[GreasyCarb55]

This was a LONG overdue story, I started writing this on Jan 19th 2024 and am finishing it on June 3rd 2024

Well what a post to make a comeback with eh?. Jokes aside this is a story that's very close to my heart and I hope you enjoy reading it.

Chapter 1 - History

Back in 2007 like many indian families do every year, we were looking for a scooter. My dad's previous experience with Honda at the time was with a black/orange 1998 Hero Honda Splendor that he had bought used after he got his first job and a few years later was replaced by a brand new Hero Honda Ambition 135 both bikes performed their tasks phenomenally. So the choice was obvious, the 100cc Activa "1G".
After almost 7 years of flawless service, the Activa was retired in 2013 to make way for a Vespa VX125. Instead of being sold, the Activa was given away to someone the family knew for practically free. Around October 2022 my uncle was looking for a used scooter to use around Bangalore and came across well, our 2007 Activa. After reacquiring it he decided to restore it visually while also giving the scooter a mechanical refresh. In the end my uncle took the Vespa and we kept the Activa because at the time I was in Odisha and my parents weren't using the Vespa much.

Fast forward to February 2023 and I had decided to drop out of business school to pursue Filmmaking and my primary source of transport during the few months in between was the Activa. Smooth and flawless to a fault it did it's job of being a way of getting from point A to point B with ease. In July I moved to Mumbai for film school and usage of the Activa dropped like a rock. Fast Forward to September 2023.

[GreasyCarb55]

Chapter 2 - The September and October breaks

Towards the end of September I was back in Bangalore for the weekend and I came back for a week in October. Not much adventure but I got the chance to rediscover Bangalore as a city. Loitering around Church Street with friends, rushing to CTR in Malleswaram for that picture perfect breakfast, hanging around my friends' place in JP Nagar. I also went back to a place that I hold close to my heart, New Shanti Sagar in Vijaynagar (between Vijaynagar and Sri Balagangadhara Natha Swamiji metro stations). In the late 2000's almost every Sunday like clockwork my uncle would take me to New Shanti Sagar for breakfast. The Butter Masala Dosa and the Filter Coffee from this place are still a treat. CTR may be better but this place will always hold a special place in my heart.

But these two trips weren't completely devoid of adventure, I spent a good amount of time exploring the backroads around Bangalore University for a couple of days.

[GreasyCarb55]

Chapter 3 - An idiot and an old Activa

Around mid December I finished my first Semester in Mumbai and was back home in Bengaluru by December 13th and since my plans to get a bike in Mumbai had been (at the time) indefinitely delayed I decided to explore some very new places on the old 1G, the odo had ticked over back to Zero after crossing 1 Lakh km somewhere around early 2023 and was sitting at just over 8500km (so 108,500km) when I arrived. This detail will become important later.

Chapter 3.1 - December 15th, Exploring the outskirts



After resting at home for a couple of days I decided to finally go out. After catching up with a few friends I decided to head back home for the day, stopped to grab a coffee near my home and realised that it was only about 1pm, I wasn't about to go home this early on my first proper day out was I? So I decided to just pick a random road and see what comes up. After a few dead ends and loops I ended up near some villages close to Podar International School magadi road. After another coffee break I decided to basically explore any road.that looked interesting to me, paved or not. This led me to some short but oddly sweet trails which the 1G handled with relative ease. Came back home around 5:30pm, good day overall.

[GreasyCarb55]

Chapter 3.2 - December 16, the return

After coming back home the previous day, I started to look for day trip locations around Bangalore and found that I had basically gone halfway to Manchanabele Dam. The next day I woke up late and decided that I'd leave after lunch and set off at 1pm.

For Bangalore folks the dam is 10km past Dodda Aalada Mara and in my opinion is worth the extra 20-25 minute drive. Despite being a Saturday in holiday season the roads were empty, mostly consisting of the locals. I had beautiful roads like this to myself



When I got there the usual spot was already crowded and while I was looking for other view points I saw a small trail going uphill on the opposite side of the road so I tried to make it up there and surprisingly the Activa did that with ease. Here's the short trail and the view from there.




Going downhill towards the bridge I noticed a steep trail to the left, looked like something you'd only attempt on an ADV or Dual Sport. Gave it a shot and the pesky little Activa made it up there on the second try. Another brilliant view.



After I reached the bridge down the hill, I found out it was broken, the road goes towards Savanadurga forest area. After a quick Coffee/Good Day biscuit break at one of the stalls I decided to head back home.



On my way back, just before where the first trail started I noticed another broken road going uphill. So out of curiosity I decided to go and explore.

I turned right towards a trail that went slightly up and left towards some rough backroads that eventually led to an uphill trail on the right with a lot of sand and rocks. After some let's just say involuntarily burnouts and heavy waddling I made it up the trail and I'd say it was worth it. Rest of the trail was mostly flat but still lots of loose rock, I was greeted with a fantastic view of the dam at the end.



A few more shots from this day's adventures.

[GreasyCarb55]

Chapter 3.3 - December 19th, Hitting the open road

After taking a few more days off, I decided to hit the road again. This time to visit a place called Chota Ladakh, an abandoned quarry near Kolar. I had my breakfast at home and left around 9am.

