UniCross Diaries - Turn the page

The inspiration that led to a dream coming true started in 2010 with a rather capable motorcycle undergoing a brilliant makeover. All good things come to an end, but leaving room something better to take shape.

Incase you haven't read about the beginning, you can read about it here.

Turning point - 2012 to 2014

These were the two years that saw plenty of riding, learning, contemplating, meeting & associating with interesting people and a few brands. Somewhere at the back of my head there was a recurring thought, a memory, a nagging feeling of something left incomplete.

Sometimes you meet the right people at the right time which leads to a change in the way you think & go about doing things. Motorcycle Travellers Meet led to the meeting of another like minded fellow* who had the same inspiration & dream. By this time I had already picked up another motorcycle that was already slotted as a project in my head. All the project needed was a push in the right direction.

The Project

A second hand, barely run Hero Impulse was the project in mind. What it lacked in performance, it pretty much made up in agility & was the perfect replacement for UniCross & the dream that began with it.

Well, it was almost the perfect replacement for UniCross. It needed a hard push to get out there & perform. At that point of time it did not matter, the project sketch had already been laid out & the new friend had similar ideas, so putting two minds together was the push in the right direction.

Turning the Page -  September 2014

You need a technically sound mind to do the actual math with any kind of mod or custom job when it comes to motorcycles. All it takes is one wrong calculation to throw the project off track and only burn holes in your pockets. Thankfully, my friend (Adi) was technically sound and all he needed was to find a good deal on his project bike. A couple of months of patiently searching later, another second hand Hero Impulse was found & that set the wheels in motion. By then Adi already had everything he needed including the donor motorcycle, tools & access to a garage with the additional tools he needed.

Patience is a virtue not everyone has and while all the discussions before the project begun had clearly outlined the need for immense patience, I was running short on it. It was the pure excitement of the outcome that had the kid in me jumping around. There is always a little bit of trial & error before things settle in place & this obvious fact was starting to show its face.

The Excel sheets & +75

Adi had a rather meticulous set of excel sheets that he had created with all his research on this build. Right from figuring out the electrical to the final drive ratio, his excel sheet had everything needed to make sure this build went off well. Adi's bike was built in no time as a result of all his research, though 2 weeks does seem long, but he was working this along side his hectic job. Then came the testing times of Adi wanting to get it right before working out a second build. The first off road test had him grinning from ear to ear & he already had a name in mind for the bike "+75", being the additional in displacement from the original engine.

The engine rebuild

A couple of weeks of trial & error later he had figured out most of the corrections needed & only then was he ready to encourage the build of a second motorcycle.

By now, there was another test that had me scratching my head & wondering if I would find that one donor engine. It did take a few weeks of hunting to find the right one & a few weeks after to find all the right components to rebuild a scrapped engine.

So by the time, everything was ready to go on the build, the year had almost come to an end. But the light at the end of the tunnel was all about just making it out to the other side.

Mid December 2014 - Quick 6 Hours

Its all a matter of planning & a day was chosen to start the build. more like an evening was chosen. Post a quick dinner, Adi & I began stripping my bike down with his checklist of what was needed & what wasn't. A little bit of struggle here & there, some rethinking and restarting later, the new engine was in.

Of course there were small niggles that we faced, but the excitement of it all, didn't seem to be a bother. It took a total of 6 hours from start to finish to get the engine, drive train & electricals in place. There was only one worry now since the engine had never been run after the rebuild. Since we did not have an exhaust ready yet, we had to make do with a very brief & extremely noisy start to put those engine not running fears to rest.

About 90% of the work was done, all that was pending was an exhaust & overall check of the engine running, which needed to be done by a mechanic. It was another day, by the time we towed the bike to a garage. I had my fingers & toes crossed, but there just had to be another delay, my fault really. A mismatched Clutch Bell & Counter gear, saw me frowning & the bike limping back home at the end of another very long day.

Lesson Learnt: Engine rebuilds are not just about everyone's cup of tea & sometimes its best to listen to other people

The grin & the maiden run

All said and done, issues take time to get sorted & after a nail biting & nerve rattling day of waiting on the issue, a happy motorcycle made it way home with me, just in time for two back to back road trips that lay a day ahead.

