3,000 km trip to Ladakh on 3 Honda CB350s: Overall experience

As expected, there was absolutely no problem with any of the bikes.

BHPian jaganm recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

3 of us from Bangalore recently did a 3000 km trip across Ladakh. It was part of an organised tour with a mechanic. Some points that may help others

We got the bikes serviced and had the air filter replaced on all the bikes. As my bike has done close to 25k and almost 4 years old, I got the spark plug and clutch cable replaced

• All 3 of us replaced the tires with Reise TourR tires which made a huge difference
• We carried a spare air filter and both levers. In addition, I carried the old clutch cable and spark plug as an emergency replacement.
• My battery is a bit weak (goes to below 10V on crank) so I wanted to replace it but for a number of reasons couldn’t do it in time.
• We had a mechanic with us who helped with chain lubing and the air filter replacement though we could’ve done it ourselves, he wouldn’t let us near the bikes

As expected, there was absolutely no problem with any of the bikes. We had some power issues in the second week which was resolved by changing the air filter which was completely choked due to excessive off road.

One thing I noticed is that on start at high altitude, the mixture is quite lean and struggles to Rev. wait a few seconds and the idling comes to normal.

The tall gearing is a boon on climbs. Realistically you can be on 1st gear throughout as the speed range is up to 30-35 which is what the bike will do. The Bullets in our group struggled as they needed to shift to 2nd where’s the pickup was less.

The suspension is extremely well sorted. I had the stock split seat and didn’t face a single problem. My friend had put a gel layer on his seat and it heated up so much that it was uncomfortable to sit on. Avoid if possible.

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