bikes, travel and life in general

2009-10-13T14:53:00.001+05:30

2009-10-13T14:53:00.000+05:30

2009-07-31T20:21:00.003+05:30

the new apache 180 is here...meaner faster and with decent top end speed, for a detailed review go to http://www.bikeindia.in/reviews/roadtest/Apache-RTR-180---Versatility-Defined/
the only problem still that i have with tvs is that the styling is still the same as the first 150 that was released....apparently i won one of those and inthe last three years it hasnt given me any problems and i still ull away from traffic like it was a brand new machine...but where are the fairings.....i guess tvs believes in the less weight equals better performance...which is true but for a street bike, some sort of styling has to go along with that....take a cue from the FZs TVS......

2009-06-15T14:06:00.005+05:30

It's long been known that V-twins (and, to a lesser extent, V-fours) don't spin their rear wheels as easily as inline four-cylinder bikes because the tyre has more time to recover between the (admittedly bigger) power impulses – the so-called "Big Bang" effect.

But straight fours make more power and in some applications – such as GP racing - that's more important.

However, about 20 years ago somebody figured out that if you rearranged the crankpins on a 500cc GP two-stroke so that two cylinders fired in rapid succession with a pause before firing the other two close together, you'd all the benefits of a V-motor with most of the power of a four

Now Yamaha has brought the Big Bang engine to the street

.

Fast-forward two decades and first Kawasaki and then Yamaha discover that the same applies to four-stroke MotoGP engines – and now Yamaha has brought the 'Big Bang' engine to the street with the 2009 R1.

So how different is it to a "conventional" four-cylinder engine? In a word, totally.

It sounds different: the '09 R1 sounds like a Honda VFR800 but with even more of a flat, angry edge – and it's noticeably louder than its predecessor even with factory pipes.

It vibrates: the new R1's irregularly spaced power impulses create a lot more shakes (and a bit more mechanical clatter) than the competition. If you grew up on turbine-smooth midweight fours you may not "get it" but if your formative motorcycling experiences were of singles or twins you'll understand what this engine is saying

It'll cruise through traffic like a shark through a shoal of tuna

.

There's a hint of power-thudding just off idle and a distinct primary thumping in the midrange that says "I'm working hard and loving it", with a hard-edged thrumming at the top that you're always aware of although your primary focus is on the fact that next week is approaching at an alarming rate.

Because this thing pulls: you can happily let the clutch out just above idle and it'll cruise through traffic like a shark through a shoal of tuna.

There's more than enough torque for round-towning anywhere above 2500rpm, serious grunt above 5000 and a huge wave of power all the way from 8000rpm through to the power peak of 113.9kW at 12 500rpm.

After that delivery drops off quite sharply and there's no point in chasing the redline at 13 750rpm or the rev limiter at 14 200.

All of this is in A mode, of course. Like Suzuki's latest-generation superbikes the R1 now has three power modes, selectable at the flick of a thumb on the right switchgear, but operating on the "fly-by-wire" throttle rather than the engine mapping.

The top setting is harsh, choppy at small throttle openings and difficult to ride in traffic – but the instant response is addictive. The middle, STD setting gives you all the torque and most of the power but you have to twist further and wait longer for it, which makes it much easier to modulate in crowded surroundings.

VERDICT

The first R1 was Yamaha's reply to the Honda Fireblade. Now the Big Bang engine adds an extra individuality, a distinctly different power delivery to the R1's superb dynamic package.

It's the most European of the Big Four superbikes; if you're in the market for a litre-class road rocket, ride this one last.

