Riding bike with your girlfriend/wife pillion?

Sick and bed ridden, I was just browsing through facebook and youtube and I came across this really good video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8f_MOue5rPw
He talks about the dos and dont’s when you have a pillion (he has his girlfriend as pillion in that video) … and it reminded me of my bike rides with my ex.

I never crossed 40mph in city riding when my ex was pillion… and she sometimes complained why I don’t drive like when I do a solo ride(over 100mph or even fast enough).
She probably never understood that I just couldn’t risk her life like I did with mine driving solo on a bike.
If there were to be a crash, I’d prefer that she walks away safe and if there needs to be a death then let that be mine.

 

So here are some tips for those “boyfriends” or “husbands” who love their (respective) “girlfriends” or “wifes”:

1. Buy proper riding gear for both .. dont buy awesome helmet for yourself and stupid roadside one for your wife.
Helmets are Very Very Important.
Infact, if i remember right, both our helmets (ex and me) were half faced.
I’d prefer full face protection for her, but she complained of suffocation when we went to choose helmet and she tried a full face one.
Her helmet had an inbuilt tinted goggles and a double top up full face visor and costed 1.5x more than mine,was IS-4151 approved. Infact, my first one was a fake ISO approved (there is no ISO standard for helmets) and I made sure that I didn’t do the same mistake when we picked one for her.

So if you love your girl, get her equal(considering your’s is not crappy) or better stuff.

If you have the buck, consider getting more than just helmets.. buy riding jackets, riding shoes, gloves, spine protectors, knee guards …….. and yes very importantly, not just for yourself.. but for your girl too.

 

2. What if you don’t have two helmets? Then give the one you have to your girl.. even if she is pillion
Happened to me when I sold my bike and gave away my helmet and then she got a scooter .. which if we both went out I’d drive. I always preferred she wear the helmet, but she would complain of stuff like hair, headache and have me wear it. So there are times I managed to get her to wear it, and times I couldn’t.
And only I know the nervousness I had driving the times when the helmet was on my head and not hers. (Even though I’m an experienced rider, I used to pray that I see her back home safe)

 

3. Proper/Good quality shoes
Very important. The first thing that a rider hits when falling off a sliding vehicle on accident is foot fingers.
Your fingers can scrape and you can end up loosing foot fingers, broken ankle, damaged Achilles heel and what not.

When my ex was just learning her scooter, I took her to shoe store and forced her to pick out a proper shoe.
It was white/blue girl style, proper protection, ample ankle, shin and heel padding.
She used it once or twice max and then they lay in the shoe rack forever eating dust.

Moral of the story for me: You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink

But seriously, try to talk to your girl and make her understand that why that 2 mins of time of wearing a shoe is better than walking handicapped for rest of the life.

 

4. Know your speed limit

You may ride at 100mph doing solo on the bike, but if you have your girl behind.. please be responsible.
The flick-ability of a motorcycle gets worse when you have a pillion on it.
If she is asking for more speed, you should only know that she hasn’t experienced a crash before… and you should be wise to know that you don’t want her to experience that pain (if you love her that is 😉 )

Don’t try to show your manhood by zipping fast/rash (its more like you dont have manhood since you’re having to prove it by zipping fast)

And if you think your girl thinks less manly of you since you dont speed, then let her just leave.
Trust me, if you love her.. its better to see her safe than be handicapped.. even if it means she leaves you. It’ll only mean she had a peanut size brain and it can’t be helped. But you can ensure her safety.

 

5. If you have a sports bike, then show her proper riding position
Riding position on sports bike is way different from normal commuter bikes.
If both you and your pillion do not know the positions, then you could easily crash.
Here this video shows how

6. Safety for her before she gets on to the bike
Make sure you have both your feet firmly on the ground and both your hands on handlebars when she is mounting the bike. Don’t showoff/try to be a hero by holding no handlebars…even if you are fucking tall.. if the bike tips due to irregular tarmac/mud on the road…. her head will be the first to hit the ground. You on the other hand will be the safest since your legs will grip the tank due to body reflex.

 

7. Safety for her before YOU get off the bike
So you did a great job while she was getting on the bike, but managed to kick her when you got off the bike… isn’t really a happy scene.
Make sure she steps safely far away after getting off the bike before you swing your leg, ensuring that you don’t end up kicking her face/body.

 

8. Take care of her dress
Make sure you check that her dress isn’t getting stuck in the wheel. (So common with Indian dresses having chunnis/sarees/dupattas)
It could get stuck in the wheel and tighten on her throat, hence suffocate her and the force of pull could throw her off the bike too.
They may/maynot have the brains to think of all this.. but you should.

