Plains to Mountains

The excitement was immense. I couldn't sleep well during the night. Because, tomorrow we were gonna ship the bikes to Chandigarh and start riding that very weekend.

We got scammed a little by the parcel service guys, but that was oki. Finally, the bikes were all packed and ready for the mountain madness. There was one problem though. The train was delayed by like a crazy 14 hrs. So weren't sure if we can stick to our schedule. I was not going along with my motorcycle as I couldn't squeeze in those extra 2 days of leave. So I fly to Chandigarh to reach the same day the train arrives.

It was a Saturday, the 27th of July. I reached Chandigarh sometime mid after noon. After making a few phone calls, I got to know that the boys will arrive early evening. It made sense for that siesta. Rested well, I went to receive the motorcycle from the train station and I should say that it went pretty smoothly. All gassed up, the machines were ready to roll. It was an early night and we leave for the mountains tomorrow. We would ride briefly through The Punjab, and enter Himachal Pradesh. The plan was to halt in Manali that night, get the passes for Rhotang La, etc blah.

The breakfast in Punjab was overwhelming. Grumpy, after a heavy breakfast we had to ride through boring  highways. We took it seriously easy that day. It took us almost 12 hrs to reach Manali. Mostly because we were chillin like Hippies. We stopped EVERYWHERE. There was this one time we stopped for a short break, got on the bikes and stopped again because I saw a snake. and there goes. We take another break.

That's us entering Kullu district en-route to Manali.

Lush greenery that followed..

A special mention to the creepy tunnel. A 3-km-long tunnel, built on Chandigarh-Manali national highway at Aut, which is the only gateway to Kullu-Manali is sheer madness. Its a scary experience as the entire tunnel is wet and dripping with mountain water and the sodium vapor lights in the tunnel just dint help. After the creeps, you reach the great river Beas..

Buzzing through the Beas...

From here, The town of Manali was 40 kms. We reached there at about 7.30ish, but there was sun light and looked like this from the place we got our permits.

Tomorrow we climb Big and it was a Sunday well spent. 

The Art of sucking at Planning

Dear Bad Planner (and those with a potential to suck at it) - If there is one thing you should know, its the fact that there is nothing in your control.

Now that the Leh machine was ready to roll, it was pretty simple from here. Or at least that's what I thought.

This was our magical super awesome worlds best itinerary, Or a.k.a "The Plan" (Which is borrowed BTW and not my own idea). We ship out our bikes in the DD Exp. and we start riding from Chandigarh.

Day 0 - Reach Manali, get the permits ...Blah Blah, 300kms

Day 1, Manali – Rohtang la – Kokhsar – Tandi – Keylong – Jispa – Darcha – Baralacha La – Bharatpur – Sarchu, 230kms

Day 2, Sarchu – Gata Loops – Nakee La – Lachulung La – Pang – More Plains – Tanglang La – Upshi – Karu – Leh, 260kms: A hard day of riding while covering three high altitude passes; Nakee La 15,547ft, Lachulung La 16,616ft and third highest pass, Tanglang La at an altitude of 17,582ft.

Day 3, Leh – Thiksey – Leh

Day 4, Leh – Phyang – Khardung La – Khardung – Khalsar – Diskit – Hunder, 110kms: Conquering the worlds highest Motorable road at 18,380ft

Day 5, Hunder – Diskit – Sumur – Panamik – Sumur – Khalsar – Khardung – Khardung La – Phyang – Leh, 200kms

Day 6, Leh – Shey – Karu – Shakti – Chang La – Tanksey – Lukung – Spangmik – Pangong Tso, 170kms

Day 7, Pangong Tso – Phobrang – Marsimik La – Phobrang – Pangong Tso: Ride to the worlds highest Motorable pass.

Day 8, Pangong Tso – Lukung – Tanksey – Chang La – Shakti – Karu – Shey – Leh, 170kms

Day 9, 10, 11 - Climb a mountain (preferably Stok Kangri 6100 Mts)

Day 12, Leh – Nimmu – Lamayuru – Khaltse – Kargil, 293kms

Day 13, Kargil – Sanko – Parakachik – Rangdum (Suru Valley) – Panzi La – Padum (Zanskar Valley), 245kms

Day 14 – 13, Zanskar Valley: Exploring the Zanskar Valley and visit numerous Buddhist Gompas Zanskar Valley is famous for.

