The Hero Honda CD 100!

This happens to be my very first entry in my very first blog!!!! Been thinking if I should start blogging, but finally got my lazy self to do it, and so here I am!

For quite a few days, I had been contemplating on getting myself a bike with an acceptable mileage. Anyways, I already have two bikes, one a Royal Enfield Bullet 500, thats just about 2 years old, and a RoadKing thats about one year old with me, and most of the bike too, as I restored her to mint condition with all new parts when I got her a year ago. Both the Bull and the King return something like 35 or lesser to a liter of petrol. Thats definitely not considered consumption, but guzzling, looking at the kind of inflation thats refected in the fuel prices, in my part of the world.

Of late, whenever I do a lot of running aroud[obviously with 2 wheels between my legs], I have been thinking that I should buy myself a bike that gives me something above 60 kilometers, to a liter. I hate the lean burn bikes that are produced nowadays. They burn so lean that they die so soon! Or should I say, they burn their inner sides themselves, for lack of fuel! So I thought I should probably get myself a bike of the yesteryears, preferrably a four stroke, as they are slow drinkers, relativley.

So, after a lot of thinking, I decided on a Hero Honda CD100, postponing my dream of getting an RX100, and restoring her. After discussing with Shanmugam, we began our hunt, and pretty soon, identified a bike, 1992 model. She was ok, and I liked the sound of the engine, and the way her documents were preserved. They were like my college books, at the end of my year! Even the new smell hadnt gone. I mean, in my college books! And the star attraction. Life tax[heard of], and life insurance[Unheard of, I mean insurance for the life of the vehicle]. This meant I dint have to pay the insurance every year for her. I first dint believe it, and then went on to check the documents. It said Valid from ...Feb 1992 till CANCELLATION OF REGISTRATION OF VEHICLE. That was really cool!

I bought her. This happened about 3 days ago. I was so happy. It felt really nice to ride a bike without having to stop often to refill! Just the thought, was really cool. Had a few things to do, to get her to my liking. Cleaned the carb, replaced the valves and valve oil seals, replaced the spark plug, brake shoes, all cables, and also an oil change. For people who dont know me, I do spend a lot of time in bike and car workshops, just because I like to!

And today, just got myself a can thats used to test fuel consumption for 2 wheelers. Its an inverted traslucent plastic can, with markings to help you read the volume of fuel inside, with a tap at the bottom, and a long tube. To use it, the can is hung on the hanle bar of a bike, and the tube is connected to the carburettor, and the can is filled with 100 ml of petrol, and is ridden, after noting the odometer reading. When the bike stops, the odometer reading is again noted. This gives you an idea of how much the bike can run on 100 ml of petrol.

Guess what mileage I got, for 100 ml of petrol? I got 8.5 kilometers! Thats a whopping 85 kilometers to a liter of petrol, and that too with me and Shanmugam riding. I guess it was a very good buy, and some good thinking !

And, one more nice thing happened today. Finally GPRS has been introduced by my mobile operator, and yeah, I accessed the internet from my mobile for the first time in Coimbatore! I have done it in Singapore, and in Thailand, but it was kind of reassuring to me, that this small town is slowly getting better, at last!

I guess I should call it a day, and thanks to whoever is patient enough to read my looooooong post!