The Horse for our Course : Bajaj Pulsar 180
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The route we chose is chosen by most for the challenge it offers to both man and machine. And most do it solo – so the challenge was that much more for the two of us on a single bike. We were looking for a bike with enough grunt for the hairpins, enough reliability to last the terrible roads – 1200 kms of them – and enough range to save us the hassle of multiple petrol cans for spare fuel. Venkat (of Auto Service, Banashankari Iind Stage, and my bike-guide and guru for the trip) was quite confident that even the old 4S Champion would live through the experience when I was planning the trip alone, but for doubles it would hardly be able to pull the load up one of those passes. Also – a good suspension for the real rough roads would save the back and good handling on the curves would make life easier. What Bike ? A lot of people said 'Bullet' in a rather knee-jerk reaction to the trip idea. Now a heavier vehicle is not necessarily a good one, and every trip log involving a Bullet in the Himalayas had amusing tales about oil leaks, fallen silencers (and other parts) and steering issues with too much weight around the rear. Amongst the rest was the Eliminator (or Enticer?), Pulsar, CBZ and just perhaps the RD350 – which went off the list rather quickly because of it not even being in production. Venkat helped me decide on a bike trip by reassuring that it was doable and he does only Bajaj vehicles. Also, the Pulsar's problems had been sorted out and a lot of people got to know the bike real well over the last couple years that I followed it on the bajajpulsar group on yahoogroups. So the Pulsar climbed up to the top of the list real quick, once Venkat pointed out that the cruisers' ground clearance would be huge issues on rough roads. Old's Black The trip's budget was starting to climb quickly, and I had little time to run the bike in, and then try out various surfaces for familiarization, so I decided the best route was a not-too-used bike. Looked around for a few 150s. Either the bike or the price was not right. I was also keen on a Purple bike. Then Venkat told me about a 180 for sale. Mohammed Sha had bought his pal's Elim in Jan, and had hardly used his black 180 since then after having bought it on the 22nd of August last year. The gear issues had been sorted out, and the bike had done just a little over 5000 kms. And the asking price, at 49K, seemed perfect for the bike. There was the glimmer of a chance that Shubha might join me, so the 180's extra torque would be handy (15vs12 bhp was not too much of an issue in itself given 20-40kmph struglles against the ascents and rarefied air). The Extras Tyres - A little after I bought the bike and Venkat got it serviced once, I took it for a spin to Savanadurga off Mysore Road – and got back to Bangalore via Magadi Road. Ashok with his Elim tyre and Sanjay with his modified seat also gave me company, and the terrain was varied enough for me to check out the various aspects of the bike. Suspension, handling and grunt exceeded my expectations, but the Zappers created lots of doubt in the mind. Each time I enteres slush or gravel too confidently, there was a lesson to be learnt about how critical good tyres are on bad surfaces. So the hunt for good tyres was on. A long trip on J.C.Road with Sanjay opened up some leads. DUROs – imported from somewhere (Korea/Malaysia/Indonesia?) were good knobbies that a couple of guys stocked (United tyres, Perfect accessories) and while MRF had MotoCrosses, these were not available in the market. Venkat finally sourced the front MotoCross 2.75x18 through one of his MRF Dealer friends – and we found out why it was tough to locate them. On the side it said 'For Competition Only – not for Sale'. Wonder why, cause the roads the tyres saw beg for such rubber, and loads of 100 cc commuters and Bulls (and the occasional Pulsar from hereon?) struggle with the surface. For the rear Perfect supplied the rather expensive Duro 4.10x18 – paid 1100/- for the MRF and 2400/- for the DURO!! Inside, we also put in cut sections of tube between the tube/tyre for added thickness. Carrier - Apart from this, the major addition was the carrier. Venkat extended one of the carriers used on the Dharwad trip (by the Bajajpulsar guys) to accommodate the huge rucksack with the tent and sleeping bags, and bolted it on real tight. What we all forgot that the original bolts are not strong enough to support the 8+ kgs of weight suspended on the extended arm over long stretches of really rough roads – so the heads of one of the bolts sheared off and with continous vibrating impact, the carrier broke at a welded spot. Use allen-bolts or some really high tensile bolts to fasten the carriers if you're planning to carry heavy loads on it. Hazard-Light Indicators - We got caught in a really dense cloud on the way up to the Chang La en route to Pangong Tso. Visibility was down to less than 10 feet and the cold was killing. We'd thought of this possibility (having once faced it returning from Kodai by car), and Venkat had devised a simple enough hazard light 'switch' by providing a means of 'shorting' the 2 indicators through a connector to be joined manually when needed. When not in use, remember to tape up the exposed end. Bungee Cords/Petrol Can/Side grab hooks - Carry as many bungee cords as you can – these are a lifesaver with luggage – especially once the regular straps etc come loose or break (for instance with Saddle bags). Had also fixed grab-hooks on both sides – primarily to tie the rucksack down on the seat when I was planning to do the trip alone. It was still useful to have these around to hook up the ends of the bungee cords when supporting the saddle bag over the silencer (to avoid contact). Spares & Tools Apart from the stock toolkit, this is what we carried:
For spares, Venkat helped out with a huge list
Report/Problems The Pulsar came out with flying colours. We covered a total of a little over 2000 kms on some of the best and worst roads we've ever seen. The MRF MotoCrosses are as good as new – and the DUROs show just a teeney bit of stress around the knobs (very very minute cracks – nothing at all really). We got about 33 kmpl overall with 2 people (120 odd kgs) plus between 30-35 kgs of luggage and spares. We topped up air once after 300 odd kms and once after a puncture near Leh. This, the only puncture on the entire trip, happened because of a long 3 inch nail near a village close to Leh. The carrier cracked at a welded joint after one of the bolt-heads sheared and the others loosened a bit. During transit to Shimla, one of the indicator mounts had got displaced a bit – buzzed loudly with revving. The fuel-tank float vibration also reappeared after some distance on rough surface early on in the trip. Beyong 50 kmph was like driving a 900cc monster at breakneck velocities, because of the howl :) Awesome acceleration on demand even up Taglang La (being able to maintain a minimum of 40 – in 2nd to 4th, with a pillion, was 'on demand' given the climb). The handlebar dampeners helped hold the bike steady across roads which were just rock and boulders. The seat was ok for me (rider, did stretches for a few weeks before leaving) but the (unexcercised) pillion had issues with lower backache towards the middle of the journey – although a cloth bag thrown across the seat (and stuffed with one or more of the layers not being used depending on the weather/altitude) did help. The 18 litre tank was a comforting prescence throughout – never having run dry more than halfway (although with a little help from a small can we were carrying, just in case there was a roadblock and we needed to turn back and go back to the last pump). If you are carrying spare fuel, its a smart idea to top up the tank as soon as you have used up some fuel cause the chances of it spilling out of the can are higher vis-a-vis spilling out of the tank! Towards the last couple of days – there was some squeaking from the bushes of the swingarm – easily rectifiable (by popping some lubricant into a hole made for this, a can of which we were carrying anyhow, as I learnt from Venkat later) and not too worrisome. I'd do it again on the Pulsar readily. Maybe even do the Raid-de-Himalaya astride one! Just need Bajaj to sponsor me and equip me with a DTSi!!
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