With any custom build, there are always issues that do crop up from time to time, but none that have not been solved. Of course a year later the motorcycle look very different from when it all started & there have been a range of improvements made.

"Ride, Ride, Ride, thats all I want to eventually end up doing"

First Impression: Alpinestars Toucan Gore-Tex Boots

We all start somewhere & my first pair of motorcycle boots are what quite a few call hardcore motorcycle boots. The hunt for that one pair of motorcycle boots that fit perfectly & meet requirements can be quite a tedious task. There are plenty of motorcycle boot manufacturers in India who are churning out extremely affordable road & track specific models.

Adventure/MX boots are another story all together, there are one or two motorcycle gear e-tail companies in India who have a limited range of international brands available, but one wouldn't know what size to order due to the sizing variations between these brands.

My first pair of motorcycle boots happen to be what quite a few around have called 'hardcore' - the Alpinestars Toucan Gore-Tex Boots. These are an all-in-one touring boot that combines durability, comfort, 100% weatherproofing & protection into one neat package. Pick them up & the first thing that you will notice, is how light these boots are compared to quite a few other boots in the same category. Pulling them on was as easy as wearing a regular pair of slip-on shoes, but with an adjustable & replaceable closure system. Adjusting them takes a little experimenting before you lock them at the right notch. The aluminium buckles with self aligning guides make for easy locking.

Alpinestars Toucan Gore-Tex Boots

The boots not only seem rugged from the outside, but also have a great snug & secure feeling on the inside. They are a little rigid and yet flexible enough for the dual-purpose motorcyclist who wants the comfort of a shoe & the rigidity of a boot. The more you wear them & ride, the better they feel. The ankle support is great, but can hamper walking around on uneven terrain, when you wear a pair of motorcycle boots, one does need to change their style of walking.

The 100% weatherproofing with the Gore-Tex lining is a boon, the boots have already faced rain, some slush (feet dry on the inside), heat (both weather & motorcycle) & none of them has  been an irritant. The suede leather finish makes its easy to clean, these boots are not going to require cleaning anytime soon. They look great with the random spray of muck on them. Get them a lot messier & they will still be just as easy to pull on, lock & ride away with.

If you have never worn a pair of riding boots before, then you are in for a great experience. The first time I pulled them on, it felt strange when I walked and rode the first few kilometers. A couple of days later, wearing a regular pair of shoes while riding feel strange.

The trails are calling & the experience with them look extremely promising. A non technical complete review will follow soon.

My boots are from the Alpinestars Triumph range of products, as a result are priced significantly lower & only have a slightly different styling.

UniCross Diaries - The beginning

Sometimes dreams do come true, it really depends on how you interpret those dreams. This one has been 4 years in the making.

Inspiration - 2003

Inspiration struck during the early years of riding a motorcycle along with television shows about custom built motorcycles. My old skool thumper back then seemed like the perfect canvas to dream & continue dreaming. Thankfully, they just remained dreams.

Fast forward a couple of years (wiser) later, the thumper was replaced by a much smaller, extremely reliable & efficient Honda motorcycle. Though the motorcycle did not really meet the open road that often, it was the turning point of this inspiration. It was evident, that by then my riding style & tastes had changed. The motorcycle had to evolve, to beyond enabling me to answer the call of the open road. It had to allow me to traverse the paths & routes less travelled.

A fairly simple task - swap the wheels, spruce up the suspension & it should be ready to answer that call (at least on paper). Practically possible & theoretically complicated, it took a while before the motorcycle saw the light of day again.

The Fairly Simple Task - 2010

This is where it got interesting & painstaking at the same time. Towards the mid of 2010, the possible & complicated were laid out for evaluation and execution. The seemingly fairly simple, turned into a nightmare as soon as it began. There is a lot of wisdom in the words "Keep it Stock" when one refers to motorcycles, but sometimes that wisdom just needs to be ignored.

Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India were notorious for non availability of parts, back then irrespective of the generation of the motorcycle in question. The hunt for compatible components made sure that the motorcycle stayed in a disassembled condition for quite a while & when they were finally found, they weren't really simple to swap on.

What followed, was components spending a lot of time moving between the machine shop & the garage, before at long last everything seemed to work fine.

