[pkumar]

Originally Posted by anujmishra

What was that Rs. 300 Traffic Fine at Jaipur? Was it no parking zone charge?

Oh, that was one incident i forgot to mention. We paid the parking fees at the City Palace parking and then i left my camera on top of the car roof and started driving. I had driven hardly 20-30 meters and just out of the palace gate, when a biker tapped on my car to remind me of camera on top.
Exactly at the same time there was these traffic cops also standing in front of the car, trying to show me the same thing.
Till now everything is fine, and i get down of the car to get the camera. It is then in these 10-20 seconds that the cop realizes he could extract some money.
He stops me and tells me that i was not wearing seat belt and thus a fine of 600 bucks.
I was very friendly with him and told him that i was wearing the belt, but my only wife was not. After sometime he got convinced and told 300/-.
we were talking nicely and i was telling him he was not doing a good thing by troubling tourists from outside. And he was joking to his colleague that "ham to apna kaam kar rahe hain, aur log kehte hain ki police public ko pareshan karti hai, hahaha." In this case was right in pointing out the voilation of rule, but i dont believe they enforce the seatbelt rule so seriously in Jaipur. Anyways.
Afte some nice talk and me making the government richer by 300 bucks(yes, he gave the receipt) we parted. While i am at all this, another traffic cop comes to my wife sitting inside the car and says "unko bolo ki camera car ke upar hi rakhe, pure jaipur ke bahut achha photo aayega".

[pkumar]

Originally Posted by ambivalent_98

Kumar , you truly "Live to Drive" !! Amazing photos and a very good travelogue.

Originally Posted by Majic

pvkumar, awesome, both the pictures and narration. Your driving of the last 24hours,1350km is something really commendable. Nice to hear that you didnt have any car problems on the way.Congrats to you for well enumerated travelogue, i just felt that i have visited all those places.Keep the good work going.Looking forward to hearing more from you!

Originally Posted by adc

pkumar, thats really a journey you should be proud of years to come, and kudos to your wife for enjoying the same - not many enjoy long hours in car and still love the travel.



Thats a very prudent and good self-analysed decision - all the qualities of a safe yet fast highway traveller. Fantastic. Five stars from me too!

Originally Posted by roamer

@pkumar..Amazing Travelogue!

It just feels like I am travelling on the same path, You have captured almost entire stretch of road!

Originally Posted by prince_pervez

Thats a very useful log. Thanks for putting it up.

Originally Posted by jealousdiamond

Thats pretty impressive and informative , you truly live to DRIVE

Thanks for sharing !!

Thanks you guys for so much appreciation.
But the most of the credit goes to wife also.
(1) For enjoying the travel as a non-driver and seldom geting tired or cribbing.
(2) For clicking all the photos on the move.
(3) For noting down the details on the log book, every few kms.

Originally Posted by deky

Really appreciate the time and effort that has gone thru this drive and then explicitly narrating to us with wonderful photographs.

Just a note for future references while visiting Amer Fort in Jaipur. The 3rd alternative to reach Amer fort is to drive your own vehicle right till the gate. There is a very narrow lane on the left side just after you cross the Elephant stand and the Jeep stand which will take you right till the top. This is an official road way and there is a nominal charge to use it ( I think Rs 20/- )

For those who dont want to spend 750/- bucks for an elephant ride at Amer can enjoy the ride at Chokhi Dhani for 20/- bucks. Obviously time permitting!!

I think the Jeep took us through the same road you mentioned. I was not sure about the degree of inclination of the road, so i thought of hiring the jeep rather than troubling my car. Yes you remember right, the entry charge was 20 bucks.
Thanks for the info about eh Elephant ride. i really wanted to go to Chokhi Dhani, may be next time.

Originally Posted by Indizen08

Very informative report of a very impressive drive.

Originally Posted by NFS2024

@pkumar - Thats a wonderful travelogue. Finished it in one go. Not sure how many people would have the ability or stamina or patience (call what you want) to do night drives and long distances like 1000+ kms at a stretch like you did. I for one don't think can do it. Hats off to you man

Thanks a lot.

[pkumar]

Originally Posted by sdp1975

@pkumar , if I'm not mistaken , I read in another thread that you have the ER60s fitted.

How would you rate these tyres now after the long drive? Handling, ride , grip , wet weather performance and so on. Would appreciate a detailed review.

Apologies for going off topic.

EDIT : Noticed the tyre review on the 9th page, would still like a detailed feedback from pkumar

The stock tyres were Bridgestone GPS2s tube-type and the current tyres are Bridgestone ER-60s tubeless. I got the tyres changed a month before the trip.
The reasons for going for change were
(1) tyres had already done 36k kms
(2) being tube-type there was a risk of blowout on puncture at high speeds. Didnt want that worry inside my head.
(3) i didnt want to waste time changing tyre when punctured, and then looking for puncture shop to repair.

After some research i narrowed down on Michelins and ER60s. My ride is often on bad roads, and i am not the kind who slows down a lot while driving on bad patches. I have a SUV mentality
Thus, i wanted a tyre which had all the good things like ride confort, handling, etc. but not at the cost of toughness. That is why i chose ER60 over michelin.

I upgraded the size to 185-70-13 from the stock 175-70-13. It cost me around 30xx/- per tyre, including balancing alignment. another 250/- for 5 valves.

