Since I had read the blog post about this ride done in April I was eager to try it soon. I never knew about this place being it so close from Mumbai. After reading the story of so many bikes had difficulty reaching the summit it excited me even more.

Its was just a ride where I, Amol and Prafulkumar were supposed to go but after posting it on bombaybikers.com I didn’t expect such a big response for this ride. More the always merrier.

When I reached Vashi I saw a lot of guys were already there waiting from half an hour . Saw so many new faces it will take a little time for me to remember everyone’s name. I little weal in that part (my apologies). We started from Vashi by 7am. By 7.40 we were at Datta snacks for breakfast and waiting for Rohit and Gauresh. They arrived in 30-35 mins later.

Within no time about 10 of us made it quickly to the next halt, outside Hotel Kamat (under the express way).

Rest arrived after an hour, got to know there was a mechanical problem they faced but nothing they couldn’t handle.

In next 40 mins we were at the starting point of the road which leads up to the hill. Just first look shouted at me that there are going to be some great accidents of the year.

The ride to the base started and I left 3rd last after me Gauresh and then Varun. Just after 2-3 curves first funny kind of accident or incident took place. One rider lost balance / control but to help him out 2 other riders stopped their bikes but parked it in such a way that now all 3 bikes will fall of the stand, and they almost did. Some how that problem was solved in few mins and continued to the base point.

On reaching base point I came to know that everyone was advised to wait a few mins till the bike cools off a bit but Amol already went ahead to try out without studying the slope and took the first fall.

After few moment Rahul on his karizma made the attempt and reached the top successfully. Slowly after intervals every riders attempted some made - most fell.

It was exhausting to push all the bikes up. Though Rohit, Abhishek, Varun and few others managed to get everyone’s bike to the top.

But when I made it to the top I realized that going down will be more difficult.

At the top after taking few shots and giving some rest. I started my descend down. I made it to the base point comfortably.

And quickly left for highway to get some water and drinks. We were short of it and I knew we will need more. So I went to the highway and so a few bottles. But when I came up again to the base point I got to know that Prafulkumar had a big fall at 40km/per hr. His DSG jacket got torn off a bit and a cut on his palm.

But he was safe. Luckily the pune group who we met there had lot of first aid.

Now getting everyone down was also a big thing. It was turning out to be a drift time. Everyone drifting left right while coming down.

After agnising 1 hour later everyone was down. And started ride back down towards the highway for food water and shelter. Also there were a few bikes which faced damages. But it was worth it.

Ambar Dabha is the place we took our meal. The animals we saw there were totally amazing. I again never new about this place. Some one having a collection of dogs, camel, horses, ducks, turkey, love birds, rabbits, ostrich, goats and chickens.

Where are you at a dhabha or a zoo!!!!

After meal and resting for few moments we hopped on our bikes again to start back to Mumbai before sunset.

Took one halt at the expressway exit and reached Panvel within no time.

PHOTOS of the ride.

This place is perfect to try your experience. I will be doing trips to this place very often now. In early morning and after dark too.

I’m sure you all must be knowing the features, specification and other details of this bike. Just put the keyword ‘Hero Honda Hunk‘ and you will get all you want to know.

Here in my reviews you will get to know what is not there on the official sites of the motorbike.

I will also put it in short, so you will know quickly what you need to know about Hunk.

Pro’s

Excellent start up, in any conditions. Though I still prefer to use kick for the first start up of the day.
At sane riding you won’t hear the sound of engine its that silent.
Tyres are good for curves and cornering. They don’t give you the feeling of loosing balance.
Seating position ok. Though it didn’t go well with my height. I’m 5′8.
Has a good pick up. On ghats too.
Suspension is too good. These gas suspension/shocks are a thing we need now a days

Con’s

Headlight not powerful enough
Ground clearance too low. On Ghats every time I went down at corners my toe was brushing the road. Thats not good.
Average what I got was 46-50kmpl. Too low for a 150 segment motorbike.
Gear shift not very smooth compared to other 150CC range bikes.
Overall I will rate this bike enough to ride in the city and its neighboring places but not too far away.

The Tank of HUNK does gives it a muscle look. This Bike could have given competition if it would have been in the 180cc segment.