The Evolution

The motorcycle in question was my Honda Unicorn (3rd gen or upgrade), an absolutely delightful machine to ride, irrespective of the city or highway. In a lot of ways it felt like Honda had just picked up one cylinder & block from the CBR600 and dropped it onto this engine. Free-revving, extremely refined and packing a great punch for a motorcycle in its class. The decision to evolve the motorcycle can be all attributed to this beyond the need to answer the call.

Keep it Stock

Practically Possible & Theoretically Complicated

1) 2" increase in ground clearance - Front & back (compensate for 17" rear)

2) Dual-Purpose tyres swap

3) Spoked wheel conversion (rim & hub)

4) Riding ergonomics (handle bar)

5) Front mudguard & rear tail cleanup

6) Front fork brace

The most complicated of the tasks at hand was the spoked wheel conversion. Wheel Rims & Tyres (19" front & 17" rear) were not too hard to find, managed to procure a brilliant Pirelli MT60 for the rear. The wheel hubs, front disc rotor adapter plate & axel spacers were the complicated tasks. (no engine or drive train mods were made, the idea of engine work did not appeal)

But then again, it was all worth the frustration & delays in getting the motorcycle back on the road. At the end of it all, there were *two people who were solely responsible for the constant visits to the garage, the follow ups and the constant pressure on the garage to speed up the delayed timeline.

UniCross

UniCross - Mid 2010

The project was aptly called Project UniCross (crossover from street to dual-purpose) & post completion, the name stuck on. UniCross testing was a breeze, there were just a few hiccups with the front fork (2" spacers were set right) & front tyre and rim. A small 3 day ride towards the end of 2010 saw UniCross tackle almost all terrain with ease, allowing the rider (me) to go beyond just open roads with just as much ease. The next 1.5 years were pure bliss with quite a few short trips & one final 12 day ride before something else caught my eye.

Final 12 day ride...

Something Else - March 2012

Something Else

"Love at first sight", absolutely possible with the mechanical kind. The KTM Duke 200 stole the
limelight & there was a choice to make, sell one of the two other motorcycles that stood in the garage. Definitely not a simple or easy choice to make - UniCross or White Elephant (another thumper that I had picked up in between). Both were project bikes, one completed & the other still in the making. Logic & reasoning led to letting go of UniCross, which incidentally left the garage back in stock form.

The deed was done, the KTM was now the apple of the eye, with little or no realization of the impact UniCross had left behind & the actions that would be played out 2 years later.

--------

*Two People: My friends Abijit & Aashish

'Upgrade Needed'

Ready to Race?? Ready to push the envelope?? Ready to lose your mind?? Ready to trust your instinct??

That certainly is what a certain Duke from Austria keeps asking you every single time. But this Duke isn't really of royal descent but comes from a time when wars were being fought over a rather thing such as adrenaline and male testosterone fueled wars for power. So maybe this Duke wasn't born around then, but descends from the lineage of fine motorcycles since 1934.

Put the key in, swing your leg over, push the ignition button and a soft yet agressive roar comes to life and all the above mentioned questions start wanting answers. One cannot help but try to answer these questions every time the motorcycle is ridden with a certain amount of madness. The madness comes from  stems from the passion the Duke stirs about inside each rider.

The Agressive Stance

A road-trip aboard this motorcycle is insanely exciting for anyone who gets to ride one, and that is exactly what happened this time around as well. Though the agenda of the trip was more wildlife sighting and photography, the Duke just beckons to push the envelope. 3 days of wildlife safaris is exciting but not as exciting as the call of the Duke to lose your mind.

The Nilgiri’s or Blue Mountains have always beckoned most motor enthusiasts, photographers and tourists for the scenic views it offers and some spectacular winding roads depending on where in the Nilgiri’s one might be. This time around, sights were set on the Kalahati Ghat section, which has proven to be one of the most interesting roads to travel on either on a motorcycle or in a car..

The Route

Bandipur - Theppakadu - Ooty - Gudalur - Bandipur

This unscheduled or unplanned ride came from the fact that there was time between safaris and could be completed in the time in between.  The route was as simple as the plan. Enjoy the ride, try out the rumours heard about the relationship between the Duke and the hills and most of all have a blast just doing so.

The route taken was “Bandipur – Theppakadu – Ooty – Gudalur – Bandipur” covering about a 100 odd kms of the Nilgiri’s in this entire ride.

