[VellVector]

Great Travelogue. I particularly liked the shirt you had embroidered for your ride.

[ariesonu]

Amazing travelogue and photos. Some pointers on hotels & places you stopped at & their pricing will help other riders.
In recent times the LEH & LADAKH had become controversial so some update on that will also help.
Can see hard that the hard suspension and long & rough drives, did give you some issue. How do you find the seat padding of Bonnie? IMO the cushioning should be increased for such rides & if you are there and an added inch in width will also go quite far.

Regards-Sonu

[pawan_pullarwar]

Originally Posted by Oreen

I saw someone called Pawan Pullarkar increase the ground clearance of the Bonnie by using Continental GT shocks.

Originally Posted by Sting

Oreen, i read about Pawan's changes too but did not go for the GT suspension for 2 reasons:

1. The yellow Paoili suspension did not look pleasing to the eye and it awkwardly raised the back seat a little
2. I was unsure how that would affect handling.

Believe me Pioli suspension is the best mods which Bonneville needs. You wouldn't regret, yes yellow spring doesn't go with the bike but it can be powder quoted to black. The only negative is they provides just 80mm travel, but sharp jerk which stock gives will be vanished and no more speed breaker scraping. This is current setup of my Bonneville.

Nice travelogue, this year I did Leh circuit in my Skoda Laura, next year I will ride my Bonneville.

[phamilyman]

Very good ride boss. Excellent photos telling a story, not just the usual leh photos which one has seen one too many times.

You've given me an idea for the future - whenever I do a trip there next, inshallah in 2016, if the wife wants to join, I'll ask her to fly down to Leh to avoid the long ride to get there!

[kilireddy0]

Nice travelogues like yours always inspire people to take a brake and step out from the daily grind. Thanks for sharing and inspiring. Nice ride by the way.

[batterylow]

Originally Posted by Oreen

I saw someone ca.........Thruxton has the max of the three.

My ER6n has 130 mm ground clearance, and still it touches the bad bumps if am riding with a pillion.

Originally Posted by Sting

Oreen, i read......ind the A3,gc numbers on their website, they don't talk about it!

Cheers,
Sting

Awesome stuff Sting.

It is true that 4 wheels move the body, 2 wheels move the soul.

Source.

[Sting]

Originally Posted by alpha1

Lovely photos!
and a nice travelogue.
The photos do give an impression of Kashmir being bright sunny and cool around this part of the year.

By the way did you do some kind of touching of the photo under "We would enjoy the morning sun and some tea:"

The building appears too well exposed considering the sunlit scene, as if you had bounced some light onto the building face!

Thanks Alplha1! All pictures in the travelogue are untouched and unedited. I have been too lazy to even crop some of them! To be honest, pictures don't do justice to the place. And Ladakh has been captured by professional photographers, I could hardly do justice to it with my Nikon DSLR.

What you see in the sunlit scene is how the reality was. In fact, that picture IIRC was clicked through my Microsoft phone and it was really that sunny and bright at that time of the day!

Originally Posted by VellVector

Great Travelogue. I particularly liked the shirt you had embroidered for your ride.

Thanks VellVecotor- I love that t shirt too!

Originally Posted by ariesonu

Amazing travelogue and photos. Some pointers on hotels & places you stopped at & their pricing will help other riders.
In recent times the LEH & LADAKH had become controversial so some update on that will also help.
Can see hard that the hard suspension and long & rough drives, did give you some issue. How do you find the seat padding of Bonnie? IMO the cushioning should be increased for such rides & if you are there and an added inch in width will also go quite far.

Regards-Sonu

Sure, will add the places and prices at the end of the travelogue. I'll include a separate section on the Bonneville and its performance (including the seat, spares to carry etc) on the Bonneville thread. I think there are quite a few things to share in that area.

Originally Posted by pawan_pullarwar

Believe me Pioli suspension is the best mods which Bonneville needs.

Nice travelogue, this year I did Leh circuit in my Skoda Laura, next year I will ride my Bonneville.

You've added quite a few farkles to your Bonneville, Pawan. I think it deserves a separate thread! The Bonneville delighted us to no end in Ladakh and I am sure it will be a similar experience for you too.

Originally Posted by phamilyman

Very good ride boss. Excellent photos telling a story, not just the usual leh photos which one has seen one too many times.
...

Glad you like them phamilyman. I've tried to keep the pics as real as possible. No pics or camera can do justice to the beauty of Ladakh anyway! Hope your dream materialises in 2016.. All the best!

Originally Posted by kilireddy0

Nice travelogues like yours always inspire people to take a brake and step out from the daily grind. Thanks for sharing and inspiring. Nice ride by the way.

Originally Posted by batterylow

Awesome stuff Sting.

Thanks Gentlemen!


Part III coming soon...

Cheers,
Sting

[batterylow]

Originally Posted by Sting

Part III


The wife decided to walk the rest of the rough patch. I heard something break; I think it was my self respect.




...contd

Love your narration interspersed with the witty one liners.

Please go on.

Edit
The driver in the Mahindra seems to be telling you not to take the picture!

[John Jacob13128]

Originally Posted by Sting

Part III




Came back to Leh and rested well.

The next day I did a few checkups and topped the oil. The tool set is for show only as I have no idea what I'll do with it in case of a breakdown:

...contd

Ha ha. Good narration Sting. I did a Manali- Leh last year and had the same thoughts when i was handed over the tool set by the rental guys.
Being a Mechanical Engineer and also being in the automotive industry I felt like Moose in Archie's , when the mechanic was explaining to me the various tools for I had no clue how to use them
Cheers !

[jkdas]

Awesome travelogue sting! I am still trying to figure out how you packed all those bags onto the bike!

By the way, Bonnie has 120mm ground clearance and Bullet's have 140.

[happy_traveller]

Beautiful narration Sting I have always loved the Bonnie since I was a kid. Got to ride it on b-roads in the UK last year - what an amazing machine. Loved your narration and the pics too - a dream ride for many !!

[FORTified]

Wow!!!!You had a DREAM trip, to say the least.
And you lead me into dreams and a trip down the memory lane.
We did this trip last year [Bangalore-Turtuk-Bangalore].
Still fresh in the memories.

[GTO]

Mod Note: The latest two updates have been moved to the first page (posts #3 & #4). Thanks for sharing .

[rangan]

Nostalgia!! I did this trip on my Bullet Electra in 2007...
no pictures do justice the beauty of the place. its a paradise.

Back then i had decided that i would come back with wify. Time to get her prepared and make a visit

[Snehal Sekhar]

While I am still waiting for you to complete your travelogue which has got me hooked, would you also update the monies involved (fuel, accommodation, food, permits etc.) for this trip. Reading this has got me seriously thinking of doing a similar trip next year at around the same time. Depending on the cost involved and the time required, I'll either do a Bangalore - Leh - Bangalore or a Delhi - Leh - Delhi on my Baron.