Day 15, Padum – Panzi La – Rangdum – Parakachik – Sanko – Kargil, 245kms

Day 16, Kargil – Drass – Zoji La – Sonamarg – Srinagar, 205kms through to the Kashmir valley

Day 17, Srinagar – Banihal – Udhampur – Jammu, 300kms

Day 18/Day 19, Jammu – Pathankot – Jalandhar – Ludhiana – Ambala – Delhi, 590kms

This looked freaking awesome (at least on paper). We were going to ride almost 3400 kms in 18 days, averaging almost 180 - 200 kms of tough riding every single day. Then somewhere in the middle of this I wanted to climb Stok Kangri.

I hate to burst the bubble now. None of this happened. In-fact, the 2 other people who were supposed to accompany me split. I had to ride alone, had a couple of falls,  lost my spare fuel and got even sent back in some places because of "Pakistan issues". Like I said before, nothing is in your control. But here's the cool part of the story. I Did climb a 5000 mt Mountain, I went white water rafting in the mighty Indus , Crossed the mighty Zanskar in a DIY rope bridge, stayed in villages that are accessible only by feet, Went to a local farm and plucked my own fresh apricots. Met people who mattered. It was all worth it at the end of the day.

At the end of the adventure, I was unhappy that I did not have enough time to deviate from my plan (as I did, which you will read about in the future posts) . So, Time is what you need (a lot of it) and not a "Plan".

Blitzkrieg

War-footing was the agenda. I had gotten all crazy that turned to mad, but now it was time to get over it. With all the misery haunting me one side, there were some serious advancements worth talking about.  2 of my friends decided that they will be a part of this adventure. The coolest part was both of them struck a Uber deal with Hero and got 2 brand new bikes. Now I had company. I was no longer the "lone crusader in a dangerous world". One of them even decided to lend his bike for taking measurements ( for things like the extra rail for carrying luggage, fuel can ..etc ). We chopped the M80's rear rail and made some minor mods to make this

The loading area at the rear says that the Max load is 7 Kilograms. Monkey Crap. With hindsight, I can tell you that it can take the load of a complete person (preferably a midget weighing 80 - 100 Lbs). Short and sweet. It fits the bill and does the job well.

Meanwhile in Chaos-land, the megaphone was complete...Hooray !

One of the 2 brand new bikes was going to be the exact same specification as the one I was building. So he had to make an exhaust system too. To celebrate our misery, we had a party that day. His motorcycle came in handy as well. As things were getting delayed, I had to completely strip it down to start the paint job in parallel. So the bike was not available to take measurements for the exhaust as it was nearing completion. My friend was kind & patient enough to lend his bike for making 2 complete systems. Here's shanker ( The tinker who makes exhaust systems in a winker ) doing what he does best.

It was a sunday, and we had to parcel the bikes to Chandigarh on Wednesday by train. My house smelt like a paint shop that day.

With just little bit of electrical work pending, and a fully done exhaust (thanks to shanker)

It was a job well done ...and we were ready to roll.

Leh Machine# 1

Leh Machine# 2 & 3

Make that trumpet blow

Initially this was simply a matter of making a larger diameter header & I had 2 Options. Dominated by straight pipes and “megaphone”, My engineer (Who is totally awesome BTW and probably the greatest) decided megaphone.

Making an exhaust was priority. Its very important that it works.In any IC engine, after combustion has taken place in an engine the exhaust gases have to have somewhere to go. In a motorcycle we aim the gases out the exhaust port and into the exhaust pipe. On four stroke racing bikes that pipe could be a long straight pipe or a short header pipe and a megaphone, which crudely looks something like this..

Akrapovic would make something like this (May be in titanium if you have $$$)

As motorcycle engines and chassis have become more advanced, so do have the exhausts. Its a multi-million dollar market out there. From the times Tubes used to be cut with a hack-saw and bent by hand over a torch. Today, CNC cut-off saws cut pipe to length while multi-level CNC tube benders shape pipes to exacting tolerances. But I lived in India. So all we had was tubes, hack-saws and gas welding equipment. Pig Iron replaced my titanium and carbon-steel dreams.