Living in Kengeri I basically had to make my way across most of Bangalore, stopping at McDonald's on the way to grab some much needed ice cream in the heat. The stretch till KR Puram was all things considered peaceful for Bangalore standards but past KR Puram was where the real challange started. Stopped for fuel just before the Hoskote toll and needless to say, riding on the highway on a 100cc Activa is quite frightening if you're not used to such shenanigans. To quote a certain British journalist there were almost some unplanned bowel movements at first. I stuck to the service roads as much as possible and if I had no choice I'd stick to the left maintaining 65-70kph (again, unexpectedly smooth for what that scooter is and has been through). Don't have many photos because I was busy trying not to be rear ended by speeding traffic.

Stopped about 30 minutes into the Highway ride for a much needed hydration break, Coconut water all day everyday.

A couple of hours later I arrived at the planned spot for lunch, Empire Narsapura before continuing the trip. Decided to skip the usual Empire food to try their Easybites menu and a strawberry shake. Empire never misses.

After lunch I decided to stop by Kendatti Lake by the highway for a small break followed by a cautionary fuel stop.

Continuing onto the main destination for the trip, the road was bumpy to say the least. Perfect for an XPulse, Himalayan or even a KTM 250 Adventure (foreshadowing) but a little uncomfy on an old Activa. (most of what I captured were vertical photos )



Despite multiple warning signs that this was an active mine/quarry, each more concerning than the last, I was assured by the locals that it had been abandoned and inactive for a long time and it was safe. I finally arrived at the viewpoint and man was it peaceful (well except for a few littered beer bottles but oh well). Spent a good 40-45 minutes chilling with some music before making my way to explore some nearby trails.


The terrain was more sandy than I expected but the road oriented Ceat tyres did what they could, I struggled a little in the sand and loose gravel but did well over harder terrain and rocks.

Some shots I took on the local Trails.




The local roads we surprisingly not too bad, wandered around aimlessly on a few paved Village roads before turning on Google maps and heading back home. Grabbed some chats on the way back and was home by about 5pm.

[GreasyCarb55]

Chapter 3.4 December 25th - The bug bite of shenanigans

Needed some rest after that last trip so I took almost a week off from touring but decided to head out on Christmas day.

The plan was simple, go to Thottikalu Falls and come back. Simple plan (it was not simple). Left home around 9:30am. After a rather uneventful journey I discovered that the falls had been closed for the foreseeable future. I was sad sure but I found some peace at the nearby Gulakamale Lake. I spent close to an hour at the Lake, being a Monday it was quite peaceful but for absolute isolation I found a small road nearby that led to a secluded point next to the lake. Popped in my earphones and drowned my senses with the view and the likes of Nirvana and Soundgarden.




I was not about to go back home just like that so I looked for other Waterfalls to visit around Bangalore and found something called Muthyala Maduvu Falls about 35km away from the lake. It looks good on maps and some research showed that it is connected to a Karnataka State Tourism department run restaurant called Hotel Mayura and these places are usually great. After some coffee I made my way there.

Something I started doing with this trip to make it more adventurous is to go into maps and ask the app the avoid tolls and highways. Now this took me through some VERY pretty to ride and look at Village roads and I still regret not taking a screenshot of the route. I would also go into maps after clicking Start to choose an alternate route if it looks more twisty and interesting. Why I'm mentioning this you'll find out soon.

On the way there I went through some.parts of Bannerghatta Biological Park which is just fantastic to drive on. A while later I even found this small water body on the side of the road, got Activa alongside and took a small break here.


Reaching the falls was mostly peaceful, free Village roads as far as the eye could see, a few sandy patches and local cows were the only real obstacles. I even managed to find someone building a literal palace in the middle of nowhere


I stopped about 15 minutes from the destination for a quick Maaza break in a village and was surprised to see that Google maps was showing a rather weird route as an alternative that would take 10-12 minutes more and was extremely twisty. With a wild grin I finished my mango juice and headed out to see what this route was all about. I reached a point where I had to turn right but I couldn't find the turn to save my life.

Turns out it was some Mad Max looking trail behind some overgrown grass. I proceed to cautiously enter the trail and yeah, it was extremely fun to ride. After a few kilometres or so of surprisingly smooth trails I encountered some more rougher roads and I'd found myself on the other side of a gate. Turns out there actually used to be a road here but was abandoned and this being near some random village no one bothered updating it. The guards at the gate were gracious enough to make an exception and let me through and I reached Hotel Mayura about 500m later.

Some shots of the Trail





After reaching Hotel Mayura I realised that my phone was nearly dead (remember this was supposed to be a one and done trip so I didn't mind leaving home with a partially charged phone). Because of this I do not have pictures of the falls itself as my phone was with hotel staff who graciously offered to charge my phone and keep it safe while I visited the falls. After visiting the waterfalls I came back to the restaurant and got some lunch which was good, a solid 7.5/10, these government tourism department run places across Karnataka are always a safe bet if you can't seem to find anything good. The seating area has a great of the nearby forest area to look at while you eat and they even have boating on the premises for family (not near/on the falls).

View from the restaurant:



After lunch I made my way back home through Anekal and reached home around 4pm.

[GreasyCarb55]

Chapter 3.5 December 27th - Scouting Ahead

Me and a few friends decided to go on group ride on New year's day to Sangama, the place where the Arkavathi river merges into Kaveri about 35km from Kanakapura.

