Originally Posted by ku69rd

Fantastic Sir, welcome back

Thanks, Mahesh.

Hopefully you will be putting up a detailed write up of your ride?

Sure. After recovering from the stress and strain.

Honestly after you have done the GQ, this seems to be a vagabond's ride

This ride across India is more hectic and tougher than the GQ. Also, my bird didn't get serviced en route. Only oil top-up and chain lubrication done by self. That way, this ride is unique for me and my bird!

Here is a selfie, showing my sun-burnt wrist that I noticed after reaching Dalhousie, HP. The heat was unbearable, while riding Yamuna Expressway and Delhi.



I had similar experience, when I rode the Golden Quadrilateral during February 2016.

[ku69rd]

Originally Posted by J.Ravi

I had similar experience, when I rode the Golden Quadrilateral during February 2016.

Chief,
Not a good sign at all, why don't you consider the TRG2 Cramster Gloves?
They are full gauntlet and very good.

http://www.cramster.in/products/cram...-11112108.aspx

Have put in the link for your reference.

This was how Blue Bird reached Dalhousie: TN>KA>AP>TS>MH>MP>UP>RJ>DL>HR>PB>HP

Originally Posted by J.Ravi

she visited 15 states and UT, viz., TN, PY, KA, KL, AP, OD, WB, JH, BR, UP, DL, HR, RJ, GJ and MH.

Adding 4 more states, viz., TS, MP, PB & HP, the total becomes 19 states and UT.

[ku69rd]

Originally Posted by J.Ravi

the total becomes 19 states and UT.

Pended with Seven sisters now? When is it on the cards?

The first three stays upto Dalhousie were reserved one month before I started my ride. From Dalhousie, as I was not sure of my further ride in J&K due to the situation in Kashmir, I didn't reserve any accommodation at Srinagar, although I had selected a home-stay and saved that place in my navigator. Ultimately, I cancelled any further ride beyond Dalhousie and started returning home. While checking my mails at Jaipur, I was pleasantly surprised to find an exclusive discount coupon from makemytrip.com in my inbox, which I immediately utilized to book my next stay at Nagpur, costing just ₹ 313 with a buffet breakfast thrown in!
______________________________________

Originally Posted by ku69rd

Pended with Seven sisters now? When is it on the cards?

Maybe, in 2017!

During my homeward ride, the LHS LED lamp's clamp got broken a few km before Hyderabad in the evening. I somehow tied it with the available threads and rubber bands and continued my ride to Bangalore with LED lamps switched on, but the broken LHS one was shaking here and there. The same thing happened to the RHS one near Kolhapur during my Golden Quadrilateral ride in February 2016. Today, I removed the clamp, visited the friendly neighbourhood welder, got it welded at a cost of ₹ 40 and fixed it back.











Now, Blue Bird is ready for the final lap of Bangalore-Chennai in another few days.

[P.S.]

Final lap? Of this journey sir or are you changing bikes?

Originally Posted by P.S.

Final lap? Of this journey sir or are you changing bikes?

This ride across India started from Chennai and will end in Chennai. I don't have any immediate plans of divorcing my bird.

[slicvic]

Originally Posted by J.Ravi

During my homeward ride, the LHS LED lamp's clamp got broken a few km before Hyderabad in the evening. I somehow tied it with the available threads and rubber bands and continued my ride to Bangalore with LED lamps switched on, but the broken LHS one was shaking here and there.

Add cable ties of varying length to your kit when travelling. They are a lifesaver. The vibrations of whatever is tied will be lesser compared to thread and rubber band too.

Yesterday, Blue Bird reached its official nest amidst torrential rains after completing the ride across India of 6,524 km in 123 hours over 13 days without any problems like puncture/breakdown/accident/falling down/harassment from cops/RTO, etc. This time, I didn't do any servicing other than one oil top-up and three chain lubrication during the ride.



Due to tensions at Attibele border due to Cauvery waters issue, I took a different route this time: Kolar>Bethamangala>Venkatagirikota>Guidyatham>Pall ikonda, which was supposed to the shortest route to Chennai, but time-consuming as the roads go through the towns and villages in KA, AP and TN. Works were in progress on many stretches from Kolar to Bethamangala. Then onwards, the roads were bad. From Venkatagirikota, the roads were good, but narrow. The Tamil Nadu roads were very good. I enjoyed riding the ghat sections in TN.







After entering TN, a police squad was checking all the vehicles entering TN. I too was stopped and asked to produce the documents. I came to the shoulder, parked the bird, removed my gloves and helmet and took out the document folder from the tank bag. At this time, the constable asked me, where from and where to, and I replied. Immediately, he informed his superiors that I had all the documents without seeing them and asked me to proceed!





Torrential rains lashed out at Kolar and Sunguvarchattiram to Chennai, which delayed my ride time, aided and abetted by the notorious Bangalore's traffic jams. I had my dinner at A2B, Arcot bypass before getting caught in the rains, which continued until I reached home.

