anyone got any advice or tips on going to india with my son,we would like to ride the enfields either as hire and self drive or guided tours, although guided tours seem expensive.any help appreciated

just go..
get it spent.......... bjt...

If you want to take challenge and more adventure it's better ride the enfields rather than hiring guided tours. You have full control with your tour and as long as you have your map with you and the top destinations/attractions list then you will be perfectly fine.

Guided tours are just going to cost you a lot nothing else. Just make a plan which all places you want to visit, hire an enfield, buy a road map and GO!

Not only are tours a waste of money you will be stuck with people you don't know and probably won't like. Go it yourselves and enjoy the trip that much more.

Buy an enfield second hand, there are plenty of tourists doing the buy sell thing so just go to a tourist area and you'll find people ready to almost give away their bike.

Enjoy India, and be ready for the culture shock, if you haven't been before.

__________________
TurboCharger + Francois (our BMW R1200gs) '07
www.riding2up.net, blog.riding2up.net

many thanks,i think thats what my son would prefer ,he has already got april in mind.

I actually went to India first time on a guided trip with Enfields (in Kerala & Tamil Nadu). Later on, I rented bikes in different places, and 3yrs ago went there from Europe with my own bike.

It´s not the easiest place in the world to travel (and traffic is a sight in itself, you wont see something like that in Europe, and it took time to get used to it!) so even if it cost more that way, I still think it was pretty good to be on a group the first time, and get a feel of the place the ´easy way´. Not saying you couldnt do it all on your own, if you´re used to travelling that way.

Except for ITALY!!

No Pecha72 is right so much as India is crazy and if you go it yourself don't go straight to Delhi or Mumbai and try to ride, or if you do expect accidents and hospital time. It is seriously crazy, but not just in the big towns everywhere. There are 1 billion Indians afterall and not one has a drivers licence (that's what you should assume).

Once you get used to traffic then it's ok but you must:

1) Ensure you have a working horn.
2) Give way to anything bigger than you.

NB the horn is used for signalling everything. Including but not limited to:
Entering an intersection
Crossing a road
Turning (left, right and straight ahead)
Stopping
Overtaking (especially overtaking, just keep on the horn)
In fact it's used with any and all changes in direction or speed or to let others know you are pulling out.

Another rule of thumb is that drivers don't care about any thing behind their mirrors. Only look after what is infront of your mirrors. Although riding is different, this is how they perceive the road rules if you can call them that.

As a bike you're 3rd from the bottom in the hierachy (pecking order), just above the cyclist

It's fun but don't get frustrated, just relax and take it slowly it's not a race.

__________________
TurboCharger + Francois (our BMW R1200gs) '07
www.riding2up.net, blog.riding2up.net

all ok

thats 3

thats 4

5 now i can PM some body sorry about that people

:confused1: Reefdog, are you trying to get your # of posts up, did I cotton on to something? Perhaps if you have something to contribute, that would be good...

__________________
TurboCharger + Francois (our BMW R1200gs) '07
www.riding2up.net, blog.riding2up.net

There are more constructive and less intrusive ways of getting your posts up!


this kind of pointless activity.

__________________
TurboCharger + Francois (our BMW R1200gs) '07
www.riding2up.net, blog.riding2up.net