Delhi --> Ladakh --> Delhi

ZaKe

We are a party of two, contemplating riding a motorbike from Delhi to Ladakh and back, maybe on an Enfield (one pillion rider). Given our limited time in India, we're thinking of landing in Delhi, getting adjusted within a couple of days, and then doing the abovementioned trip in 7 to 10 days. Are we being a tad too ambitious?

We've never been to India, but we're experienced backapckers in East-Asia and Indochina, veterans of several European motorbike tours, and have ridden through high altitudes (2200m) in the Alps, covered distances of 800km/day, etc.

I understand that a trip from Delhi to Ladakh will of course be a lot more challenging, that it entails tackling much higher altitudes, bad road conditions, bureaucracy (waiitng for travel permits in Leh?), etc., so I'm not sure if it's realistic to aim for getting from Delhi to Ladakh in 3 days... what do you think--are we being too ambitious and naïve?

Can anyone point me to articles or web pages with info about any essential gear we should bring along for such a trip?

Can anyone suggest some good travel agencies and/or bike rentals in Delhi which might be of help?

From what I understand the temperature will vary between +3 and +20 degrees celsius. Given the windchill factor (plus that which comes from riding), it may be a good idea to have leather gear, but we don't want to have to bring along our riding gear which we normally use in Europe. Is it easy to find leather riding gear for rent in India?

Would anyone like to join us for the trip? (I'm a safe and considerate rider, not a speed freak spinning hairpin turns around daredevil corners by any means)

Also, I read conflicting reports -- both that it is wet and rainy and the roads slippery, and that it is dry and pleasant... which is it? Anyone know?

ZK

Haylo

Delhi to Leh is an amazing ride, and one that I would love to do myself one day.

Completing the return journey in seven days sounds like a whole bunch of no fun though, especially as the smallest delay would wreck your itinerary.

While I appreciate the concept of a journey for the sake of the ride in itself, that is a very long way to go, just to turn around and leave without seeing any of the area, or without giving yourself an opportunity to enjoy some of the great roads you find once you arrive up there.

__________________
The world is mud-luscious and puddle-wonderful - E.E. Cummings, poet (1894-1962)

ZaKe

Well, we're flexible about the 7-day-only idea. We can stretch it to 10 days maybe. But we would like to spend no more than 3 days getting there and 3 days getting back. It would be nice to spend a few days at the Ladakh Festival which is from Sept. 1 to Sept. 15. How does that sound?

Haylo

That still sounds very tight to me, though I have never done that route myself, so won't say it's impossible but I'd definitely want longer than that. Ideally you need some input from someone who has done this, who can tell you straight just how realistic - or not - this idea is.

If you've never ridden in India, and aren't aware of the usual road conditions and driving habits, you might be in for a bit of a shock. Even driving a car in the lowlands without the issue of altitude sickness is exhausting; dealing with Indian driving conditions on a motorbike might be rather more daunting task than you expect, and I have no doubt that you'd be grateful to have a few days leeway, even if you didn't use them. Be aware that everything in India seems to take far longer than you would possibly expect.

You also need to consider the altitude when planning where to sleep. Manali - Leh highway, how to avoid AMS?

Mike Cork

From my experience this year.

You will need 5 days to ride from Delhi to Leh. Any less would be a waste of a good trip. There are a few good places to rent Enfield 500cc's in Delhi.

I rented for 900 rupees a day and a 10,000 deposit. We had 4 bikes and only had minor mechanical breakdowns.

We experienced temperatures between 47C on Delhi and the ride north and below -2C at night when we stopped at Sarchu.

"Also, I read conflicting reports -- both that it is wet and rainy and the roads slippery, and that it is dry and pleasant... which is it? Anyone know?"

You will experience all of the above.

Feel free to contact me, I can give you much more information.

__________________
Only you can make it a good day...

ZaKe

Mike, I couldn't find any contact info for you. Maybe there is a way to contact you via this site's interface, but I haven't found out how... Is there any chance you could post some info about bike rentals in Delhi here? (or will that be construed as advertising?)

karuna

Hi ZaKe,

Unfortunately we have had to restrict access to Private Messaging to combant advertising and abuse of the system. You need to make a few more posts and be a member for a little while to be able to contact other members. I hope you understand.

