Kathmandu-Mumbai
 

My wife and I are having a break from riding thru Africa,:D we have March & April to spare and have decided to ride from Kathmandu to Mumbai, now the ?s Do we / Can we buy a bike in Kathmandu and take it to India also we are going to ride 2up on this trip, so what bike is recommended. We are not opposed to going in the opposite direction also. Any ideas on weather in this period etc. Also suggested itinerary would be great as we don't really know this region at all.:help smilie: as for he bike if we get one cheap enough (around $1000) we will give it to some charity if we can't sell it.
Thank You in advance for your appreciative 2 cents worth.
Paul/Jan

Hey, We have ridden that area recently, riding in Nepal is pretty strightforward but riding in India is very dangerous both from a quality of roads and traffic point of view.

If i was going to buy a bike i would start in india, bikes are exceptionally cheap there you can buy the brand new Royal Enfield for about £1100 on the road, or you can pick up seond hand bikes, but try get a indian who speaks english to help you out and make sure you shop around. We got pirices at one stage as we thought we may have been stuck and for abou £700 we could have got 2 pulsar 150 cc bikes which where in pretty good condition.

Good luck, not sure if taking a break is what you going to get but good luck anyway!!

oh i should mention that Nepal is very expensive for bikes, you will be very lucky to get anything decent for £1000 as there is 200% tax on motorcycles.

Are you planning to visit Agra & the Taj?

If yes, then a word of warning: the roads from Delhi to Agra to Jaipur, and onwards to Ahmadabad and Mumbai, were among the worst I have ever ridden in my life! But this was 4 years ago, so road condition might be a lot better now, if they´ve completed all those (hundreds)! of roadworks on that stretch. From Jaipur there was a good motorway for about 100kms south (that possibly starts from Delhi).... but from then on, it was just a constant traffic-jam, with suffocating exhaust smoke, and totally crazy overtaking maneuvers happening everywhere, all the time – especially the truck and bus drivers are something to watch out for! (I guess that is what you´d get, if you had these days a similarly narrow, normal country road connecting Berlin and Paris, and on the way, several other cities of +1 million people!!)

Agra, Jaipur and Udaipur were all well worth a visit, or even a small detour... but otherwise that main road was a painful experience. And our bike (650 Suzuki) was not allowed on the expressway, that started from Ahmadabad, so we had to keep surviving on the old main road.

Mumbai and the surrounding area can be a big problem to find accommodation BTW. Maybe we were there at the wrong time (early December), and arrived as usual, without any pre-booking, so then we searched the whole evening, for 4-5 hours, to find literally ANY available room, and ended up paying about 100 dollars for just a regular guesthouse, that normally cost about 10 dollars or less in India.

(Before this, when we were north from Delhi, we actually got so fed up with the National Highways, that we tried to find our way following the smaller roads... but that didn´t really help, because even if there was possibly a little bit less traffic, those roads pass through towns one after another, so it was just very slow. And we often got lost, too, because there might not be any roadsigns. Asking for directions often gave should I say ´variable´ results, too.....)

I love India, but the traffic for me was just too much... think I´ll fly to some nice beach resort next time :rofl:

Pecha is right, the corridor from Delhi to Mumbai should be avoided if possible. I enjoyed the Nepal-Varanasi-Puri route going S/E rather than the S/W way.

Maybe we just skip Mumbai & fly into Deli and get a bike there, and yes I want to see the Taj etc., has anybody got any suggested itineraries say leaving Deli going to Kathmandu and loop back round to Deli sell bikes there again. We are looking at about 10 weeks but we just cruise along as I film & take lots of photos. Is this enough time to do this without rushing, and as for the traffic is there secondary roads between those bad streches that are an option even if they are a little slower. Also anyone clued up on what bike to get as we are 2 up this time & and I am hearing mixed reviews about the Enfield 500.:nono: As for the traffic we practiced with the Egypitians and so on so am hoping it's the same game akin to medieval jostling, I found the best jostlers in Uganda so far LOL.
Paul

As i siad before, not roads i have ever ridden pre-paired me for this and you won't understand until you get here. If i was you i would look at either an enfield or a Pulsar 250 cc. Nepal is fantastic, come in from as far west as possible, spend some time in Chitwan, Lumbini and Pokara, and head up to Kathmandu via Daman so you can see Everest. But you need to keep an eye on fuel issues, as its our last few days here we where going to rent 2 enfields for a couple of days and do a small trip but we have got up today to find Nepal has run out of fuel and they do not know how long that will last for!!!

Good luck.

As stated above, Bombay to Nepal would be the best bet as far as getting a bike you will like.
I rode Bombay to Delhi a year and a half ago and I would say that 90% of the roadwork is done.
I don't know how it is in Africa but, like Rixxy says, nothing will prepare you for India......
Also, keep in mind that India does not allow for re-entry within 2 months. So you will have to stay in Nepal for the 2 months or fly out to another country from there.