The Man

What started with a decent approach road to the Ghat from Theppakadu, quickly transformed into pure riding bliss.  A few bends later, once adjustments to the skill of riding are made the Duke makes sure you lose your mind. A few more leans, dips, outer paths, inner paths, power surges and insane approaches and departures into bends and another answer gets answered. Man and Machine become one to allow one to trust their instincts whilst also putting faith and trust into their relationship whilst tackling this section of the ghat.

So, what really does one expect from a motorcycle that was effectively built by a company that comes from a strong lineage of motorsport champions? Nothing but the best!!!

The open highways are tons of fun, the winding roads on these highways are also tons of fun, but the twists of the hills are pure insane fun. That’s what the next 134 kilometers of riding the Dukes were. Pushing the envelope, trusting your instinct and getting addicted to the overall feeling was what it was all about. The Dukes only beckon you to push harder and take the risks because at the end of the day, you know you can trust the faith you share with your machine.

The Machine

Leaning in is a breeze

Keeping the revs neither too high nor too low through the 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th cogs all the way no matter how steep the incline only further emphasizes what the engineers had in mind when they designed and executed the engine and gearbox. So far the highway and city has proved how awesome both are and here is another example of the same.

The fact that the suspension is stiff is only understood on such roads when one can lean into a corner as far into it as one can manage and pull out of the corner with just as much ease. The way the motorcycle has been so well balanced is also understood here with the same ease. So it may get a little bumpy on uneven roads, but then when one is hitting some beautiful twisting roads in the hills, the bumpy ride is soon forgotten.

Most riders hesitate at first to lean over, but then "BOOM"

Leaning over deeper and deeper with the concept of using 100% of the tyre surface was the idea and not matter what one tries not more than 80% of the surface was successfully used. Another fact along with the above mentioned that allows one to push the envelope compared to whilst riding other motorcycles (ones ridden in the past including premium commuters, so called performance and touring motorcycles in the country). Rapidly changing tyre temperatures whilst riding made sure of that. The changes were very obvious from the colour of the wear and tear on the tyres.

It doesn’t take too long to get used to with the change in the terrain and very soon the rider also settles in comfortably with the motorcycle and is able to trust his instincts with “when to push harder, when to back off and when to take the chance” on the terrain. What it does result in is, of course a smile wider than the face can manage through every single turn, bend and the experience it offers along with a sense of absolute calm and oneness with both the motorcycle and the road.

Getting comfortable with the motorcycle

Upgrade Needed

The Duke comes with one single flaw, one that every owner will sooner or later figure out no matter how good they may believe they may be with the motorcycle. Every rider will need to upgrade his own riding skills to match those of the Duke. That is how potent the Duke really is with limits that really need one to strive really hard to reach and master.

One can't help but love this machine.... Riders need a skill upgrade to utilize everything single inch of this motorcycle!!!

...of Dreams coming True!!!

Lets just skip to the good part now, shall we??

1st February 2012, 7AM - 16th inline at the KTM showroom for booking
1st March 2012, 3PM - Standing at the showroom 2 hours ahead of scheduled delivery time, waiting for the Dream to come true

The Dream did come True!!!
Black Venom III (pronounced 'The Third' and not the number 3) was this dream that came true. It took quite some pondering before booking and quite a few views and thoughts over my bank account to enable this dream to come true, and at the end of it all - It was worth every single minute, hour and day of waiting with no news that we all faced from KTM, worth all the sleepless nights once payments had been done, worth the big burn in the pocket (burn and not hole), worth all the aghast expressions on peoples face and tones in peoples voices when I told them I was buying another motorcycle that costed as much as it did & worth just everything about the whole experience that was endured during that one month.

A wedding during the second weekend of March led to a great chance to really ride Black Venom III over a considerable distance (though a shorter, quicker first ride took place with 2 other Dukes the same weekend she was delivered to me) to really see if the first impression could be bettered.

A friend (you will see some of his pictures in this post) and me set off towards Chikmagalur for a 3 day weekend on our Dukes and the first thing that was expected to happen with these two motorcycles on the road (he christened his Duke as "My Orange Lady") is all the attention they got from all passer-bys driving past us at quite some insane speeds. Of course not to mention all the questions that needed to be answered by wide-eyed boys at signals whilst getting out of the city. Surprisingly they weren't that irritating, just simple ones such as "Which Company? & How much does it cost?".

