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 🙂

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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.