I didn't have anything to do so I stepped out to do some scouting of my own before the trip. As usual, I had my breakfast and left home around 9am. I went past Kumbalagodu/Bidadi and then turned towards Kanakapura instead of taking the usual Kanakapura route as I wanted to visit my school on the way. Unfortunately on the way there I discovered that the school was closed till Jan 2nd for the holidays. After a while I turned towards and joined the usual Kanakapura route near Dayanand Sagar University. After a while I stopped for a quick break maybe 6-7km outside Kanakapura to grab a Cola and a water bottle for the road.

I swear these Glass Bottle Cola's hit different, especially after 50ish km on an old Activa.




I was chatting with the shopkeeper and asked him if he knew any tourist places near Kanakapura. He mentioned a name I personally had not seen on any online guides. A place called Bilikal Rangaswamy Betta. Finished my Cola and turned off the main route to go through some fabulous and completely empty village roads. I saw maybe 4 other vehicles on the road for this stretch and 3 of them were tractors.

Some shots of said Village roads.
Attachment 2577660



After about 40 or so minutes of village roads I turned onto this beautiful almost straight bit of road that has some oddly intriguing elevation changes. If you come down this road you'll find this sort of Arch, this marks the entrance to what is probably one of the most beautiful and serene bit of twisty roads I've had the pleasure of riding/driving on.

The Arch in question.



After the arch you'll find a sort of forest department checkpost after which the aforementioned twisty bit starts, here's the only coherent shot I have of the twisties. Lots of uphill action which means I was dead slow in the Activa



After a good few km of motorcycle heaven you enter a small little village, past which is this Bilikal Rangaswamy Betta. I unfortunately can't seem to find any shots of the village or the Betta entrance itself. It was unfortunately closed on the day I had gone and was told to turn back. It was not a regular viewpoint with a paved road as I had originally thought but rather about 4-4.5km of technically uphill. Nothing your average 4x4 or ADV/Dual Sport can't handle but as I found out a few days later it's nothing to scoff at either.

I turned back and decided to do something rather stupid. I turned off maps and decided to go explore some trails on my own. No maps. And of course, I got lost. For almost 3 hours it was just me wandering whatever roads I could find. Dirt, water, sand, watery dirt, hard rocky surfaces I got to experience a bit of everything.

Here's a few shots of my trail hunting experience on the Activa, plenty of dead ends and I'm genuinely surprised I didn't get a puncture.






A few beautiful scenic shots that deserve their own little mention.



After some I was done messing around, I turned my maps on wandered into Kanakapura and stopped at the first hotel that had "Non Veg" written on the sign board for some protein. Found this place called Byrappa Non Veg hotel and had the simplest and tastiest Chicken Sambar and Rice I've ever had . I unfortunately do not have any pictures of the food but I did remember to save the location. So if you're ever in Kanakapura and don't mind the shady atmosphere for some classic Karnataka Home style food I recommend stopping here

After lunch I decided to go back home but via the Ramanagara-Kanakapura road as there were a couple of places I wanted to check out on that route. The Ramanagara-Kanakapura road itself is something I don't expect. It runs parallel to Arkavati River and is in theory straight but not straight. What's important is that it's fun to drive but you constantly go through villages so I'd be careful.

First stop on the list was SRS Hills, this serves as a view point and a temple as at the top of said hill is Sri Revana Siddeshwar Temple. Great place to rest up and soak in the views of Rural Karnataka. The village roads leading up to this were excellent as usual.

Views from/at the top:



After resting for while at the top, I decided to leave for the next destination. Another viewpoint called Kunagalu Betta. A normal viewpoint I thought (boy was I wrong). It starts with this steep cement road section and gives way to what I can only describe as an off roaders heaven. The road is narrow so if you have a car you'll have to park it below and hike up but it's big enough for bikes. The cement road only lasts for about 300-400m before making way for rocky terrain and then turns into a steep hillclimb, there's rocks, there's sand, there's loose gravel and mix of everything. I still do not know how I got the Activa up all of this. I just hit the throttle and prayed to the traction gods. After a while there was this log blocking the trail with barely enough room on the side to walk. Somehow squeezed the Activa through and continued uphill. I reached the limit till where I could take the Activa. There was now a path towards the left that was clearly for walking only. I was told by someone coming down that I'd have to walk about 750-800m uphill to make it to the top. While I did want to do that it was already 3pm. Home was an hour and a half away and I had to be there before 5pm for some work. So begrudgingly, I took a few photos and left for home.

Photos of the trail and almost at the top:





Here's a few shots I didn't know where to place, all taken on the Ramanagara-Kanakapura stretch of road.




Parting shot at the top

[GreasyCarb55]

Chapter 3.6, December 28th - The Hubris of Man

After the Kanakapura trip I wasn't feeling tired for some reason, so in my hubris I decided it would be to go to Hogenakkal Falls in Tamil Nadu the very next day. Which is 150km one way .

As usual I had my breakfast and left home around 9am and maps was showing a way to Hogenakkal through Anekal, I noticed this as about 45 minutes in as I found myself going down the same road I did when i was going towards and coming back from Muthyala Maduvu Falls. I stopped at a restaurant for a coffee break near Jigani



As I was looking through the route on Google Maps it offered me an alternative route via Hosur for some odd reason. Not wanting to go through Anekal again, I finished my coffee and went towards Attibele, eventually entering Tamil Nadu near the TVS plant just on the Border between KA and TN.



