This 24-year-old engineer completed a 10,000 km road trip on Aprilia SR 150
Nagarajan Adithya has completed a 10,000 km road trip across the country, from the South to the North on his daily companion ride, Aprilia SR 150.
A Chennai-based mechanical engineer Nagarajan Adithya has completed a 10,000 km road trip across the country, from the South to the North on his daily companion ride Aprilia SR 150.
Adithya, 24, started his journey on June 4, 2019 from Chennai and covered 15 states, starting from Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and finally, Ladakh and returned to Chennai on July 13.
This over-a-month-long journey through the toughest of terrains came with many hurdles, including challenging road conditions and harsh weather situations.
“I wanted to experiment and see how my Aprilia SR 150 would fare on a pan-India road trip. Many well-wishers were concerned about my trip, but the trip was planned to the last detail and Aprilia SR 150 proved to be a strong and faithful riding companion. The Aprilia SR 150 is a powerful and aesthetically appealing bike and in the small town of Zangla, Kargil the locals were impressed to see a 150-cc scooter making through undefined paths (no metaled roads); they had never seen an Aprilia SR 150 before,” Adithya said.
He has travelled almost 10,000 km in just 40 days and coasted at the speed of 80 to 90 kmph on the highway and sustained a 50 kmph on hilly terrain.
Adithya faced a lot of ridicule and scepticism when he told people of his plans to embark on this journey on a scooter. “I was told that I should take a rope so it would be easy for me to be towed. I did not need a rope,” he says.
In the 40 days, Adithya had to service his bike only twice and he did not have any issues with a puncture, etc.
Aprilia SR 150 is powered by a 154.8 cc air-cooled engine which produces 10.6 PS of power and 10.9 Nm of torque. The scooter gets a 220 mm disc in the front and a 140 mm drum unit in the rear. Besides that, the Aprilia SR 150 also has 14-inch wheels at both ends for a motorcycle-inspired feel.
(Edited by Evelyn Ratnakumar)
