Yearly Himalaya Ride

My yearly ride to the himalayas this year:

Was out on the road for a week visiting Spiti Valley in himachal and visiting friends at Spiti Ecosphere .

Who are they? http://www.spitiecosphere.com/about_us.htm

Why Spiti Valley

The cold desert zone and untouched places of Spiti, World's Highest village Kibber, World's Highest Petrol Station Kaja, World's Highest post office Hikkim, World's 2nd largest glacier Barashigri, 1000 years old Tabo monastary known as Ajanta of Himalayas, 4550 mts Kunjum Pass, Barren Landscapes.


The Ride:
I was riding my 350 CC Royal Enfield motorcycle, The ride takes one through some of themost rouged and difficult roads int he world going through places like Rohtang - Kunzum La - Malling nala and Kinnaur .


Picks and some wiki gyan

Camera : Cannon 400D
Lens : 18-55 MM Standard Kit lens

The Trans Himachal Ride
The trans Himachal circle starts from Shimla or Manali and ending back at the same place. The road is a part of the ancient Silk Route and has been traveled by traders and shepherds for thousands of years. The ride takes one through the lush green Lahaul Valley till one enters the colorful but harsh high altitude region of Spiti which is known for its old monasteries, apples and vivid landscape, Spiti also has some very beautiful lakes and glaciers ( Chandra taal and Bara sigri glacier to name a few). Spiti is a favorite destination of trekkers and mountaineers from around the world there are some very good treks that start of end in the valley like Pin-parvati trek (starts from Manikaran in Kullu district and passes through Pin Parvati pass at 4810M then decants to Mud village in Spiti). Pin Valey national park (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pin_valley_national_park ) is known for its varied landscape, mammals like snow leopard and Siberian ibex which are very rare and for birds like snow partridge and snowfinch.


Colorful Spiti valley http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiti_River



(Rohtang La) (altitude 13,051 ft (3,978 m)




Kunzum la ((altitude 4,551 m; 14,931 ft) The highest point in the journey.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kunzum_Pass



Save the Glaciers
http://ridetonirvana.blogspot.com/2007_04_01_archive.html#3051350140471553077

Bara Shigri :- Bada Shigri is the largest glacier in Himachal Pradesh. It is located in the Chandra valley of Lahaul and it feeds the river Chenab. Bada Shigri glacier is more than 25 km. long and about 3 km. wide. It lies on the middle slopes of the main Himalayan range. It is also aided by many small tributary glaciers. It is surrounded by high mountains from three sides. It is said that this glacier formed Chandertal lake by causing a major havoc in Chadra valley in 1936. Bada Shigri glacier was conquered by all women mountaineers in 1956. It was further successfully trekked by Stephenson in 1956. There are number of prominent glaciers in Chandra valley in Lahaul. Some of them are Chhota Shigri ( means Small Glacier ), Kulti, Shpting, Pacha, Ding Karmo, Tapn, Gyephang, Bolunag, Shili and Shamundri. Gyephang is the chief deity of Lahaul valley and the Gyephang glacier is named after him. It is full of snow all the year. It is considered as the Manimahesh of Lahaul.
Chandra Glacier:- It falls in the Lahaul - Spiti district of Himachal Pradesh. It is located on the slopes of the main Himalaya. It has been separated from Bara Shigri glacier. This glacier reason behind the formation of Chandertal lake. Chandertal lake is surrounded by snows and acres of scree. This deep blue-water lake has a circumference of 2.5 km. It is also called the 'Lake of the moon'. It remains completely frozen during winter. Chandertal lake is the source of the river Chandra.




Chandra River



Chandra Taal ( The lake of the Moon) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandra_Taal



Key Monostory (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ki_Gompa )


Muddy water of Paarchu (orignating from Mansarover Lake in Tibet) meets Spiti river to make the mighty Satluj river.


My Backyard (Kalpa in the shadow of the Kinner Kailash mountain)


My Ride (Royal enfield 350) The classic they forgot to stop making. At Kunzum La (4,551 m)


The river bed
After a long day of riding.





Contact me for blow ups and high resolution coppies of the pitures.

Chamba Kitni Door .

Himachali folk song "Chamba Kitni Door"

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More to come..

Dream Rides

Beemers in India are for corporate junkies the 5 series and now the 7 series define luxury and comfort. But for people like me who are no where near to a corporate junkie or luxury freak the beemer defines the dual sport motorcycles that I may be able to buy and afford some day..

some wiki info:

All BMW Motorrad's motorcycle production takes place at its plant in Berlin, Germany,[4] although some engines are manufactured in Austria, China and Taiwan.