 

9. Protect her against cold wind, dust and pollution
A helmet again plays a role here blocking most of the pollution, but other than that you should block her from oncoming dust wind.
If you see a dust road ahead, ask her to shut her eyes/hide behind your back.

If it’s a cold wind/weather, make sure she has a warm jacket even if it means you have to take off yours and give it to her. Just give it.. no second thoughts on this one.

 

10. Keep her back-ache in mind
Back aches are pretty common for sport bikers, and more so for female pillion because of strenuousness in riding position and their other biological issues.
So slow down once in a while on straight road, let her sit straight up and relax her back.
It is very painful to see your girl go through backpain, so only imaging how painful it is to her who is bearing it.

 

11. Communicate
Every once in a while, especially during long rides.. be caring and ask her if she is comfortable, if she needs to take a break, if she needs you to drive slower, if she needs to attend a nature call and so on.
She might just be enduring some discomfort and still not saying anything.
Girls seem to feel that they are doing a sacrifice by enduring something that way, No its not.
Real men shouldn’t be needing her to do those. It is far better to ask her to point out immediately if something is a discomfort rather than endure it.

Overall pay attention to minor things(that can turn major threat) for your girlfriend/wife.

 

12. Try to take this attitude in normal life too… not just while biking.
Be considerate.. put her before yourself.
She may not do the same, she may treat you as least important and rate you in chart of importance after all her blood relations, friends or whatever….but then that only means she doesn’t love you as much as you love her.
But still, “as long as it lasts”… put her before yourself.
Don’t just “say it”, empty words don’t make sense.. “do it”.

Why I Ride?

Yesterday night was one of those darn lonely moments for me that can drive people to end themselves.
It’s not like I can simply close my eyes and try going to sleep; I am running away from sleep deliberately.

Why? Because sleep gives me dreams… particular dreams.. very similar to what I keep dreaming every time I go to sleep from last 5 months. I don’t know how to get rid of these dreams. Same faces, same people, taunting me, provoking me saying ‘We’ve taken away what you loved the most. What can you do now?’, laughing at me, putting a dagger in my heart and then stomping it hardly further down to rip it apart.
And I see someone doing stuff that I can’t bear, stuff that I don’t want to write here.

How it feels when I dream.. like end of life.

So I try my max not to sleep; better than dreaming those and waking up in immense anger, heart rate soaring and sweating all over.

As to why I ride?
I ride to heal my heart.
May be I should be included in this video list next time 🙂

Unfortunately yesterday, no redbull left in the fridge 😐

To compensate, I go out to ride in the dark for a bit (around 0230 am). Now normally I’d do a 120+, but this time I thought let’s try something different. I drove at about 10kmph or less… found a slow sloping road, literally put my track-ready sport bike in Neutral gear!!! (I know couple of bikers will be cursing me over this), and let is just cruise to angle of slope and gravity.

This really gives a slow motion feel. Although, people who drive regularly in city traffic may not feel a difference, but I specifically got myself a bike to help me get away to adrenaline rush drives when I have to escape falling asleep. So I don’t really take it into the city.. just the highways.

Everything looks moving slllowwwwly, its a niiiceeeeee experience.. feels good, especially when the surrounding is pitch black dark, with scary looking trees that block visibility to anything on one side and vast empty darkness of plain lands on the other side.
It kinda feels like this:

And THEN, when you rip open your throttle.. it feels like this (darn I want to drive at Isle of Man too) :

This is my pic of closure, riding towards unknown lands..

a drive .. another attempt to heal my heart.

—
The Heartbroken Biker

Vikarabad Off-Roading

What happens when you don’t follow the same old route of Vikarabad.. Off-Road happens 🙂

Yesterday’s early morning ride…  way way fun offroading,  driving through forest,  water stream, jungles, bushes…………  4 of the group (xBhp) bikes getting front wheel jammed due to all that mud…   self repairs .. a test of strength .. finally finishing off with amazing in-jungle dhaba food 🙂

For all pics visit – https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.465208590177521.108111.100000651514815&type=1

Some highlights and videos here:

There are more secret roads in the Forest.

 

Splashing and playing in the stream 🙂

Now cleaning the bike is a challenge 🙂

This wardrobe used to belong to my love…

This wardrobe used to belong to my love, still belongs to my love.
Just that, my love interest seems to have diverted a bit.

Racing Gear – Still not enough for a fierce track race 🙂

Have been having thoughts of racing (on professional race track).
Heard Daytona racing kit can make you notch up speed to 156Kmph ~ 162Kmph.. interesting.

