Finding the best riding routes for superbikes around Mumbai

I have this plan in my mind to upgrade my ride and get something like a used Ninja 650 or a CBR 650F of my own. But I always have been held back by this thought of 'Where to ride?'

BHPian sunilch recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

I have loved riding bikes ever since I remember being able to ride one. Over time, I have owned/ridden the humble HH Splendor, HH CBZ, Yamaha R15 (my first sportsbike and a lovely one), Honda CBR250, Kawasaki Ninja 650 and my current ride - Dominar 400.

Except for the Ninja 650 (which belongs to a friend), I know these all are budget bikes mainly due to my budget and priorities

Now I ride all seasons and have a few select routes that I like:

1. Mumbai - Nasik highway.
2. Mumbai - Surat highway - the usual Charoti trip. But I prefer weekdays and ride alone mostly. Don't like the group rides there and the usual Sunday Rev-happy crowd.
3. Eastern Expressway - Thane to Mumbai.
4. Malshej Ghat during monsoons.
5. Mumbai - Pune Old Highway.
6. Mumbai - Alibaug (did that 2 times in my life and gave up after that. Road quality was so pathetic that it took me 3x time to reach the destination)

I have covered over 50K Kms on leisure rides and for commuting/shopping I have my Activa at home. Point being, I use my bikes as much as I can and not keep garage queens.

Just yesterday I set out for Mumbai - Malshej ride on my Dominar. But the ride till Shahad itself was so painful due to bad roads and heavy rains that I had to turn back from Shahad and then I went to Igatpuri. The bridge over the river after Shahad was under water and there was at-least a 2-3 Km Jam. Not to mention the non existent roads.

Similar situation with the Nasik highway but at-least I was able to do decent speeds despite the potholes and heavy rains.

Now I have this plan in my mind to upgrade my ride and get something like a used Ninja 650 or a CBR650F of my own. But I always have been held back by this thought of 'Where to ride?' The quality of roads is known to all of us and there are no dedicated race tracks in the vicinity to enjoy our rides a lot. Also, these pathetic roads with deep craters during/post monsoon give me second thoughts on the expenses I will have to endure in case there is a big damage to the bike.

Select roads are usually good after Monsoon is fully over as the authorities then put in fresh 'thook patti' on those and you can enjoy the bike.

So question for Mumbai based members here who have good Sportsbikes / Superbikes.

Where and how do you enjoy your rides?

Are there any avenues that I am missing?

Are there any options where the road conditions is good for full or almost-full year?

Here's what BHPian SnS_12 had to say on the matter:

With bigger bikes to truly enjoy the ride you need to have good open and wide well tarred road.

The roads and routes you have mentioned are the ones you will normally see used by big bikes, but below are the routes I enjoy riding my two strokes as I can red line them without ending up into a tree or off a ditch/cliff.

• Bhandardara on the way to Nashik
• Saphale (can ride the bigger bikes too on this stretch)
• Uran/Manori Beach
• Madh Island

When upgrading to a bigger motorcycle you have to avoid traffic routes as these bikes don't like being ridden slow and especially in bumper to bumper traffic which will just lead to you getting toasted on the motorcycle and will drain you mentally/physically in no time especially managing the weight of the motorcycle in these conditions.

Here's what BHPian Axe77 had to say on the matter:

As an Adventure bike owner we actually seek out rougher routes or off road trails as much as smooth Tarmac.

But mostly the same stuff that is outlined above. I am personally not that knowledgeable on end destinations so usually tag on to members of my adventure bike group who research and ride to different places, mostly to some dam or the other. One of the bains of riding in Mumbai is you have about 40 - 50 kms of rubbish riding before you hit any ride worthy Tarmac. But I guess Igatpuri, Ahura, Lonavla are some of the typical routes you can follow. I’m afraid I don’t have anything spectacular to add. I think if you can plan longer rides itself you will find lots of rewarding destinations the further you go. Mahabaleshwar for instance, Matheran, Nashik etc.

If you ride to Igatpuri, some distance ahead there is a beautiful drive off the highway to Vallone wineyards. Do google search for that and check it out the next time you head in that direction.

Another nice route is the left turn when you’re on Bbay Ahura road post WEH, which takes you to Palghar. That’s a beautiful winding tree lined route as well.

Personally I also try to do different types of riding further away and less frequently. In the last 12 months, I’ve done one 3 day trip riding in the mountains in Himachal on a rental GS 310, ridden for a week in Rajasthan after trucking my Tiger, and done a Pune-Goa-Pune ride with Pune Triumph blokes. So I guess perhaps plan some longer riding holidays which are 2 - 4 days. The coastal route is quite charming too but again suffers bad roads for several stretches.

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.