BHPian TheVaas recently shared this with other enthusiasts:”Hey man! Let’s RIDE!”Though it seemed like a lifetime ago that I bought the bike home, we were just a month old in the month of May 2024. A point that I missed out in my last post was that the “Tamhini Ghat Circuit ride”was done solo; Prerana had some last minute work commitment, so had to opt out. So yeah, that enabled me to understand the bike closely from a solo rider point of view. Ok moving on – The most common (and unsurprisingly basic) human instinct after getting a new bike is “LET’S PLAN A LONG RIDE!” The notebook is dusted off, brand new pen is bought (aka ‘Misc. Expenses’), coffee is brewed and the internet browser tab displays ‘Google Maps’. But HANG ON! The bank passbook makes a villainous entry and soon you realise that the coffee’s gone cold. (PS: Believe me when I say “This is a true story!”) So yeah, true story aside, if you had read through the earlier chapter aka timelines – I had mentioned that post my Tiger sale, I was holding onto the upgrade to the latter (second) half of 2024. This would’ve given us some breathing space to regain our mental health (from the chaos of work along with house hunting-shifting-renovating etc) and also ample time to replenish the severely depleted bank accounts. And to this effect we had also formulated an equation X + Y = MC (where X was ‘budget for the bike’, Y was ‘budget for accessories/spares’ and MC stands for ‘MotorCycle’). And with all things life (and mathematics), things DIDN’T turn out the way we expected and we had to celebrate the upgrade earlier than expected. Which also meant, that some zeroes from Y had to be added to X to balance the equation. Because of this divine balancing act – any budgets (or future budget) for touring in 2024 went out of the window (along with the coffee, notebook and the brand new pen!) But the show (read: RIDE) must go on, right? And with a new bike in the parking lot – the itch to ride kept gnawing every now and then. If you remember, I had made a list of all the accessories that I needed once I get the bike and also got some of them fitted (Rox Risers, Top Box base plate etc.). Only the “Luggage system” was pending (more on this below). REWINDING BACK TO THE YEAR THAT MUST NOT BE NAMED AKA 2020 A ‘tried and tested’ theory from my Tiger days was that the position of the bike’s tail rack + Top box base plate + Top Box back rest aren’t placed keeping in mind the pillion’s comfort. If you fit them as mentioned in the ‘Instruction Guide’, high chances that the pillion might never ride with you again. For this same reason, I had never opted for the OEM Top box from Triumph because it makes for a very rigid, upright back position for the pillion – unsuitable for long rides. After researching a bit, had come across a reasonably priced plastic/fibre top box from ASG. The only time the top box looked like this! When you fix the base plate onto the Tiger’s tail rack – default setup, you’ll notice that the base plate bleeds into the edge of the pillion seat. And with the top box, you can see it’s already eaten into the rear seat. With a bit of modification for the Tiger’s OEM tail rack, I made Prerana sit on the pillion seat and then based on her comfort level – fixed the base plate onto the tail rack at a little distance – not too much as to disturb the overall COG of the bike. Base plate atop a base plate! “Oh Lord! When will this ordeal end?!” – Prerana BACK TO THE FUTURE aka 2024: The Year of the ATAS Now you’d be wondering, “Wah Vaas Babu! Naya GHAR, Nayi BIKE…but why Puraana TOP BOX?!” Well, I am superstitious for wrong reasons and that’s why I retained the ASG top box from our previous timeline – because it has been a lucky charm on many trips. The practical benefit of the top box is the capacity of 45L – which is a misnomer because we’ve packed almost 100L in it and it’s never given up. The other feature is the form factor – rectangular-oval vs square-boxy shape. Almost all the 45L top boxes in the market are Square shaped, the higher capacity 55L+ ones are rectangular. Yes build wise they are metal as compared to the plastic fibre. But like I said – I am a firm believer of “Functional” over “Aesthetics”. The rectangular form factor helps us pack/stuff a few more things in a flat manner over upright standing. Yes, the metal ones definitely look better in pictures, but if we are seated on the bike – we can never know if the top box looks good or not? What matters is whether it can carry what we pack without making much fuss about space. Ending