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My 2022 Yamaha YZF-R15M's 564 km trip: 2nd long ride with my dad

9th October 2024, 12:45 by Kanad Kalasur

We chose Karikal as our destination. This also happens to twice the distance of a Chennai-Pondy ride, so its a good step up for my dad on long distance riding.

BHPian R15M_Rider recently shared this with other enthusiasts:

Ride to Karikal, 2nd long ride with my dad

Date: 14/09/2024 and 15/09/2024
Total Distance Covered: 564 km (282 + 282)
Odometer Reading at Journey's End: 22170 km

Maintenance:

One week before the trip, I did a routine maintenance of the bike. This involves a water wash (I do it myself, may not be super clean, but gives me good staisfaction) and chain lube with cleaning. This time I bought myself a paddock stand for easier access to the chain. Previously I used to manually move the bike back and forth, which wasn't ideal. Also, the bike looks so sick on a paddock stand!

One of the best designed motorcycles ever launched in India?

Classic Stance of a Sports Motorcycle when not ridden

Chennai-Pondy

As mentioned in the "Honda CB350 Highness Ownership Begins - The ideal motorcycle for my Dad" thread, We chose Karikal as our destination for our second ride for visiting the famous Thirunallaru Sri Saneeswara temple. This also happens to twice the distance of a Chennai-Pondy ride, so its a good step up for my dad on long distance riding.

The Journey Begins!

A day before the trip, we had our tyres air-checked. Since I had already filled up a couple of days before and not much of the existing petrol was used, I decided to fill up at Puducherry instead on the day of the ride. We decided to start early around 6.00 AM, so that we can make most use of the pleasant early morning before it gets too hot and humid later in the day. This section was widely uneventful. Usual diversions were in place post Mamallapuram where the road becomes largely two lane from the four lane. With a couple of short stoppages to stretch our legs, we made it to Pondy around 9.00-9.15. We had a light breakfast and started towards Cuddalore.

One of the many short breaks

Pondy-Cuddalore and an unexpected Delight for a Rail Enthusiast

Traffic! I feel, even though the distance was just around 25-30 km, since we need to navigate through Pondy, this itself took atleast an hour, if not more. As I mentioned in the first post of this thread, I am a huge railfan too. So, being stuck at a level crossing for a train to cross is not a curse, but rather a blessing for me! Unlike the usual folk, I am more into older stuff with good old ICF rakes with conventional electric locomotives rather than the new age Vande Bharats. After what felt like a year, I was able spot a WAP-4 from ED (Erode Shed) hauling what I presume to be 16044 Mangaluru - Puducherry Exp hauling to PDY station. It felt like two of my most favourite genres of transports meet, motorcycles and trains! Lots of nostalgia for sure.

Okay, back to topic. One more observation was that, most of the people on two wheelers especially under Pondicherry administration are not seen wearing helmets. Infact it was actually hard to spot one with a helmet. Not sure if its enforced here like it is in Chennai or not. Heat and traffic was the constant as we navigated to Cuddalore which is the closest city in TN. Right now NH32 passes right through Cuddalore without a bypass. Hopefully in the future, we have that option.

Cuddalore-Chidambaram

The best stretch of road on this trip. Soon we joined a proper NH with four lanes. Properly laid concrete wide roads, almost similar to what you find in the Chennai Bengaluru NH. Now we are talking! We were able maintained 90-100 kph on this stretch. Here comes the fun part. As you might already know, R15 has short gearing while CB350 has long gearing. So at 90 kph, when we need to overtake a vehicle, all my dad has to do is, just twist the throttle and the 20 Nm of torque on the CB just helps it like its nothing without a fuss. On the other hand, with short gearing compared to the CB, I have to lower down a gear or two from 6th, let the engine scream at 9k-10k RPM and make the overtake. But seriously, its so much fun though. I wouldn't trade this 155cc high revving screamer for anything! Two absolutely differently engineered machines requiring different techniques to ride. Overall, superb roads, we made really good time on this stretch and also had a great time riding.

Beautiful Road!

Chidambaram-Karikal

After Chidambaram was bypassed, the four lane NH continued for another 20-25 km before running out as the rest is under construction. Rest was fully on under-construction and damaged roads. I guess its riddled with diversions between the upcoming new NH layout and the existing old ECR layout. With lorry traffic, loads of dust in the air too. The AGV K1S helmet did a good job of maintaining clear visibility without much hinderance. Of course on bad roads, the CB350 fared much better in terms of comfort, while I felt each and every bump as expected. It wasn't unberable or unridable though. With a bit more frequent stoppages, we finally made it to Karikal around 1.30 PM in the afternoon. Both of us were much less tired than we expected inspite of the bad roads.

Evening, we went to the temple, then just spent some time at the beach. We decided the the next day, we should start early and cover the bad stretch of roads when are at full energy.

The return journey was pretty much of the same. Once again got to enjoy the Chidambaram-Cuddalore stretch the most. This time, we took the existing Pondy bypass after having tiffin at Cuddalore. There was still traffic, but atleast we saved time compared with going through Pondy. We reached Chennai around 1.20 PM.

Cause for concern?

After riding on rough roads on this trip, I happen to notice a small "squeak" coming from the engine area whenever I shift gears. I don't see any impact in performance or anything, but just heard this. If anyone has an idea as to what might be the cause, do let me know.

Once again, a really memorable trip. Doing this with dad also feels extra special and as I mentioned in the CB350 thread, he has indeed gotten the passion for motorcycling. As usual, apart from the squaking, absolutely flawless ride on the R15. Mileage figures once again touched 43-44 kmpl. Hard to complain for a bike which loves to scream at 10-11k RPM!

Signing Off Until The Next Trip!