Yamaha One Make Racing – Chennai. Image Courtesy – Yamaha India.

I think it’ll be super fun to go race at Yamaha One Make Races in Chennai.
Whaddya think?

Random Ride

Yes it was Random.
I went to IIIT-H for a meetup and from there headed of like this.

IIIT-H -> Wipro -> Gandipet -> Join road that goes to Vikarabad -> Drive along -> Suddenly found a nice left (where there was a lorry turned over last time during our drive) -> found the road very nice straight and 1-2 potholes MAX.. revved the bike to 110kmph for some decent amount of time.

Over turned Lorry (pic from previous drive to same place)

Reached a small village/habitat area. Had Mirchi bajjis… packed egg bonda for Home.

Had movie planned at 20:30 (Onamalu… thank friends for tickets), and it was already 18:30 😛 .. so I hurried back.

While going back it was almost dark and potholes really pissed me off.
Two occasions good brakes with transfer of weight to front wheel really saved me.

Parked her, thanked Amitiel for the great saves… and ran to the car and rushed off 🙂

Amitiel resting during leisure stop.

 

 

Funny things during ride:

1. Random students in IIIT-H (a girl and a boy to be precise):
Girl: Laughing.. arey isko dekh.. beginner hai kya.   ( translate:  LOL, look at him with all that gear.. is he a beginner)
Boy: Laughing… R15 se girta bolke dar raha hai. He shld see us drive. ( translate: He is afraid of falling.. he should see us riding without any gear)

 

 

2. At Gandipet:

Three Girls sitting in the middle of the road and 2 guys snapping them. aka Facebook photoshoot.
Approaching them I use dipper instead of honk to move them.
They get up move aside and start shouting in excitement.
Probably never see someone geared up for a ride… I’d love to see their reaction if they see the xBhp group ride in single file.. like 30+ bikes all geared up 🙂

 

 

3. Police check Near some VJIT Engineering college:
Stopped, checked my papers, license, then questions.
cop: When did you buy? How much cc is this?
I was wondering what he was reading on my papers 🙂

cop checks out the bike from all angles and then

cop: How much speed does it go?
me: 136 or 156kmph something I guess. I dont know myself.
cop: No tambi, minimum speed.
me: Depends on what you take it on no?
cop: Arey normal vehicle 60 lo eltai.. nuvu enta lo eltav.
me: Depends on the speed sign on the road.
cop: Ok, ORR lo how much?
me: 2 wheelers not allowed on ORR
cop: Arey, just in case.
me: No just in case.. they are not allowed and I wont go.
cop: Arey, suppose you are driving.
me: No I'm not driving.

 

4. Forgot to add this one:

At Gas station in Gandipet, the air filling boy, small kid ( Child Labor is very common here :(.. ) and some others come to me and ask (translating in English)

1. Anna, this pads they wear in cricket no?  (translate:  Anna = Brother)

2. Anna, eda panda pettu bike ni. ( Not sure what they mean..probably asking me to show off body lean cornering? or spinning burnout? )
3. Anna, front tyre lepu (Asking me to showoff a wheelie)I was like “tamudu, gavi piccolu chestaru public road meeda, nenu cheyaa”

(translate: brother, mad guys do that on public roads, I’ll not)
And he was like.. avunu anna.. monna okadu chesindu .. suddenla rai vachindi padadu.. netti paglindi. Nuvvu oka sari chey anna pls pls.
(translate: Yeah yeah, there was one doing here some days ago and he hit a rock and broke his head… Oh but please do it once!)

😛 .. he wanted me to crash or something!Surrounded with absurd requests, I had run from there.

Another view at drive

P.S: Sorry guys, I dont have any pics for this drive. Didn’t find time to stop and shoot. Pics from previous drive of almost same route (part of it) are posted in this blogpost 🙂

xBhp G2G – with KTM Duke 200 review

So after working on http://blog.toonheart.com/sneak-peek_mini-game-artwork/ till 4 am in the morning I hit the bed for a quick nap and unprepared for the Xbhp Get Together ….

Why unprepared?
My race/riding jacket was returned to dealer due to wrong size (so no armored jacket),  left Knee protectors at  friends house, and I was already on a RedBull dose … so falling asleep became difficult 🙂

Woke up 7:30, got ready quick, revved Amitiel and got to the venue with directions help from Dhiraj.
Met Kaleem ji, the eldest Xbhp rider who has ridden every road in India…. unbelievably true on 100cc bike. And the best part, he still rides, is hyperactive and is riding to Pakistan soon.. WOW!.

xBhp Hyderabad G2G – Find me?