ENGINE
Cylinders: Four.
Capacity: 998cc.
Bore x stroke: 78 x 52.2mm.
Compression ratio: 12.7:1.
Valvegear: DOHC with four titanium overhead valves per cylinder.
Power: 133.9kW at 12 500rpm.
Torque: 115Nm at 10 000.
Induction:Electronic fuel-injection with chip-controlled throttle and four 45mm Mikuni throttle bodies with variable-length intakes.
Ignition:Transistor-controlled electronic.
Starting: Electric.
TRANSMISSION
Clutch: Cable-operated multiplate wet slipper clutch.
Transmission: Six-speed constant-mesh gearbox with final drive by chain.
SUSPENSION
Front: 43mm inverted cartridge forks adjustable for preload with adjustable compression damping in left leg and adjustable rebound damping in right leg.
Rear: Rising-rate linkage with remote-reservoir gas-filled monoshock adjustable for preload, compression and rebound damping.
BRAKES
Front: Dual 310mm discs with Sumitomo radial-mount, one-piece six-pot opposed-piston callipers.
Rear: 220mm disc with Nissin single-piston floating calliper.
TYRES
Front: 120/70 - 17 tubeless.
Rear: 190/55 - 17 tubeless.
DIMENSIONS/WEIGHT
Wheelbase: 1415mm.
Seat height: 835m.
Dry weight: 177kg.
FUEL TANK / CONSUMPTION
18 litres, 7.9 litres/100km.
TOP SPEED
281km/h (measured)

2009-06-15T13:18:00.002+05:30

Moto Guzzi have just announced the release throughout Europe of a special edition of the Griso, know as the Moto Guzzi Griso 8V Special Edition. Topically as the Isle of Man TT is currently on, the “Tenni” colour scheme of this new Griso edition is taken from Italian Moto Guzzi racing legend Omobono Tenni, the first Italian ever to win at the Isle of Man TT.
Further details of this new Moto Guzzi motorbike are available on the www.inter-bike.co.uk site.

india connected....finally

2009-05-19T20:26:00.004+05:30

enough has been written about how India is a diverse country n shit; 2009 election results: congress 201 seats, period. the definition of aam aadmi has changed,today Indians don't just take whats given to them but give it back as well. take the Indian team for example, or any upcoming athlete, be it a vijender kumar, or a a saina nehval. We as Indians dont need to be blessed with the best of facilities in the world but our sheer grit can make a shithole of a gymkhana give us stars like the ones mentioned above.

slum dog millionaire might have won multiple oscars, but the truth is in these very slums in mumbai, hundreds of thousands of people go through the same grind everyday and yet when u walk into any one of these places, u find people laughing away and making the most of whatever they have or don't have. we as Indians should be proud of the fact that we have the sab chalta hai attitude. that is exactly y after only yrs of liberalization, we r competing against American and European companies in most sectors, in fact doing a lot better than them in some, (i don wanna get started on the banking industry here so i wont).

sharukh khan says thoda aur wish karo, dish karo, but the reality is that Indians r defined by wishing less and never getting satisfied. if we wish for a lot the unsatisfactory quotient would also go up.

all the above written views were a direct result of house hunting in mumbai for three weeks (how.....it js is). its a bitch and now i know it.

how to fight the system and ultimately help war off terrorism

2008-12-08T19:11:00.000+05:30

well to tackle such a menace, two things are importantaccountabilityself monitoringwhen we vote for a candidate and if he wins or if any other candidate wins it should be our preoragative to ensure that that mla is fullfilling the promises he made....mlas are given a budget of almost 2 crs per yyear we shouuld ask once a month for five years if and where that money is being used.....and make sure that more and more people do this so that the mla is laways on his toessecon point s self control we indians really have to learn and have some civic sense right from not spitting on the road to raising an alarm on seeing something suspiciosu and everything in between....following traffic rules.....exposing corrupt officials by going to the media........would this directly help curb terrorism......i donno but its only when we doo all odf this that we then have a right to point fingers at politicians ...........