I'm happy to report that the roads on the TN side near Hosur more than made up for the extra detour, it was just Kilometer after Kilometer of wide roads flanked on either side by scenic greenery, small villages or the occasional shop or petrol pump with plenty of elevation changes and flowing corners.

A few shots of this magnificent from the KA/TN border near the TVS Plant to Denkanikottai.






After that I hit the town of Denkanikottai, stopped here at a local bakery to get a bottle of water for the road and some cake because I was getting a little hungry. After Denkanikottai the roads for a little smaller compared to the previous one but the greenery around was still fantastic.



After a while I saw a signboard on the road, something called Cauvery North Wildlife Sanctuary. Little did i know I was in store for some of the best roads I've ever had the pleasure of driving/riding on.

If you see this signboard, get ready for some fantastic roads.



Apart from being a little narrow, it was damn near prefect. Every kilometer felt like a blur as I went on through here. The elevation changes, the hairpin turns, the views, both the slow and fast corners. A joy of a road to drive on.

Some views/shots of the road.

Attachment 2586083




After that stretch came a few villages with the roads also being in good condition. After that i encountered another signboard that said "Cauvery North Wildlife Sanctuary" and i was excited for obvious reasons. Somehow, the roads were better. I do not have words to describe what I experienced that day along that stretch of road. I did not even think of stopping for pictures.

After that incredible stretch came a slightly narrower stretch with a lot more villages on either side, this also came with a lot more greenery.


Attachment 2586084



After this came the last of 3 "North Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary" signboards I encountered on this trip, this one having a checkpost. This is the start of the final stretch of road to Hogenakkal.

Initially, the roads are twisty but in bad condition, after that comes a hairpin section after which the roads get better. You could've shown me a picture from these roads and told me that you've just been to a road trip in Africa and I would probably believe you.





Shot of the view at one of the Hairpins.



After a while you'll encounter this river side area that people use as a rest stop/view point, took some rest here for a while and soaked in the views.




Crocodile warnings are liberally scattered throughout this route.



And finally, after a gruesome few hours I was here. Hogenakkal Falls, Tamil Nadu. You're greeted with this fantastic example of signboard design near the checkpost where you're supposed to pay an entry fees.



Memories of a childhood road trip on our trusty 2005 WagonR 1.1L flooded in as I walked through the Falls area. Seeing the people enjoying the water made me regret not bringing an extra set of clothes. Here's a shot of the falls.



I sat around, dipped my toes in the water and listened to some nice music for some time. I also gobbled up quite a few kulfi's and got my last kulfi stolen by a monkey for good measure. I had lunch at one of the local restaurants and left for home.

Now this is where the touring on an ancient Activa catches up to me, as I was making my way back up the hairpin section, I started getting small pains near my lower back. Thinking nothing of it, I continued. (You already know where this is going).

Over the next hour, at every point of contact I had with the little scooter I started getting major ache's. To the point where I had to stop every 10-15 minutes to take a break as I physically could not continue. As I was going back the way I came Google Maps offered me a left turn that was apparently 20 whole minutes faster, in my hubris and pain I decided to go down this new route. While yes it was a little faster, the first 10km were purely rural and well. Let's just say the suspension didn't help with the pain. I stopped at a village to take a break, seeing my physical condition and my licence plate. One kind local offered some coconut water, looking back I probably would've collapsed a few km down the road if it wasn't for this.

After around 45 minutes, I started seeing an increased number of KA vehicle and assumed I was back in Karnataka. This signboard confirmed my suspicions.



I stopped for a fuel stop and trust me when I say that the last time I felt this weak was when I had Dengue as a kid, it took immense effort to not collapse on the floor. Somehow I didn't crash and made it back home in one piece after a long and I mean LONG and treacherous but nevertheless beautiful journey. This may have left me battered to a pulp, enough to basically make me bedridden for the next day but I wasn't one to give up.

Also, on my way back I found two seperate vehicles with TeamBHP stickers, a Silver DL plate Maruti Ignis and a Red BH plate KIA Carens.






Ending this chapter with this parting shot of a TN Forest.

[GreasyCarb55]

Chapter 3.7, December 31st - Sangama via Kanakapura featuring 4 idiots.

As mentioned before, me and a few friends were planning a new years road trip to Sangama.

In our collective hubris, none of us took any real pictures as we were stuck trying to figure out group riding dynamics and a more valid excuse, simply being smitten by the beauty of rural Karnataka. Hence this chapter only has text and a grand total of two images.

This is the crew as follows (from left to right)



Vardhan - Honda CB350 H'Ness
Myself - KTM 250 Adventure (Rented)
Navanith - Royal Enfield Meteor 350
Pranav - Hero XPulse 200 2v (Rented)

Vardhan already had his CB350 ready to go, Navanith rides an older Avenger 220 but managed to convince his father to lend him his Meteor 350 but me and Pranav we well..... Had scooters. No way were we gonna keep up with the 350's on a Activa and Ray ZR. So we both opted to rent through Royal Brothers Bangalore.

