[Rahulkool]

Originally Posted by ElantraGT

A trip to Mumbai and back.. boy this is going to be a interesting travelougue.

Thanks man ......

Originally Posted by MX6

Small query. Is it legal to have the number plate like your's in front? I mean this is the first time I'm seeing the number plate moved to a side and made smaller.
If it is legal, I'd like to move mine to the back side of the rear view mirror

No its not legal i guess, but again its India. I have been once caught in bangalore paid 100rs fine. In channai i do what bottle has said below.

Originally Posted by clevermax

Long solo drive in a hot hatch! Man I envy you

Solo drives are the best! I don't like it when one more driver is waiting to drive, the thought of giving the wheel to the other guy always spoils the fun of driving

Even if i am driving with someone i hate to let them drive specially on highways.

Originally Posted by bottle

Its not legal but he has a pair of regular plates in the boot which he shows to the cops and gets off

Hehe, now you know.

Originally Posted by planet_rocker

for a moment - i had a hard time locating the wind mills in the pics (actually i was trying to check the speedo) Lovely travelogue, Rahul.

Rated 5 stars before reading the first post

a small review of the tyres as well??

Thanks buddy, Tyres hold up good hehe.

Originally Posted by Nikhilb2008

oh yeah!! Write an official review of the tyres re.... These tyres that you love so much and you've bought 12 of them in 2 years!

rofl ....

Originally Posted by MAS

This is one hell of a road-trip. It would be a "dream-come-true" trip if i make it. The longest i have done is Chennai-Erode-Chennai in a day (just like aargee), but Chennai-Mumbai-Chennai "in-a-day" is something i do every 15 days. Apart from the strain, i get good points on my Frequent Flier

Awaiting the details and photos of the rest of your trip

Thanks buddy

Originally Posted by scopriobharath

Excellent Man, Keep the travellougue coming - I too went for a Bangalore-Chennai solo on a Thunderbird during October 2006

I have also done on my karizma, but GQ is not the place to ride on these bike IMO, you are mostly going flat out. I think old road would be better for bikes.

Originally Posted by ampere

Nice. Where was it raining? The weather looks ideal!

Somewhere after bangalore, don't know exactly.

Originally Posted by MX6

Chitradurga to Ranebennur is not that horrible. Reading this makes me wonder whether you did this trip this year in May.
I didn't do any off-roading during my drive in January. The only village (town) we enter happens to be Ranebennur. And there's a bye-pass for that too which I believe is complete now. I'm surprised that you had to take out the GPS to figure out how to get back to GQ.
The road from Hubli to Dharwad is two lane. But you can easily keep speeds of 90 - 100 in that stretch. There are two toll booths for your convenience (hubli as well as dharwad). You could have asked the toll guys for the nearest fuel station on NH4. Anyway, that's for posterity.

I did this trip this year only hehe, I think i have been spoilt by the road on TN then. Here even if some contruction is going on a proper diversion is made rather than a make shift road. Yeah hubli to Dharwad was good stretch i am not complaining .

[bottle]

why do you have a towel on the dashboard ? wont it reflect onto the windscreen?

i envy you really, I did the mumbai-pune route by bus for a year during weekends and always wanted to drive as well

[planet_rocker]

^ it is reflecting on the windscreen - atleast in the pics!

Any problem with cops at inter-state borders?

[Rahulkool]

Originally Posted by bottle

why do you have a towel on the dashboard ? wont it reflect onto the windscreen?

i envy you really, I did the mumbai-pune route by bus for a year during weekends and always wanted to drive as well

Originally Posted by planet_rocker

^ it is reflecting on the windscreen - atleast in the pics!

Any problem with cops at inter-state borders?

No it wasn't and i was wearing sunglasses so reflection was almost nill. only after coming back home and looking at the pics i noticed it.

I was afraid of cops and all but was never stopped anywhere. I had all the toll receipts and fuel bill with me incase anything goes wrong.

[LongDrive lover]

Originally Posted by MX6

Chitradurga to Ranebennur is not that horrible. Reading this makes me wonder whether you did this trip this year in May.
I didn't do any off-roading during my drive in January. The only village (town) we enter happens to be Ranebennur. And there's a bye-pass for that too which I believe is complete now. I'm surprised that you had to take out the GPS to figure out how to get back to GQ.

Though I have not been to that route, yet, I too was surprised reading that 125 kms of horrifying experience on NH 4!

[sameer sultan]

so many have said that its their dream drive. Chennai-Mumbai-Chennai. Add 1 more person to that list!

You are one lucky guy to have the freedom to decide in a split second. Congrats.

Can you describe the roads between Belgaum and Pune.

Looking forward to your posts. I like the timeline. cheers

[neoranjit]

Rahul, next time, ping me before you leave. If not for the drive, I could atleast shoot pics Lucky you

[Rahulkool]

@LongDrive lover Maybe it was less than 125kms, i was not logging so not remember correctly.