Out of the city and onto the nice and what seems like never ending NH48 was a great change from riding out of the city to just get there.

The so called "Dhoom" bikes by the kids from the town we were passing through

About an hour into the ride, we needed to stop to give our behinds a little comforting break (which is the only 'Con' I feel about the Duke, the seat). Coconut water was the reason for the stop beyond the butt break.

"Stop every 1 hour of highway riding" is what we were told during delivery

Of course we did draw quite some attention with people being called out from beyond the green to see what was standing on the road outside their cultivated lands. Here as well questions were quite a few and grins galore as they wondered why were were all suited up and loaded up & why were the motorcycles the subjects of our lens'.

Getting back on the road and catching up with the already speeding vehicles that had passed us by during our break was a breeze. The quickly rising digital tacho is a pleasure to watch as it climbs through the 6 cogs quite quickly with absolutely no signs of strain on the engine. The well balanced body meant keeping straight lines extremely simple and easy under acceleration and braking too. Vibes kept away all though our journey to and fro all the way.

So we rode on with the Dukes swallowing kilometers away at quite an astonishing pace with absolutely no worries whatsoever. The little onboard computer is quite handy since it gave out fuel consumption, riding time and average speed.

The Duke loves open roads and tarmac, what it does not love is bad roads and it definitely does not love 'no roads'. This is the one place where handling really needs the rider to put in more effort than he would otherwise. Once we passed Hassan and Belur, we found stretches of curvy roads with quite a few spots that would make it ideal for some photography. But reaching these spots meant taking the Dukes onto 'no roads'. And they really don't like being taken onto 'no roads'. It took quite an effort to keep the motorcycles balanced and even more importantly prevent the road tyres from spinning and throwing up only mud / gravel without any traction.

Getting here was a task, they don't like 'No Roads'

The hind quarters of the Duke is the best side of her 

Trail & Error method for carrying luggage

Back on the tarmac and one tends to fall in love with the suspension all over again. Decently firm and yet soft to soak up the unevenness of the roads ensure lesser fatigue and strain to the rider. It allows for taking on curves on the roads at higher speeds with out really having to think about how the motorcycle will react getting into and out of the corners. This combined with the engines desire to keep pushing along with the well balanced body really eggs you to want to take the outside line over a longer curve and tight inside line over  short curve.

What it does take getting used to is the fact that you can really take corners / curves at greater speeds with complete confidence that the tyres will not give way combined with the overall setup of suspension and body. It took quite some convincing to push harder though a corner / curve compared to the way I would normally ride through on my other motorcycles. But what really happens is, that by the time you start enjoying the corners / curves they just seem to get swallowed easily by the Dukes.

One tends to really admire the Dukes when they are standing still. Everything else around the Dukes seem to be bland or uninteresting, they are all about the right angles at the right places. We shot them on the road, we shot them off the road and we shot them in a field, but all that stood out in these pics were the Dukes and nothing else. Not even the lovely sunset that we were using as a backdrop in the fields.

The sun fading away in the background & the Dukes standing out

Right there stands an insanely stunning looking motorcycle. The fields look lost around it.

Before we knew it, our ride to Chikmagalur was over and we had entered the rather congested town with extremely eager eyes following the Dukes on the roads. Everywhere the motorcycles went, people followed, questions followed and surprise followed.

There was an incident of man handling of the Dukes that occurred in Chikmagalur one of the nights we were there, but then again no one is to blame, they are magnets for idiots who want to touch and feel. Magnets for idiots who want to damage another mans property simply because he was too drunk. One night later we had to find a more out of sight location to park our motorcycles.

The wedding was a fun pleasant one and before we knew it, the extended weekend was up which only meant we had to head back home. This was the interesting part. Suiting up and loading up we left Chikmagalur, found a petrol bunk that had 91 octane fuel and continued on the journey back.

Hassan say another idiot try to open or flick the coolant reserve cap (which in my opinion he should have opened fully to allow hot coolant to burn his skin before we screamed at him), which means that there is something is going to have to be thought of to prevent such incidents from happening in the future. A means to cover or conceal the coolant reserve cap and rear brake fluid reserve.