Yes, it is OK for Mike to recommend companies to you. He is an established member and not a travel agent in disguise!

As far as emails and things go, the purpose of IndiaMike is to share information in public, so we encourage members to have their discussions in the open forum so everyone can benefit. You are, of course, welcome to arrange private email contact when planning your trip, but we do hope you'll return from your adventures to share your wisdom with us!

ZaKe

Heh! I've already ridden and survived some of the worst places to ride in the world, like Vietnam, Italy and Lisbon. In Vietnam all city roads turn into 25-lane scooter roads. In Italy they actually try to run you off the road. In Portugal a good percentage of the road users tend to be legally drunk and you get side-swiped all the time when people overtake you on your right, in the same lane. Yet somehow I get the feeling India tops the list as THE most difficult place to ride.

ZaKe

Yes, I completely understand about your need to screen new members. It just so happens that I run quite a few public forums myself, and I know about all the problems you can get. For that reason all my scripts/software is fully customized, written by me. I have learned a few simple but effective ways to offset spam and abuse. I don't know if you are using canned software that is hard to modify, but if you'd like, at a later date, I can look into it and offer some suggestions which might make your life a whole lot easier! I've pretty much stopped all spam attacks and cat-n-mouse games without needing to use any elaborate counter-spam measures. Please feel free to contact me through my registered email address. If you Google the name on my address, you should find my domain, with my full resume, etc.

So back to my trip, how do I go about arranging private email contact?

And yes, I will of course share whatever useful tips I glean from my experiences!

Cheers!

Haylo

Erm.. Put it this way... I've driven a 60 year old military truck through Europe, ridden motorbikes for over 25 years, offroaded a half track, overturned a horse and carriage, even driven a traction engine - but none of that made me feel nearly as intrepid as I felt while driving our sedate ambassador, with our driver beside me giving me directions, in Delhi.

You are REALLY going to feel as if you've achieved something by the end of this trip, and frankly I'm green with envy. It won't always be fun at the time, but I know you'll regard it as the trip of a lifetime. I do, and I only flew into Leh from Delhi.

Haylo

Make a few more posts, stick around for a couple of weeks and you'll find new options automatically opening up to you.

Specifically emailing other members, once you have privileges, if you click on a username to the left of memberxyz's post you'll get a dropdown menu which will include the option "Send a private message to memberxyz"

This measure has been in place for some time now, and has proved remarkably effective at weeding out those people who have no real interest in Indian travel; in the last year I have not received a single piece of spam email. I doubt many other sites could match that!

ZaKe

Oh don't you worry about a thing--I'm so definitely interested in India! Don't have a choice, as I'm landing there in 2 days Problem is, I only discovered this forum recently, and my Delhi-Ladakh idea came at about the same time. So I'm putting all this together in a kinda last-minute urgent fashion. I suppose the automation of privileges in this system means that instant gratification might be out of the question? In that case, whoever communicates with me will just have to be kind enough to post whatever they have to say to me on the forum. Alternatively, I've set up a temporary email address for the purpose of planning my India trip, which I'll post here if that's advisable.

Mike Cork

I looked & ed, researched for ages at all the deals and deposits etc.... in preparation for my recent trip. I opted for Soni Motors, Karol Bagh in Delhi.

The price was right, we were looked after, the bikes worked well only with minor repairs required, for which we had most of the spares in a spares pack.

Any problems with your bike before you go over the passes call in and see Vijay in Manali.

http://www.indiamike.com/india/attac...oni-motors.jpg

http://www.indiamike.com/india/attac...lhi-manali.jpg

Post your temp email address and I will contact you.

ZaKe

Thanks, Mike! I will look up Soni Motors. My temp email address is "i n d i a 2 0 0 9 [ AT ] c h a l e t v i k i n g . c o m" (without spaces!)

Haylo

That is how this forum is supposed to work anyway, so that everyone else who is interested in the same subject benefits from the advice given.

It can be useful to have private contact with other members, I've made a lot of friends that way, but travel advice is generally best shared.