We did plan on going off roading so fittingly Pranav went for a Hero XPulse 2v while I decided to go a bit bigger and get a 250 ADV. I picked up mine the day before at 6pm at RB BTM Layout and we picked up the XPulse 2v a few hours later at RB Banashankari. Both bikes looked to be in good condition.

We spent the night at Pranav's place and woke up to leave early. The area had easy access to Kanakapura road so that simplified the route a bit. One small issue was navigation, we managed to only find one phone holder before the trip (in retrospect we should've planned this) which was strapped to the XPulse. This meant that whoever road the XPulse was going to be the navigator.

Early on in the trip we discovered some issues. Navanith, for the lack of a better word (and I'm sorry if you're reading this bud) is a bit slow. Some time later we stopped and I got on the XPulse to lead. Despite a few more nav issues we reached Kanakapura around 8am, stopping at Vasu Hotel for breakfast.

After an amazing breakfast, we headed to Billikal Rangaswamy Betta which was thankfully not closed this time. Me, Pranav and Vardhan swapped bikes before starting the 4-4.5km hike to the top of Billikal Rangaswamy Betta. The XPulse was built for this so that did well to no one's surprise, the CB350 and Meteor despite being cruisers held their own on this trail. Vardhan (now on the 250 ADV) was falling behind and was soon not visible. I took his CB350 and went down to look for him, he was thankfully okay but the slightly let's just call it "used" tyres on the rented 250 ADV proved to be slippery on the dirt. Everyone went back to their respective bikes for the rest of the hike.

At the top was a fantastic view of rural Karnataka and a temple. After taking a break there we went back down and proceeded to Sangama. Honestly, except a dam we wanted to visit on the way being closed the trip went smoothly.

The roads leading up to Sangama are nothing but magical. Bengaluru people you HAVE to give this route a try. Sangama itself was beautiful albeit a bit crowded. After soaking in the views with some VERY much needed ice cream we headed back. On the twisties on the way back, me and Vardhan noticed that the other two had seemingly vanished. We Initially thought Pranav was hanging back for the slower Meteor but we got worried and headed back. Turns out a red Grand i10 had almost run Pranav off the road which nearly caused a fatal accident and had made a run for it. Thankfully, no one was hurt and nothing else went wrong.

After the twisties ended we stopped for a bit. Pranav noticed that the permitted amount of Kilometres on his rented XPulse was just enough to reach Bangalore and nothing more. While I had some more range to work with. The other three decided to head back straight to Bangalore the way we came while I decided to slightly extend my trip by going through the Ramanagara-Kanakapura route before going back to Bangalore to that way.

And this is the other photo, we stopped for a while just before Kanakapura because of the fog.



I'll end this by saying that I fell in love with every bike I rode in one way or the other.

The KTM shows you why their company motto is "Ready to Race", that DOHC 250cc single is simply fantastic to ride. The Meteor and CB350 showed me that 350cc cruisers have come a LOOOONG way since the 2000's and the XPulse for being a proper adventure touring capable dirt bike with headlights is surprisingly competent on the twisties.

[GreasyCarb55]

Chapter 4 - New Year, same poor decisions

Even with the new year upon us, some depraved adventure rider part of me still wanted to tour on the Activa. Despite almost collapsing of exhaustion during the Hogenakkal ride, I wondered how amazing touring on an actual motorcycle can be. And so, the bad decisions continue.


Chapter 4.1, January 3rd - Across Borders

Instagram's algorithm had finally caught up to my day trip addiction and showed me a rather interesting location just beyond the Andhra Pradesh border that was equally irresistible and irresponsible to visit on an Activa 1G, which is exactly what I did on the next day.


Penukonda fort, an old temple/fort on the top of a hill with newly paved switchback roads so you know I absolutely had to be there. It's off the highway just before Penukonda city and is about 150-160km one way. As usual I had my breakfast at home and left at 9am.

By a out 10:30am I had crossed the Airport area and off I went towards the KA/AP border. Not many photos unfortunately but the highways were mostly nice and empty which made munching miles easy (well easy as it can be on a 100cc Activa).



Exactly at noon, I hit the Karnataka/Andhra Pradesh border.


Soon after that I hit another milestone, 10,000km totalling to 1,10,000km overall on the Activa 1G



Since things were going a little too good all these days, the scooter decided to cut power and the engine stopped as I was going a speedo indicated 70-75kph. I stopped at the side of the road, had some water, ate a pack of biscuits I'd got from home. I let both me and the scooter rest for 15-20 minutes, after this break the scooter started and functioned as normal. I'm assuming spending the last 2 out of 3 hours pinned at 70-80kph on the highway with a fairly heavy rider caused the bike to overheat (foreshadowing).



I decided to slow it down a little and about 45 minutes later I reached the point where I had to turn left and get off the highway for the fort. Along with your usual highway restaurants you'll find the Seoul Store, a store with a bunch of foreign snacks (mostly Korean) and right above it Time Korean Restaurant.



Didn't expect to find something like this out here on the highway of all places. I went into the store and got myself this Lotte Cold Coffee. It was expensive (110 rupees for a 175ml can if my memory serves me right) but it was worth it. Possibly the best cold coffee I've had fresh or canned.



Turn left off the highway and a some distance later you'll have to turn left again. After a couple of kilometres of regular semi rural roads you'll be greeted with fresh tarmac. This is where the Penukonda fort twisties start. It would be fun if only I wasn't on an old Activa. 1.1 Lakh kilometres seemed to have taken a toll on the poor thing and it would barely make it to 40-45 on the way up. At least it helped me take in the beautiful scenery as you climb more and more uphill.

