Day 9, October 9 2007: Patnitop – Udhampur – Surinsar Mansar Wildlife Sanctuary – Dayala Chak – Kathua – Pathankot

Ah…the longest day of the ride. Took an early start from Patnitop with intentions of hitting Bikaner by night fall. Enroute was Bathinda, where my relatived lived and we were scheduled to eat lunch with them. We pulled off NH1A and took the shortcut to Pathankot (avoiding Jammu) through the Mansar Wildlife Sanctuary roads. All morning I was wrestling with the clutch and the gearshift and then the inevitable happened. Three hours of riding and we ran out of luck, the Bull gave up on us; lost the ignition completely. Both the self-start and kick-start were unable get the engine firing. Frantic calls back to Kamlesh and Jayan dada, explained what had been happening since yesterday and they convinced me it wasn’t a seizure. As relived as I was, took out tool kit and started working on the clutch as directed by dada. In the meantime, Rohon who was hunting for a mech, kissed another bike on the highway and suffered a bent fork. The mech we found was very efficient in convincing us that the clutch plates were burnt out and replacements would have to be brought in from Pathankot. While he opened the clutch side, he pulled out a small metal piece (1 cm in length and as thick as a matchstick). For the love of him, he couldn’t figure out what was damaged. Looking at RE service center. Kamlesh gave the numbers of RE Punjab Service manager and in turn spoke to the workshop at Pathankot. As we hauled up both the bikes (riding the Avenger with a bent fork wasn’t going to be a very good idea), we took another hour and landed up the workshop at 1500 hrs. They had been expecting us and were eager to pull the Bull down the pick up. The Bajaj service center was 5 shops away and Rohon got going to get the fork repaired. As the mechanics at RE got down cracking on the Bull, we took our Lunch break. With the bike in safer hands, it was time to relax, the drinks changed, OM was out and Chilled beers were the order of the day. At the end of it all, the shattered starter bearing came out to be the culprit of all problems. The small pieces were numerous in numbers, and the bearing got replaced. As it turned out, the broken pieces floating inside the chamber had damaged the coupling surface of the sprockets, which were either to be replaced or grind and polished to get the started motor working again. The Pathankot RE was not selling the LB500 and hence spares were a problem. The replacement sprockets would have to come from the Jammu, only the next day. The Punjab service manager was convinced by the Workshop manager to grind and polish the surfaces and get the starter running again. Finally at 2130 (3 hours of overtime for the workshop fellows) everything got running again. With sureties from the workshop manager (he was the only person I wanted to trust at this time), we breathed a sigh of relief and checked in to a nearby Hotel. Times had changed now, the OM had been taken over by the beers, and the Air-conditioned rooms replaced the cozy ones. A few more beers for the night and good old Punjabi Tandoori Chicken were ordered for Dinner. We would have our second bath of the trip here. :D

PREVIOUS DAY

NEXT DAY