Roadtrip Day 14: when 'Road Trip India' FB group saved the day

The day I realized the strength of online communities, biker group fraternity & unconditional help from folks of Jamnagar

As mentioned in my previous post, I had decided to spend time finding a decent mechanic & sorting the engine oil related fiasco that happened (or rather I made it happen) during my ride from Bhuj to Jamnagar.

My day started at 6 AM. I was staying at Amit ji’s place in Jamnagar & my internet (Jio) did not work well at this place. I tried writing the Day 13 post in the morning, but then ditched it fairly soon as the images were not uploading. So I decided to resort back to the task of the day - finding a good mechanic in Jamnagar for old bullet. I had made few friends in Bhuj (read my Day 13 post) & I thought of using their help. Amit ji, who was my host at Jamnagar, told me that he has few bullet owners as friends & he will get details of a good mechanic from them. I casually decided to post my query in Road Trip India facebook group (thanks to my acquaintance Samirul Mallick who had introduced me to the group) as I was not sure what kind of help I can get from there. To my utmost surprise, that was the most helpful thing I did to myself.

I got co-ordindates of Metro Garage from a few folks. One Mr Raja Aggarwal from Ahmedabad dropped a word & contact of Mr Krunal (Bunty) from Ahmedabad who is part of superbike club of Gujrat. Mr Krunal passed contact of Mr Parit who eventually passed me the contact of Kartik Bhai from Bajrang auto. All of this is done fairly quickly & by 9 AM, I had lot more information than I need.

Amit ji helped me reach Metro garage on Townhall circle. I met Narendra bhai there who very quickly mentioned that he does not work on old bullets anymore. He gave me contact of Daud bhai & guided me how to reach there (he tried his best inspite of not very comfortable in hindi & with landmarks). I went to see Daud bhai who wasn’t there at his garage when I reached there. One of his subordindates there quickly figured that there is some noise coming from engine, probably piston or crank or barrel (I am not too conversant with terms yet). While I waited for Daud bhai to turn up, he also showed me a lot of bikes parked in their garage & some of them were pretty antique.

Daud bhai took a quick test ride of the bike & told me that piston replacement will take down all the extra noise bike engine is making but he said that the bike is in rideable condition unless I do not put extra load on it (there goes my dream of riding it in Spiti). He also mentioned to not ride it beyond 80 kmph & put some engine oil alongside petrol to reduce piston friction, which would help keeping the rattling sound in check. I asked him about the engine oil & he suggested to get the oil, filter etc changed after another 3k kms.

I thanked him for his time & tried paying him, but as usual, he refused to take money (I am now used to getting free help from folks I guess :-D ). In order to pay him, I asked him if he has kicker spring (I wanted to carry one in spare after mine broke in Ahmedabad) & then I paid him for the spring & a bit extra.

Above is the picture of Daud bhai’s garage. It is located near Udyog bhavan (on the road opposite Ashapura hotel). You can reach him at 9724292733. He is a reliable guy for things related to old bullet in Jamnagar.

I started riding back & that is when Parit bhai called me up. He had passed me contact of Kartik bhai, owner of Bajrang auto. I had spoken to Kartik bhai too but had not gone to his garage. I quickly realized that I need to get my bike cleaned (there was oil spillage because Reliance folks ended up putting more engine oil than required) & I also needed to grease the chains. So I decided to take the bike to Bajrang auto. When I reached Bajrang auto at Gurudwara chaar raasta, Kartik bhai wasn’t there & I met Imran bhai who seemed an expert with bullets too (although there were hardly any bullets parked in their garage). Parit bhai soon came there & then we headed out to grab a quick lunch, leaving my bike in safe hands of Imran bhai.

Parit bhai was with his son Parshav. Both Parit bhai & Parshav came across as very enthusiastic folks. They were excited about my bike journey & Parshav specifically asked me if I would be riding to Kedarnath, to which I responded that I intend to do Spiti (please read my first post on the series for my journey plan). Parit bhai mentioned how he, Krunal bhai etc are part of super bike club of Gujrat & how they meet in Diu once in a year. Parit bhai & Parshav also wants to do a ride till Kedarnath some day & I wish them luck for the same.