With so much of dilly-dallying, Some problems are so complex that you have to be highly intelligent and well informed just to be undecided about them. It was Chaos. My only consolation was this dude from Delhi. He had been prepping his impulse with a similar mod. My Engineer had completed his exhaust. So, I was thinking...What the crap, he just has to make one more.

Now comes the frightening part. The motorcycle entered the garage in the year 2012 and the work's not done yet.

Little did I know

Things started to fall into place the very next day after getting the motor. I was able to get it mounted on the chassis. The Cheap Indian Rip-off of the CRF 230 was born.

There were no major mods to get this mounted. Except for the front mounting bracket as shown below, everything else is a direct bolt on.

After this, I had to make an exhaust system for the new motor. ( the stock pipe wouldn't work) I also wanted to change the bars to a Protaper or a Renthal made from forged aluminium to ensure minor crashes would not hinder with the control system or bend the bars. I decided to might as well get some aluminium hand guards to protect my precious knuckles in-case we ride through trails with willow trees and crash, which could potentially break my fingers.

So I went ahead and ordered these from motosport.com

I also made up my mind to make a bash plate. I was falling in love with aluminium. There was this one time, when I was discussing about gear with a friend, he and I came to a conclusion that all good things in life are made of "Cordura". For those of you who are not familiar with cordura, its the brand name for a collection of fabrics used in a wide array of products including luggage, backpacks, trousers, military wear and performance apparel. Cordura fabrics are known for their durability and resistance to abrasions, tears and scuffs. Nylon and other polyesters suck-monkey-balls when compared to cordura. Aluminium was the new cordura in my head. So bash plate in aluminium it is..

motosport.com is awesome & they delivered the hand guards and bars ...The handguards were made for a standard 7/8th " bar and they were a direct fit. However, I had to chop off the levers to accommodate them. But that was no big deal.

The stock levers chopped

Meanwhile, My mechanic removed the "ATFT" from the stock motor because he thought it was horseshit. I agreed with him after I actually found out what it was. Now the question arises...What is ATFT?

Apparently It stands for "Advanced Tumble Flow Induction Technology", which according to someones understanding means that the "air+fuel" mixture creates "a tumbling motion" (like "Jill came tumbling down after") which should aid in better burning of fuel. Horseshit.

With the completion of the "dummy" ATFT, New Bars & Handguards fitted, all that energy had to be focused on making that awesome exhaust system that I was now dreaming about. If you recollect the article from Zigwheels, The dude used the stock pipe of the impulse with a modded engine bend pipe to make it fit to the new motor. I did not want to settle for that. Simply because of the fact that the stock exhaust pipes diameter would just NOT work a larger motor and would choke the life out of it. So, we had to get to the drawing board and design a new one altogether.

Little did I know that this simple, seemingly innocuous act would result in imminent chaos.

Like Clockwork

She had to be cleaned up a little before I could crank her up. I was least bothered about the Original 150cc motor (Which I would like to affectionately call the "Mixee"). I was starting to scout for my 223 cc  18.35 N·m torque motor, A tried and tested, but slightly detuned version of 223 cc SOHC air-cooled engine from the CRF230 series of enduro/MX/supermoto bikes that are sold in the USA and South American markets. So what I am actually doing is putting the dirt bike engine where it belongs, In a dirt bike.

It has a five-speed gearbox in place of the CRF's six-speed. The engine is an all aluminium, undersquare engine (bore 65.5 mm or 2.58 in and stroke 66.2 mm or 2.61 in) running a compression ratio of 9:1. It features a Kehlin CV carburettor with a CCVI switch. The top speed is around 130 km/h and the 0–60 km/h is achieved around 3.8 seconds. These figures are not applicable for the motorcycle I was building though. This was because I was going to retain the native sprockets from the Impulse (17t:F, 51t:R). The Karizma is reported to have an overall fuel economy of 40 km/l (90 mpg), with a best of 50 km/l (120 mpg) and a worst of 28 km/l (66 mpg). These were not applicable as well, as the impulse with this motor would weigh a good 70 lbs lesser than a stock Karizma & fuel efficiency was not my priority (We shall get to this later in the adventure)

If you want to read more on the specifications, go here.