Again a trip where plan was made not by me but I went and the planner not due to technical reasons. This too will be one of my ride that I will not forget but for odd reasons thats because my bike faced a few silly problems which were so stupid it figure out. Anyways….

This ride began only with me and Shailendra on sat 5th April. We met at vashi and quickly headed the NH-17. As its a long distance so I thought that leaving early as possible would be best. Also before leaving shailendra told me that his bike toppled before getting here and only the head light and indicators had a few damages. We thought of getting it fixed on the way.

Within no time we were at Vadkal and some good breakfast down our tummies was a pleasure. We were then straight of to Kashedi top. And again too within no time we reached our next halt. At the top after little drink we came to know that there is some garage at khed who can fix that headlight so we started a look out for it. Only the indicators was fixed but got the head light replaced in Chiplun thats the time when I realized ohhh shit its 11.30am and we are already at Chiplun, that was damm fast. Otherwise its a 5 hours ride.

House hunt began as the place where we were going to stay I have been there 16year ago so I didn’t know where exactly it is. But it was easy to find as I had directions in a map format.

After freshing up we took malvani lunch at a hotel which was recommended to me and then headed straight for hedvi beach. After couple of ours ride we found the beach and a long photo session began. But just before sunset we began ride back to Chiplun. As we came back I got a message from Gaurav and Anish that they too are meeting us up at Chiplun. So we had our dinner and waited patiently for them.

By 10pm they showed up and they are grass eaters so we then went at a vegetarian restro near by. Later that night we went at our stay place and after a couple of hours of chit chat snoring was initiated.

Morning plan was to get up at 6am but that went till 9am. Some tea and biscuits and by 10pm started ride back to mumbai via Panchgani.

We were at Mapro by 3pm when my ignition cable came off, must be because of constant vibration. We found a garage and got the mechanic, he fixed it in no time. And showed me the reason was what I thought so.

After some shake we were at thapa point and had an excellent photo clicking. Then after a while began a long night ride.

After hours of riding we took halt at a few kms before lonavale for some snack.

By 11 pm I think we were at the end of Palm beach in Mumbai. Final good byes and headed straight home.

Its was FUN.

Best of the rides…..

Best Road: the usually NH-17 and NH-4

Ghats: All of them

No. Of riders: 4

Bikes: Karizma, Pulsa 150, Pulsar 150, Avenger

Total kms: 800 approx.

Climate: Relatively hot, day riding conditions are difficult.

Overall ride was good.

I think no ride had been bad, all have given some knowledge and experience.

Photographs of the ride.

Date 29th March - 30th March 2008

You know guys every time I do one ride I believe it that this will be a ride that will I never forget but then suddenly comes the next ride which turns out to be even better than the previous one.

This was also one such ride. Just two riders, a long circuit road to cover having all type of roads in it, ghats curves etc.

The ride was actually Dhaval’s plan and I was going to join in but he got off with work so I and Viral went ahead with the ride instead of cancelling it. Thats why I could not post anything about the ride. Sorry for that

We started off late in the evening on sat by 9.45 pm from vashi centre one mall after a quick bite at McD. Everthing was calm till we reached at the first toll on NH-4 and shock to see an accident which took place over there a while ago. Its a pity that control is still not in control.

We continued and as I started ascending lonavale ghat I got a call from Viral that something is wrong with his bike. I came down and saw that there was a problem in his accelerator cable. Luckly in off engine we came down the ghat to khopoli and our good luck that a garage was open near by. He fixed it within no time and said any problem anywhere just call him up. He has a network over NH-4. I said great and told him that if I call a simple way to recognize me is just remember a takala who was here at your garage at night 11.30pm

We took some tea at lonavale at off to Pune.
Stayed at a lodge on dehu road and it was morning in no time. But I got my sleep that is all I had wanted that time.

Ride to panchgani was fun as wind was with us. So no swing. We reached thapa point within no time. A little snap shots and we were off to Mapro. Also forgot to mention the great panchgani ghat. One of my favourites.

We took a big halt at Mapro for food and drinks.

By 2 pm we were off to mahabaleshwar.
We didn’t took any halt there as we had decided to reach JNPT before evening.

