Motorbike Journey - October / South India

paulegs

Me and a friend of mine are meeting up with each other at the beginning of October in Mumbai.

We are wanting to rent two motorbikes from Mumbai, and spend approximately 4weeks riding down through Karnataka and Kerala - and then up through Tamil Nadu to finish in Chennai. We are both competent riders - but neither of us have been to India before and any advice on the following queries would be greatly appreciated.

1. Motorbikes:
Given that we will only have 4weeks, I think the best approach is to rent(?). I have looked at a few companies on the internet that can provide rentals in Mumbai - however there does not appear to be much selection. Can anybody suggest areas in Mumbai and / or specific shops that will rent bikes at a reasonable price for a 4week period?

2. Distances / Roads:
The proposed route is about 3,800km long -
Mumbai to Goa along the coast; inland to Dandeli; back to the coast and Karwar; past Jog Falls; further inland to Shimoga; down to Kudremukh; across to Hassan; down to Mysore; through Nagarhole National Park and down to Ooty; through Palakkad; across Tea County and Marayoor; back to the coast and Kochi, Alleppey, Kollam and Trivandrum; down to Kanyakumari; then through Tirunelveli, Madurai and Pondicherry; finally concluding in Chennai.

Given that we will be spending a few days at either end getting things sorted out - we have approximately 21 days to complete this, which means we will be travelling on average about 180km/day. Can anybody provide any advice on whether or not they think it is achievable? Otherwise, we may need to review the proposed route.

3. Finish Point (Chennai)
I believe we have two options in Chennai - either put the bikes on a train to Mumbai(?) or drop them off in Chennai (if the motorbike rental allows it) and fly out of India from there. Does anybody have any experience with either renting bikes in Mumbai and dropping off in Chennai -OR- putting motorbikes on trains in India?

4. Places to Go
If anybody has any recommendations on specific places to visit / stay (i.e. accommodation) along the outlined route above, your suggestions would be greatly appreciated. We are both world travellers (I am Australian; my friend is French) - and do not want to spend time at the standard tourist attractions, but rather spend time with the people and immerse ourselves in the culture.

5. Accommodation
This may seem like quite a naive question - but is camping an easy and safe thing to do in Southern India(?) Would it be possible to purchase a tent in Mumbai - and carry this on the Motorbike - therefore being able to stop wherever we choose for the evening? If so - any recommendations on where to camp?

Thanks in advance to anybody on this forum who can provide some advice.

PAUL

sdsudarsan

hi Paulegs,

Q5: Camping may not be a good idea! Also, October may see rains and it could really pour.

Q2: 180 km /day amounts to atleast 4 - 5 hrs of average biking. Can you do that and still do some sight seeing?

bonded

This might be your biggest obstacle.

sdsudarsan

Q3: Carrying bikes on train to Mumbai is very much doable. The break vans are good enough. Just that you got to kind of pack them and empty fuel tank. Also reach the station well ahead of time. But if you can drop it off that would be great!

Anyway, if you look at the rentals, it may be worth buying them at Mumbai and sell off at Chennai or even donate :-)

paulegs

thanks on the tips:

Q2. You have a good point there with the distances - I was thinking that we would travel quite quickly between Mumbai and Goa (along NH17) - and then spend more time sightseeing south of Goa. Our objective is not to be too rushed - so if we are falling back in time, then the idea would be to put the bike on a train wherever we are and head back to Mumbai (or if we own the bikes - see Q3 - donate them and catch train to exit point).
Can we put a bike on ANY train? or only in major cities?


Q3. We thought about purchasing in Mumbai and donating in Chennai - but did a bit of reading and thought that buying would take a lot of time away from our trip (also because we are not Indian)... if it will take only a few days - then we would be interested!

Q5. Good point on the camping! I was thinking of it as a 'fall back' plan... how easy is it to organise accommodation in India when on the road?

thanks again for your feedback... greatly appreciated.

sdsudarsan

Hi Paulegs,

Most of the roads would be good, I guess. But rain, traffic and diversions can put you off! (atleast in few places over 3 weeks)

October is also festival time, and there could be lot of traffic and diversions in few locations. Eg., Mysore during Daserrah.

You could put your bike in most of the trains in all major stations. Just that you need to be well on time (as much as 4-6 hrs before the train arrives in case metro stations. Smaller ones could be couple of hours).

Purchase of bikes wont take long. Just 2-3 days for all the paper work to be over. Just negotiate the deal with the bike dealer/seller.

Accommodation on the road is pretty much available anywhere. If I were you, discuss with the current hotel guys and find possible good ones enroute for the next one or two nights. That should do. In most places, you may have Youth Hostels or YMCA hostels, which may work out to be economical.

Once you identify possible halt stations, let us know. We could probably find/recommend something. Also, make your expectations clear - budget, cleanliness, food, etc. :-)

Hope this helps..

fdisk

[quote=sdsudarsan;796668]hi Paulegs,
Q5: Camping may not be a good idea! Also, October may see rains and it could really pour.
/QUOTE]

is wild camping permitted?

sdsudarsan

mm.. depends on where you camp! Legally, in declared areas it is not permitted, but many a times, who cares... it is just a board!

But, in general, you could camp.