Open stretches meant giving the throttle a gradual full turn, which was quite a lot of fun. Sitting upright Black Venom III maxxed out at 127kmph at full throttle. The next time around shall try the crouch minus luggage to see where she will max out.

All the way back, the motorcycle have kept 90 - 100kmph speeds with so much ease, and this along with everything else about this motorcycle tell me that "my dream has come true".

The wait continues...

The Spell grows stronger

With every passing day, the spell grows stronger and stronger leaving chances of an escape extremely slim. Extremely...

With the spell growing stronger and stronger, the motorhead(s) find no means of counter acting this phenomenon they are addicted to. Instead the motorhead(s) only hunger for more... More power, more excitement and more bliss. That would be the natural reaction to the spell for most, for the other more 'so called sane' the reactions could differ. But that really hasn't made any difference for the spell bound motorhead(s).

'The Motorhead' realized that the spell revisited him sometime ago as he had forgotten what it was like to be completely under the spell. There are exceptions where the spell grows weak and wears off, but then again circumstances tend to do that. The 'avid biker' in him had toned down to the 'occasional biker' over time, the engined wonder that kept him spell bound had lost its grip and as a result became the garage fixture. The spell was still there, but just not as strong at it had been before...

...and then one day 'The Motorhead' rose once more from the almost dead biker in him to be once more mesmerized by the spell that once upon a time knew no bounds. The engined wonder overnight turned into the apple of his eye from the garage fixture it had become. A familiar spark fired both, 'The Motorhead' and the engined wonder back to life together like they had been before.

The hunger grew stronger over a short period of time, eventually leading to acquiring some more power, some more excitement and loads more bliss. Spending time being completely spell bound led to ideas going wild in his head and his hands itching to do more, more than just being mesmerized. And so it was that another great engined wonder was reincarnated to drive not just 'The Motorhead' mad, but others around him as well.

The hunger is never satisfied as time passes and now once more there is the need for more!!! The wait has begun for another spell binder to make its way into 'The Motorheads' life. One that would bind a spell on just about anyone who would dare to look at the spell binder, anyone who would dare to dream of being spell bound by it again. The wait continues...  

The "Dil" of a biker...

The questions

- What?? (Kya)

- Why?? (Kyun)

- How many?? (Aur Kitne)

- Have you lost it?? (Pagal ho gaya hai kya)

- Too much money you have?? (tere paas bahut zyaada paisa hai kya)

The answers

- Another motorcycle

- Its an insane motorcycle

- I am adding up to build a collection

- No, I am mentally stable enough to take this call

- Not really, I have enough passion to know that this is what I want

But then, people without the Bikers "Dil" will just not understand...

It is not insane to want one more motorcycle, in-fact the biker with his / her Dil in the Right Place will never think it is insane to want one too many motorcycles standing in their garage or garage way. Each motorcycle is just as unique and fascinating as the previous one or the one standing next to it. This right placed Dil does not play old vs new games or ease vs difficulty games, each one gets fair treatment and it is an equal in its place.

What makes this Dil tick, why does this part of the ordinary human who becomes a biker have such an outlook to this section of his/her life? There isn't just one answer to it, but each one has their own. Some call it passion, some call it love, some call it obsession, some call it the feel good factor, other call it an incurable disease but the uninitiated will call it pure insanity. It has no feelings, its made of metal, it was manufactured by man,  it cannot do anything it self, its as good as feeding a vegetable and deciding what it does.

But that is how majority of the uninitiated think, they may never know the madness involved and its good in a way as well. That way the world would still have its balance and nothing would get thrown out of gear out of turn.

And hence begins the Motorheads journey into another pure, mad, obsessed love story with yet 'another' beautiful machine. And he faced the same set of questions when the world around him became aware of his intentions of being spell bound by this European beauty. There was plenty of concern raised for the Motorhead, but his heart had been captured and nothing anyone could say would make him change. That is the power of the "Spell" she had cast on him and hundreds of thousands of others just like the Motorhead. They were all drooling watching whatever they could find scouring the threads online, like a pack of hungry wolves wanting nothing but more.

Just like everything that is nice, there is always a wait involved and the Motorheads wait has begun. He has faith, that they will be together soon and when they will do, there are going to be sparks that fly...

The Wait has Begun...