A while later I was finally at the top. Up there is a beautiful area with the ruins of a temple.

Shots of the temple interior







Dried up water reservoir with a structure in the middle:


A little further ahead is this structure that looks to be the original entrance to this Fort/Temple.



Here we spot a wild Activa out of its natural habitat.



View from the top, simply breathtaking.



Parting shot at the top



On the way down I saw this structure which I had seemingly missed on the way up, settled down here to take some rest.



Stopped at a highway dhaba to get some water and a much needed drink, got to admire this beauty for a while.



About 25-30 minutes later I spot this water body next to the highway, stopped to rest under some trees.



Around 3:30pm, I was back at the border area, crossing back into Karnataka.



After sometime I stopped at one of those truck stop lanes to stretch a little and found this small trail. I would spend almost an hour torturing the Activa's suspension on this trail before hitting the highway.




After this the only stop I made was at the Kasturba Road McDonald's to grab some ice cream before going home.

[GreasyCarb55]

Chapter 5.2, January 11th - The accidental discovery

This was supposed to be a small trip to Manchanabele Dam, the place that started this month of touring madness.



I found out that an alternative route was always there to the other side of the broken bridge so naturally, I decided to explore further. This leads to the Savanadurga forest area, the roads here are nothing short of amazing. Given the proximity to Dodda Aalada Mara, a popular weekend spot for Bangalore people I'm surprised that it isn't talked about as much.

Anyway, I was looking for places to visit and found Manchanabele falls, a waterfall, right in the middle of Savanadurga forest. And if maps was correct it is fully accessible by road, no walking required.

On the way there, I stopped to look at map and found an odd looking alternative route. It would turn right and a few kilometres later I'd have to take a sharp left at a place called Dabaguli and I'd end up on the same road I initially turned right from.

It looked something like this:



The distance from point A to B on the straight road is about 1.5km while the detour through Dabaguli would take just over 5km. Intrigued I switched to this route and turned right onto this small paved road that went uphill. The road on Google Maps didn't look that twisty but oh boy was I wrong. It's an extremely twisty and fun 5km filled with clusters of small turns that sync up perfectly with each other and plenty of elevation changes. Although one has to be careful here as in some places the road is broken, has potholes and some parts are covered with dirt. The uphill was meh, the Activa barely managed 50kph with my weight but it was fun. I arrived at Dabaguli and made the aforementioned sharp left turn back towards the main road. The downhill was something else. With gravity as an aid, the Activa was much faster to accelerate but I kept my speed in check for my own safety.



After this blissful detour, I continued onto the Savanadurga forest area. This stretch of road is a little more open and absolutely beautiful to look at. However I'd be cautious, the road is covered with loose gravel throughout and has many potholes. I'd assume the Adventure/Dirt Bike guys would have some fun here. Speaking of dirty fun, after this next photo was taken I took a sharp right and went onto the Manchanabele Falls trail.



And oh boy was I in for a treat. For the first few hundred meters it seems like a normal trial alright but after that the elevation changes pick up and oh man does the fun factor go up ten fold. Remember when I said I kept my speed in check for that downhill section because of safety? Yeah this route was so amazing to ride on I had the throttle pinned for most of the way. The pictures do not do justice to this trail.





About 80% of the way to the location I encountered a small bridge blocked by some branches that had fallen from a nearby dead tree. I managed to clear some of it by hand and continue on forward. I made it to the location and nothing it was nothing but rocks and it was dry as a desert (although the views were amazing though).






As I sat down to rest for a while, I was joined by a local on a TVS NTorq. He explained that this was indeed the waterfalls area but they only exist when it rains. Spent a good half hour soaking in the views before heading back into the Savanadurga forest area.

After coming back onto the main road I opened maps and tried finding some more places to explore, which is exactly when I found the Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy Devasthana. Or more accurately the road leading upto it. This 2.5km stretch of uphill is stupid fun to drive. So much so that once I was at the top, took some photos and come down. I made the excuse of wanting some ice cream and rode up and down this road once more, even though there clearly was a shop selling ice cream at the bottom

Here are a couple of shots from the top:




After making my way down I wanted to also see the Tippagondaanahalli Dam on my way home. I stopped by this lake just a few hundred meters after coming down to take one last look at the Savanadurga Betta (for today at least ).



On my way to the Dam, Google Maps apparently found this faster route on a whim so I decided to go down this said route. I initially rode past it and went up and down a few times trying to figure out where in hell this right turn was. Turns out it was a red soil covered road hidden behind some small bushes (this was going to be fun). This so called short cut took me dangerously close to some fields but the locals didn't seem to mind me. In the middle of nowhere (literally) I was then jumpscared by this unique well...... Let's just call it a unique scarecrow design. I almost fell off the Activa and spent the next 10 minutes laughing.



To my dismay, the Dam had been closed for repairs (well at least according to Guard at the entrance). I almost decided to call it a day but then discovered this place called Solo Hills. What I discovered was about 2.5km of frankly amazing trails. The uphill on the entrance can be brutal on street tyres mind you (or was that just me being underpowered?) The rest of the trail was rocky and I definitely hit the underside of the Activa more times then I'd liked to.