We took just one halt at end of the ghat and one at Kamat then it was no stop. And we comfortably reached JNPT by 6.15pm

One more great ride comes to an end, with a thought of learned something new and its now for next ride.
Best Road: NH-4, NH-17 (Poladpur-Kolad)
Best Ghat: Wai-Panchgani
Best Food: Not much we had
Drinks: Cold drinks, water, Juice, Lassi, Neera, Tea coffee, bourvita a lot was consumed.

Best Part of the ride: Descending Mahabaleshwar ghat

Total distance covered: 510km from Chembur.

My average: When I reached at Palm Beach HP Pump there was 2lt in my bike. It was on reserve. Now in front of Viral I bought petrol for Rs. 500 that is now 10lt here and there. My trip meter is now O from this point and next day at the end of ride in my garage trip meter reading was 489.8 now back to the reserve where it was before fueling means it has now 2lt of petrol left. Now you calculate the average.

10lt + 2lt = 12lt

2lt still left and 10lt used for 489.8km that mean my average is 490/10, dosen’t that comes to average of 49kmpl.

And all this at an average speed of 95kmph

It was FUN.

PHOTOGRAPHS of the Trip.

Don’t even think of trying it in reality, just sit back and enjoy this video.

This is what I call quality advertisement,

Trip Log,

Date: March 9, 2008

Destination: Murud Janjira, a sea fort

Built in the year: 11th century

Riders:

Gaurav - Avenger
Ashish Mehta - Pulsar
Hardik - Pulsar 200
Prafulkumar - Pulsar
Hussain - Honda Shine
Amol - Pulsar
Anish - Pulsar
Dhaval - Avenger
Rakesh - Karizma
Nitin - Apache RTR
Samir - Apache RTR
Avijit - YAMAHA Roadstar
Ari Basu - Avenger
Om - Karizma

Pulin- Pulsar

Halts taken at panvel, vadkal naka, alibag, kashid and off to Murud

Left from Vashi around 7.35am
Breakfast at Datta snacks, panvel

Best road: Panvel to Alibag

Worst road: Alibag to Revadanda

Scenic road: Kashid to Murud

Total Distance covered: 340km approx.

Average speed: 90kmph

Kashid Beach: An excellent spot to spend time all day. The beach is never crowded.
Murud: A nice place to have sea food.

The entire trip was fun. Till today I had never been on a trip where there were so many new riders.

And riding along yamaha roadstar was a thing too.
We were back in Mumbai by 7pm.

Check out the trip PHOTOGRAPHS.

TO DOWNLOAD THEM CLICK ON THE PARTICULAR PICTURE AND IT WILL OPEN UP WHERE YOU CAN SEE THAT PICTURE ONLY. THERE WILL A download OPTION ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE WINDOW.

You have seen the Monster Truck but have you seen the MonsterBike?

SM Racing tyres

SM racing tyre is know for softness of its rubber. The quality is known so I thought let try it on hero honda karizma to have some first hand information. Also other karizma riders will be more informed.

The size I tried is R18 100/90 the other one available is 120 which is too big to fit in.

120 size is tubeless, it can be fitted on karizma but you need to remove and cut few thing like the chain cover and the rear mud protector need to be cut half.

100 one is a tubeless tyre. Its the default karizma size so here no issues in fitting it on the bike.

The grip of the tyre is meant for both on road and off road riding.

Usually off road tyre grips are deep so when you ride them on road you wont get that comfort level. Hence you never use off road tyres on road.

Its not so in these SM racing tyres. On road riding is good and off road is good enough.

The Pro’s about these tyres are that you can take them to the places where there is off road but to reach that place you have to ride 50-100+km on road, a neat highway multiple lane highway.

The Con’s about the tyre are that its not good or rather not safe for cornering. You wont feel that comfort what you feel on other tyres during curvy bends. ALSO its not safe on wet roads. The tyre tend to slip a bit on wet riding conditions. When you just bend slightly on wet curve you will get the feeling that rear tyre is skidding away. So you have to be a lot conscious. Experience will count.

Life of the tyre is around 19000km for motorcycles weighting 120-140kgs without doing any burnouts or any stunts where the tube is burnt profusely.

Overall all its a good tire but in Mumbai, India its not available at many places. You will find it only in Mumbai Central and Milan subway areas.

Price range: 1500-1900 INR

My Rating: 6/10

Photographs of one of my motorcycle trip where I have used SM racing rear tyre.