Bike Accessories

Carrying luggage on a bike ride is a tricky thing. One must not carry too many things and harass oneself or one must not carry too less to only find oneself in a terrible situation (I wish I had more warm clothes etc.). So I started speaking to other riders and came up with a checklist. With less than 27 days to go, it was time for me to start shopping.

One of my first necessities is - Cigarette lighter adapter. A smoker can always carry a conventional lighter or match box. Why should one go for a sophisticated Cigarette lighter adapter just like the one in cars?

Answer is - I am a non-smoker who would need Cigarette lighter adapter to charge batteries - Batteries for my mobile, cameras, GPS etc.

I went to JC Road in search of accessories. As soon as I entered the road, I stopped at a place to get new seat covers. I left my bike with him and started going around to find a Cigarette lighter adapter for a bike. I ended up at Sandhya Automobiles. Since the shopkeeper was busy with other customers, I struck a conversation with one of the customers who had come there to buy clutch plates for his bullet 500 standard. His name was Raghavendra. Raghavendra told me that I would not get any lighter adapter there. He started giving me tips. Apparently he had been to Ladakh with seven of his other friends. We soon became friends and started going around JC road buying spare parts for his bike and some items on my checklist - Puncture kit, bungee cords and balaclava .

I found this guy very helpful. He asked me to buy ‘Ladakh Carrier’ from Carol Bagh Delhi. It seems that carrier helps you carry quite an amount luggage with good convenience. But when I told him that I would be starting from Bangalore instead of Delhi, he offered me, a stranger, his carrier. He asked me to pick that up from his house in Jayanagar.

We had a long conversation about bike rides, safety measures, bike repair, check list etc. Towards the end of it. I came to know that he works for Symphony Services (my previous employer), he knows my friends at Symphony and he is married to one of my good friends.

It is a small world indeed.