Honda Motorcycles blog

I’m very happy to say that I’ve finally managed to make the interview with Praveen - a motorcycle blogger from India. He runs a blog called “My Escapades” and I really enjoyed the special flavour of his stories, motorcycling unites us all but still can be very different.

• Cristian: Hi Praveen, and welcome on board! I did most of my interviews with bikers from US, so how is to ride in India?

Praveen: First of all thanks for including my blog in your list and this interview. Will try my best to represent my country at you space. I am sure it would be awesome to ride in US with those wide open spaces and various terrains in offer. As for riding in India with the kinda bikes we have and the prevalent roads conditions, we would take as much saddle time to ride 100 kms or more as much you would for 100 miles in US. So are our average speeds in KMs as it would be in miles in US. 60kmph is considered a s good touring average including breaks and all here. The terrain changes every few hundred kms and you don’t really have enough time to get bored of a terrain you are in.

• Cristian:From your blog I get that you like long roads and riding in groups. What would be your dream tour?

Praveen: I have been following sites like advrider enough to grow my wish list. An RTW is quite a dream tour.

• Cristian: I’m really impressed about the pictures you are taking while riding. How do you decide this or that could be a nice picture?

Praveen: Thanks. The albums in my gallery except from last year are from my friends. We do take photographs to save the memories just like every one. Of course we have to choose a few from the many we take. All my riding buddies are inclined towards photography as well. So i do get tips from them.

• Cristian: What bike do you have, and how did you choose it?

Praveen: I currently have HeroHonda CBZ. 156cc mill dishing out 12.8 bhp. Its detuned version of Honda cbx200. Its from Hero motors India in collaboration with Honda. As for choosing it, it was based on looks. Now looking for an upgrade of more than what is available currently. We have Karizma again a HH bike 223cc 17 bhp bike(Derived from Honda crf230 engine).Want something bettor than this. Hope something gets launched here soon. Of course there is the Royal Enfield and i am not an enfield kinda guy

• Cristian: Any tips for riding a bike in India?

Praveen: As my friend says, Road here is alive! Its unpredictable. An US client who visited our company on business, exclaimed “Driving in India is like playing Video game. You never know what comes in your way to dodge!”. Need to be lot more alert as a lot more things can happen on the road. Fender benders, People not on vehicles and animals do use the road as well. But its a matter of time getting used to the unpredictability and then every thing works out. The speeds involved are less, the accident rates are comparable to else where in the world. The roads in themselves are very good most of the places and improving with more lanes all over the country. You even get lot of opportunities to go flat out on what ever bike/car you own. Speed detection is not yet employed here at least not out of town. We do get to ride around 65 to 75 mph when not in hilly areas. At least that’s what our bikes are able to do max.

• Cristian: I’ve seen a lot of reports in your blog about problems with your bike. What skills do you need to keep it in working condition?

Praveen: The problems that i had in a couple of trips was because I got modification done in the electrical to get better light output by installing HID xenon headlights just hours before the trip. It went out on those trips without adequate testing and chinks proved problematic. Else when the bike was running stock, no problems as such. Just keep learning some things which may help. But we do maintain it and get it properly serviced before heading out.

• Cristian: Putting money aside, what would be your dream bike?

Praveen: I would really like the Suzuki V-Strom. 90% of the time i am on roads, but do like to take the bike offroading at will. Like riding in Himalayas and also should not feel very out of place on track. I guess V-Strom fits the bill. And looks great as well.

• Cristian: What would be an excellent route to ride in India? (name some places to visit)

Praveen: There are three main areas of riding:

1) Himalayan circuit covering the highest passes in the world. The following is popular route Delhi-Srinagar -kargil-Leh-KhardungLa(Officially the highest pass)-PangongTso Lake-Leh-Manali-Delhi. There are lot of other places to explore
2) Rajasthan: This is the Desert area where on can ride visiting various historical cityes, forts, sand dunes. Jaiselmer, Jaipur, Bikener to name a few places and u have flat lands of ‘Rann of Kutch’ a lil south.