A fun and pretty scenic detour nonetheless, made up for the closed Dam. Took a fuel stop and finally called it a day.

[GreasyCarb55]

Chapter 5.3, February 13th - Exploring more of Savanadurga

As usual I couldn't simply sit at home so I made it back to Manchanabele Dam area and after a small tea break near the dam viewpoint, I decided to go back to the Manchanabele Falls trail I had discovered earlier and went up and down a couple of times. Being a Saturday the dam area was crowded but I had the trails all to myself.







After riding up for the third time, I decided to park the Activa and walk around a bit. There seems to be a walking trail that goes a little deeper into the woods but I didn't explore it as my bones were nearly turning to dust thanks to the going up and down the trail 5 whole times.





On my way down at some point I discovered another trail that i had seemingly missed before. It's towards the right as you come back down from the falls area. Naturally, with nothing better to do I decided to explore this and oh man was I in for a treat. What followed was a good few kilometers of fantastic trails. Mostly flat with slight elevation changes but the turns flows really well.







A little earlier on the trail I had come across this crossroad.



I initially went down the larger path on the right but after a kilometer or two it ended in a dead end. I managed to climb up some rocks on foot and finally got a single point of signal on my phone. I decided to navigate towards Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy Devasthana as I wanted to ride up and down that road once more before I went back to Mumbai. Now I expected it to ask me to go down the route I came and join the Savanadurga main road through the Manchanabele Falls trail. I was wrong. It asked me to go down the smaller route from the crossroad I mentioned earlier. Intrigued I complied with Google Maps and well, I was in for a little adventure alright.

Initially I was asked to go down a few hundred meters and turn right. One small problem, it was a dead end with no right turn. I backtracked towards the Manachanabele trail hoping it would reroute but Google Maps refused. So i went back and upon further inspection found this small trail that went up to the right.



In maybe a hundred meters or so I felt like I was transported from a dirt trail into the middle of a forest with scenes like this.







Well, all this offroading wasn't without a crash. As I came up, the front wheel hit a rock throwing it towards a cluster of bamboo trees, damaging the front fender. Recovering from this I continued ahead. This trail goes up past a large tree into this narrow passage with seemingly the roots of said tree coming up to the surface. This entire aformentioned section is quite a tight fit if my memory serves me well, doubt you'd anything more than a XPulse/Impulse down here.



Going up this trail led me to what looked like farmland, at least I was out of the woods (literally). I was at a crossroads again but this time the choice was a little more obvious. With the left one leading to someone's farm land and the right leading to a narrow path between a fenced off piece of land and some trees.





I was at least back in Civilization on a dirt road that the locals used, I took some time to rest up as the little accident earlier had slammed my knees into the footwell.





I continued onto the destination and stopped at the top to assess the damage to the fender and grab something to eat.





Once again, I spent some time going up and down the Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy Devasthana road a couple of times before going back home.










I stopped at the main road for some tea and had an idea, instead of using Google Maps i decided to try and make my way back home on my own. Unsurprisingly I got lost and spent the next 2 hours wandering around aimlessly, only passing by the odd village once in a while. But hey, the roads were paved, pretty and fun to ride on so I'm not complaining.







I finally found my way into a small town and spotted some oddities at a local garage





One last tea break later, I made my way back home

[GreasyCarb55]

Chapter 5.4, January 17th - A disturbance in the force

My vacation had come to an end, I had a midnight flight to catch back to Mumbai on this day and well. I was sad. The scooter that picked me up from School and ferried me and my uncle to get Masala Dosa almost every sunday for years had now taken all across south-eastern Karnataka and even past two state lines, covering around 1600-1700km in a month. There were talks of scraping it and replacing it with an EV which I aggressively opposed because there was nothing wrong with it and come on. This humble 100cc scooty was now basically a family heirloom. For the time being, I reasoned that the longer range variant of a good EV scooter (450X, iQube, Vida V1 etc) would cost upwards of 1.7 Lakh On-Road Bangalore.

Anyway, I would rather spend my last day in Bangalore roaming around rather than gloating at home so I set off.

First stop was CTR, aka Central Tiffin Rooms in Malleshwaram, my travel plans and other things had delayed my visit to this legendary place. But on the last day, I finally found some time to go and stuff my face with a couple of Benne Dosas and glup down some filter coffee.

Activa 1G Beauty shot I took as I was waiting in the line at CTR.



I stopped near MS Ramaiah College to have some tea as I was on my way to meet a friend but his schedule had other plans. So I decided to go back to Savanadurga state forest one last time. I took the longer route, passing by Yelahanka and Jakkasandra instead of the usual route via Dodda Aalada Mara. After turning left at Nelamangala Town, i stopped this place called Malgudi Mylari Mane off the highway to get some lunch.



As I was stepping out, I had an idea. I decided to enable the avoid Tolls and avoid Highways options on my maps for the rest of the way to try and experience some back roads and Google Maps delivered. It told me to go down this long dirt road right next to the restaraunt and I happily obliged. After about 1.5km of dirt I hit tarmac and continued.





I was blessed with nothing but empty, open and twisty backroads for the rest of the trip.

