Story of my bike, Hercules Act 110

After getting out of college, I thought now I am done with cycle. Spent a year without cycle, never felt need for it.

But after joining Oracle, my colleague Sachin suggested me to get a cycle to commute to office as I live only 1.5km away from my office. He said to get a good bike which would make ride more interesting and exciting. He suggested Hero Octane. I checked its price on net, it comes around 9.5k.

Now there were so many unanswered questions. When I can afford a bike then why should I go for a cycle. Moreover why should I spend 10k on a cycle just to commute 3km per day (which right now cost me Rs20 per day in a Volvo). On the other getting bike would mean at least some physical activity. I have started gaining weight. I gained 6kg in less than a year. Though I have started swimming but that is not a way to lose weight. I thought why not give myself some time to find answers of these questions.

I found a google group Bangalore Bikers Club. It is an online community of some serious bikers. They organize trips almost every weekend. Joined it to get some info about bike and bikers in Bangalore. There it was another incentive to join them some weekend trips which will not only make the bike more useful but weekend interesting as well (and of course it will be a really good exercise). I decided lets start with a middle range bike.

I asked group member about bikes in the range of 6-8k as I really didn't want to spend much on a cycle. Also I wanted both front and rear suspension along with multi gears. On the group people suggested me to increase my budget by 2k and get either Hercules Act 110 or Rockrider 5.1. They said that you won't get good suspension in this range of bikes. They gave very negative feedback about Octane. I read specification of both the bikes on net, visited couple of cycle stores and saw both the bike and finally decided to get Hercules Act 110. There I came to know that a cycle could cost you as much as 50k.

Now once I decided for the cycle then next thing was accessories. Group members said that helmet, lock and back light are essential for a bike if you want to drive it in city. Other optional accessories are front light, cyclo meter, sunglass, spare tube, puncture kit, air pump chain lube etc. I thought that I wont need spare tubes, puncture kit or other optional accessories immediately but what about cyclo computer. It would be really a nice feeling to see myself riding over 30kmph on a paddle bike and record total distances covered as well. So decided to get a cyclo computer as well and make the ride more interesting.

Finally I went to RR cycle store at Marathalli bridge. Before going to the store I noted down price of accessories from Decathalon site for their members. After some negotiation, dealer agreed to give other accessories at Decathalon price. With hercules Act 110, I got BTWIN MIX helmet, DC4W cyclomener, front and back light and Coil lock SP5. All together it cost me 11.1k. Immediately I went on a small ride on Outer Ring Road, It was really a wonderful experience riding a light weight bike with 21 gear combination. It took me some time to get adjusted with gear combination. On returning, I touched 43kmph under Marathalli bridge (of course with the help of downward slope). The feeling was really awesome.

From Monday (05 Sep) I started commuting to office by bike.

Ready to ride to office for the first time

Bike rear view

Bike front view

Leaving for office.

It takes only five minutes to reach to office (It used to take me 15-20 minutes by bus including time to reach the bus stand, crossing the road twice, waiting for bus and then walking to the office).

Next step:
I am looking forward to join Bangalore Bikers club members on their rides to places near by Bangalore.