3) Western Ghats in South India: This is where i am based and a lot of riding can be done as u got beaches green mountains, historical places etc. Goa, Gokarn, Udupi, Kemmmangundi, Kudremukh, Munnar, Wayanad etc and lot more.

• Cristian: Favorite food while on tour?

Praveen: We have a lot of diversity in food habits from place to place. Travel a 100 kms and the food is different. So we actually get to taste different foods and cant really pick a favorite. But there are some common foods like ‘Idli’ which basically a rice dumpling. This is what i resort to if my health goes bad as this has no oil no spice and wont mess with metabolism. Of course have to resort to ‘Roti’ for simple food as we head north.

• Cristian: Any other motorcycle blogs you are reading?

Praveen: I read my friend Arun’s ‘Chasing the clouds‘ and Vinod’s ‘Motorcycle Dairies‘. But now i got your blog and the amazing collection from the world over in your list.

• Cristian: What is the biggest adventure or the ride you will never forget you had while touring?

Praveen: I cant really forget any of my rides cos that’s the reason I blog almost all of them, so that i could re-live them. The biggest one was an almost cross country ride last year covering 4500 kms in 9 days. We sped through our familiar area and visited the other two riding areas i mentioned above. Here’s the LINK for that trip.

• Cristian: How did you get into riding a motorcycle?

Praveen: Bikes here are used as mode of transport to commute in the city. I bought mine, as a young guy needs to have bike! That’s the norm here. Chanced upon a Indian biking forum looking for something and then was enlightened about the concept of touring on bikes. I got hooked and have been riding ever since.

Read Praveen’s motorcycle blog

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Rick from “Keep The Rubber Side Down” got questioned about his riding, so I decided to answer the same questions, even if I have nobody to ask me the questions

• Favorite brand of bike? Well, I do have a Honda blog, and 2 Hondas in my backyard. I would say, it’s Honda.

• Favorite color of bike? Blue, black or a combination.

• Do you always wear a helmet? Always - it’s requested by the law here also.

• Most miles ridden in a day? Around 400, small country.

• Do you belong to a riding club? Well, no big/real clubs around here (Romania)

• How many bikes do you currently own? 3… I’m a buyer not a seller

• Do you wave at passing bikers? Always.

• How many brand t-shirts do you own? None! I don’t understand clothes (and colours).

• Do people think you are obsessed with motorcycles? Not sure about people, but I do think I’m obsessed.

• What is your favorite type of riding? Touring.

• Do you have any riding superstitions? Ha? What’s that?

Here is how Stephanie aka IowaHarleyGirl answered the questions. And Connie from One Big Harley Family.

Let’s see if someone else is picking up the questions.

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Jay from RoadCaptainUSA.com was next on my list of interviews. He has some nice stories riding with the local HOG chapter, and good additional content on books, sites. maps and gadgets.

• Cristian: Jay, I have to say you have an interesting blog name. How did you come up with the name?

Jay: Good question and thank you for the compliment. I lay awake many nights pondering what I would call my blog. To me it was one of the most important decisions regarding my blog. I hope that one day RoadCaptainUSA.com will be considered a well known brand and generate some sort of financial return so I put a lot of thought into it. My web address had to be memorable. It had to help with my search rankings and most of all it would dictate the image or character of my website and what it was all about. I love HelmetHairBlog by Jesper Bram. His URL is unique and memorable. He has a great website with great graphics. I wanted to role model my site after his. I was thinking about something more humorous like MonkeyButtBlog.com for riders who ride long distances. This would set a comedic tone to the site. I don’t think MonkeyButt was available so I started researching Road Captain and of course www.RoadCaptainUSA.com was available. I felt this name captured the spirit of what I want to write about.

• Cristian: You say in an article on your blog about your first motorcycle:”You never forget your first! Your first beer, your first girl, your first kiss, your “first time”, your first wife, your first divorce, your first Harley, the list goes on. “ You trade it in for a better bike, but how is the feeling of owning your first bike?

