Mumbai - Bangalore Via Chiplun - Dec 20th & 21st 2008

Hey ..

A long overdue writeup on my return trip solo from bombay to bangalore

I was itching to do a long ride, as the last one was to goa, and then marriage and all happeend so short rides became the order of the day.

A friends wedding came up on Friday 19th Dec 08. Didnt have too much on the leave front as well, so had booked return tikcets by train for 21st. @ weeks prior enlightenment happened, and realised i could make it a bombay bangalore ride, and still not eat up on leave:D

Initial plan was to do the regular mumbai - pune - belgaum - blr route, but was informed by many that the roads are very good throughout, with an expressway sort of feel. My biggest fear is boredom on the roads. I have had one scary experience on the way to amritsar. Less said the better:D ..

So one of you suggested the Bangalore Chiplun Kolhapur road and more or less fixed on that. Greencarriers Shipped the bike to bombay for 2K ( thanks Yejaman for the contact) on 16th.

My cousin had picked up the bike and used it for a couple of days. Went to pick it up on firday afternoon (18th) from vikhroli. My god that place doesnt feel like a part of bombay at all!! Its so far out!! .. He got the bik eout of the gate and wham, suddenly gear lever became loose and wouldnt fall. Called my mech in bangalore, and he gave me a long widned procedure which i was very lazy to do. hunted for a mech and found one. The riveted link to the gear lever in the gear box had popped, and the link was bent. Fixed it and was soon on my way to Andheri.

Had to go to chembur for the wedding. And in effect this was the start of my journey. It took me 1.5 hours on the bike through unbelievable traffic to get to chembur.

For a punju wedding that begins at 2am, i was asleep by 11pm that night:D

Left Chembur at 6am on Saturday 20th Dec and was hunting fora morning cup of tea. Found it 175 kms away at a place called Mahad half way to chiplun.

Caught another buletteer on my way travelling back home to keral, and a pulsar 180 dude also going the same way.

The weather was awesome to ride in and after a good breakfast was on my way again. Reached Khed, about 20 kms before chiplun, and stopped at a very scenic part of the ghats. took a ocuple of pictures, and started the bike minus the ipod and was very surprised to hear a rough , harsh nosie coming from gearbox. Very unnerved, as i was travelling with most tools, except the all important allenkey! rode the bike in good faith and reach chiplun.

Was pretty famished, so had lunch at Hotel Abhishek, that came highly recommended. Started the bike again and now there was another symphony playing. along with the regular thump, and the now used to rough noise, there was a rhytmic pipsqueak sort of like a mouse being poked with sharp sticks. Couldnt find the mouse nor any source of engine noise. called my mech and he asked me to clean out the oil filtering unit under the seat and behind the tools box. Last time i did that was in goa, and involved removing seat and battery to get to this box and i was in no mood to do all that after heavy lunch!!!

Asked around for a Bullet Mechanic, and everyone seemed to have only one name in Chiplun - “Qamar Khan”. Finally found. One of the old timers in bullets, he simply started the bike heard it for two mins and shut if. He let the engine cool for about 10 mins, and then opened the gearbox side. The noise was becuase a part holding the gearshaft to the plate had come loose and was hitting the gears while the chain was in motion at slow speeds. he fit it back in due course and then heard the pipsqueak noise of the engine. Apparently the part which regulates are and fuel mixture, a couple of nuts had become loose mysteriously! .

Fitted that .heard his veteran stories of his experiences with the bullet. A half hour of chai, pictures of him with foreigners in days of yore, and a new direction to get to kolhapur i was on my road again! .

Another 150 odd km to Kolhapur, through Devgarh, sangmeshwar (village) and on to Malhapur. I found a german couple standing around with a worried look and 2 TBs. The guy was trying to get to a shop that sold bullet sparkplugs, but the villagers seemed content at gawking at two fully kitted goras and not doing much else:D

Spend one hour in helping them find a mechanic 15kms away. Reached Kolhapur only at 7:15pm.

Didnt feel like staying at Kolhappur with belgaum so close. Too the expressway to belgaum , and did the 100kms in 2 hours. Beautiful roads but had to thaw out my hands and other parts once i reached belgaum. Freezing. Reminded me of my trip to Chang La in the snow!!

Met a couple of friends in Belgaum, a great , but late dinner of butter chicken and garlic naan, and was dead to the world by 1am!

Left belgaum at 8am thinking i should complete the next 500km leg in 10 - 12 hours. The road however had other plans.
Brilliant roads, no stopping at toll booths, very less traffic, found me in bangalore at 4:30pm!! .

The only bad stretch was b/w Haveri and chitradurga. Rest all the needle was pointing north and my wrist was pointing south.

The Best part of the trip were the ghat sections upto Kolhapur. Brilliant Foot peg scraping, curves. Very proud of my first really scraped foot peg:D .. Thanks to Dosai, Chief and Katz for the little bit of training