my justification here – haha! Stickers for ‘aesthetic’ purpose only! On the ATAS – Note how it is almost the same distance as was with my T800 One with the bike during a night spin to where else but Marine Drive. Prerana gave a five star rating for the positioning of the top box – which is a big thing! She was comfortable throughout the ride from our house to South Bombay – mix of open highway, bumper to bumper traffic, ill-timed signals and crowded in-roads. For my Tiger, I had bought Dirtsack’s CrashBar bags during their clearance sale at a discount. Never got the chance to install them on the Tiger, so decided to mount them on the AT (for any future tours). These utility bags are pretty helpful in storing lot of things for easier access. I usually pack my chain clean lube, brush, rag, rain/thermal liners, tyre inflator, tubeless puncture kit etc. They are fully waterproof and hence a blessing for the torrential mumbai monsoons! The yellow bag (waterproof) is a roll top that fits into the black bag (not waterproof) Front view on the bike The ATAS display is a TFT touchscreen which has Carplay/Android Auto feature. But for the feature to work one needs to :Connect an intercom to the dashboard via BluetoothConnect your phone via USB (There’s a workaround done by many – installing an aftermarket bluetooth dongle, connecting that to the bike via USB and then connecting your phone to the dongle via BT)Now I toyed with the idea of using a phone mount attached to the handlebar or alternatively, use a “handlebar bag” with your phone in it. But somehow I’m not in favour of having an expensive iPhone exposed to the elements. I have a secondary Android phone that we normally use for navigation – but the temptation of using Carplay was too good to resist. Enter – OXFORD MAGNETIC TANK BAG. Nothing fancy, I had this during my Z650 days (if you scroll to the first post on this thread, you’ll find a pic of the Z with the tank bag). Again, I am not a big fan of magnetic tank bags because in tricky terrains, there’s always high chances of them getting dislodged and falling off – had lot of such experiences before. Since it was lying around gathering dust, I thought of experimenting with it. The ATAS tank is metallic and despite the humongous size – the realistic surface for attaching a magnetic tank bag is very less. The tank bags in the market made for the Africa Twin are all designed to accommodate the curve of the tank. Anyway, long story short, this is how the Oxford latches itself – Left hand view (note the small area where the magnets latch to the tank) Top view (The tank bag is empty hence the folds) Right hand view (note the small area where the magnets latch to the tank) Having gone through the ordeal of finding the tank bag, cleaning it and attaching it – I figured I didn’t have the USB A to lightning port cable for the connection. Also, the ‘how-tos’ on youtube were pretty confusing as well. Enter stage from left – Sir “ADDED_FLAVOR” . A quick tutorial from him on how to connect the iPhone and enable CarPlay and I was good to go. I couldn’t take pics of the same because well, the phone was connected to the bike :/ But initial impressions were okay okay. The fact that you need to enable Siri (or Google Voice) and then, depending on how great your intercom mic is, play an important role in the functioning of CarPlay. The reason your intercom needs to be connected to the bike is that – whilst in motion – you have to access Carplay via voice commands. If you park your bike on the side or when at standstill – you can access via the LHS navigation buttons. It is the same for the touchscreen as well – in motion – the touch features are disabled and you’re supposed to use the LHS buttons to toggle the features. I guess this is a security protocol by Honda – so as to have the rider less distracted and keep focus on the road. Anyway, while I was busy with all these experiments, an old Whatsapp rider group comprising Pawan, AJ (remember him?), Mahindra & I, hidden somewhere in the depths of chat history since 2021, suddenly came alive. As I opened the group, I could see that the admin AJ had already changed the group name from “Ride to Panchgani 21” to “Ride to Zanskar 24”! And I don’t know how but the lyrics from Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” started playing in my head as I stared at my phone screen – “Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? Caught in a landslide, no escape from reality” (To be continued…) Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.