Jay: We would have to go back to 1980 when I was thirteen years old for me to answer that, but I will try. Imagine being a kid again and wanting something so bad you could taste it. Like the kid in A Christmas Story who wanted the Red Rider BB Gun. I wanted a new YZ80 worse than that! I wanted to race motocross and be just like Bob Hannah. So when my parents finally took me to buy that brand new bike and we loaded in my Dad’s van I was the happiest proudest kid in the world.

• Cristian: Any interesting roads in Delaware?

Jay: Now that is a funny question. Sorry to say this but we don’t have many interesting roads here. The great thing is we are centrally located to other states that have great roads like Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia.

• Cristian: What about the day trips with your local HOG Chapter. How important is the feeling of belonging to a special group?

Jay: If it wasn’t for my HOG Chapter I might still be hanging around the Hooters parking lot on bike night trying to be as cool as all the other guys that have never left the state on their motorcycles. The camaraderie, sense of belonging and acceptance that come with owning a Harley Davidson is very important to me now. The more I evolve as a motorcyclist this might change, but for now the camaraderie of my club is very rewarding.

• Cristian: I have to say I’m not a Harley guy, but I do fantasize about doing a part of Route 66 on a Harley. What do you think about the idea?

Jay: Of course I think it’s a great idea! I hope to do it myself someday. There are so many rides and so little time! I hope I will someday be able to retire and have the health and the means to ride all the scenic byways this great country has to offer.

• Cristian: You have an article about the “wave” and the latest fraternity in the World (your wife Diana, wrote it). How do you describe the friendship that forms when going on a road trip with other bikers?

Jay: It would be a very difficult thing to describe the bonding that people experience while traveling together to someone who has never traveled with a group. Just imagine touring a foreign country and forming friendships with the people in your tour group. Or going on vacation and striking up friendships with people that you feel like you have known your whole life.

• Cristian: You have a nice set of pictures from your trips. What would be the picture you like most?

Jay: I have a favorite picture that Diana took of our club members coming down out of the mountains on Skyline Drive. I use the picture often on my site. It’s really cool having all the Ultra Classics with their bat wing fairings spaced out evenly along the curving hill and each one is smaller than the one before it. To me it is art! I also love a similar picture we have of our dear friend Old School Bob. I cropped the picture for my website and you can’t see the trail of bikes following him. In this picture the expression on his face and his body language are priceless. The picture says it all!

• Cristian: What was the greatest experience you had about riding?

Jay: The one day my parents let me race my 1980 YZ80 in a real AMA motocross race in Middleboro, MA was one of the most exciting and memorable events of my life. I remember the excitement of being on the starting line. I remember flying all balls out down the hole shot in a big bowl of dust dodging bikes and riders going down right in front of me. It was awesome!

• Cristian: You know, most people say that there are Harleys and the other motorcycles. What’s special about a HOG?

Jay: Cristian I hate to sound cliché but if I have to explain it then you wouldn’t understand. Sorry, actually I wrote a whole post about it but there really is no way to answer that question and do it justice.

• Cristian: You wife, Diana, also has a Harley? Do you go together on trips or? (My girlfriend has a license as well, but she never actually use it)

Jay: Yes, Diana has a Harley Davidson Sportster 883 Hugger which is less than ideal for highway or distance riding. She loves her motorcycle. So far we have gone on one overnight trip together to the Catoctin Mountains in Maryland. I love our day trips, she is my favorite riding buddy. I think we will be doing a lot more riding together, both day trips and overnight trips. I just need to get some Zanex or something so I stop worrying about her getting hurt.

• Cristian: Any customizations you did to your Harley?

Jay: I was into the custom motorcycle scene when I first got the bike bug 3 or 4 years ago. I purchased a one of a kind customized Sportster that gave me nothing but mechanical and electrical problems. After walking that motorcycle 3 miles when it broke down in Ocean City, MD during Delmarva Bike Week I think I got over the custom thing. Since then I have decided that the factories make motorcycles as good as I need them to be. I would rather have a reliable stock fuel efficient quiet motorcycle than one that draws attention. I also think spending money on cosmetic accessories is a waste. I know this is biker heresy but this is my interview, right? I can’t afford all the functional accessories and all the riding gear I want, so why would I waste my money on bling? I do however have a great appreciation for the talented men and women who can create a motorcycle that looks like art. I just don’t want to ride it to Sturgis!

