000.00 for all the tools/equipment I have put together.

I have also now fitted my car with Hella Supertone Red Grill horn. It cost me Rs. 1350 including the relay and fitting charges.

[arin_12]

What a details report man ? How do you manage to maintain such details

[ptushar]

Originally Posted by pjbiju

• 1 Car Lamp - car battery powered
• Tubeless tyre puncture repair kit
• Tyre pressure gauge - Accutire
• Tyre pump - car battery operated - Durabuilt

pjbiju, did you buy these in Pune (or Mumbai)? If yes, can you let me know where you bought these from?

[pjbiju]

Originally Posted by ptushar

pjbiju, did you buy these in Pune (or Mumbai)? If yes, can you let me know where you bought these from?

Lamp
The battery operated Lamp was bought from one of the Maruti dealers. It looks like this - http://www.marutiswift.com/images/ac...9000M99196.jpg. I would suggesting getting an LED flashlight also.

Tubeless Tyre Repair Kit
You should be able to get the tubeless tyre repair kit at any of accessory shops like Bhandari Auto (JM Road). They are also available as MGA at Maruti dealerships. You can use that. I had got mine from the US. You may also get it from Nanapeth and perhaps at some of the bigger tyre shops. But you should go to a tyre repair shop (again bigger ones if possible) to see how they are used. I think there is also a pictorial guide here on team-bhp about how to repair a puncture in a tubeless tyre. Let me see if I can find the link. - Here you are - http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/tyre-a...-puncture.html

Tyre Pressure Gauge
I had got mine from the US. But I have again seen them at Maruti Dealers (Wonder Cars in my case) - both digital and analog ones. So you should get them at any of the big accessory shops.

Pump
Again I got mine from the US. But they are available at most of the accessory shops like Bhandari Auto etc. See if you get any Taiwan make. They are better than the Chinese ones. Most of them come with pressure gauges but do not depend on them. Michelin also has double-barreled foot pumps and battery operated pumps that cuts itself off at preselected pressure values. See if they are available at any of the Michelin tyre outlets. That should cost quite a bit more; but will be of better quality.

-Biju

[siedo]

Hey any idea about the route to indore from aurangabad which goes through dhuliya &mostly used by the tourist buses

[asethi]

Originally Posted by pjbiju

Inspiration
In MP, you will be slowed down by the speed breakers and in Maharashtra there are warning signs before every village. We encountered only one pair of speed breakers in Maharashtra. They were on both the sides of a railway crossing between Aurangabad and Ajanta and were unmarked.

Come to Bangalore and you won't miss any of them! You will find speed breaker in every nook and corner of the city. I know one road that has 18 speed breaker in a 3km stretch!
Even highways aren't spared, you'll unknowingly hit one while doing 90kmph! I've done that quite a number of times, and experience brief flight in my car!

[ptushar]

Originally Posted by pjbiju

Tyre Pressure Gauge
I had got mine from the US. But I have again seen them at Maruti Dealers (Wonder Cars in my case) - both digital and analog ones. So you should get them at any of the big accessory shops.

Pump
Again I got mine from the US. But they are available at most of the accessory shops like Bhandari Auto etc. See if you get any Taiwan make. They are better than the Chinese ones. Most of them come with pressure gauges but do not depend on them. Michelin also has double-barreled foot pumps and battery operated pumps that cuts itself off at preselected pressure values. See if they are available at any of the Michelin tyre outlets. That should cost quite a bit more; but will be of better quality.

-Biju

Thanks for your help. I plan to explore Nana peth this Saturday and buy these. Maybe the lamp I will buy from a Maruti dealer.
Incidentally I visited the CARAX showroom on near Balewadi. Its fantastic. Unfortunately they did not have the above, but they do have a good collection of car seats and audio/video equipment. In fact they have separate rooms with a setup of a car interior to experience the audio/video equipment. I thought that was innovative.

Originally Posted by asethi

Come to Bangalore and you won't miss any of them! You will find speed breaker in every nook and corner of the city. I know one road that has 18 speed breaker in a 3km stretch!
Even highways aren't spared, you'll unknowingly hit one while doing 90kmph! I've done that quite a number of times, and experience brief flight in my car!

Yup. Been there, done that. Incidentally, these are not speed breakers. They are designed as part of a government employment program to provide adequate employment in garages. I have driven my Matiz on these hills-on-the-road and I can assure you that I experienced zero gravity for a brief instance.

[pjbiju]

I did this trip again in Oct 2009. The roads are still good. The speed breakers are still there. The road between Jamner and Muktainagar has large potholes at many places. There is some repair work being carried out on that section. 4-laning between Pune and Ahmadnagar is mostly done. I hope by next year it would be complete.

[Wanderer78]

Great report Biju. Thanks a lot. Hope you enjoyed chappan dukan at Indore. I plan to drive down to Indore next week, so your updates come in handy . Btw, Burhanpur - Khandwa - Indore route is better now ? Last time we were there, it was horrible .

[pjbiju]

I did Pune - Indore - Pune again during this Diwali

Pune-Indore

• Date: Saturday, 30-Oct-2010
• Vehicle: Maruti Swift VXi (2006 model)
• Route Taken: Pune-Nashik-Dhule-Indore
• Departure: 5:00 a.m.
• Arrival: 6:40 p.m.
• Break Time: 1 hour 30 minutes (Breakfast, nature breaks, fuel break, police check near Indore)
• Driving Time: 12 hours 10 minutes
• Distance: 632.9 km
• Average (Pune-Nashik): 17.17 kmpl
• Average (Nashik-Indore, including 65 km of local Indore running): 14.26 kmpl

Road Information

• Pune-Nashik: Two-lane road. Bad and patchy roads till Sangamner. Good roads after Sangamner
• Nashik-Dhule: Four-lane road under construction for the first 50-55 km. Completed Four-lane road for the last 90-100 km.
• Dhule-Sendhwa: Mostly two-lane road. Roads in good condition.
• Sendhwa-Indore: Four-lane road under construction until Dhamnod. Excellent four-lane road from Dhamnod till Indore.

Hundreds of long trailers and trucks along NH3. It is a pain overtaking those trucks. 3-4 bridges through which only one truck can pass at a time. You can get held up for a long time in Sendhwa ghat. MP Police stopping trucks at the border, begging for alms. Trucks, tractors, 2-wheelers hurtling towards you through the fast lane on the wrong side of the dividers in MP. Once the Four-laning is completed between Nashik & Indore, this would be an awesome route to go to Indore. But it might take another 2-3 years before the four-laning is completed.

Police Chek
After we crossed MHOW using the bypass we came to the bypass/Pithampur junction before Rau. The police stopped us. A couple of them were on the road next to the police barricades. Two of them were sitting in a jeep smoking.
They asked me questions like "Where are you coming from? Where are you going? What is the purpose? What is your name? etc." Then they asked for the papers of the vehicle. Noted down my Pune address in their register and then let me go. No bribes. The only excuse they would have had is "Since you are carrying all the papers, pay us a fine of Rs. 100"

-Biju

p.s. Return trip info in my next post.