Broke ice with everyone, checked out awesome bikes and modifications (angel eyes, K&N, Joel’s racing kit) .., posed for snaps and we were off.

Ice Breaker in xBhp G2G

That’s the effect of water kissed cool wind blowing my hair, thanks for the pic Rakesh Kalli

Way back, I wished to ride KTM Duke 200 (owned by Dheeraj, new xBhp member) and we swapped our bikes for a while.
AND Boy KTM Duke is FAST !!!  and SOLID.
Unlike the first time I test drove it at Bajaj Probiking.. where it didn’t leave me impressed… This time it was a totally different ball game.

The KTM Duke 200

Pros:
It’s got the comfort position like/better than CBR, it feels properly planted, and excellent no-feel of crazy speed-breakers. Dheeraj permitted me to fully rev his bike; he was too on mine 🙂
Looker.
Orange.
Build Quality.
Meter (should have probably come with a 3 inch thick manual 😀 .. didn’t ask)

Cons:
“Personally”, I felt the rear brake rod should protrude out a bit more.. I missed it at-least thrice… which is not funny when approaching hairpin bends.. was almost close to flying off the road in a trajectory.
Front brake should have given more feedback to the rider .. or is it because I’m not used to inverted telescopic suspensions.

Burn Baby Burn 😉

Also, realized a truth.. that my cornering skills have become rusty/horrible (now that I’m back to biking after almost 4 years) … I couldn’t corner Duke like I do on Amitiel.. entered corner fast but losing confidence half way (which is more risky if I have to use brakes during counter-steering).
And watching Dheeraj corner effortlessly with both his Duke and my r15 v2.0 at higher speeds put me to hide my face in the sand.
So, credit for whatever cornering I do on Amitiel goes to the design of r15 and not my skill.

End of the ride, with his advice I revved my engine high and did a 120kmph (and still felt that it could do higher up) … Didn’t see how much on Duke, but it was ahead of me by atleast 3-4 secs. /me takes a facepalm.

Conclude with a thanks to Dheeraj for his bike, and Dhiraj & Naveen ( for checking out my bike for a front suspension creaking noise issue and letting me know that its OKAY! 🙂

Picture Kredits: xBhp G2G Pics – Rakesh Kalli,  KTM Duke Pics – Zigwheels.

Honda CBR 250r Review

One would ask, why I am writing this review now when the bike was released in 2011.

Here’s why:

1. Initial unavailability of test drive bikes for mango people (aam admi/common man) like me .. sure press and bike blogs/sites got a warm welcome 🙂

2. Initially I was also put off by the design of CBR/VFR. Too me it looks like we skipped few generations of design in between and launched ourselves 5-7 years ahead.. felt a bit weird and took time to get used to it.

3. Been busy with earning to feed self – roti and occasional chicken. Yes.. aam admi ke roz ki roti ka kaam.

4. Giving time to honda to fix the initial teething problems that any new design launch is prone to have.

So finally the day came, when 2 of my friends decided to accompany me and that build my guts up to ask for a test drive. 😀

I took test drive of CBR250r (Tri color – which looked like old shit bike because of the horrible way the dealer was maintaining it)
“Super intelligent” showroom guys also removed the rear mirrors due to which I couldn’t test flick-ability of the bike.

The CBR 250r

Drive area: City

+ve:
Great seating comfort

Great wrist relaxation.. no pain.

Balance – there were moments when I felt that the sales guy behind me will hug me. He was moving on his seat but still the bike kept pretty stable.

brakes (non-ABS) – pretty confident. Bike was straight lined during braking .. I’ve had bike slanting in apache rtr while braking in high speeds.

Clutching – absolute accurate. didnt slip even once for such a hammered test bike.

Option of having ABS on this bike (for not paying a fortune for it) is a big plus.

CBRs

-ve

Color/Paintjob – Wasn’t turning heads. More or less same for other colors too, unless you maintain it shiny. Red attracts more.

Engine roughness – Was surprised. I heard otherwise!!!
I was trying hard to find a better feel than a P220 engine.. wasnt getting so much… it was just a slight bit. Although I should say its a test bike.. but then (and so what) .. if you dont maintain it like pampered bike.. will it go rough? <– Current CBR owners should enlighten me here.

Gear Ratio – Was pretty much in 4th gear before I could finish like 200 meters. 1st gear doesnt take me anywhere more than 4 feet but has good pickup. 2nd gear lacked any pickup whatsoever. 3rd was fine but too quick. 4th came quicker.
May be I was expecting a sportier ratio. I’m probably looking at it from a wrong angle.

front suspension – felt a lot harder.