Current production includes a variety of shaft, chain and belt driven models from 450 cc to 1300 cc with models designed for off-road, dual-purpose, sport and touring activities. Motorcycles are produced in product families each with a different letter prefix. Current families are:

F series – parallel-twin engines of 800 cc capacity, featuring either chain or belt drive. Models are F650GS, F800GS, F800R, F800S and F800ST.
G series – single-cylinder engines of 450–650 cc capacity featuring chain drive. Models are G450X, G650GS (in some markets), G650 Xmoto, G650 Xchallenge and G650 Xcountry. The 450 cc engines are manufactured by Kymco in Taiwan.[8] The 650 cc engines are manufactured by Loncin in China.[9][10]
R series – twin-cylinder boxer engines of 1200 cc capacity featuring shaft drive. Models are R1200GS, R1200R, R1200RT and R1200S
K series – four-cylinder engines of 1200–1300 cc capacity featuring shaft drive. Models are K1200LT, K1300GT, K1200R Sport, K1300R and K1300S

Motorcycle Diaries. (The art of breaking things)

All that I can do all the time is talk motorcycles talk more than I ride them. Confession again haven’t been able to ride much lately!!!!! So that what I have been doing “breaking things”
I took this motorcycle attitude test on the internet a couple of days back. and the result was not very shocking yet interesting.
You like working on your bike more than riding it said by the end of it. If I had the time ! yes I have been working on the bike a lot breaking things as there’s nothing broken to be fixed. The Idea is improvement. Now the bike is a simple one to work on as they say but they never said easy to work on. So the first damage was breaking the Oil Filter cover I screwed it too hard after the filter change.

I was able to fix it for the time with some sealant. Next was the electric starter. Who need a starter on such a classic bike? The fun of getting a kick back from the heavy crank is fun if it doesn’t hit you hard. It takes practice and accuracy to start the bike with the kick and once perfected works real well but again it’s no Childs play. So off went the side cover then the clutch and the magneto and off came the sprang clutch making the rattling noise that you never hear while riding. Hmm got my hands dirty, cloths sweaty and one good afternoon with the bike and my tools(collection of every possible tool needed to work on the bike). Started the bike with the kick and it kicked back like a bull. That’s where the work BULL..et comes from. I must have messed up something while putting things back. So off goes everything again but dint find anything wrong. So living with the bull kicking back for now, planning another weekend dismantling and learning the science of adjusting the ignition timing.

The New Enfield "still not the 500EFI"

Last week I went to test ride the new bike from Royal Enfiled. Royal Enfield was doing a customer survey and trying to get detailed feedback. It was a good experience talking to the design head and and some other officials. They did take feedback very positively.


I was expecting it to be the 500 Classic UCE EFI but it was not. It is the look alike of the classic but has the twin spark 350 engine. The styling is good/ old school with the 18 inch rear tyre.

Though one question in the feedback form was the name for the bike il bet its Classic 350.

Styling:
Being a look alike of the Classic the bike is surely a head turner, One can surely fall in love with the looks if one likes the retro old school looks , The paint job and chrome was real good quality (if all this will be the same when they deliver the bikes)
Performance:
I have never ridden the twinspark thunderbird but the bikes performance was better than any other 350CC Enfield. the bike did touch 90KMPH well though after that it had to be pushed a bit. I did touch 100 KMPH once the bike can do better than that after a good runin and some performance mods. The torque was good and the delivery was smooth. The gears were precise and accurate felt like a pulsar gearshift.

Ride/Handelin/Breaking:
Not sure if it’s the 18 inch rear tyre or Royal Enfield messed up the bikes handeling(may be just the test bike) but the bike was no where near to my Electra 5S in terms of handelling and breaking. The bike pulled towards the right side under hard breaking think it’s the new rear hub and break setup causing that. Now that the bike did not break well I did not try and bend it a lot. The suspention was better than the current enfields and the bike took humps real good.

Sitting Position:
The feedback form emphasised a lot on this one. The hight if the bike was good and the sitting position was good in terms of the position of the footpegs and break. The handle is a new designe and is better than the standard or electra handle but still not very comfortable I had to lean a bit forward while riding so this will be a problem for long rides. (I have a thunderbird handle on my Electra which is very comfortable on long rides)

The Thumb:

No Thumb at all at idle felt like im sitting on a generator. Once it took off the engine sounded good and there were no vibrations at all even at 80kmph.


Some feedback questions and my answers:

Will you exchange your current Royal Enfield with the test bike?
Ans : NO

How Much will you pay for the Bike:
Ans: Not more than 90K (thuugh they will not launch it below 1.1L as the twin spark thunderbird is more than that)

Will you recommend this bike to friends/family:
Ans: To anybody who needs a retro looking bike with good performance.




The bike defenately performs well and looks good taking into concidration that the breaking was an issue on the test bike only. The new engine is better in terms of reliability as it has hydraulic tapets and a better oil circulation system. Not sure of the fuel average may be someone riding a twinspark can comment on that.


The good news:
Now that I got friendly with the guys I asked them about the new 500 UCE EFI and the 350 UCE EFI , well they did not give me a date of the launch but told me that the 500 UCE EFI will be launched soon and there are no plans to launch a 350 UCE EFI as the EFI has only been tested on the 500CC engine. I asked if we can expect it to come before Diwali the answer was much before that.
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