The first attempt to source a motor was an epic failure. I was sold an "apparently" working engine by an acquaintance for a reasonable price. But here's the catch. It was disassembled, in parts that needed a skilled mechanic who could put it together. My Mechanic was a lazy one (but a good one). So he wouldn't budge. He wanted a motor right off a working motorcycle. What the hell.

Like this image,

things just fell in place...

I got this working motor from the same acquaintance who scammed me the first time.

I cranked up this one before I removed it from its cradle. It was not smoking or anything and seemed like a decent working motor that will do the job. May be with a little bit of reconditioning of specifics, I was good to go.

I was a happy man that evening ...But it was short lived...

Deadlines

Its so frustrating to hear the word "Deadline"

I work in the mundane field of Information Technology which is filled with these. I am not a lazy person either. I try to adhere to my duties, day to day responsibilities and consider myself a punctual person. I believe, If you don't respect your time, there is no reason why others should. Still, Deadlines freak me out.

                                 

I had to embrace my deadlines and work around them to ensure that there were no irreparable *uc* ups. First things first...I started saving up for buying the motorcycle. It was the month of May, and it was one of the hottest summers. Its also  frustrating to hear the word "Summer" in Madras. But this did not stop me from the task in hand. I was relentlessly squeezing the internet to find out if there were any pre-owned Hero Impulse for sale. After a few days of research, I was shocked to know that there were not many sold in the first place. Damn.

Buying a new one and throwing away the brand new motor was not an option. However, I was getting desperate now. olx, quiker, all the classifieds & pretty much everything that could help was explored. Even with good friends and internet to help me, I was helpless. Desperation hit new levels and before I knew, I was calling people who had posted ads to sell their Hero Impulse back in Feb 2012 (Its May 2013). Obviously it was a dead end.

It was May 17th. I woke up at 4 am to finish my regular Friday morning drill. It felt awesome as usual. Another awesome thing happened that day, this one a little unusual. After meeting an idiot who wanted to sell his Hero Impulse for a fortune, dejected ..I was on my way back from North Madras (the bad & ugly part of my city), I was passing through "Bells rd" adjacent to Wallajah rd bang opposite to the Cricket stadium (Chennai Super Kings Kicks Ass Yo!). I enquired every goddamn shop. No Impulse. To my surprise, a lot of the dealers did not even  know such a model existed. How sad is that ?

Things took a wild turn now. I enter this shady shop, and there she was. TN 03 H 6955. The One and only Impulse for Sale in Bells rd. I immediately showed interest, even though the motorcycles tires had deflated and had about 2 inches of dust and muck on it. These were signs that she was just lying there, waiting to be sold for A VERY LONG TIME. What happened next was plain unbelievable. Since she was there waiting to be sold forever, the seller agreed for a ridiculous 38k for the 2012 March registered motorcycle, where to own a new one would cost you a steep 82k. I was delighted. She was waiting for me all this while. Something felt right. May be it was my karma.

Creation is a beautiful thing

Now that I had made up my mind that I would not ride the glorified royal enfield to the Himalayas, I had to take a decision fast. Fast not in haste, but fast because the roads to the mountains are kept open for tourists (like me) just for a brief 4 - 5 months in a year. As crazy as it may seem, the remaining months of the year, ie. 7 - 8 months, Leh is completely under siege, with no supplies, snowed out, minus 15 deg temperatures and all connecting roads closed, except maybe for the Indian Army.

Life is hard in the mountains. Hard is an understatement. Everyone there lead the life of "Man vs Wild" - Bear Grylls. May it be the little kid chewing on Yak cheese, who is ready to give you his next meal, and simply hands over the almost frozen aloo paratha right out of his pocket, & the 95 year old guy who has nothing, but he seemed to be the happiest man alive narrating stories of pre-independence British explorers in the Himalayas. All of this was simply fascinating. I felt that I had missed out on a lot of things which mattered in the journey of life. It sucked.

Getting back to creation now. The Creation has to be useful too. It all came down to building a on-road/off-road motorcycle that could do the job. Why build one when you already can get one off the shelf ?

Behold - The Mighty Hero Impulse

Who am I kidding ? There was nothing "Mighty" about it. I would like to call her the "Below Average Joe" motorcycle. The motor was as powerful as my protein shake blender. Hero could do a lot better even though they split from the Big Jap. But they didn't.