Anyways the heating problem was still there in car and temp meter will move 2-3mm up if i did fast driving say shifting around 6k rpm or in very slow moving traffic.

So i posted the thread on Tbhp. With suggestions of few Bhpian went to wasan motors. Now the fun starts lol

I parked the car inside and went to the recepetion.

I was asked to talk guy mr A who handles Fiat. Went to him he said to wait for 5 mins without asking anything. why i am here or which car ?
after 10 mins i went to his place, hes doing sms on his mobile i asked him again. Then he says to wait in the lounge and he will call me. I wanted to get the problem sorted out as soon as possible so i kept my cool.
Again i went to him 20mins back hes not at his place. Back to lounge, one girl comes asking for coffee cold drink etc. I told her that i want to get my car repaired, if she can provide me that it will be really nice(mu exact words). after 10 mins Mr A comes back with two guys and ask me to show the problem. After little talks he is missing again, i asked the mechanics is it required to open the bumper ? how much time it will take. They said 1 hours max.

Then after 10 mins Mr. A comes back and says its not possible today as they are running short on manpower. I told him the complete problem that i have to drive back to chennai and i don't have much time to leave the car.

Then he says he will be back with another electrician, this guy says it will take at least 2-3 hours. so i say ok whats the problem. Then Mr A says again they don't have manpower. I lost it then, i asked if i should recruit some people for him.

All this has taken almost 1 hours and its not 4:30, if the car had taken in when i came it would have been done easily.

Then after 10 mins Mr A comes starts the car and revs it to 5k rpm keeping it constant. i thot this stupidity will end soon, but after few second i went to him and told you are supposed to rev a standing car like this. he replies back that this is the way they chk the car for overheating.

I just asked him to come out of the car, closed the bonnet and drove away.

So much for Tata-Fiat stupidity :@


While coming back saw one private car repair shop, asked the guy he just told me that they do not touch palio if its running well and suggest me the same thing.

Went to another place, put the car on ramp and removed some more bit from the fan, as much as i can and left it on the car lol.

Originally Posted by sameer sultan

so many have said that its their dream drive. Chennai-Mumbai-Chennai. Add 1 more person to that list!

You are one lucky guy to have the freedom to decide in a split second. Congrats.

Can you describe the roads between Belgaum and Pune.

Looking forward to your posts. I like the timeline. cheers

Thanks man, Belgaum to Pune road were excellent IIRC. Good scenery.

Originally Posted by neoranjit

Rahul, next time, ping me before you leave. If not for the drive, I could atleast shoot pics Lucky you

I had no idea mate that you will be interested. if only i had planned it before, but again these trip never happen if you starts planning hehe
Next time sure thing

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by MX6

Chitradurga to Ranebennur is not that horrible.

. During my recent Blr-Pune-Blr in April, I had found major improvements in the bad sections between Chitradurga and Bankapura. Ranibennur bypass is almost done but not sure when It would be throw open (unofficially).

Originally Posted by MX6

The road from Hubli to Dharwad is two lane. But you can easily keep speeds of 90 - 100 in that stretch. There are two toll booths for your convenience (hubli as well as dharwad). You could have asked the toll guys for the nearest fuel station on NH4. Anyway, that's for posterity.

As a matter of fact, right after 4-5 Kms from the Dharwad exit of the bypass there are atleast 2-3 fuel stations on the left hand side. If specific about Shell on NH4, IIRC there is one in Davanagere town and 2 in Hubli (one on the Old NH4 passing through the city itself). But again, It would be senseless to enter Hubli and pass through the city towards Dharwad since most of us know that there is a very strict speed limit of 40kmph between Hubli and Dharwad (amlost 25kms) and there is every chance that a newbie on this stretch would get challaned for "Overspeeding" like I did wayback in 2008!

Especially for Blr-Pune updates, there are many who keep travelling over this stretch and come back with the latest road conditions on this thread below:

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...adtrip-37.html

I am driving on 4th June to Pune from BLR (first time with my new born)and wish I would be the one to sail through the Ranibennur bypass and share the good news with you folks.

I had driven solo to Blr and back to Pune sometime during last year and incidentally I had to brave the worst rains all the way from Belgaum till Bankapura and only realised upon reaching home in the night that the same rains had caused the flood fury in north Kranataka.

[ranjith.rajaram]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

I am driving on 4th June to Pune from BLR (first time with my new born)and wish I would be the one to sail through the Ranibennur bypass and share the good news with you folks.

Hey paragsachania, do PM as on how the stretch is ? As I am travelling on June 13th. Thanks in Advance.

@ Rahulkool - How did you take that pics, One hand on the wheel and one hand on the Camera .... , thats risky buddy.