• Cristian: Ok, here it is a strange question. If you would be in the position to own the Harley company, what would be the first thing you would do?

Jay: This will be a long list! For starters I would do the following: I would slash prices on all this over priced stuff that has the bar and shield on it. I would only allow people to own dealerships that are in it for the customers and not the money. I would set standards for customer service and quality at all dealerships and at the factory too! I would start a whole new line of women’s motor clothes and gear that fit real women’s bodies. This line of clothes would include professional clothes that could be worn to work. The women’s riding gear would be less fashion and more function. I would make it mandatory for all customers to have a motorcycle endorsement before they can purchase a motorcycle. I would make sure that everyone who buys a motorcycle received the Riders Edge basic riding course for free.

• Cristian: What other motorcycle blog do you read?

Jay: My favorite bloggers are Joker, Dave, Ronman and Lady R. I wish I had more time to read everyone’s stuff. I love the format and name of HelmetHairBlog. I think Rippin Kitten is the coolest blog. Biker Swag has an awesome website. I have a lot of respect for Dan Bateman who blogs at Musings of An Intrepid Commuter. Steve Williamson’s Scooter In the Sticks deserves special mention. I find Steve Johnson’s Biker Philosophy thought provoking. Honorable mention to Mr. Motorcycle too!

• Cristian: What kind of people ride a Harley?

Jay: All kinds of people! You would think that everyone who rides a Harley or belongs to the Harley Owners Group would be very similar in character. They are not! Being a HOG Officer and/or Road Captain is challenging because of the variety of likes and dislikes among our members. From Chapter to Chapter there are wide differences as well. There are Veterans, Firemen, Policemen, Doctors, Lawyers, Outlaws, Housewives, Executives, and Rock Stars who ride Harley Davidson Motorcycles. The list goes on forever. The scary thing is a lot of these people should have their motorcycles taken away. Not everyone was born to be on two wheels!

• Cristian: Any safety tips for new riders?

Jay: Another long list. If possible start on a dirt bike. Learn what a bike can do off road if you can. Then take the Basic MSF course. Practice in a parking lot until you are ready to hit the streets. Wear the best protective gear you can afford and make sure it fits comfortably. Pick a motorcycle that fits your body size and riding style. Watch training DVD’s and read books. Join a club and ask a lot of questions. Practice slow speed tight turns and emergency stops often. Dedicate yourself to learning as much as you can about motorcycling. Be truthful with yourself that this is a dangerous sport! Believe that you will eventually have an accident and be prepared for it! Do not mix drinking and riding. Avoid riding at night. Avoid rush hour if possible. Know yourself. I know I am not a morning person so I don’t ride to work in the morning. I get my bike at lunch time. Always think safety! Sometimes it’s OK to say “Screw It , Let’s Ride!”

• Cristian:Any interesting motorcycle movies I should be looking for? Which one did you enjoy most?

Jay: Terminator II is one of my favorite movies and has a lot of motorcycles and cool music in it. I wrote a post about Terminator II and I get hits from Google everyday from people looking for the Terminator Motorcycle. Most of these strangely enough are from Europe. I even had one dude ask me exactly what year, model and make was the Terminator’s Motorcycle so that he could buy the same one. For the record, it is a 1990 Harley Davidson Fat Boy. You can go to Mike Werner’s www.Motorbiker.org to find out more about motorcycles in the movies. I also love the scene in First Blood where Rambo car jacks an Enduro. XXX with Vin Diesel has some great freestyle stunts. I’m looking forward to the new Quentin Terantino biker movie called Hell Ride coming out in August.

• Cristian: Thanks for the interview, and looking forward for your next trip report!

Here is Jay’s blog again: RoadCaptainUSA.com

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