F worRD, most important word in the english language

2008-11-13T23:28:00.000+05:30

vista- iimb's annual B fest

2008-10-16T03:43:00.000+05:30

so from oct 10 to 12 everything came to a standstill in iimb, thats when this years annual business festival was held, now when i say standstill ofcourse not really, i mean for some, classes wr still goin on, for others well classes are neva on so it din make a difference anyways, the latter part formin farji (fake) people like me who r doin farji MBA here, anyways nugh bou that, so me bein part of the marketing club here organised an event named Baadshah (the king), the ironic thing being that the winner was a girl, makin the name of the event sound completely irrelevent and a little sexist as well if i may add.

i wud also like to add that that chick had utterly no knowledge of marketing whatsoever, what she was good at was shouting at the top of her lungs while presenting, which reminded me of "Loud Howard" from Dilbert, who seems to say the most irrelevent og things bt cz he screams em out loud, they get heard.

the event was not all that bad at the end of the day, i mean i did manage to steal three pens from FII, the organising body for vista; and i also got a free tee shirt so wasnt all that bad as i said, yep the t shirt is the one m wearin the pic.

ofcourse it din help that i had a splittin headache throughout the event and well as usual in ma marketing club one person dsnt know wt the other is doin and there is so much decentralisation of power that pretty much everyone keeps on makin decisions all the time. so one know what happenin none of the time apart form that one particular person ofcourse. but well thats how things work. ofcourse at the end we decided once again when to give a partiy to our club fachas (freshers), for the umpteenth time and ofcourse we cudnt settle on a date for the umpteenth time, ofcourse its kina pathetic that the fachas have been here for more than four months and still we havent given our fachas a party.

nyhoo next month summer placements will be happenin for the fachas, so i ll have six days off and nothing to do, i have nothing to do righ tnow either but well i dont have any days off

me writes _ complicated

2008-10-16T03:41:00.000+05:30

Complicated

M so hard to be with

M so hard to deal with

M I really grown up

Or is it just a perception

I know wt I am

But tats not how m perceived

I know wts inside me

But that’s not how m seen

M so complicated

Bt m I really

me writes 1

2008-10-16T03:33:00.000+05:30

The more I think...

And the more I think abou it

Makes no sense at all

And I have seen so many faces n lies

And the more I see the less I hope

But then I see you there…..not even lookin at me from the coner of yr eye

glancing bak at me all I can do is cry

I dunno wt to say or do wt to make of this

Cz the more I cry I start loosin all I got

Because u don keep faith in me

Even after all this while

It hurts me so much to think

That you don’t know me at all….

I was atleast walking but m now in an eternal fall

sick

2008-10-09T22:59:00.000+05:30

so when u get sick wt all is there that u can do....

go see a doc....take prescribed meds

don see a doc....listen to yr frns and yr inner voice and take unprescribed meds

don do jack.....js hang outwit people share food n drinks get everyone else sick along wit ya so ya dn feel left out...

methinks me ll take third option actually have been doin so fo sm time now.........wozaaaaaaaaaaaa

our lil excursion at Nandi hills

2008-10-06T18:33:00.000+05:30

so we head off to nandi hills at 4 in the mornin ....well 4 ish i may add as ma ever slow frn fonia....aka golu....golu cz well he is like a big fat ball......so anyways he twisted his ankle TRYN to play tennis a night before (yes i the wrd tryn is intentionally emphasized there)......so nyhoo we head off at 4ish and then it started rainin on the highway.....and well wasnt the most pleasent of rides but in sm way ws still a lotta fun drivin on the open and dark road not knowin where and when u might hit the ever present pothole that is always present on all indian roads......well there wasnt one that night ....thanks to the newly developed bangalore international airport whose makers js found out that there airport is still as good or rather as bad as the old HAL one ....nyhoo gettin bak on track or rather road.....so we kept goin and once we entered the mountain road it was mazin it felt like we wr glidin in the middle of the clouds in second gear.........literally that was d case to be honest but still ws n experience in itself... while cmin bak we came across chemically enhanced oranges d size of small watermelons.......yep true that is.......we decided to let those by, and then travelled 75 km on our bikes without a single break,,,,yep no pee pee break either by the end of the journey ma neck was so stiff that i cud not even move it so was using ma periphereal vision to see incomoin vehicles n all.......nyways finally we came bak to campus.......had a nice cuppa and ofcourse partied hard in the night.........d details of which i ll post later........