[Chevy_lover]

Originally Posted by MX6

Chitradurga to Ranebennur is not that horrible. Reading this makes me wonder whether you did this trip this year in May.
I didn't do any off-roading during my drive in January. The only village (town) we enter happens to be Ranebennur. And there's a bye-pass for that too which I believe is complete now. I'm surprised that you had to take out the GPS to figure out how to get back to GQ.
The road from Hubli to Dharwad is two lane. But you can easily keep speeds of 90 - 100 in that stretch. There are two toll booths for your convenience (hubli as well as dharwad). You could have asked the toll guys for the nearest fuel station on NH4. Anyway, that's for posterity.

I completely agree with what MX6 said. I just returned from a trip to Ooty and Velankanni. I drove through Chitradurga and also Ranebennur town. I did that stretch two weeks back. I did the same stretch last September too. So I know the difference. There has been a tremendous improvement so far.

125 kms of bad road? I am shocked ! There is only about 15 - 20 kilometres of driving through Ranebennur. There is a railway crossing. The drive through Ranebennur this time, was not too time consuming like last year! There are about 15 -20 diversions. That's all!

The Ranebennur bypass is complete. They are adding the final touches, I believe!

[aargee]

Originally Posted by MAS

but Chennai-Mumbai-Chennai "in-a-day" is something i do every 15 days.

When I read the above I was like

But then

Apart from the strain, i get good points on my Frequent Flier

made me

@Rahul - waiting to hear from you more on the return trip. Did you finish the Chennai-Mumbai-Chennai run in the weekend?

[MX6]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

I am driving on 4th June to Pune from BLR (first time with my new born)and wish I would be the one to sail through the Ranibennur bypass and share the good news with you folks.

I had driven solo to Blr and back to Pune sometime during last year and incidentally I had to brave the worst rains all the way from Belgaum till Bankapura and only realised upon reaching home in the night that the same rains had caused the flood fury in north Kranataka.

Cool. How old is your new born?
I remember the flood fury in North Karnataka and AP (Mantralayam was drowned and they had to airlift the priest with the moola rama). Incidentally I drove pune - hubli - yellapura - sirsi - jog - sagara - anandapuram - hosanagara - hebri - manipa - udupi - someshwara - agumbe - thirthahalli - shimoga - hubli - pune when it was pouring like mad.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by MX6

Cool. How old is your new born?
I remember the flood fury in North Karnataka and AP (Mantralayam was drowned and they had to airlift the priest with the moola rama). Incidentally I drove pune - hubli - yellapura - sirsi - jog - sagara - anandapuram - hosanagara - hebri - manipa - udupi - someshwara - agumbe - thirthahalli - shimoga - hubli - pune when it was pouring like mad.

She's doing good and will just be 3 months old when we travel. Pune-Bangalore-Pune has been so happening since the past one year that it doesnt need major planning or thinking since the demographies in terms of traffic behaviour or road conditions over the whole stretch is now experienced very well.

However, like I said, this will be my first drive along with our new family member and hence I am already planning buying baby seat and 'et al to make her comfortable. She took the Rajkot-Ahmedabad drive on the last weekend pretty well.

Yes, the drive through the flooding rains was a day I will never forget. Higher flying costs, Non availability of Front seats in the Volvo (am 6'3") kind of made me decide to drive all alone that time. It was different experience that I was the Boss to decide whether I should take a break or not. The rains ensured that I couldnt even get out to pee all the way from Belgaum to Bankapura!! Couldn't even spot/locate anything by the roadside due to the dusk and the rain fury.

With Wipers in the fastest positions, Hazard Indicators and headlamps ON, bad visibilty ensured that I could seldom cross 60kmph. The beautiful section of Belgaum to Dharwad entry was full of water and at times the drive was scary indeed when the car cut through the waters on the road (aquaplaning indeed).

Danger zone was the Dharwad-Hubli bypass which was submerged (almost a foot or more) and the toll attendants were unaware of this. I paid the toll, moved forward for a few kms to see the road submerged. Judging the oncoming trucks by the dept of the tyres in water, I almost risked and managed to move over in the same line to the other side in 1st gear and came out unscatched!!

I'll PM you for some tips on travelling with an Infant since I am glued to your log on the trip you did to Kerala.

Apart from my regular updates on the "Mumbai-Bangalore Roadtrip" thread, this time I intend to come up with a detailed travelogue since I am planning Kolhapur (Mahalakshmi), Shirdi and Mumbai as well.

[MX6]

Yeah. I can't forget my trip either. I experienced the same. Aquaplaning, roads submerged, wipers doing over time. But I decided to take a break in Hubli and stayed in a hotel just a few kms off the NH4. Did the Hubli - udupi stretch the next morning.
The third evening, it was a non stop drive from Udupi back to pune (over night), but the water on the highway had receded by then.
Feel free to PM me for anything.