My girlfriend and I are planning a nine-week trip starting in Calcutta, going up to Delhi, and then into the Himalayas as far as Dalhousie (no farther because most high passes will still be closed). We are looking for advice on 3 questions:

1. What bike. We want reliability and ease of ride, as we are fairly new to motorcycles. As far as power goes, as long as it can get us up into the mountains at faster than a crawl, we'll be happy. We will be travelling very light (saddlebags only). It seems that reliability rules out the enfield, despite it being easy to find parts and repairpersons everywhere, as most posters have recommended Hondas or other smaller bikes. We want versatility and reliability.

2. Is it possible/recommended to buy our bikes in Calcutta, and what are some guesses as to the price for a used bike there? Our other choice is to take the train to Delhi, and buy our bikes there.

3. Since our trip is only two months, would it be possible to rent a motorcycle in either Calcutta or Delhi for this amount of time, and does anyone know the going rates?

We fly into Calcutta the first week of march, and out of Calcutta in mid-May, and want to spend most of our time further north. Does anyone know how long it will take us to ride from Calcutta to Delhi at a medium to slow pace? Would this eat up too much of our time?

Hope someone out there can give us some good advice... we're really excited about the trip but still don't know exactly how we're going to pull it off

Thanks,
Conor and Tricie

in my opinion after doing a short break in india the best bet for trip like that is rent a bike, honda or the like is your best option, do a deal with someone, you can do anything anywhere if you have the money

You are right, Enfields do not score on reliability. But, if u have a bike set up rightly, it should be able do traverse the Himalayas. Several people have done so.

Try the Honda's available in India. There is a 150cc model called CBZ and a 225cc model called Karizma. Not very fast machines, but should do the job.

i have ridden 250,000+kms in india and the indian himalayas thrice. i used an yamrd350.i would suggest the bajaj pulsar 180cc for you.a goodbike for indian roads/small but reliable.

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ride, ride like the wind to be free.

1) forget the enfield if u want your trip to be a nice and tension-free one. go for the hero-honda karizma. its a 223cc 17bhp machine from the world's largest manufacturer of motorcycles (hero-honda). i own it too and have put 27000kms since june2003 includin 5 himalayan trips. ultra-reliable (still runnin stock clutch , changed chain-set at 25k , stock clutch n throttle cables etc)
faster,more reliable,smoother and more comfortable than the enfield. a fren of mine went to khardungla pass (highest motorable pass in the world at 18600feet) two up , n the bike reached there with ease. need i say more?
2) i would recommend buyin bikes in delhi n then startin the trip mainly coz if u drive to delhi from calcutta , u will come across the baddest roads and unsafest state (bihar). so i wud say , come to del n buy d bikes. i live in delhi n will help u out guys to my level best
3)renting for karizma is unknown in delhi. its better to buy a second hand less used from a dealer n tie-up with him for a buy-back scheme after two months. this is very much possible. for will get a less used (less than a yr old) karizma for around 58000-60000 indian rupees. after 2 months n lots of riding , u will be able to sell it back for around 51000-53000 indian rupees.

ne more info : bunny@xbhp.com
or call 09312098179

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i dont ride to commute , i commute to ride

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