Rolling resistance : The feel was amazing. It seemed like the tyres were just rolling with minimum throttle need. With this i got a chance to slightly change my driving style and use less accelerator peddle. Without compromising on the speed, i could see a gain of 5-10% mileage in city driving conditions, measured 2 consecutive times in 1 month.
I am not saying that the tyres caused the mileage increase, but it was the dirving style change that caused it. But i changed the style only because the tyres rolled on effotlessly enough to prompt me to use less throttle.

Handling : Handling was never a probelm with Ikon, but the new tyres it felt even more planted on the corners. Even more pace possible on the corners now.

Wet conditions : I drove several hundreds of kms in mild to very very heavy rain. Earlier the slippery surface would force me to drop the pace, in anticipation of reduced braking and aquaplaning. But now i realized that i did not have to drop the pace AT ALL. (except to compensate for reduced visibility).
Even braking on the wet road was very good and the increase in braking distance was minimum.

Braking : Everytime i braked, i appreciated the tyres. i was used to the crappy GPS2 tyres. When i had to apply sudden brakes on several occassions, i found myself smiling and happy. The car stopped like no Ikon should. I have forgot all stories about Ikon being bad on brakes, etc. It is a different matter that i almost always use engine braking earlier too, so did not have much trouble with bad Ikon brakes earlier also.
But now the wider tyres had amazing braking.
Once it happened that i was going on a deserted 4-lane stretch at 130 kind of speed. and suddenly noticed there is a intersection ahead and a bus is going to cross my 2 lanes. My reflexes were still on the older tyre setup, so i started pumping the brake hard and was in 2nd gear engine braking in no time. I thought it is either hitting the bus or will end very close.
But to my surprise the car stopped atleast 20-30 meters before. That was one moment when my belief was re-affiemed that the tyres are very important in determining how fast one can/should drive.

Bad roads : On karnataka bad roads, there were lot of big potholes. Orrisa roads very equally bad. Jharkhand interior roads were patchy. And Mumbai to Surat road was bumpy. I drove on all of them at speeds in excess of what was required. I felt the tyres were really absoring the the shocks more nicely than before.
It is too early to comment how long lasting the tyres would be with this kind of driving. I will have to wait another 10-20k kms to see that.


Please note that my comparison on all these parameters are in comparison to the GPS2 tyres, which is not a worthy competitor of ER60. I would not be able to compare it realistically, with reference to a Michelin or yokohama, for example.

[Fordmanchau]

Nice Kumar,
very good review of the tyres here. Did you get anything for your old tyres ? or any discounts on the new one?

[pkumar]

Originally Posted by Fordmanchau

Nice Kumar,
very good review of the tyres here. Did you get anything for your old tyres ? or any discounts on the new one?

The price of 30xx/- itself is a good deal i believe. The dealer is not supposed to sell it at this price, it is below the price point he has been asked to sell by Bridgestone.
For old tyres i got 800/- for all the tyres together. I could have haggled more to get 1000/- or 1200/- may be.

[iceman7]

Bravo PK!

Awesome trip details. I am sure you've had a rocking time. This thread will become a ready reckoner for many who are planning to do this route.

As for me, I am off to planting the idea of doing the GQ into my friends heads.

<----- 200th post

[sdp1975]

@pkumar , thank you so much for the details. It was really helpful to decide on the tyres for my new swift - I am leaning heavily towards the ER60 now based on your feedback.

Excellent travelogue, beautiful pictures from all over our country.

[sbala]

Bravo!! I got the feeling of travelling along with you all through the journey when i read this travelogue..

[Indizen08]

Interesting episode in Jaipur!

[tmnraghu78]

WOW! WOW! Just words cannot explain and appreciate this trip. I have done 2000 KM in 4 days and now I feel my trip does not have any value in front of this.
to you kumar. Its really amazing to have BHARAT DARSHAN in car. Few people like Swamy Narayan done on bare foot. Mahatma Gandhi done in train. Though I am not comparing with them, such trips definitely brings more realization, culture and more pride being an INDIAN.

Please provide your contact details so that I can call you and congratulate you.

I want to do the same on NH7 where my birth place, education town, career cities (blr & hyd) are on this highway and I am more attached with this highway. I believe this travelogue gave tonnes of motivation to do such things.

Thanks,
Raghu Lakshman

[roamingrao]

Congrats Kumar, you have achieved what we think we could just dream of doing ! It could be your trip of a lifetime but we wish you achieve more and share it with us !!

[Sea Cruiser]

That was an excellent log. It will be of immense help for me for my mumbai-delhi and return trip on 28-29 Sep (Mumbai-Delhi) and 09-10 Oct (return).

[sami316]

Hi,
This was one of the best travelogues that I have come across. Really well written and really awesome pictures, the credit for which should go to Bhabhiji. It was as if I was travelling along with you. I am planning a road trip like this for a long in my Scorpio in the coming months. Your trip log would be really handy. Thanks again.
PS: Even I stay in R.T. Nagar Bangalore.

[Akadian]

Wow, what a fantastic route to take. I've done half of it, that is, Bangalore to Delhi bit but in terms of distance that may not be half as there is a longer route on the other side of the quadrilateral. I'm sure you had a great time traversing all those roads. The pics look great

[Sea Cruiser]

Good narration. It was like as if we were travelling with you.