For example:









After some time I stopped at a bakery to grab some water and in the heat, a much needed Sprite. A short while after continuing from the bakery, I saw this dirt road going to the left and I don't know what came over me but I decided to abandon the Savanadurga plan and go down this road instead. The roads were narrow but were a riot to ride on. Reminded me a littl e of the uphill Ghat section you go through to reach Matheran in Maharashtra just a little more flat.

After 25-30 minutes of riding, I found this trail and turned onto it. It ended in a dead end after only a kilometer or two but it was fun regardless.









As I was resting, I decided to open maps and check where in the hell I ended up. I don't remember exactly where but I had ended up on the other side of the Manchanabele Dam. The usual viewpoint is to the east of the reservoir and I had ended up on the west side. I turned back and started exploring some more roads without maps.





Stopped for tea at one of the local shops and decided to go back home as I had some stuff I hadn't packed yet (oops). And well, let's just say Google Maps picked a rather interesting route for me.

I turned off the paved road and went down a dirt road that seemingly ended in the entry gate to someone's farm land. I went back and forth a couple of times trying to find a right turn that seemingly didn't exist. After a while, a noticed a hole in a fence, leading to a small trail in the middle of nowhere and maps was asking me to go there.






As I was contemplating if I should turn back (for the fear of unknowingly trespassing onto someone's farm) I waited to see if anyone passed by. A few minutes later I saw a couple of Splendors coming through and they said that it was indeed a public road. Well it may have been a public road, but I was lost. I wandered around for almost an hour without signal on my phone nor did a find a soul in sight.







After about 50 minutes of being lost, I finally stumbled upon a village and asked for directions towards the nearest main road. As I was about to head for the main road, I hit another snag (or rather a pothole) after said pothole. I heard a screeching noise coming from the Activa. Further inspection revealed that my off roading antics had broken the middle support beam of the center stand had decided to stop existing. I borrowed a pair of pliers from a local and yanked it out. This also meant that until I found a solution I would be dragging a center stand across the road








To further add to this days adventures the main road in question was very close to Tippagondaanahalli Dam, the one I tried to visit earlier. From here the road home was pretty straight forward through Dodda Aalada Mara. Stopped on the way at a tyre puncture shop to jerry rig a way to keep the rouge center stand tied down.



Stopped not 1km away as I was exhausted and wanted to grab something to drink, didn't know they sold Sting of all things in glass bottles.





I returned home and started packing. At midnight I went down to the basement to say goodbye to the Activa. I was determined to restore it to it's former glory and even, go beyond. A few days earlier I used some of my savings to procure a 55mm Big Bore kit for the 100cc gen Activa/Dio by NMW Racing in HRBR Layout which would boost the displacement to 125cc. I quietly promised myself that the next time I come home. I'll get the big bore kit installed and go on a longer, multi day tour on the Activa.

But alas, this day never came.

[GreasyCarb55]

Chapter 6, February 3rd - A new beginning

My shenanagins on the Activa had helped me find my love for off roading and so when I came back to Mumbai with a budget of roughly 2 Lakh to buy a bike, I knew exactly what I was going to get.


After coming back from Bangalore, I went straight to Automiles Hero in Malad and booked myself a Hero XPulse 200 4V Rally Pro. I got a call the previous evening that I could collect my bike the next day and well, I bolted to the showroom.

I was so excited that I don't even have a picture of me taking delivery of the bike. I covered roughly 90-95km on the first day itself visiting places like Versova, Marine Drive, Churchgate etc.

Here's a picture of the bike in parking on day 1.



It's been 4 months since I got the bike and I've put about 9300km on the odo and well, off road incidents have been plenty both due to me being relatively inexperienced and the 885mm seat height being a bit of an issue for a chubby 5'11" guy like me.

If any off road bikers here in mumbai that are open to off roading together PLEASE message me.

[GreasyCarb55]

Chapter 7, February 10th - Goodbye old friend

On the morning of February 10th, I got a call from my parents. Well, she'd finally given up. The transmission decided to suddenly die the previous day and that was it. She's dead and was being scrapped.

It was a Saturday but I had classes, I did not attend those classes. Instead I sat in my room sitting in silence for a good few hours. I don't know why but a part of me died that. Confined to the streets of Bangalore for years, I took it not only out of the city but to two neighboring states. Perhaps it wasn't obvious to me but maybe the Activa knew that this was going to be it's farewell trip. It's ride to Valhalla. I was sent an image of the scooter being taken away for scrap and I spent the rest of the day alone. The next day, I went out on the XPulse to Malshej Ghat, leaving at 4am to recover from this. I do not know why I reacted like I did that day but, no matter what bikes I ride for the rest of my life, I will always remember that 100cc Activa that I had such fond memories of as a kid but also find myself on the road (or rather off the road). That little scooter helped me discover my love for off roading and would influence my choice of bike once I came back to Mumbai.



Even now, as I'm typing this at nearly 2am, on the night before my first end semester exam. I'm still thinking about the Activa, I still have that 125cc big bore kit and I'm holding onto to it in the hope that in the near future. I'll be able to procure my own Activa 1G here in Mumbai and give it that extra chance of life I couldn't give my own Activa.


I'll leave you with this parting shot of the Activa, a photo I took on December 15th 2023, the day I started exploring on the Activa and the day I unknowingly started it's last dance.



Goodbye KA 02 HA 4142, you will be missed. - GreasyCarb55