After reaching Dalhousie at 1 am on 10 Sep 2016 [Saturday], I took complete rest and didn't visit any places nearby as I had visited them twice a coupla year ago. In the evening, I came down, visited the parking lot at the nearby Dalhousie Club, where my Thunderbird 500 was parked, checked its health and found to be okay. Then, walked to the bus stand in front and enquired with a driver of a HPRTC bus about the running of Killar-Chamba bus service. He replied in negative and informed me that due to bad road conditions, the bus service was stopped since a few days. Only some two-wheelers, LMV and LCV were going on that road. That was the first negative news I received. My tiredness and fatigue did not go away even after a day's complete rest. So, I asked at the hotel reception, whether I could extend my stay by one more day for Sunday. But, I was told that due to weekend rush, they were full. The Kashmir situation also did not improve. With all the negatives surrounding me, I decided to play safe by cancelling any further ride beyond Dalhousie. So, Sach Pass, Cliffhanger Road, Srinagar and Leh were cancelled.



After sumptuous and delicious buffet breakfast on 11 Sep 2016 [Sunday], I left Dalhousie at 10:45 am to Jaipur via Hussainiwala Border near Ferozepur, PB. The ghat road was bad and rough until I reached Pathankot, after which, it was an excellent 4-lane NH upto Amritsar bypass, then onwards, good 2-lane NH with heavy traffic with works in progress on many stretches until I reached Ferozepur.





The heat was unbearable after Pathankot. My lunch comprised 2 glasses of sweet lassi only! When I reached Hussainiwala Border, it was almost 6 pm in the evening after riding 335 km. I parked Thunderbird 500 at the dedicated parking lot, slightly away from the security gate. The parking attendants became curious after seeing the registration number plate of my bird. They volunteered and suggested that I leave all the luggage on the bike itself and they would take care of them since it was already late. With half mind, I left the place after paying the parking fee of ₹ 10, collected the ticket, went to the security gate, entered my personal details on a register, collected a chit bearing the serial number of my personal details in the register, which I had to hand over when returning and started walking towards the viewers gallery, which was about 1 km from the security gate.













I did not avail of the battery-operated vehicle that transported the needy persons to and fro the viewers gallery. When I arrived at the viewers gallery, the parade just then started. In the confusion, I left my Sony Cybershot camera in the tank bag, which was kept on my bird at the parking lot! So, I clicked the photographs using my phone only.

The Indian viewers gallery was full and jam-packed contrary to the Pakistani side. The India Army personnel controlled the crowd and the over-enthusiastic persons. Any anti-Pak slogan-shouting was immediately put down. An Indian soldier lowered our Tricolour by standing on the Pakistan soil and a Pakistan soldier lowered their national flag by standing on Indian soil!







When I walked back to the parking lot after handing over the chit at the security gate, the attendants came to me and asked to check my belongings kept inside the luggage, which I didn't. I thanked them all and left the place by 7 pm for Jaipur, which was still 500+ km away! I could not visit the nearby National Martyrs Memorial, which marks the location where Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru were cremated on 23 March 1931 as it was closed.

[farhadtarapore]

>>> without any problems like puncture/breakdown/accident

You were lucky. My bike's rear tire got punctured during regular office commute on the potholed roads of Mumbai. Mechanic from petrol pump flatly refused to remove the wheel on seeing the rear disc brake.
Called a "bullet mechanic". He was able to remove the rear wheel with great difficulty and lots of grumbling/mumbling. Puncture was fixed. Attaching the rear wheel was even more difficult and filled with more cursing.
Will change to alloys + tubeless the first opportunity I get.

[Trojan]

Ravi Sir,

Thank you so much for such a detailed write-up of your experiences, it is very helpful.

I am thinking of buying the T'bird 500, my previous bike was an Electra which I sold last year due to onsite engagements.

I faced 3 constant issues with my Electra
1-Premature Clutch cable failure
2-Oil seal leaks
3-Pillion comfort

Did you face issues 1&2 (No.1 is more critical from my point of view as it really puts your travels in a shadow of doubt)

How is the pillion rider comfort, I have read that your wife sits sideways, is the ride comfortable for her at highway speeds. Me and my wife love to go on bike rides and she never found it as comfortable as our Pulsar 180.

Thanks a lot!
SD

Originally Posted by Trojan

Premature Clutch cable failure

My 27 k km-old bird still runs on original, stock cluth, throttle and brake cables apart from OE stock tyres and spark plugs. Covered parking helps a lot in preventing premature cable failures due to rain water ingress and consequent corrosion.

Oil seal leaks

Not exactly leakage, but some sort of sweating on the surface, yes, which was sealed using some epoxy compound/washer during servicing.

Pillion comfort

My wife accompanied me for 2 one-day Chennai>Pondy>Chennai [~250 km] rides apart from city-commuting. She prefers our XUV 500 for long drives as she gets backache on the bird. So, I do long rides solo only.