Marty,
With your schedule, I'd fly to Delhi, get a cheap AC room ($8) in Pahar Gange, book a bus directly to Manali. Find a room in Old Manali ($3-6, Veer guest house is reccommended). Walk down to Boni Soni's shop, ask him where you can rent a bike in Manali that can be picked up in Leh or buy a bike for $500 off some Israeli kid. Grab an xtra gas bottle, a couple of grams of hashish & load the bike. If you can't meet road partners in Manali, you can group up on the way. Dump the bike for whatever you can get in Leh.
The only thing I'd do in advance is book my flights to & from Delha from Leh back to Delhi (leave a day for weather & other flight probs). Everything will come together quickly in Manali, there'll be dozens of bikes for sale.
Bring some cam straps w/you or you'll be stuck w/bungies.
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India Himal, 3mo,2x; Kazak/Krygyz/Tajik, 3 mo; Kashi-Lhasa, China 219! 6 wk; Nepal, 4 days/trekked 55; Santiago-Ushuia-Cusco, 7 mo; Peru, 3 mo; Chile-Medellin 3 mo; Medillin-Arica, 3 mo
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