They also made me feel like a celibrity when I asked Parit bhai if he has brought Parshav for a reason & he told that he wants Parshav to be inspired by people who think & do big :). Thanks Parit bhai for all the good words.

We soon were eating local dish at Lakshmi puri bhaji shop which is one of the oldest shops in Jamnagar as per Parit bhai. The food was great. The khatiawadi curry looked very spicy but it was actually not, which was good (I am not a great fan of spicy stuff). As usual, this time also, I could not pay for the food. On asking Parit bhai that I would pay, Parit bhai said with a smile - go ahead & try , this is Saurashtra & I am sure they will not take money from you :).

Then Parit bhai dropped me at Lakhota lake where Amit ji came to pick me up. He was also insistent about having lunch at his place & I could not deny. Post lunch at Amit ji’s place & a quick nap, Amit ji dropped me at Bajrang auto. Kartik bhai was also there this time & both Kartik & Imran bhai said that the bike is fine. It has piston issue but it would run fine. While I tried to pay to Kartik bhai, he said that Parit bhai has asked not take money from me. Well, I did not know what to say but as token of appreciation, I decided to put a picture of them here. I recommend a quick service / bike check at Bajrang auto if you happen to be in Jamnagar. You can reach Kartik bhai at 9427256808.

After picking the bike, I thought of doing sight seeing a bit, but then quickly changed my plan to get my helmet painted. My helmet is a bit worn out & I wanted to put the same brown color on it that I had put on my bike. I inquired for bike paint shop & after some asking, reached a shop in the interior called Jai Siaram spray colors. I met folks there who asked me to get stickers printed because putting spray color means letting things dry up for like a day & I would not have time for that. They were pretty nice folks & gave me good guidance. So I decided to pay them a tribute as well. They are reachable at 9925454641 . They asked me to go to PP Arts near Teen Darwaza for radium stickers.

With the pointer to put sticker, my plan has now changed to put my blog website address on the bike so that I do not have to keep telling people about it :). Guys at PP Arts were curious about my bike & asked questions (they were mostly customers there). The PP Art guy could not give any great recommendation on where to put the website name so that it is markedly visible & directed me to go to paint shop guys (the shops which I could never find). After roaming around for like an hour, I was back at PP Arts requesting them to do it themselves. To my surprise - the sticker guy had left for the day & they gave me back my bag (which had my laptop) which I had conveniently forgot at the shop. I thanked them & then left for another radium sticker shop they recommended nearby.

I reached Taheri Art near the Victoria bridge. I met Tahir bhai & told him about my idea of putting the website name but need his help finding a good spot on the bike. Tahir bhai suggested to put a plate behind the can stand. I liked the idea. I also suggested if he can put the same on the triangular box on the side & behind my helmet & he obliged. Overall, they were fairly quick to do things & things came out well. All of it was done within 20 min & I was fairly impressed with their speed. On knowing that I write about my experience on the blog & I am riding from Bengaluru, Tahir bhai only took Rs 150 from me (while he quoted around 400 for the total job). I recommend them for the sticker job in Jamnagar. You can reach Taher bhai at 9824642595

I was back to Amit ji’s place by 9:30 PM. We had dinner together. I had a great time with Amit ji & his family. His wife made every effort possible to keep my stay comfortable & inspite of not being able to speak hindi, did her best to communicate with me. Their daughter Prachi is cute & I put up the tent for her in the house, which she enjoyed playing in :).

At the time of writing this blog post at 9 AM, my plan is to check Lakhota lake in Jamnagar & then head towards Dwarka, while checking out Narara beach on the way. I would checkin at Dwarka today & then do temple & Beyt Dwarka visit tomorrow. Amit ji has created a pretty exhaustive plan for me. Lets see how much justice I could do with it :).