Canyon Run

The ride down from LachungLa to Pang offers some spectacular views of ice and wind carved rock as we follow the Pang Nala all the way down.

Good morning Tso Kar

Waking up to Tso Kar to this view is a super start to the day.

Water crossing fun

Harsh and I are riding stock Classic 500s for a change and its been fun specially through the water crossings.

The sunny road to Darcha

In the last two years every time I have ridden down this stretch it has poured down so I was really kicked that the sun was out and not a cloud in the sky.

Cloudy with a chance of rain

As usual it looked like rain as we left Manali but fortunately the weather got better as we climbed up Rohtang.

Photo op at Gulaba

Wet in Paradise

Woke up this morning to the sight of dark clouds scudding over and into the mountains. Hopefully in a couple of hours, when we ride up to Rohtang Jot, the sun would have come out and made things more cheerier. Otherwise, we're in for a wet, wet ride to Tandi...

Royal Enfield Cannon by Glynn Kerr

Glynn Kerr has been described as "one of the world's leading motorcycle designers"

British-born Glynn Kerr has specialized in motorcycle design for over a quarter of a century. A graduate of Coventry University's Transport Design course, he worked briefly for TVR Sports Cars in the UK before moving to Munich to join BMW as an exterior designer in 1982. Two years later, he transferred to the motorcycle division, since when he has worked exclusively with bikes.

From 1987-90 he was Chief Designer with Amsterdam-based Global Design (now GK Design Europe), the styling studio for Yamaha's European operations. Here, he penned such models the TDM 850 and TDR 125, while contributing to projects as varied as the GTS, Superténéré, XT600 and BW's scooter.

As an independent consultant, he has since worked with a large majority of the world's top motorcycle manufacturers, including Ducati, Honda, Triumph, Aprilia, Harley-Davidson, Kymco, Voxan and Kawasaki. For two decades, he has also been senior consultant to Bajaj in India, helping the company transform the market for smaller-capacity domestic models such as the highly successful Pulsar. As well as commissions from the major producers, Glynn has worked with smaller enterprises and start-up companies, creating the Midual Roadster, the Boxer 654, VB1 & B2, Voxan Scrambler, and more recently, the American-built Fischer MRX.

Glynn started this project speculating the possible results of the Polaris-Eicher tie-up, and the merging of technologies between Victory/Indian and Royal Enfield. One result could be a new series of Enfield Vee-twins, reminiscent of the Carberry-Enfields (and perhaps even the Vincent) what he calls the Royal Enfield Cannon. 

Truth be told Glynn we would love a Royal Enfield Cannon 1000 scrambler in the Helmet Stories garages actually maybe two so there will be no fighting on who gets to ride it.

For Sale : Barebone 500

Barebone 500 is a stripped down custom Classic 500 which was built last year by Joshua Crasto who stripped off 50-60 odd kgs to make this bike lighter and nimble. Its loud, fun, unique and the quality of fabricated parts speak for themselves with pirelli sport demon tires, uni filter, hand built seat, mudguards, headlight assembly, battery box (yea its still a self start), original grand turismo grips and a huge list of other modifications have gone into making this bike what it is.

The owner Gaurav Sawn is selling it so that he can start a new project and need the funds. If you are interested in becoming the new owner contact him on his email.

Different strokes for different folks

Three purpose built Helmet Stories bikes all in one garage today morning. Now two have been packed and shipped off to Mumbai for some TLC before the mother of all rides - Pangi Valley.