Like the "Big Bang" that created our universe, I had a friend who always wanted to get the Hero impulse (which is actually a Honda NXR 150 Bros) and mod it to fit a Honda CRF 230 motor (which is actually a Hero Karizma motor with a 6 speed trany) . EUREKA !

This Idea was old though. There was already this dude who had done this. He claimed it was fantastic. Infact, The Automotive magazine - Zigwheels published an article testing the creation. You can read about it here.

Now, It was time for my creation. I needed a Hero Impulse, a Hero Karizma Engine, an Engineer who knew what he was doing, a Fabricator to put it all together and a mechanic who will not slack and get the job done .. Did I mention that we were on the Clock ?

Mediocrity is a disease

Yes, I said it. Mediocrity is a disease, and I hate settling for it. Mediocrity is the elephant in the room, Mediocrity is the enemy of excellence & it will never do.

Especially in India, Mediocrity is a way of life. I am ashamed to admit that I only try not to settle for it, however sometimes, its not a choice. So why are we talking about this ? How is an awesome Himalayan adventure ever going to become mediocre ? You will be surprised.

I was surprised. The job was not a tough one after all ! Its as simple as making a few phone calls. First you call the "rent a motorcycle" guy in the mountains (Leh, Ladakh) , preferably a Royal Enfield. Then you book your fancy Air tickets and fly right to your destination. Obviously you need shelter, so you book a hotel next for however long you intend to stay. Now, your adventure starts. You aimlessly ride through the mountainous terrain across pristine valleys of Nubra and Zanskar crossing some of the highest motorable roads in the world. But, this did not make any sense. It was not what I expected. It was not the adventure I was looking forward to. It was all too mediocre. The bike rental, the royal enfield and the whole concept of a "organised" trip got to me.

Whats actually interesting to note is the fact that Leh, my final destination in the mountains is actually Royal Enfield Country. This is the Royal Enfield

and its meant to be ridden on Tarmac like this....

But, The Himalayan terrain looks like this ...

                                     
                                          and like this ...

This made me think...& I was thinking for a while. Then It occurred to me that my motorcycle of choice should actually look like this ...

But, I couldn't afford a KTM adventure motorcycle ...Nevertheless, I will not settle for Mediocrity ..

The Job's a tough one

It was clear. I had to go back to the mountains, and I chose the mighty Himalayas. As an aspiring climber, mountaineer, trekker, hiker & adventurer I consciously decided that its not all about the Motorcycle. Riding the Motorcycle for hours together is not a revelation. Its about the journey and the experience and not the destination or how many kilometers your odo had clocked.

That being my opinion, I voraciously started reading about other people's experience on the internet and to my surprise, met a few people who have done something similar on a motorcycle in the Himalayas. It was great to know that the world had so many adventurers, and some of them right here in my home town. One of my role models is Sir Ranulph Fiennes, A British explorer / Adventurer who was awarded the "World's greatest living explorer" by the Guinness book, back in 1984. This was something significant. And, 1984 was the year I was born. What was amazing was that he is still alive doing what he loves.

Now I had to get my ducks in a row. I needed a motorcycle that will do the job. I needed time off from my boring IT job. I needed to save-up to fund my adventure. I needed to convince my parents that I will come back in one piece. At the same time, I decided that I will not settle for mediocrity. 

A mere thought ...Where it all started.

The Motorcycle is an addiction. The Cubic Capacity of the motor, how many cylinders does it have ? whats her top speed..etc are questions that are agnostic to me. However, I  believe in design philosophy, efficiency and building or creating something to do the job, very specifically when the jobs a tough one.

This was a mere thought when I decided that I will take a motorcycle to the Himalayas - Home to some of the planet's highest peaks. There’s something about the mountains. One of my strongest memories from childhood was a summer vacation I took with my parents. Seeing mountains for the first time was a revelation to me. It changed my perception of the world. I am Sea-lander, inhabiting a coastal plain of the state of Tamil Nadu, along the eastern coast of the Indian Peninsula. But that did not matter. Whenever I could find a few days off from my boring job, I would try to mix my addictions of combining motorcycle and mountains, and sometimes even wish not to go back. However, that was not an option.