Power – constantly felt for need of more power across all gears. (didnt switch to 6th) .. as soon as I feel “ok now the max rpm for the current gear is going to come and I’ll get a bit more power.. the engine was roughing out and I had to switch to next higher” .   Probably because it is a single cylinder?

Honda CBR 250r – Sports Bike or Not?

Overall – Close to Satisfactory.

I don’t know if bad maintenance from the showroom guys is to be blamed or is it how it is!  ..  If it is, then it shouldn’t be.

This is definitely not a “super sport” bike, or even a proper “sport” bike.. It’s more of a “really well made city/tourer 250cc bike” that comes closer to being a “sport” category.

I feel utter astonished when I see fanboys call it the best sports bike or supersports on various biking forums. Really, the term “supersports” is misused so much!

Bike gets dented on tank…..for being good.

Alright, so after maintaining my bike in scratch less condition for over 2 and half years, after respecting every road rule and being nice at parking places where I practiced the equi-spacing of vehicles to avoid inconvenience to others, today is the day that my bike suffered a blow on its tank and leaving it dented badly.

How did it happen?
I drove to fresh@ stores and parked my bike. I then noticed that my bike could probably cause trouble to the people getting vehicles out of basement. So, like a good citizen I moved my bike from there, parked it on the other side of the row, checked twice for distance from adjacent bike to give him space to walk in and easily move out his bike.
Never in my dreams would I have thought that this would be the day when someone will damage my bike for nothing.

I return from the store to find my bike cross parked. Checked and found a big bad dent on my tank with scratch mark of probably another bike handle. My helmet lock was broken too.

SHIT HAPPENS!

Paid Bike Service (Screwup) at Kiran Commercials – Part2

Continued from here.

After thorough diagnosis of the bike, my regular service center guys confirmed that the `oneway clutch` has a broken ring/disc. It is a surprise that this would happen at 17000 kms and considering that I use the kickstart very less. What’s more surprising is that operations were smooth enough with no indications of anything being wrong, until it went to servicing at kiran commercials!

I got involved into the servicing too. We noticed that the chain section had loads of mud, which means it was not cleaned during service a week ago. While chinna (the artificer) was working on the engine and gear, I cleaned up the chain section. New `Oneway Clutch`, new engine oil (wow oil change in a week), washing and labor charge got my bill to near INR-1500.
It was interesting to see the new design change of the clutch, which probably emerged when TVS wanted to increase the performance of RTR over apache. (Yes! my bike now has the new RTR oneway clutch.)

Chinna with my bike at Laxmi TVS

Sun bath after getting fixed 🙂

After fixing my bike, the mechanics enjoyed a small treat (snacks & cooldrinks) from me.
I do this after every servicing at Laxmi TVS. It is not wasting money because I learn a lot about my bike watching(pestering with doubts) the guys at work.

Paid Bike Service (Screwup) at Kiran Commercials

This was the first time I took my bike to Kiran commercials (Ranigunj) for servicing.
I hesitate to give in my bike where I am not allowed to see what the artificer is doing ( I love Open Standards).
Since my regular service center had no equipment for aligning my front forks, I was left with no choice but Kiran.

I got back my bike with almost nothing repaired and new problems added. The front brake wasn’t effective and front suspension was hard. The headlight assembly would produce a knock sound whenever I used the front brake.
It almost felt as if I were driving an old cycle. The engine was rough although `Engine Oil` was listed on the bill.
There was no bike wash!
So, I took it back and had to make 3 trips before they even wanted to look at the bike. Literally no emphasis on their quality process. When my bike was taken in for re-check, they did not start the work on first day. I was informed about this when I almost reached there to take the delivery. They delayed it for another 2 days and I was kept wondering what they were doing with it.

Surely after re-check, the front suspension felt smooth. All this at the cost of 6 days, 5 trips and not to forget the frustration. Should I be happy that everything is fine? Was everything really fine? No it wasn’t.
The very next day, my electric start stopped working and the kickstart (which I used only twice a day) gets jammed intermediately. They were in perfect condition before the service.

My bike is 2.1 years old now; 17000 kms done and I find it crazy to get these problems with it.
There is probably no way to tell if mechanics at Kiran had changed some parts or damaged them.
I would be sending the bike for check at my regular service center (Laxmi TVS – Anandbagh) and hope that things get better.

Moral: Prefer service centers that are open for customers to watch their vehicles while the artificer is working on it.
(Yes, my regular service center guys allow that.)
If the service center guys don’t allow that kind of transparency, then there is definitely poor service practices / something fishy.