scrubs, where u get answers to all yr questions

2008-10-03T22:14:00.000+05:30

its all of yr memories the joyful ones and the heartbreaking ones thatt make you the person that u r.

last night i thought and i thought a lot. i thought about my life and what i am doing with it. how i am affecting other peoples lives and the magnitude of impact that i might have. i evaluated my being and its purpose.....ofcourse i cudnt find one. so well i switched on ma source of all answers in life......scrubs.

ofcourse before that i ran a few miles something i do get out of my head....but as luck wud have it what i was tryna get outa ma head was walkin all ova the place in which i was running so that din help.

anyhoooo cmin bak to what i was thinking of thinking of sayin... so impact of ma life on others.....i have been living in with ma gf for the last twoo weeks. not outta choice but out of circunstances. i din sign up for the twoo weeks but well sometimes life pushes u into situations out of which u can come unscathed only if you put yr brain to your mouth.....no i m not gona explain what that means.....or well leme try. u think u wud do but u dont only wn u start doin wt u think u should do is when u realise that wt u set out to do was wat u wr suposed to dp in the first place. ..................

the funniest musical ever

2008-10-01T23:06:00.000+05:30

life at IIMB

2008-09-30T23:32:00.001+05:30

IIMB's famous L square Party

Kas Budday

Unmaad, IIMB's and India's biggest Cultural Festival

we need "a wednesday"

2008-09-30T21:36:00.000+05:30

delhi, jaipur, ahmedabad, surat, modasa, bangalore, literally every city i have been to has had blasts there....he.. me n ma frns wr at around forum wn the bomb ws found there......relatives live right next to where jaipoud blasts took place....

these asshole terrorists dont have the guts to cm up in public and if they realy wana kill some one kill sahrrraaaad powaaaaer who headed the parliamentary committeein the pesticide case against coke and pepsi and made sure no stringent action was taken .....or other political leaders who dont have the stomach to even come to parliament regularly let alone govern their constituencies...

i js wish that there could be a real "a wednesday " js like in the movie and these motherfukas are put to waht they deserve to be blown to pieces......

let them enjoy all the virgins in hell then.......satan will m sure personally screw there asses so bad that their guts would fall out and then keep doin that for the rest of eternity.

lonely with a swarm of people

2008-09-30T00:52:00.000+05:30

what is it that makes a person feel this way. one starts to wonder whether its me or the rest of the world thats gone cuckoo.....i am high, i am low and i am a lot of things ....NOT ....i wana be a lotta things....i wana be everyone......whats wrong with me.....a few things but m allright.....so why this desire one asks again.....but no answer there is....no response from anyone.....

Some days I feel like crying
It don't matter if it's rain or shine
I feel like my heart was broken
At least a million times

Some days I wake up dreaming
Feels like I've never even woke
I answer life's big questions
As if it's one big joke

Maybe it's too soon to be sure
But I really do believe that someday
We're gonna have it all
So I try to hard to keep the rhythm of a train
Rolling right along
When the ride gets rough you got to carry on
Carry on

Some days I feel like singing
I sit back and just groove the day away
Maybe pick up a guitar
And play what I want to play

Maybe it's too soon to be sure
But I really do believe that someday
We're gonna have it all
So I try to hard to keep the rhythm of a train
Rolling right along
When the ride gets rough you got to carry on
Carry on

Today I feel like laughing
Seems to be no reason at all
And if the world stops spinning
I'm not afraid to fall

Maybe it's too soon to be sure
But I really do believe that someday
We're gonna have it all
So I try to hard to keep the rhythm of a train
Rolling right along
When the ride gets rough you got to carry on

no....i din write this....neither was i inspired its js a ctrl c ....ctrl v from jermy kay.....defines this moment of time fo me a lil i guess