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Must-Do Motorbike Tours in the Himalayas

If self-discovery is what you are looking for, then travelling on the endless roads on a motorbike is just the thing for you. A motorbike tour not just unleashes the adventurer in you, but is a journey of new experiences that can never be felt otherwise. Already feeling the adrenalin rush? Keep reading to know about some of the best motorbike routes in the Himalayas that will immediately beckon the rider in you. Here’s our lowdown on the must-do motorbike tours in the Himalayas.

Motorbike Tour in Ladakh

The concept of motorbike tours in India was made popular by the number of adventure enthusiasts, visiting Leh on their bikes. The challenging circuits, coupled with the beauty of the mountains, have attracted travellers from all across the world. The one thing that makes this trip the ultimate adrenalin-pumping experience is the unpredictability of the rocky terrain. Add to that the close brush-up with Tibetan culture, monasteries and nomadic tribes, and this motorbike tour turns magical. There are many routes that you could take in this region, like the Manali to Ladakh, Srinagar to Manali, Chandigarh to Manali via Srinagar, Ladakh and back to Chandigarh, or you could simply fly to Leh and indulge in motorbike trips within Ladakh.

Love makes the world go Vroom!

Satish Gopalkrishnan and Savera D’Souza, the Bangalore husband-wife pair, have redefined teamwork in motorsport by being the only couple to consistently win rallies across the country. Most recently, the duo topped the Rally Ndure (TSD) category at the 12th Maruti Suzuki Desert Storm.

While India’s champion TSD rallyists could not find a strong footing at the Desert Storm, they were able to race on a sure pitch from the opening day – this, then, was a triumph based less on flamboyance than on endeavour and strategy. From the first stage of the six-day motorsport marathon, Satish and Savera worked on building up a strong lead and regularly left their competition far behind – by the time the last stage got under way, there was little chance of them getting caught.

Top honours in the Desert Storm made for a welcome change after a string of runner-up finishes in 2013, including in the Maruti Suzuki Desert Storm, the Mughal Rally, and the Maruti Suzuki Dakshin Dare. So what made the difference in the sands of the Thar Desert? “The X factor,” said Satish, matter-of-factly. “Sometimes it makes you win. Sometimes nothing seems right.”

b'lore duo — Satish Gopalkrishnan and Savera D’Souza, winners of the Rally Ndure category in the 2014 Desert Storm, driving a Grand Vitara for Team Maruti Suzuki

Tech whiz Satish wins Desert Storm

Satish Gopalkrishnan and his navigator Savera D’Souza celebrated yet another victory together when they won the 12th Maruti Suzuki Desert Storm, in a race that upended the formbook, with pre-event favourites Gaurav Gill and Suresh Rana dogged by mechanical problems and unable to complete the race. Meanwhile, India’s top biker, the formidable CS Santosh, maintained his dominance on two wheels.

Driving a Grand Vitara for Team Maruti Suzuki, the Bangalore duo topped the ‘Rally Ndure’ category. Satish, incidentally, is the software guru who is responsible for the ‘TSD Meter’, a development that has changed the face of time-speed-distance rallying in India. Trailing the champs in second place were Pratap Thakur and Dhiraj Arora, and completing the top three were Ashish Budhia and Arindam Ghosh.

The Desert Storm, an annual motorsport marathon that sees four- and two-wheelers tackle the sands of the That Desert, finished in Jaipur after negotiating some 2200km over six days. And it was dominated by the sponsor, with seven out of the nine prizes on offer going to Maruti vehicles.

In the ‘Rally Xtreme’ category, the honours went to Chandigarh’s Sunny Sidhu and his navigator PVS Murthy. Sandeep Sharma (Delhi) and Varun Davessar (Chandigarh) finished runners-up, and occupying third place was the team of Amartej Pal Buwal (Delhi) and Nakul Mendiratta. In the ‘Rally Xplore’ category, Rajesh Chalana and navigator Yogesh Gupta, driving an SX4 for Team Maruti Suzuki, finished ahead of the pack, seeing off Nitin Yadav and Ravi Bansal, driving a Mahindra Scorpio, and Sanjay Takale and Mustafa, driving an SX4 for Team Maruti Suzuki.

On two wheels, there was no stopping CS Santosh of Bangalore, who retained his title in a Suzuki RMX 450. Ranked second in the ‘Rally Moto’ category was Austrian stalwart Helmut Frauwallner, driving a Yamaha WR450F, while third place went to Suresh Babu, who was driving a Suzuki RMS 450Z.