Summary:
I did around 7000km over 75 days on the Bullet and it went places the VFR would have struggled and hardly ever did I need to go beyond 80kmh so the extra speed of the VFR would have been wasted. Plus in places the roads are so rough it would have been tough on the VFR, so I was very glad not to have brought my lovely Honda to India.

Model:
1996 350cc Bullet Standard.

Modifications:
12v cigarette lighter added inside left-hand storage compartment to feed GPS/charge batteries

Engine:
What a chugger. Going up the steep hairpins in the foothills of the Himalayas did not faze it even in first gear at only just above tick over. Top speed, well if you really nailed it the speedo will just reach pass 100kmh but that is a true speed of just over 80kmh. In reality it will happily cruise at an indicated 90kmh, though the roads rarely allowed even this.

Gearbox:
A right pain not so much the fact that it is on the right hand side but that third is seemingly impossible to reliably get- though Amit (a Bullet owner) never failed. I tried slow changes, fast changes, gentle changes, full force on the pedal changes, clutch and clutchless changes. Maybe clutchless worked best but it was never the smooth click of a Honda gearbox change.

Clutch:
I put a new one in fairly soon after picking it up and was very glad to have one. For the gearbox would often prove impossible to disengage 2nd at stationary so I would go a metre or so then change down to first. On some of the hill starts this really tested it. Some of the even more steep slopes just setting of in first was putting a lot through it though it did not slip thankfully. Later it began to slip so I replaced the friction plates again but found I had to adjust the clutch cable play twice per day - otherwise when cold it would slip and when warm I could not engage 3rd well. After this I tried stronger clutch springs but they made little difference. The final mechanic to do some work on the bike said that engine oil must not be used in the clutch instead 40 weight oil is required but with the plates exposed to the engine oil previously they probably needed replacing as the 40 weight oil on its own did not fix the slipping

Chassis:
The way it bounces over pot holes and rough tracks was brilliant. Through some rolling corners it was even possible to really lean it and feel as if you were riding a motorbike rather than a rattlely old lawn mower.

Brakes:
Drums at both ends. With so much weight on the rear and little pitching of the chassis the rear brake was the primary stopper - a real change from the usual 90% effort applied through the front brakes on a modern bike. Though I adapted to the left foot brake easily for day to day braking I never got out of the habit of pressing the gear lever very hard when doing an emergency stop. This I attribute to some faulty wiring - in my head!

Tyres:
It was a good job the brakes were rubbish for the front would squeal under braking as it had little grip. The rear was never challenged by the power of the engine and the poor clutch combined...

Electrics:
No major issues in the first 1000km. But at the major engine build the mechanics ripped the connectors of the cables from the generator. I spotted and got rather irate when they just force the wires into the female connections and apply brute force to distort the connections to hold the wires - one of the so called "e;Resourceful Indian fixes"e;. They said it would work - it did at that precise moment. I said they were just giving me a problem for the future - in fact it was only the day after when the motor died as the battery was not being charged

Starting:
First slowly kick the motor till the compression is felt, or watch the amp needle until it goes below 0 which indicates the same, then depress the compression lever to allow you to ease the piston over TDC using the kick start lever, push the lever all the way to the bottom. Next bring the kick start back to the top and then push it all the way to the bottom and the trick seems to be to keep your foot at the bottom of the stroke rather than pulling it back to try again. Generally no throttle was needed unless the air was very cold in which case as your foot goes down open the throttle fairly wide. Then the motor will ether catch or kick back throwing your foot up. If it does throw your foot back then its useful to swear a bit before trying again.

Off-roading:
Brilliant! With the centre of gravity of the bike so low it was a breeze to off-road it, standing on the pegs or remaining sitting on the seat

Costs:
Wanting to sell the bike in Mumbai rather than Delhi, where it was registered, some issues with the paperwork (missing stamps, incorrect engine number), only a two window in Mumbai to sell it, a slipping clutch and a leaking spark plug thread meant the bike had little value and my consience would not let me sell it to a fellow traveller. So in the end I virtually gave it away to a dealer only just covering the maintenance costs let alone the capital costs. For the 75 days and 6735km I was in India this worked out (see detail below) at 330 rupees (roughly £5s) per day or 3.75 rupee per mile. The dealer said he hired bikes out at 500 rupee a day so I saved some money and had the flexibility to not to return to the starting point. In time I hope to hear from those fellow Bullet owners I met on the way who brought new or newly bikes to understand if they faired better

2005 model:
While in McLeod Ganj, I took the opportunity to have a short blast on Jean-Paul’s 2005 350cc Machinsmom Bullet. What a totally different bike with its 5 speed left hand gear change smooth gearbox, less cruiser style seat and working smooth suspension as well as none of the rattles of my older bike, it defiantly felt like I’d expect a bike to feel and ride. As the run I did was mainly downhill I could not tell if the motor was any more powerful though but I was happy to keep plodding along on my bike.

Cost details:

At the end of the day I will stick with my Honda for the rest of the trip...